Aracely is just adorable. I bet writer Chris Yost has a blast writing her alongside Kaine. The two of them – the straight man and the silly girl – are definitely the heart of this series, and Scarlet Spider #17 is the two of them on an adorable field trip to New York. Granted, Kaine is going there to kill Wolverine, but the trip is still a blast. No one says they can’t enjoy the trip while they’re there.

Scarlet Spider #17

This is one of the most fun issues of Scarlet Spider yet. Free of any other concerns, Yost dives into a free-standing crossover with the X-Men that’s mostly about Kaine and Aracely being awesome.

Comic Rating: 4.5/5 – Very Good.

I’ll share some of the best moments in the full synopsis. I suppose your enjoyment of this issue depends entirely on how much you can stand Aracely. I love her. Yost is clearly having a lot of fun writing her dialogue, and Kaine makes for the perfect companion. He’s willing to put up with her because he clearly cares for her, but everything she does seems to drive him bonkers. It’s a great buddy comedy set up. I think Yost could stand to start answering some questions about Aracely, or maybe explore a bit deeper her relationship with Kaine, but for now, I’m not complaining.

This is just a fun issue, and it works very well as a crossover too. Yost handles the X-Men just as well as he handles his own characters, and it’s great to see the Scarlet Spider interact with the larger Marvel Universe. I doubt he’ll be headlining any Big Events anytime soon, but any acknowledgement that Kaine is indeed part of the Marvel Universe is a welcome one.

Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!

There’s incoming at Park Plaza Hospital, and Dr. Meland is on hand to check it out. It seems a gang member has been brought in with multiple gunshot wounds – but there’s something else. Meland finds an odd red ball blocking one of the wounds, and scratched into the ball is the name ‘Kaine’.

This is the Assassin’s Guild’s way of saying ‘we need to meet’.

Belladonna and Smithy are at a nice restaurant in River Oaks waiting for Scarlet Spider. It seems that Smithy’s hands have been fixed, but he’s still pissed at Kaine. Which is why when Kaine does show up, he announces himself by smacking Smithy in the head.

As always, he looks good in red

Kaine stabs Smithy’s hand again before taking a seat to have the meeting with Belladonna. A few issues ago, the Assassin’s Guild promised to leave Kaine and all of his friends alone if he promised to kill one person of their choosing. Belladonna has come to collect. His target is Wolverine of the X-Men. And either Kaine kills him or the Guild kills Aracely and all of his friends. Kaine agrees.

Back at the hotel, Aracely really, really wants to go with him. She talks a mile a minute about all the reasons why she should go, from the two of them being a team, to her handling herself against the werewolves, to her just being a really great traveling companion. Plus she just really wants to see New York! She doesn’t let Kaine get a word in edgewise. When he does get a chance to speak, he tells her that she is coming with him. He even has a fake passport for her already.

Aracely is very excited.

On the flight over, Kaine wonders how this trip could have come about. The entire series has been about his efforts to get away from New York City, but now he’s back, complete with a First Class plane ticket, a fake ID and a limo waiting to pick them up at the airport. As they ride through the streets of New York, Aracely looks out the window and sees Spider-Man swing by. Kaine figures Peter Parker were be so proud that he’s acting as an assassin to kill an X-Man.

We cut to the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning in Westchester, where Kaine gives us a narrated tour of the school and its faculties. He uses his ability to ‘speak’ to spiders to search the building for Wolverine while he and Aracely – complete with her own new superhero costume – hide out in the woods nearby. Kaine has also switched his costume to stealth mode.

How did she piece together that costume? It’s very intricate

Kaine tells her that he can’t really ‘talk’ to spiders, just sense what they’re sensing. And from what he senses, they’re going to have to be quick. The two get ready to move…

What did I say? Adorable.

Aracely rings the doorbell and Toad answers. She uses her empath powers to frighten him away, calling herself ‘the scariest mutant ever’ with her own scary mutant costume. Aracely and Kaine slip inside, with him still in stealth mode.

Outside, the Assassin’s Guild has a sniper watching the two of them.

Inside, Kaine and Aracely work their way through the school. Aracely can communicate telepathically with Kaine, though it takes some getting used to. Aracely – or Hummingbird, I suppose – eventually runs into Rachel Grey, who knows that she isn’t supposed to be there. Rachel tries to read Aracely’s mind, but our heroine strikes back, calling upon her ancient Mexican powers to mind-zap everyone in the school. Or maybe she’s doing it unintentionally. Either way, Aracely taps into her Huitzilopochtli-ness and everyone in the building can feel it.

Everyone starts freaking out and running in all directions. Rachel gets control of herself long enough to sense Kaine and call in back-up. Kaine is tackled by Beast! He recognizes that Kaine smells like Spider-Man, but he’s definitely not Spider-Man. Soon Kaine is in a fight against Beast and Iceman in the halls of the school.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

He defeats them both with some webbing to the face, but Kaine is stopped when Kitty Pryde shows up and phases her hand through his head. It seems the fight is over, but then Aracely shows up and uses her powers to freak Kitty out. Kaine fights back, taking out Beast and Iceman.

And that’s when Wolverine shows up.

It’s just business

The fight is pretty badass, with the two tearing at each other. Kaine is faster and stronger, he notes, but Wolverine just keeps getting back up. Then a claw slice to the face causes Kaine to momentarily black out into his Other personality, and he stabs one of his own claws into Wolverine’s heart. He snaps back to himself just as he slices Wolverine’s heart in half, killing him.

He pulls out his claw, turns to the rest of the X-Men and asks, “Who’s next?”

This was just a fun and awesome issue. Fun in the banter between Kaine and Aracely, and awesome in the battle between Kaine and the X-Men. Everything one might want from an issue of Scarlet Spider can be found within these pages. Fun characters, a cool story and finally, at long last, a connection to the larger Marvel Universe. I really enjoyed this issue. Yost did a great job with his characters and with the X-Men guest stars. He’s clearly having fun, and that makes for a fun comic. What more could anyone ask of Scarlet Spider?

I’m also very pleased with new artist Carlo Barberi. Regular readers of my reviews will recall how much I disliked the last artist, Khoi Pham. His style was just too sketchy for my tastes. It lacked fluid detail and I just didn’t like it. But Barberi’s style is clear, detailed and very action-packed. The fight scenes are fantastic. Pham was terrible with action scenes. Original artist Ryan Stegman was great, but he got promoted to Superior Spider-Man, so I’m grateful to see another solid action artist back on Scarlet Spider.