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 Monday, October 6th, 2008.

Today’s Issue:
Continuing Brand New Day Week with our second Amazing Spider-Man arc, issues #549-#551. These were published by Marvel back in February, 2008. The creative team on this arc is Marc Guggenheim (Brothers & Sisters - yes, the TV show, Young X-Men - no, not the TV show) with art by Salvador Larroca (Heroes Return, X-Treme X-Men).
For those unfamiliar with the new creative concept behind Amazing Spider-Man, let me give you a quick rundown: Over the years, Spidey has always had multiple monthly titles with his name on them. Most recently (up until last year) he had three - Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Sensational Spider-Man, and Amazing Spider-Man. After the universe-altering events of One More Day (check a few weeks ago for my official review), Friendly Neighborhood and Sensational were cancelled. But Amazing was shifted to a thrice monthly title. In order to keep up with that creative challenge, each story arc is being handled by a different creative team. In order to make sure that as a whole the different arcs flow together to tell a cohesive story, Marvel has put together what they’re calling Spidey’s Braintrust: Dan Slott, Zeb Wells, Bob Gale, and this arc’s writer - Marc Guggenheim. So far, the braintrust has been extremely successful. More on that later.

Premise:
Spidey faces more problems and more villains. Today it’s the new villain Menace - who bears more than a small resemblance to a certain goblin. And his major problem this month is that he’s all out of web-fluid! Spidey also has to contend with being an unregistered hero in the era of the Superhuman Registration Act and a team-up with the novice hero Jackpot - who bears more than a small resemblance to a certain redheaded model.

Awesome Parts:
Everything a good Spider-Man story needs is right here in this arc! Witty banter. A silly song. A debate with Jackpot about who gets dibs on the new villain. Not to mention a great tribute to writer Marc Guggenheim when Spidey mentions that he never misses an episode of Brothers & Sisters. Comedy - and action. This new villain Menace isn’t playing around. He does some serious damage to our hero so that I felt Spidey’s life was in danger even more so than I did when he ACTUALLY DIED back in Spider-Man: The Other. All this - and Peter’s personal life is in turmoil, too. We finally got a hint about what was happening with MJ. Maybe not knowing isn’t such a terrible thing - maybe it adds some suspense! I also felt that the presence of the braintrust was clear. This arc seemlessly flowed from the previous arc and laid plenty of seeds to lead us into the next. Oh - and they even got the battle damage on Spidey’s suit consistantly accurate! Kudos Mr. Larroca.

Un-Awesome Parts:
It seems our Spidey Braintrust needs some help with villain names. Villain creation - well done. But names - you guys are 0 for 2. You know it’s a good comic book when I have difficulty coming up with critique. I am desperate to know more about the placement of these stories and what in the world happened to MJ and how on Earth Harry is alive. But the more I think about it, the more I think the mystery really does make me want to come back for more. They tease a little info in each arc - enough to let you know that they know there are unanswered questions, but also enough to keep you completely in the dark. My main problem continues to be: there’s no reason that Spider-Man couldn’t be married during this story - eliminating the need for One More Day.

My Recommendation:
Pick it up - pick it up - pick it up. I haven’t had this much fun reading a comic book in a long time. These issues remind me what a good comic book should do - suck you into the story so well that you forget you’re reading a comic book. Any fan of a well crafted story who isn’t vehemently opposed to Spider-Man or superheroes will enjoy this arc.

That’s it for today. More Spidey action tomorrow. Hopefully Gale can live up to the new standards set by Slott and Guggenheim. As always - thanks for reading - see you next time.
-Searnold

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