Spider-Squirrel #3 is a comic written by Charlie McElvy with pencils by Ariel Medel, inks by Juan Castro, and colors by Ross Hughes with Nestor Redulla Jr.. Spider-Squirrel discovers his importance as his world is invaded by villains from different dimensions. This issue has soooo many super folk and a thick plot while also serving as an entry point for multiple upcoming series. Our leading hero is Spider-Squirrel, an agile and strong man who finds himself as the focal point in someone’s scheme. With him is his best friend Trash Panda, a man with the ability to turn into a large panda with some extra strength. Also playing a prominent role here are Hourglass, a woman who can manipulate time, Wonderman, who can mess with multiverses, and Milestone, who can tinker with the fundamental forces. This story has a bunch of dimension hopping and at least five different plot threads so it is possible that you’ll get confused. Your focus will be drawn to different characters with almost no warning so you’ll need to stay on your toes. The action here is pretty much all hard-hits and blasts with a few trickles of blood being as gory as it gets. The pacing is fast, you will get lost a couple of times but you’ll get back on track quickly. The tone is mostly lighthearted but things do get slightly intense a few times. The dialogue is mostly quick-witted and comedic but there are the moments of exposition and explanation. There are quite a few wordy pages. This is an exciting final issue that provides closure while at the same time opening doors for new adventures starring some interesting characters and teams.

            The art here is drawn in a more modern style with possibly the entire color spectrum display here. Due the main location being the city the primary scenery is tall buildings, with the secondary main landscape being a forest environment. This story takes place at night with at night with the starry sky serving as a backdrop. The solid color backgrounds on close ups are more prominent here than in the previous issue but around half the time will be some part of the scene shown there. The expression level here is high as these characters make no attempt to hide what they are feeling. The range is vast as some of these people are in situations that land them near the more extreme ends of the emotional spectrum. The faces are detailed enough that you shouldn’t be confused about any of the looks you’ll see. The mystical and technological effects here are very bright and look as powerful as they should. The action here is mostly punches and kicks with the occasional weapon thrown in. The scenes flow well and there is some blood that appears due to hard hits. There are so many costumes here that look similar to other well-known heroes but there are only so many designs you can do.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like tales filled with superfolk and taking place across different dimensions and times with a thick plot of future potential with some silliness this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

PG-13. Violence.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“The Clone Wars cartoon was pretty sweet though.”

 

Physical Link: https://xionstudios.square.site/product/spider-squirrel-3-main-cover/54?cp=true&sa=false&sbp=false&q=true

Digital Link: https://www.xionstudios.com/products/spider-squirrel-3-vol-1-digital

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/watchguard/spider-squirrel-and-trash-panda-issue-3-grand-for-now-ly/description

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 46

Violent Pages: 15, for 33% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 3

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 2

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 2

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 1

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”