(Panini Books)

Across the multi-verse, different versions of Spider-Man are once again called on to tackle a threat to their very existence, because the Inheritors are coming back…

Following on from the events of Spider-Verse, the arachnid assassins are unwittingly restored to life through the machinations of Otto Octavius, aka the Superior Octopus, when he uses clone technology to create back-up bodies in case he is killed.

Despite the intervention of the inter-dimensional Web-Warriors, Octavius’ system is hacked and used to bring back Jennix, Morlun and Venna, leading directly into the forthcoming Spider-Geddon event…

But before the onset of this latest crisis on infinite Spider-Earths, we visit a selection of the protagonists, both new and old, just prior to their recruitment to the forthcoming clash with the Inheritors.

They include the Anarchic Spider-Punk (aka Hobie Brown from Earth-138), Manga-inspired SP//dr (Peni Parker of Earth-14512), the six-armed Norman Osborn Spider-Man of Earth 44145, and the dynamic duo of Spider-Ben and Petey from Earth 91918.

As with any alternate Earth storyline, the key to making these stories work is exploring the diversities from our established reality, and sometimes it’s the subtle tweaks which yield the biggest changes.

For example, when his Uncle Ben is shot by a burglar, young Peter Parker donates blood to save his life, passing on his spider-powers in the process and giving birth to a new crime-fighting partnership… This deft curveball produces the stand-out story in this collection, and also shows a different side to Ben Parker, who has virtually been canonised in other interpretations.

An interesting prologue to what looks like being another fascinating exploration of the impact of web-slingers across numerous dimensions, although whether it holds up to the levels of quality seen in the original Spider-Verse remains to be seen