Marvel’s huge upcoming Spider-Man comic book event the Spider-Verse is already igniting the consciousnesses of Spider-Man comic book fans everywhere with the Edge of Spider-Verse and Superior Spider-Man preludes. This is hardly surprising considering that the central premise of the storyline is that we get more Spider-Man for our money as we get to see almost every version and iteration of Spider-Man there’s ever been. Of course it’ll get people flocking in high numbers to pick up the story.

However the Spider-Verse is genius for so many more reasons than the pure fan-service of seeing four or five different Spider-Men (and Women) in the same place. For starters the storyline is introducing a swathe of new Spider-Men characters that we’ve never seen before like Gwen Stacy’s Spider-Woman, Dr. Aaron Aikman from a futuristic sci-fi Spider-Man world and Peni Parker a 14 year old girl who pilots a Spider-Man powered mech-suit.

If just one of these characters takes off in a big way (And it already looks like Gwen Stacy’s Spider-Woman has) then Marvel and the Spider-Man team (Dan Slott etc) have themselves another title to release, presenting Spider-Man fans with another Spider-Man hero to follow other than the Amazing, Ultimate, Sometimes Superior and 2099 Spider-Men. If you can make another Spider-Man take off like all of those just listed did, you’ve created another iconic character and therefore you’ve created another facet of income.

But the genius doesn’t end there. By showing us every Spider-Man we’ve ever seen in one place Marvel is spotlighting and highlighting the entirety of Spider-Man’s history, everything the WebHead has ever done, in any shape or form, is being brought up, referenced or shown through the Spider-Verse. Superior Spider-Man #32 showed us several iterations of Spider-Man in several different stories, the House of M, the Fantastic Five, etc etc.

Why is this genius? Well, Marvel are surely going to be raking in sales for all of the comic book storylines that Spider-Man has ever been in, as people read the Spider-Verse and discover the House of M Spider-Man and want to know more about his story they’ll seek out and buy the House of M Spider-Man comics. Spider-Man Noir returned in Edge of Spider-Verse #1 and I’ll eat my hat if this didn’t result in a sudden boost of sales for the previous Spider-Man Noir titles directly afterwards.

If you needed some evidence that what I’m talking about is actually taking place then look no further than my recent article asking people through a poll if Marvel should release solo titles for Spider-Man Noir, and Spider-Gwen who were the stars of the first two Edge of Spider-Verse issues. The resounding answer was ‘Yes’ with 98% of people coming out resoundingly in favour.

Essentially Marvel have come up with a storyline that simultaneously encourages fans to buy older comic book storylines, whilst introduces them to potential new titles to fall in love with, all whilst convincing people that they are being given the greatest thing ever by seeing a whole bunch of Spider-Men in one place. It’s the perfect sales strategy and to be honest I really don’t care, I’m enjoying paying for, and reading, every second of it so far!

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