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This corner of the Spider-Verse opens to a 1933 New York City where police are answering a call concerning a shooting; the victim is J. Jonah Jameson. Police kick down the door to JJJ’s office to find none other than Spider-Man standing over the body, pistol in hand.
After a narrow escape from the police, the story flashes back three weeks and introduces Daily Bugle photographer Ben Urich, who takes Peter Parker under his wing as a sort of apprentice recently hired by JJJ. While Urich shows him the ropes, we get the Peter Parker origin story we all know by now—which is to be expected from a first issue.
The art in this issue leaves a lot to be desired. It’s expected that faces and buildings lose detail as they get further away, but it happens far too quickly in this story. Unless a character is in a full-frame close-up, they often don’t even have mouths. One frame in particular shows Aunt May looking like something out of a horror movie while running to protect her nephew after he defended her from some thugs. Buildings in the far distance stand no chance, being reduced to smudges on the page.
Dialogue between characters is good and captures the speech of the time period, but my overall favorite elements are the internal narrations of Ben Urich. The tone reads just like you’re watching an old detective movie and does a great job of drawing you in. Writers David Hine and Fabrice Sapolsky hook the reader with each introduction of a new character. However, the actual dialogue between characters could afford to lean a bit more into the 1930s New York accent; it reads a bit too modern in my opinion.
In terms of character development, the only true example I could find was Ben's. I won’t be spoiling it here, but he’s heavily involved in the twist at the end. Meanwhile, Peter is stuck in a sob story about the mob whacking Uncle Ben earlier in life. I couldn’t tell if the story wants to follow Peter transforming into Spider-Man or follow Ben’s coverage of Spider-Man and the murder of JJJ. Hopefully, in issue #2, it will become clearer.
Spider-Man Noir #1’s story spends the vast majority of its pages setting the scene for the state of the city, the primary ruling gang working for the Goblin, and Ben’s work for The Bugle. Almost no attempt is made to progress Peter’s story other than him being sad and seeking revenge for the death of his uncle. The progression of the other plot lines held this issue up enough to make me forget I was reading a Spider-Man comic with such little Spider-Man in it.
The story sets up such an interesting baseline and then immediately drops it for a flashback that absorbs 80% of the book. 1930s New York is a setting that is surprisingly overlooked in modern comics, and I find that aspect very innovative—just not innovative enough to go above a 3 out of 5. I’m holding out until we learn more about what makes Spider-Man Noir unique compared to the flooded market that is the Spider-Verse.