In reviewing the Edge of Spider-Verse mini-series, I couldn’t help but applaud the overall strength and tone of the stories presented. Some of them were flat-out superb and others, while a little more middling, still deserved props for taking bold steps in new directions with the Spider-Man mythos. It was an excellent opportunity to celebrate Spider-Man by exploring alternate Spiders new and old and at points marry them to the narrative of the approaching Spider-Verse arc. It wasn’t always consistent, but it didn’t need to be — that would happen in November, when Spider-Verse arrived.

Well, November’s here, and I have to admit, I have mixed feelings about Spider-Verse #1. While each of the six stories presented in this issue have their own charm and creative spark, there’s an inconsistency in narrative focus that I was frankly hoping would have been abandoned once we hit the Spider-Verse stride. Things fortunately appear to be going that way in Amazing Spider-Man, at least, but what we seem to have in Spider-Verse is more of a continuation of what we got in Edge of Spider-Verse.

With that said, I actually enjoyed each of the entries immensely. Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos open things up with the beautiful 3-page “Enter the Spider-Verse,” which is more of a mood piece that establishes narrative premise and tone than it is an actual story. That doesn’t make it any less memorable than the other stories, and while I’m sure Ramos’s gorgeous 2-page spread of the Master Weaver’s Web of Life will get much of the attention from readers, for me it’s that first page that’s the most memorable. It reads like we’d expect Peter’s fateful origin story to start, but with a twist that invites readers to treat it as a writing prompt about how they would change Spider-Man’s story if one significant element had been altered.

The next story, “Spider Clan: The Many,” does an excellent job of conveying the feel of Mangaverse Spider-Man’s world while deftly tying it to the larger narrative at the end of the story. Jake Parker’s artwork gels very nicely with Skottie Young’s highly stylized tale of ninja clans and ancient mysticism. With lively action, bold line work, and vibrant colors, it reads very much like “Avatar: the Last Airbender” meets Spider-Man, which from me is high praise, particularly for a part of Spider-Lore with which I’m so unfamiliar.

I really like “Steampunk Lady Spider,” even if it is one of the standalone stories I lamented earlier for not tying into the larger narrative.  It does, however, continue to make the case that these stories knock it out of the park in terms of showing inspiring and believable iterations of women in the hero’s main role. Denis Medri’s beautiful and detailed artwork combines with a varied yet subtle color palette supplied by Paolo Francescutto to make a visually stunning depiction of Robbie Thompson’s highly creative and memorable steampunk take on Spider-Man. I really liked that we got not only May Reilly as the Lady Spider, but also a steampunk iteration of the Sinister Six in this story.

The one-page, 8-panel strip “Spider-Man In ‘Late for a Date!’” is a pretty funny spoof on the Hostess ads in which Spidey used to appear in past comics, even as it veers into dark territory with Morlun’s appearance. Oddly, Ty Templeton, the artist, and colorist Chris Sotomayor are credited on that page, but not on the main title page, which is strange when you consider that this counts as one of the six stories advertised on the cover of Spider-Verse #1.

“Penelope Parker” also fails to tie into Spider-Verse, but is nevertheless a cute, chibi-fied version of the Spider-Man origin story that shows how love and acceptance of someone’s differences can be the primary inspiration for that someone to rise to greatness by exploring the very things that make them different from others. This shouldn’t be surprising, as it’s both written and drawn by Katie Cook, whose work on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is very big on these kinds of themes.

Finally, we have two pages of eight 2-panel stories told in the format of the newspaper comic strips that once featured Spider-Man. This piece brilliantly pokes fun at newspaper strips’ tendency to repeat action and dialog between installments, which both flusters Morlun and makes for a surprising twist that the Master Weaver initiates. Like the snack parody from before, the creators Tom Grummet and an unnamed Palmer are credited on the story page, but not the title page.

It’s been no secret that Marvel hasn’t been very forthcoming about what Spider-Verse is actually supposed to be, narratively.  It involves a plethora of Spider-Totems — “every Spider-Man ever,” apparently — and Morlun and the Inheritors are involved in hunting them. Other plot details, such as this great hunt being kicked off en masse by Peter freeing Cindy Moon, have been gradually revealed. Now that we’ve been introduced to the lead-in and started the main plot, the fact that we’re still continuing to see stories that sometimes tie in to the larger narrative, sometimes don’t, tells me that they’re not quite sure what they intend this story to be.

To me, that’s disappointing. Because as enjoyable as these stories are, there doesn’t feel like there’s anything in the way of narrative progression, which is what I feel we were promised by this point in time. Make no mistake, I enjoy this collection of stories for what it is. They’re fun, imaginative and creative takes on Spider-Man mythology, as well as solid depictions of what it is and should be to be a hero in the mold of Spidey.

But we got all of this in Edge of Spider-Verse, which leads me to ask, why are we bothering to differentiate this series from its predecessor?  I’d be fine with continuing Edge of Spider-Verse, or anything with a different name that lets creators play freely in the Spider-Man sandbox.  I just think that Marvel is having a problem with defining and sticking to what these related, yet discreet, blocks of narrative are supposed to accomplish.