Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt - Deluxe Edition

Product Information

Kraven's aggravation with his inability to catch and kill Spider-Man has destroyed his sanity. He hatches a final scheme that actually defeats Spider-Man, and seemingly shoots him dead. Kraven then buries him, and donning a copy of Spider-Man's costume, seeks to prove himself superior at his adversary's former activities.

I know this is a "trait" of Peter Parker in the comics, that he blames himself for everything that goes wrong, no matter what. He feels he is responsible for every death, for every injury, that happens around him. He feels that every bad thing that happens in the world somehow can be traced to some action he took or failed to take. However, it does not translate well into a prose/novelized format. His constant "poor me/false martyr" symptoms are so annoying and appear to be nothing more than pathetic pleas for attention. There has to be a better way to present his feeling responsible for everything. Which is an abject shame, too. “Kraven’s Last Hunt” is quite possibly the best Spider-Man story of all time, up there with “If This Be My Destiny” and “The Night Gwen Stacy Died.” It is an everlasting tale about marriage, legacy, delusion, and most importantly: grief.

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Since I read the run of The Saga of Swamp Thing by Alan Moore, I have kept saying: “There aren’t bad characters, only bad writers.”

Earn Your Happy Ending: Spider-Man gets out of his grave. His name is cleared. The police even express sympathy for his ordeal of being buried alive and drugged by Kraven and he goes home to his wife. The stark, sudden depiction of suicide in a major superhero story caused some readers to write in and accuse DeMatteis of glorifying the act. But this is far from what DeMatteis intended.

Customer reviews

Fetal Position Rebirth: Peter Parker dreams of himself naked in the fetal position, floating in a white void, while drugged and Buried Alive by Kraven. Then the drug-induced sleep turns nightmarish, with amongst other niceties Peter "birthing" out of a Giant Spider. And as both Kraven and Spider-Man slip into hallucinations, their fears manifest into physical representations. Is this all in their heads? Or is there something supernatural at play? The creative team leaves just enough room for interpretation to let Kraven’s madness seep into and influence the real world. But it’s their panel layouts and pacing that turn the story into a hypnotic fever dream. Peter: That's what it's all about, isn't it? Yesterday, Ned Leeds, today, Joe Face. Tomorrow... Aunt May? Mary Jane? Me? Funny. I'm out there facing death every day as Spider-Man — But I never really think about it. Guess I don't let myself. Yet so many people I love have died before their time: Uncle Ben, Captain Stacy, Gwen — now Ned... do I think I'm somehow immune? I'm going to die. But not yet. There’s a Kraven story (Kraven’s First Hunt) that basically retells the Lee/Ditko story with attractive, modern art and a focus on Kraven’s character. I enjoyed it. But what’s critical to the central ideas of “Last Hunt” is that while Spider-Man is thrown into one of his most disturbing challenges, he himself isn’t turned into a darker character. Instead, the temptation to turn a bright hero into a tortured protagonist is fulfilled through Kraven usurping the place of Spider-Man and taking over multiple comics in his attempt to prove himself better than his enemy. In doing so, Kraven lives out an obsession born from a fundamental misunderstanding of the hero while Peter Parker must cling to hope and love to survive his near-death ordeal.

While each issue takes a different motif and contrasts characters against one another in varying ways, there’s a recurring theme of intrusive thoughts and fears within each character’s mind. And, specifically, it’s the intrusive thoughts of death. Those deep, dark ideas that suddenly come out of nowhere to remind us of our mortality.

Its execution, however, is anything but simple. The inner dialogue is broken up into opposing perspectives. A third character becomes integral to how things play out. The whole story is framed by slow, solemn gravedigging. There's seemingly endless rain, and storms, and fear. It's exceptional comics storytelling. Then we have a “What If?” (Booooring) and one of those stupid satirical stories. You can just skip them. Trust me. The first three issues heavily use conflicting voiceovers that juxtapose one another and slowly blend together to create a feverish, frenzied rhythm. These display the deepest, darkest fears of the lead characters and when blended together, hint at something supernatural tying their hearts and minds to one another. This book shits on the original, perfect story. It removes the marriage, because Marvel is currently run by immature misogynist douche bros who troll readers in place of telling new, original stories. And removing the marriage - crapping on the one story that many said proves that the marriage works and is perfectly in character for Spider-Man/Peter Parker - that's the only reason for the novel to exist. The original story truly is perfect as it is and doesn't need to be "prose-ified" at all. This novel is completely unnecessary and a total waste of trees and/or bytes.