Welcome, everybody to DrunkWooky’s read through Nick Spencer’s 2020 Spider-Man event, Sins Rising! Spencer’s entire run has been hinting and building up to this event and I’m cautiously optimistic to see what it holds!
Sins Rising brings the return of Sin Eater, one of Spider-Man’s more disturbing, to readers! What is Sin Eater’s goal? What does Kindred have to do with it? We’ll find out together!
Preludes:
Peter Parker Spectacular Spider-Man 107-110 (“The Death of Jean DeWolff“): This story line by Peter David, as drawn by Rich Buckler and Sal Buscema, is a good read in its own right. It’s as close to a gritty crime noir as Spider-Man gets and it’s really quite grim. Sin-Eater, one of the main antagonists in Spencer’s 2020 Sins Rising, makes his first appearance here. You can read it in single issues, trade paperback, and digital.
Essential Read?: As I explain below, you could probably skip Death of Jean DeWolff and just read the Sins Rising Prelude, but I don’t know why you would. This is a great storyline that is often overlooked. It’s the precursor for Eddie Brock’s fall from grace as a reporter for the Daily Bugle and it’s honestly a side of Spider-Man we don’t often see. You could just rely on Sins Rising Prelude, but that issue more supplements this storyline rather than replaces it.
Spectacular Spider-Man ## 134-136: Peter David revisits the Death of Jean DeWolff story line here and follows up with Sin-Eater. Sin-Eater is released from the asylum after serving a year and Spidey is pissed! Spidey has a change of heart when he visits Sin-Eater and finds him disabled from Spidey’s former beating. This leads to more introspection about Peter’s thoughts on justice and his bias against Stan Carter. This is a fun read, but probably not as essential to the Sins Rising story line as the original Death of Jean DeWolff storyline if you’re going to read the Prelude below.
The Amazing Spider-Man (2018) ## 37, 44: Throughout Spencer’s run on Spider-Man, a shadowy figure named Kindred has been observing Spider-Man’s actions. He shows up just over a dozen times over the course of 44 issues, starting with #1, Kindred’s first appearance. You could skip most of the issues if you like, because Kindred’s story is a background to the main story lines in each issue. The exception to that would probably be #37, and #44. These two parts will play in heavily to the main Sins Rising event.
Trade paperback (release date: 11/10/2020): Collects ASM 44-47, Sins Rising Prelude.
Sins Rising Prelude #1: If you aren’t going to read the Peter David Spectacular Spider-Man material above, this Prelude is essential to get you up to speed on Sin-Eater as a villain. If you have, it adds great new material to the mythos!
Read my full review of Sins Rising Prelude #1 here!
Sins Rising
The Amazing Spider-Man (2018) #45: The Sins Rising story line begins in earnest here! While this issue is essential, I have to admit that it covers a lot of ground that we already covered in ASM 37, 44, and the Sins Rising Prelude. The final few pages need to be read for the rest of the story, but the beginning is a bit of a slog to get through.
