Looking back at that story arc, though, I’m less than impressed. While the idea of a remorseless serial killer bonding with an equally deranged alien symbiote is a good one, the delivery was off. Instead of something genuinely chilling we got a two-dimensional, almost cartoonish character who was often more tiresome than terrifying.

But I always thought the potential was there, and writer Zeb Wells is proving me right with his current Carnage USA mini-series from Marvel. Today we’re going to look at the first two issues. All you need to know comes right after these ads.

Carnage USA Issue 1

The concept of the story is this: Cletus Cassidy wants to take over the world, and he’s starting in a small town in Colorado, USA.

And that, so far, is it. It sounds like a hokey idea on paper, but Wells is really nailing the execution of it, and the series is already turning into one of the best Marvel stories I’ve read in years.

Things start slowly as we are introduced to some of the residents of the sleepy town of Doverton. We see kids playing, pensioners sitting on their porch, even the town drunk being half-carried home by friendly townsfolk. And then Cletus Cassidy turns up and what happens next is out and out… well, Carnage.

And what a Carnage he is. Cletus doesn’t come over in the “ooh, I’m mad, me!” way he has in many of his other appearances. He is portrayed here as cruel and sadistic. There is a real undercurrent of danger in everything he says and does, so that even when he is behaving “normally” we never know what he’s going to do next.

As the town falls to Cassidy and his ‘other’, the US Government starts to take notice. The Avengers are sent in to bring Carnage down, and in one of the few weak points of the story they get their asses handed to them in about five seconds flat.

Seriously, I suspect my grandmother could’ve done more to stop Carnage than Cap, Wolverine and the rest of them did, and my grandmother has been dead for 18 years. Their shocking performance was enough to pull me out of the story for a second, but it’s the only foot Wells puts wrong in the opening issue, and without giving too much away it does make for a fantastic big splash panel in the final pages.

Spider-Man himself manages to escape in issue two, thanks to the intervention of some of the surviving townsfolk. How this will play out remains to be seen, because much of the second issue is devoted to the five new symbiote characters that are introduced. Yes, more symbiotes. You’d think the idea had been stretched far enough, but apparently Wells disagrees. I’m going to trust him for now and see how it goes, but none of them really do much for me on the basis of this issue.

Fortunately, we’re treated to some more scenes with Cassidy being proper sinister. He is using his ‘other’ to work the townspeople like puppets, and the sight of him clutching the baby of a woman he has deemed his ‘wife’ as she kneels on the floor begging for her child’s life reveals just how dark a tale this is shaping up to be.

The artist, Clayton Crain, is on top form here. I’m a huge fan of his hyper-realistic style which reminds me in many ways of the work of Alex Ross. The way he paints Carnage himself is particularly revolting. Never before has a symbiote looked so gloopy and alive, and Crain’s artwork takes an already strong story and just lifts it to a whole new level.

Critics of Crain’s style say his panels are often too dark and muddy, and that occasionally happens here. But this is the type of story that needs “dark and muddy”. It’s the Spider-Man equivalent of the Brad Pitt movie, Se7en, and Cletus Cassidy is shaping up to be every bit as psychotic as Kevin Spacey’s John Doe character in that movie.

I read both of these issues in digital format, and Crain’s artwork impressed me so much that I’m going to seek them out in print just so I can flip through the pages and absorb the images any time I like.

As much a horror story as a superhero tale, Carnage USA is shaping up to be something really special. Whether the slew of new symbiotes will drag it down in future issues remains to be seen, but for now I’m hooked in for the ride.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

You can pre-order the hardback collected edition of Carnage USA from Amazon now. Doing so helps support ThePhantomZone.

If you don’t know about the Clone Saga then I’m not going to be the one to inflict it upon you. Suffice to say it was one of the worst, most convoluted Spider-Man stories in the character’s history, and that your life is all the better for not having read it.

There wasn’t much good that came from the Clone Saga, but there were a few potentially interesting characters contained in its apparently endless pages. One such character was Kaine – a deformed clone of Peter Parker who was twisted in both body and mind. He was one of the villains of the story, although his motivations and loyalties shifted with virtually every issue.

Anyway, fast forward 15 years or so and Kaine popped up in the pages of the recent Spider Island story arc. Without giving too much away, Kaine was presented with the opportunity to sort his act out, and the damage to his body was repaired. Fast forward another couple of months and Kaine is now the star of his very own series, Scarlet Spider. But is it any good? On the basis of this first issue it’s looking promising.

