As with Edge of Spider-Verse (2014), it's wrapped into the wider Spider-Verse stories, a set of Bat Family Crossover events that showcase Alternate Universe versions of Spider-Man, usually uniting them as an Alliance of Alternates against a common threat.
The 2022 series was announced as leading into End of the Spider-Verse, which is apparently the last of those crossover events.
The first issue was released on August 03, 2022.
A Sequel Series, also titled Edge of Spider-Verse, launched in May 2023.
Edge of Spider-Verse (2022) contains the following tropes:
- Action Dress Rip: Spinstress has to rip her fancy ballgown in order to fight Queen Mysteria without tripping over it.
- Affectionate Parody: New character Spinstress's debut story is a riff on Disney Princess tropes: a female Green Goblin as a Maleficent-like Fairy Godmother, a Dr. Octopus who resembles a cross between Ursula and Judge Frollo, a female Mysterio who resembles the Evil Queen with the My Beloved Smother personality of Mother Gothel, and, of course, the heroine herself who wanders the streets in disguise like Jasmine before getting drawn into a Cinderella plotline. Additionally, what looks like Princesses Cinderella, Aurora, Tiana, and Jasmine are all visible on the path leading up to the ball being held by Queen Mysteria.
- Alliterative Name:
- In the great tradition of Comic Book names, Web-Weaver's civilian identity is Cooper Coen.
- Spinstress is really Princess Petra.
- Alternate Universe: Each of the stories are set in alternate worlds:
- Spider-Laird is apparently from Earth-1740
- Night-Spider is from Earth-194.
- The third issue reveals that Deadpool: Samurai is set in Earth-346.
- Ambiguous Situation: Queen Mysteria claims her husband was killed by assassins sent by one of the other kingdoms, but one of them says he was killed by her messing around with dark magic. The comic doesn't show which one is right.
- Anthology Comic: There are multiple stories in an issue, with different creative teams for each one. So far, all stories seem to be one-offs, with new Spider-Man variants introduced in each issue.
- As You Know: Queen Mysteria begins her accusation by telling the people she thinks are responsible "as you know".
- Badass Bystander: Wandering minstrel Merry James leaps in to clobber Bishop Octopus with his lute.
- The Cameo: A J. Jonah Jameson appears in Spinstress' story as a herald, while versions of Emma Frost, Doctor Strange, Clea, and Queen Ramonda all appear at the ball, and a background extra looks like the Ultimate version of Peter Parker himself.
- Canon Immigrant: Sakura Spider from Deadpool: Samurai — a collaboration between Marvel and Shueisha Inc. that was published in the latter's Jump+ — gets her origin story told in the third issue, and is recruited into the Spider-Army by Madame Web.
- Challenge Seeker: Night-Spider becomes one after her new powers made committing heists too easy, thereby ruining the thrill of being a Classy Cat-Burglar for her. She gets so bored that she tries turning herself in just to see whether she can find a new challenge in prison escapes. When Earth-616's Aranā arrives in Felicia's dimension to recruit her aid in saving the Spider-Verse, Night-Spider eagerly Jumps At The Call the second she hears Aranã describe her mission as "completely hopeless".
- Dances and Balls: Being a Cinderella parody, Spinstress's story naturally has one. Queen Mysteria turns it into an attempt to accuse the guests of murdering her husband, followed by killing them.
- Darker and Edgier: Spoofed with Spider-Ham in issue #4. He has gone legit dark and edgy, but only by his standards, so he's still somewhat silly (such as pointing out how Talking Is a Free Action).
- Evil Is Hammy: Queen Mysteria is quite restrained. The Mysterious Empress is not, with much ranting about her fiendish plan, and how the world will be hers.
- Evil Is Not Well-Lit: When Queen Mysteria dons the crystal ball and becomes the Mysterious Empress, all the lights in the ball room go out. They go back to normal when Spinstress knocks her unconscious.
- Evil Is Petty: Shathra decided to conquer the Multiverse and kill or corrupt all Spiders in it because her moms liked her younger sister's Great Web better than her own Great Nest.
