Spider-Punk (subtitled Battle of the Banned for its collected edition) is a 2022 limited series from Marvel Comics, written by Cody Ziglar and illustrated by Justin Mason, with color art by Jim Charalampidis.
The series is connected to the shared Marvel Universe, but set in an Alternate Universe (Earth-138) where Hobie Brown, the Anarchic Spider-Man, strives to protect his world from the chaos created by the death of President Osborn.
The first issue was released April 6, 2022.
Spider-Punk provides examples of:
- Alternate Self:
- The Spider-Man of this universe is Hobie Brown, better known on Earth-616 as the original Prowler. Unlike his mainstream counterpart, Hobie is a much bigger hero on his Earth and led a rebellion against his corrupt government.
- Captain Anarchy, Earth-138's equivalent of Captain America and Hobie's right-hand man, is this universe's Karl Morgenthau AKA Flag-Smasher. Unlike his Earth-616 counterpart, who was a Swiss-born Cap villain that led a group of Western Terrorists, this Karl is a young Cowlitz who became a staunch anti-fascist while defending his home against Neo-Nazis.
- A variant of Riri Williams appears in this comic as Riot Heart, and serves as the Spider-Band's resident Techno Wizard and muscle.
- Issue #2 introduces Earth-138's Kamala Khan, an eccentric Genki Girl who serves as both the Spider-Band's bassist and fights with knuckle dusters.
- Issue #3 introduces Mattea Murdock, a Latina Blind Weaponmaster who operates as a vigilante in Philly and can amplify the range and potency of her radar sense by drumming like a maniac with her sticks.
- Bomb-Throwing Anarchists: Hobie's treated as such by President Osborn's totalitarian regime, which he opposes as a foul-mouthed cynical antihero.
- Civvie Spandex: Hobie wears a leather jacket overtop of his Spider-Man costume.
- The Power of Rock: Hobie immobilizes the V.E.N.O.M.-equipped Thunderbolt Department with a giant sound system
◊, then smashes President Osborn's head with his electric guitar. - The Quincy Punk: Hobie's an abrasive Spider-Man with spikes on his mask (resembling a mohawk) and a leather jacket over the rest of his costume, though it's subverted in that Hobie is still unambiguously a hero at the end of the day.
- Retronym: The series was originally published as simply Spider-Punk, but gained a subtitle for the collectd edition, becoming Spider-Punk: Battle of the Banned.
- Shout-Out: Hobie paraphrases the famous Dead Kennedys line when kicking Kraven in the face.Spider-Punk: NAZI-PUNKS CAN #@<$ OFF!
- The Taskmaster of this universe has a costume design that's heavily based on The Misfits.
- Speech Bubbles: Notably different to most Marvel comics. They use an ivory background, not pure white, so stand out against the gutters. All speech is in a fairly bold font, and words that might be emphasised with bold or italics in other books are written in red.
- Spikes of Villainy: Inverted, as it's Hobie - the hero - who has a row of spikes on his mask.
- Symbol Swearing: Hobie and friends swear fairly regularly and it's censored with symbols.