Kaine is a man on the run. Haunted by the memories of his past life as a proper wrong ‘un, he is attempting to flee the US and set himself up in a beach hut in Mexico. He plans to get money by beating the crap out of some low level criminals and stealing their loot, which he does in impressive style in this issue’s opening pages.

Things turn sour for poor Kaine, though, when he discovers a big metal crate full of dead folks who were being illegally smuggled into the country against their will. Down there among the flies and the rotting flesh he finds one survivor, and despite his better judgement he brings her to the closest hospital.

That, as far as Kaine is concerned, is the end of his involvement, but events of the story soon begin to drag him back in. He wants to run, to be able to forget his past and live a normal life, but the old Parker (clone) luck seems determined to get in the way.

What makes this such a promising issue is the character of Kaine himself. The tagline on the front cover reads “All of the power. None of the responsibility” and that sums the concept up perfectly. Kaine is Spider-Man, but without the love of Aunt May to guide him, or the tragic death of Uncle Ben to set him on the path to hero-dom.

This is not a tale of a Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Hero, it’s the story of a man torn between protecting himself and making amends for his past wrongdoings. Kaine’s moral compass is still spinning at the end of this first issue so it is unclear whether he’ll become a hero or a villain, or something else entirely. Because this is Marvel, it’s almost certain to be the former, but the path Kaine takes to get there could make for an interesting journey.

This is a strong first issue by writer Christopher Yost (X-Men, Batman) and the artwork by Ryan Stegman compliments it perfectly. I can’t wait until February to find out what these guys can do with issue 2.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Except taxidermy. No-one wants a fortnightly collection about taxidermy.

The latest collection to hit newsagents is the Marvel Ultimate Graphic Novel Collection which comes courtesy of Hachette Partworks. It claims to collect some of the most important stories in the Marvel Universe into exclusive hardback editions with some exclusive bonus content tacked on for good measure.

The books retail at £9.99 from issue 3 onwards, but part one is available now for just £2.99, and part 2 will be available for £6.99 when it is released in a week or two. But in these dark times of austerity, should you be chucking your cash at this? Short answer: “Yes, probably”. Long answer continues after the ads…

Hachette has been very clever in its choice of the first book to release in the series. It’s the classic Amazing Spider-Man tale, Coming Home, written by J Michael Straczynski with pencils by John Romita Jr. For those of you unfamiliar with the tale, it was first published in comic form back in 2002 and ushered in a new era in the life of Peter Parker.

Sick of playing second fiddle to the rest of New York, and equally fed up of having people kidnap and/or attempt to murder her, Mary Jane has given Peter the elbow, leaving him heartbroken and confused. As if that isn’t enough, a mysterious figure named Ezekiel, with powers not unlike his own turns up and starts messing with his head. Ezekiel also warns Peter that a great danger is coming that is unlike anything he has ever faced before. A few pages later, when said danger – new villain, Morlun – does turn up, the action kicks into overdrive and Peter is caught up in the fight of his life.

The reason I say Hachette has been clever in their choice of story is not just because it’s one of the best Spider-Man stories of the past 10 years, but because it’s essentially a tale about beginnings. Peter is beginning a new life without Mary Jane, he starts a new job, meets a new ally and a new enemy on the same day, and begins a journey of self-discovery that helped keep the character fresh and exciting for the next decade.

Straczynski is on top form here. He takes Spider-Man back to basics and reminds us why we love the character in the first place. This is a Spidey who is willing to risk everything – his life and his secret identity – in order to protect innocents. This is a Spidey who refuses to back down or run away if it means putting anyone else in danger. This is a Spidey who knows all too well that with great power comes great responsibility.

There is a lot of action in these pages – and I mean a lot – and the fighting and swinging stuff is drawn perfectly by Romita. The only part of the artwork I have issue with is the way Romita draws faces. More often than not they look oddly ape-like, and in the scenes where Ezekiel first makes his appearance he looks more like X-Men’s Beast than someone with spider-powers as he leaps and swings through the city.

Despite all the action, it is Peter’s intelligence that ultimately saves the day, which is a nice touch, and something we sometimes don’t get to see enough of.  Straczynksi gives us a character that is Peter Parker first and Spider-Man second, and the story is all the stronger for it.

So, do I recommend you pick this first issue up for £2.99? Yes. God yes. The paperback is available on Amazon for £9.00, and for less than a third of that price you’re getting a nice hardback edition with a few pages of extra artwork and character biographies. The next issue in the series is the X-Men’s Dark Phoenix Saga which collects Uncanny X-Men #129-137. This is another steal at £6.99, and I’ll definitely be grabbing my copy as soon as it appears in the shops.

For more information on the Marvel Ultimate Graphic Novel Collection, check out the official website.