Spider-Man Noir (2020) Issue 5

The final issue in this series leaves me with more questions than answers, and I’m sorry to report, I feel unsatisfied.

Dr Huma Bergmann is revealed to be an ancient Babylonian goddess, who has opened the underworld to summon some of Spidey’s now dead enemies. The horrible mutations we saw occur at the end of the last issue have worn off, and... well things get pretty uncharacteristically cosmic from this point out. Our murdered waitress is revealed to have been a Babylonian goddess in hiding this whole time, Spider-Man destroys the ancient all-powerful crystal and the amulet that activates it, and everyone goes home like nothing ever happened.

A lot of what I’ve described sounds like it should be thrilling, and a fascinating read, but it’s such a dramatic departure from the story the first three issues set up, that it comes across, at least to me, as rushed and forced.

Also, this sudden, out of nowhere reveal that Dr Bergmann is a Babylonian goddess in disguise, comes right after the sudden, out of nowhere reveal that she’s been a Nazi spy the whole time.

I’ve read through this issue, and the entire series, several times, assuming I had missed clues or that there was something I simply wasn’t picking up on, but as far as I can tell, this story is just a water slide toward a “high stakes” cosmic ending.

Why was Holly Babson murdered? The obvious answer is that someone (I guess we’re meant to assume it was her sister) wanted to get their hands on the Cicada Stone... but Spider-Man finds the stone clutched in her cold dead hand. Why did Huma go along with Spider-Man on his adventure to Germany to meet her supposed mentor who turned up dead? Why as he murdered? What was the point of Huma turning out to be a Nazi spy if that subplot leads nowhere?

The heroics of this final issue seem undeserved and it leaves me feeling a little empty. I really wanted to like Spider-Man Noir (2020) but instead I’m left disappointed and looking forward to reading other things.