Spider-Man Annual #1is a great package of humor and action, one that will hook readers on this sprawling, multi-issue “Contest of Chaos” event.
Spider-Man Annual #1: Contest of Chaos
Raul Angulo (Colors); Gabriele Dell’Otto (Cover); VC’s Joe Caramagna (Letters); Alberto Foche (Art); Stephanie Phillips (Writer); RB Silva (Cover)
August 9, 2023
Fans have always raged over which character could whoop another in a fight. Can Godzilla take out Thor? Could Superman defeat Spider-Man? The “Contest of Chaos” event – which spans Marvel’s string of super-sized summer annual issues – pits its heroic superstars against one another through the liberal application of magical interference.
That interference comes from Agatha Harkness, who has decided to create her own Darkhold by stealing powers from Earth’s mightiest heroes through forced combat. Agatha wants it all, and she’d going to do anything she can to attain power over the world.
Enter Spider-Man. Peter is his usual quippy self, and we begin with a fast-paced battle between him and Rhino that’s quite entertaining. Foche is having fun with the art, which is lively and well-aided by Phillips’ script, which combines menace and humor with great success. But then Peter – in the middle of eating a burger – is zapped to a jungle location. Wolverine soon lands in the same locale. The heroes try to find their way out together, but elsewhere Agatha prepares to lead them to their doom (attempted interference from Korrosion aside). They find a glowing artifact hidden in a Brazilian city – but fight over who should be the one to take it.
Spider-Man Annual #1 manages to take its simple premise and make it better through heavy applications of humor. Agatha is a wonderful villainess if she’s written correctly, and here she’s appropriately chilly and selfish to the maximum. Logan is monosyllabic but filled with dry humor, and Peter is a quip machine who helps make the entire journey more interesting than your average villain plot.
The humor is very on-point; Peter declares he hates the “getting punched in the face and thrown off magical buildings” part of superheroics. Logan is no slouch in the laugh department, without losing any of his characteristic intensity; he recognizes Peter’s the real him because of the smell of his cheap body spray, which is a great, funny detail. The comic doesn’t take itself too seriously, even though the situation for both heroes is incredibly dire. It helps make the last few panels – in which Peter seeks out a New York-based ally to help him process his feelings about the fight and raise the alarm for further help – all the more impactful. It made me want to look up more of Phillips’ work because she has a solid mastery of this roster of characters.
The art is great, and Foche knows how to combine cheesecake (Agatha alone in her throne room, lit by moody purples), gore (a melting Korrosion pleading with Agatha to stop her quest), large landscapes (the futuristic but ancient Brazilian jungle where Logan and Peter land); battle scenes (the central showdown) and simple single-panel gags (Peter, a burger in his hand, cheek bulging with food, reacting to being transported to Brazil) in well-drawn ways. The color work is attractive, and the letters properly underscore the story’s big moments.
Spider-Man Annual #1 is a solid combination. Naturally, as with most comic book events, you’re going to need to buy a whole lot of issues to follow along with the tale Marvel has going here. But this one offers a promising beginning that’s enough to beguile the reader.
