Kelly, Joe
AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:
2.5 out of 5
(2 books)
TOP PICK:
Non-Stop Spider-Man: Big Brain Play
Non-Stop Spider-Man: Big Brain Play
(Art by Chris Bachalo, Cory Smith, Gerardo Sandoval, Tim Townsend, Wayne Faucher, Al Vey, John Livesay, Jaime Mendoza, Victor Nava, Victor Olazaba and Dale Eaglesham)
Spider-Man discovers a shocking link between the tragic drug overdose deaths of several promising young people and a series of encounters with street-level villains who suddenly show genius-level intellects. Fuelled by rage and desperation, he relentlessly pursues the fascist villains behind the plot, among whom is Nazi and Hydra leader Baron Zemo.
This book is a curious mix of things I thought were great and things I absolutely hated, which overall left me a bit ambivalent and nonplussed.
Among the things I liked here was the truly heinous nature of the antagonists' plot, giving Spider-Man an unambiguous enemy to focus all of his anger on (Nazis are good for that). It was also interesting to see some of the lower-level villains, specifically the luciadore-themed Zapata Brothers, equally horrified to learn of the xenophobic roots of the plot they're caught up in. The other thing I really liked was something that at first I wasn't keen on. This book leans into the 'Non-Stop' part of its title and has exactly that in terms of action and pacing. To begin with it felt a bit like dumbing-down (keep the action up so we don't have to deal with anything more complex) but it eventually proved to be a gauntlet for Spider-Man, pushing his endurance to the limit, with his web-fluid running out and no time to replenish it, until all he has left to drive him is his righteous anger. Oddly, it reminded me a little bit of the build-up to Batman's fateful confrontation with Bane in the 'Knightfall' storyline (reviewed here).
Balancing all of that was the fact that Spidey's Spider-Sense now talks to him in actual words, a design choice which I absolutely hated. We didn't need it to literally say 'BEHIND YOU!' for the last 60 years to get that was what it meant, so I've no idea who thought it would be a good idea to introduce it now. The other thing I hated, and which is a similar aesthetic choice, is the use of Gen Z language in the dialogue. It was bad enough when Spidey used the term 'fam' but I draw the line at having Baron Zemo use phrases like 'drip' and 'swagger'. Call me an ageing Millennial all you like but I hated this.
So yeah, overall a very mixed bag of good and bad.
3 out of 5
Savage Spider-Man
(Art by Gerardo Sandoval, Mike Bowden, Vicotr Nava and Wayne Faucher)
Following on directly from 'Non-Stop Spider-Man: Big Brain Play', this book begins with Spider-Man forcibly evolved into a half-human savage spider-monster and trapped on an isolated island with Baron Zemo. Enslaved by Zemo, they attack their mutual enemies the Immaculatum but Spider-Man evolution is far from over.
This is a book of two halves, both of which are very derivative of Spider-Man stories that have come before. In the first half we get a Spider-Man who is, largely, an unthinking animal of pure rage, something which has been done several times before, not least in the classic 90s animated series. Then second half sees Peter becoming a super-intelligent Spider-Man of pure logic, which feels like an attempt to capture the feel of the very popular Superior Spider-Man arc. It fails, lacking the pathos and emotional hook of having Doc Ock take over Peter's body and instead coming off as more like Spider-Spock.
There was definite potential in some of what is here but it never get the chance to shine. Also, it's ludicrous that with 30 minutes left to save the world, Peter stops to design and build a whole new costume for himself (it's suggested that he's repurposed a Hydra suit, but where did it get the webbing design and Spider-goggles?). It's perhaps more ludicrous that the new costume had Rob Liefeld-esque thigh pouches. Have we learned nothing?
2 out of 5
Read more...
Marvel Comics (here)