SuperSearnold - Comic Book Reviews

Greetings from your friendly neighborhood Searnold [Shár- Nŭhld]. Welcome to my comic book review blog - thanks for tuning in. Today is Sunday, October 5th 2008.

Today’s Issue:
It’s here! It’s here! It’s finally here! I proudly present you with Brand New Day week - where each day I will review one of this years Spider-Man stories, starting with Brand New Day and leading all the way up to New Ways To Die. Today it all starts with Amazing Spider-Man #546 - #548. This arc was written by Dan Slott (Avengers Initiative, She-Hulk) with art by Steve McNiven (Civil War, Wolverine). This story was published by Marvel back in January 2008.

Premise:
It’s a Brand New Day for our favorite web-slinger. So what the heck happened since he and Mary Jane made a deal with Mephisto? Well… nobody really has any idea whatsoever. We don’t even know how far in the future these stories are taking place. But Harry Osborn is alive somehow (apparently he’s been in Europe. Wait - didn’t they use that excuse back in the 90’s to bring Norman Osborn? Yes. Yes they did.) Peter’s down on his luck - again - without a job to be found and living with his Aunt May. And Spider-Man hasn’t been seen or heard from “in months.” All that, and Spider-Man has a new villain to tangle with - Mr. Negative.

Awesome Parts:
This is a good ol’ fashioned tale of Spider-Man. His life as Peter Parker keeps messing up his life as Spider-Man. All sorts of untold complications (which - for a lack of spoilers - shall remain untold) get in the way of Peter having a happy life. But in spite of all that, Spider-Man does the honorable thing and puts his life on the line in order to save innocents. And some not-so-innocents, too. Spidey even dies (again) at the end of issue #547. Oh wait - is that a spoiler? You’ll have to pick it up for yourself to figure out whether or not I’m kidding!
Dan Slott also does a great job of capturing Peter’s sense of humor. And the justification to bring out his alter ego after so many “months” in hiding was perfectly believable. Dan introduces new characters seemlessly without forgetting about our old favorites. Bravo, my friend. Bravo.

Un-Awesome Parts:
What the heck is even going on??? Anyone who knows absolutely nothing about Spider-Man and wants to jump on the band wagon - do so now. Anyone who is interested in the continuity of Spider-Man’s life (like I am)… well I’m sure this story will infuriate you. Sure it was a great story. But why does Peter have to be single for it to work? And why does it have to be in some sort of ambiguous future? Is it because Spider-Man is a Skrull - is that why you’re not giving us ANY hints about the temporal placement of this story? I also find that keeping up with a thrice-monthly story is no task for the casual reader. Is that good or bad? I still don’t know (and I don’t think Marvel knows yet - either.) Finally, one note for Mr. Slott - Mr. Negative? Really? That’s the best name you could come up with? He sounds more depressed than villainous.

My Recommendation:
Absolutely, positively. If you like Spider-Man, humor, action, or any super hero story then pick this up. If you don’t like super heroes… well then I don’t even know you. How about giving this story a chance and seeing what you think? I’d have to know WHY you don’t like super heroes to know if you’d enjoy this story despite that major character flaw of yours. (You know I’m only kidding - mostly!) By now, I’m sure Brand New Day is easily accessible in trade form - but try to go back and get the original issues. It’s better for the economy!

That’s it for today. Tomorrow will continue Brand New Day Week. As always - thanks for reading - see you next time.
-Searnold

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