When his home and community are threatened by a new villain, Pavitr Prabhakar/ Spider-Man jumps to action. But that’s not the only obstacle in Pavitr’s way in Spider-Man: India #1—it isn’t easy being Earth-50101’s one and only Spider-Man. Perhaps it’s time for Pavitr to let go of some of that Spider-responsibility?
Spider-Man: India #1
VC’s Joe Caramagna (Letters), Scott Hanna (Artist), Abhishek Malsuni (Artist), Neeraj Menon (Colours), Nikesh Shukla (Writer)
Marvel Comics
June 14, 2023
Teaming up with Earth-616’s Spider-People, Miles Morales and Peter Parker, seems like a good idea to Pavitr in Spider-Man: India #1. That is until they’re facing a three-headed Mysterio, and Pavitr’s delicious samosa bites the dust—before he’s even had a bite!
Bad guys and lost samosas aside, Pavitr has other problems to deal with. He’s comfortable working in a team, but it only reinforces his own loneliness. He gives so much to his community that he has no time for himself. Pavitr’s beginning to question why he even bothers superheroing at all. It’s not like he can save all of Mumbai!
Of course, all that fades away when Pavitr returns home to find his home threatened by a corrupt corporation and the prospect of a new scaly villain. Pavitr just can’t catch a break in Spider-Man: India.
Having recently watched and loved Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, I was itching to read more about Pavitr Prabhakar. I found the four-issue series that introduced him to the Marvel Comics universe, and I’ve been reading the Spider-Verse and Web Warriors events just to get to know Pavitr better. Those series have shockingly little of my favourite Spidey, Miles Morales, in them, but it’s been fun reading Pavitr.
If you’re coming to Spider-Man: India #1 after the film, we’ve got to address the elephant in the room—his supersuit. No, it’s not like the film version. This issue sticks to Pavitr’s original comic suit—the red and blue Spidey top paired with a white dhoti. It’s simple but effective. A dhoti may not seem very practical, but it alludes to Pavitr’s humble origins. He comes from a village and, in the original series, was horrendously bullied for it. As much as I miss the gorgeous suit and web-dumroos that Pavitr wore in the film, I quite like that Pavitr still has his dhoti suit in the comics, at least so far.
Like so many other Spideys before him, Pavitr spouts jokes like a pro. Also, like other Spideys, Pavitr’s haunted by the loss of his Uncle Bhim, the immense responsibility of protecting everyone (and knowing he can’t), and his everlasting challenge of balancing being Pavitr and Spider-Man. Miles and Peter even give him some helpful advice in Spider-Man: India #1 but the threats, the fears, the fights, and the failures are never-ending. Such is the life of Spider-Man.
But it’s not all doom and gloom in Spider-Man: India. I love the panels of the three Spider-People together. They bond over their villains, their shared love of food, and their gift for making truly terrible puns. No wonder Pavitr’s lonely when he’s away from Miles and Peter. I do also like that Pavitr has a good friend. I haven’t encountered Nish before, but he seems like a good foil to Pavitr in the few panels of the book he appeared in—someone who notices their friend is in a funk and knows how to get them out. We all need a friend like that!
There’s a scene late in Spider-Man: India #1 that highlights Pavitr’s heart. This man couldn’t be selfish if he tried—his first instinct is always to help, even when someone’s intentionally hurt him. And I guess that says a lot about Spider-People. Most are good at heart and selfless—almost like the radioactive spiders knew whom to choose.
Without spoiling anything, I am interested to see where this series goes with the villains. In Spider-Man: India #1, we’re introduced to a couple of villains, but there’s more to one than meets the eye. It’s all in the art, which I think is wonderfully clever. You can almost miss the switch between man and monster if you’re not paying attention. Comic book art—it’s genius!
The art in this issue is beautiful, but it’s not exactly like all the other Marvel Comics. There’s a ton of gorgeous detail in the background of every panel that makes Pavitr’s Mumbai come alive. A couple of panels stood out to me—Pavitr hanging onto a balcony looking over the shanties of his community, and in the distance we see the breathtaking skyscrapers of Mumbai. The scale and the wealth disparity are obvious at a single glance, yet I don’t know how long it must have taken for penciler Abhishek Malsuni and inker Scott Hanna to create just that one panel.
But another panel that I adored was less of a landscape and more homey: Pavitr and his Maya Auntie in their kitchen. It could be any Indian kitchen—it looks so familiar. The baskets of fruit arranged on the table, the fridge with magnets and post-its, and the Ganesh calendar hanging on the wall—these details are to die for. Neeraj Menon’s colours are vivid yet realistic, building a world that will feel so familiar to many.
I loved reading Spider-Man: India #1—Pavitr is funny, yet at the beginning of a new emotional journey. The villains draw from established Spider-Man lore while being different enough to keep one interested. I think the only thing I missed in this issue was Meera Jain, or MJ, Pavitr’s girlfriend. Meera didn’t have much of an arc in the original series barring being Pavitr’s love interest, and I was hoping she’d get more to do here. Fingers crossed that she appears soon.
I’m enjoying all the Spider mythos I’ve got to read thanks to my love for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. I’ve read a bunch of Miles Morales comics, and by extension quite a few books starring Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker, and now Pavitr Prabhakar. Between them, I’ve learned quite a bit about what makes a good Spider-Person—and Pavitr Prabhakar is an excellent Spider-Man in Spider-Man: India #1, no matter what he thinks. I can’t wait to see what Pavitr gets up to next and how he fights his worst villains yet—corporate baddies.
