Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: Maximum Carnage Paperback – 23 May 2023

Great artwork. Plenty action.

I got this the other day, and I'm pleased with it. Looking forward to reading it. Very good. Thanks.

The latest Spidey Epic (volume 25, for those keeping score) is one of those volumes that is almost entirely taken up with a single storyline; in this case, it's the 14-part crossover Maximum Carnage, which originally took place across three months (and five Spider-titles) in 1993. Unfortunately, quantity does not equal quality in this case.Certainly there are pluses - the regular Spider-teams are each producing their given issues, with talents like J.M. DeMatteis, Mark Bagley, David Michelinie and Alex Saviuk giving their best. And the use of VERY-90s unrepentant killer Carnage (then a very new character) as a way to examine Spider-Man's moral code, in particular his refusal to kill his enemies, had merit as an idea.The problem is that at the aforementioned fourteen issues, it is VERY bloated and overstretched - in every issue Carnage and his allies butcher a bunch of people, Spidey and his allies arrive to battle them, there is an argument about the morality of various characters, and then everyone splits up to repeat the same things in the next installment. They attempt to pad out the story by adding new characters to either side as they go, which at least results in a dazzling array of guest stars, but while this might have worked well as a tight six-parter, as a megacrossover it just feels never-ending.There was some space left over in the volume, so they also include the Designer Genes one-shot that paired off Spidey and the Punisher against Sabretooth. There is more discussion of everyone's relative moral codes (or lack of), so at least the volume feels thematically unified, but the art is messy and the story is pretty inconseuqential.Extras include the Marvel Age 'roadmap guide' for Maximum Carnage, as well as a Hot Sheet listing and cover, an article on the Spider-titles of the time from Marvel Preview, covers, alternate art, foreword and afterword from the original trade collection, original art by Bagley and Tom Lyle, trading card art and a Wizard cover. You certainly can't argue that they're not trying to give you your money's worth, but sadly this is one for the completists only, I feel.

Son loved this

Great Epic Collection Spider-Man story with the villain Carnage.