IT’S MECH VS MECH! Otto Octavius’ Spider-Slayer Sentinel vs. Team Spider-Punk’s Spider-Van Mech! Giant robots punching each other in the middle of the city! All this in Spider-Punk: Arms Race #4, written by Cody Ziglar, drawn by Justin Mason, colored by Morry Hollowell and lettered by VC’s Travis Lanham.
The comic opens as the Spider-Robot Van and the Otto bot have a stand off and exchange some smack talk. After the Spider-Band shout their battle cry, the fight begins in earnest as the Otto bot fires a laser that is swiftly blocked by the Spider-Bot Van’s shield. Travis Lanham’s lettering enhance the dialogue and action here, especially the red and white blocky letters as the Spider-Band shout, “TIME TO KICK OUT THE MOTHER LOVIN’ JAMS!”
After blocking the Otto bot’s initial attack, the Spider-Band get on the offensive by using their robot to fire a series of webs followed by an impressive rocket fist punch attack that would make the Power Rangers proud.
Unfortunately, this pisses Doc-Ock off and causes him to send a series of tendrils from his robot to grab the Spider-Band’s bot and fling them around like a rag doll. This is enhanced by a stunning double page spread from artist Justin Mason that shows the Spider-Bot Van getting flung into a building despite Miles trying to grasp the controls.
To gain a second wind, Ironheart decides to reroute the power to make a big blue button glow. This causes the Spider-Bot Van to gain a giant axe guitar and “Thwap!” the Ock-bot into a building with a little help from Mattea’s powers, bolstered by another fabulous double-page spread and Morry Hollowell’s vivid colors.
Not to be outdone, Doc Ock also decides to reroute the power in his bot to his weapons and fires a giant laser at the Spider-Bot Van that knocks them off their feet. As Doc Ock tries to finish them off, the Spider-Bot Van distracts him by firing a giant ball of webbing into the face of Doc Ock’s bot.
Deciding to take one last stand, the Spider-Band reroutes all their bot’s remaining power to their remaining arm to do a flying punch that finishes Doc Ock’s bot off for good. Doc Ock appears to explode into smittereens, but there is a chance that he survived the attack.
For now though, the Spider-Van have earned a win. As the bot slumps from the Spider-Band’s exhaustion, Shuri and the Dora Milaje arrive on the scene to help them regroup. The comic ends as The Spider-Band decide to stay and help the injured civilians, but not before taking a breather.
All in all, this was a fun follow up to the Spider-Punk Banned In DC mini series. The entire comic book team really stepped up their game in this Arms-Race mini series and I’m hoping they’ll return for more Spider-Punk Adventures.
Latonya Pennington is a freelance contributor whose comics criticism can be found at Women Write About Comics, Comic Book Herald, Newsarama and Shelfdust, among others.