- Expy: The version of Janet Van Dyne from Web-Weaver's world is a middle aged fashion mogul known for her quick temper and prickly personality, clearly taking more than a little influence from Miranda Priestly.
- Frying Pan of Doom: Spinstress clobbers her world's Doc Ock with a large skillet.
- Funetik Aksent: Spider-Laird's dialogue is written this way.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: Queen Mysteria indignantly lampshades the trope, while demonstrating why it exists in the first place, since she's trying to kill the guests at her own ball.
- Internal Homage: Hunter-Spider's story (an Arachnized Kraven the Hunter) is more than a clear nod to the original Kraven's Last Hunt, even having the same creative team and the same plot beats.
- It Runs on Nonsensoleum: Being struck by a glowing meteorite that was covered in extraterrestrial spiders somehow caused Pter Ptarker and Norrannosaurman to swap species, and gain new color schemes based on Spider-Man (complete with a Chest Insignia) and the Green Goblin.
- King Incognito: Spinstress tries doing this, but sort of fails to get that if she wants to go incognito she should maybe stop singing out loud about how she's royalty. Instead she ends up singing a Suspiciously Specific Denial about how she's totally ordinary.
- Knight Templar Parent: Queen Mysteria is determined to gain magical power to avenge the murder of her husband and protect her daughter. This ends up bringing her into conflict with her daughter, which she fails to notice, a fact Spinstress doesn't appreciate.
- Mundane Object Amazement: Princess Petra is apparently so sheltered she's never seen a frying pan before.
- No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: Night-Spider ends up turning herself in out of boredom because her new powers make stealing so easy that she considers them to be a case of Cursed with Awesome.
- Parental Obliviousness: Queen Mysteria doesn't recognise that the mysterious Spinstress looks just like her daughter in a mask and different hairstyle. She also somehow mishears her saying "mom" out loud. Possibly because she's got a crystal ball on her head.
- Refugee from TV Land: Syllie Spider is a comic strip character that literally breaks the fourth wall to escape from prison and ends up in the photorealistically drawn real world. It's still black and white, but he's disgusted by the level of detail on everything. When recruited to the war, he also notes disgust at the colors on Spider-UK and Madame Web.
- Rewatch Bonus: At the end of her story, Spinstress notes in all the confusion she's lost a shoe. Through the fight scene, her right foot is always obscured by something.
- Robot Religion: The anthropomorphic vehicles of Earth-53931 believe that the stick figure on traffic signs represents a deity called the "Great Driver" who will one day return to drive them all along the "One True Highway."Aunt-T: He's the reason we were born into this world with foot pedals and hand brakes. With steering wheels and seat belts! All for him!
- Start of Darkness: Shathra's origin is revealed in Edge #2. She and her younger sister, Neith, were the daughters of the Elder Gods, specifically Gaea and Oshtur, and when their mothers preferred Neith's Great Web to Shathra's Great Nest, Shathra's jealousy and anger over this turned her into a wasp deity, and the enemy of the spiders that were created by Neith (who is implicitly the Great Weaver) to maintain the Great Web.
- Sudden Anatomy: Shathra is shown to have a Jagged Mouth in her origin flashback in Edge #2.
- Take That!: As she drafts her deal with Spinstress, Norma the Fairy Gob-Mother quickly mentions "no deals with the Devil" and "no magician undoing everything" in reference to One More Day, One Moment in Time, and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
- Terrible Artist: Shathra and her ragged-looking Great Nest, which ended being replaced by her sister's much more aesthetic Great Web.Shathra: A honeycombed structure, where every soul will grow and evolve in solitude... until they are ready to become one with their hive. I call it—the Great Nest!
Neith: It's... um... well... you... definitely put a lot of work into it. - When the Clock Strikes Twelve: Spinstress' deal with Norma requires her to retrieve a magical orb before midnight, or she'll never be able to find true love. The orb gets destroyed.
