Amazing Spider-Man #17-23: Hunted

HUNTED

Written by Nick Spencer
Penciled by Humberto Ramos, Gerardo Sandoval and Ryan Ottley
Published Mar 13 to Jun 12, 2019

   For all the characters who didn't get a sizable War Of The Realms tie in, Marvel worked overtime to make sure their readers still had quite an opportunity to blow their comic book money. This time, Nick Spencer gets his first major multi-book arc and it most definitely didn't disappoint. This is the Nerdiest Kid You Know's review of Amazing Spider-Man #17-23: Hunted..

Kraven usually walks around like this.

    So Kraven's back, even though he never really left. And this time he's brought his own cloned, psychopathic son to help map out his next homicidal adventure. Thanks to kidnapping the Lizard's son Billy, as well as the Black Cat, he's lured his favorite target in to help. Spider-Man is captured after trying to save them. But as he wakes up in his favorite retro-black spidersuit, he finds some not so friendly faces waiting to attack.

"Hey dudes. Long time no.. um.. LOOK OUT!"

   It's not long before they're all on the run from some bio-mech Kraven hunting humanoids. It seems the elusive Arcade has helped Kraven arrange a gigantic robot hunt for the rich. Their targets? The most expendable spidervillains the Marvel universe has ever seen. Even once Kraven ally Black Ant is thrown into the foray -  care of Taskmaster. And worst of all for Peter Parker, the hallucinations of Mary Jane Watson being tortured and in pain continue to flare up.

This is Spider-Man's brain on drugs. Any questions?

   Eventually Black Ant levels with Spider-Man and explains to him what the true situation is. As he plans his return to Kraven's home base, the Lizard has a plan of his own. Meanwhile, Kraven Jr can't stand idly by while these rich jerks get to hunt for sport. He takes off to enact his revenge. But little does he know, he too is a pawn in his father's greatest hunt. As it turns out, the unsuspecting customers are the real targets, and in the wild of Central Park, the Vulture is on the hunter's side.

So the Vulture is a liar?! Who could have ever foreseen this?!

   Kraven captures Spider-Man and presents him with a Sophie's Choice. Dr Curt Connors stands before him and their key to freedom is unleashing the Lizard. But once he goes there, there's no going back. The uncontrolled beast bounds into the woods while Kraven explains to the webslinger his final hunt.

"Goodbye, Spidey..."

   It seems Kraven's only escape from life is to be killed by the Spider. Of course though, Pete could never do such a thing. Although he does his best to bait the web head, it's all for naught. Finally the hunter figures out another way. Using a dummy spidersuit, he's able to trick his own son into fighting what he thinks is Spider-Man to the death. But it turns out to be Kraven. 

Sorry. The answer is "Yes."

   In his final act of defiance, the hunter pens a long note to his killer. And as the Avengers round up the both the supervillains on the outside, and the super rich poachers on the inside, Spider-Man races home to check on MJ. She's safe. Billy Connors is safe. All is well in midtown and Hunted finally comes to an end with the Kraven clone donning his father's lion vest. There's a new villain in town but this story arc drifts to it's final conclusion.

Kraven v.2.0

   So with a few  thoughts on this story, there's no doubt to me that Nick Spencer is equal to or as good of an author in this series as his predecessor Dan Slott was. Obviously one to check the archives, Spencer pulled as many D-list villains out of the woodwork as Tom King did with Batman a few years ago. Seeing the Gibbon, White Rabbit, Frog Man, Man Bull, 8 Ball - it's just as bizarre as Kite Man was in that recent Joker storyline. But if anything I can take away here, it's that Spidey is clearly on an amazing incline. I give this story a 10/10.

If you like this review, check out my video of it HERE.

You can also buy my physical copy of this book below:

Amazing Spider-Man #17
Amazing Spider-Man #18
Amazing Spider-Man #19
Amazing Spider-Man #20
Amazing Spider-Man #21
Amazing Spider-Man #22
Amazing Spider-Man #23

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