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 Thursday, October 9th, 2008.

Today’s Issue:
Brand New Day Week continues today with a semi-interlude for the Amazing Spider-Man: Swing Shift Director’s Cut one shot. Published by Marvel in early 2008 – this is actually a reprint of Swing Shift, the Free Comic Book Day 2007 Spider-Man story, written by Dan Slott (She-Hulk, Avengers Initiative) with art by Phil Jimenez (Otherworld, Infinite Crisis). This director’s cut also includes a few extra goodies including the “Spider-Man Manifesto” – executive editor Tom Brevoort’s document (written 9/18/06) outlining the new direction he was hoping to take Spider-Man – and the “Top Secret” Amazing Spider-Man Bible, assembled by Spidey’s editorial team in summer 2007.

Premise:
This story is chronologically the first Spider-Man story to take place after One More Day, with an introduction to characters like Jackpot, Mister Negative, and The Bookie. Those Spider-Man fans who were really on top of their game back on Free Comic Book Day 2007 (in May – half a year before the end of One More Day) were infuriated by the fact that Marvel already spoiled the aftermath of One More Day – making the “surprise ending” less of a surprise. Even though Marvel insisted that this was just a “timeless Spider-Man story” we could tell that this was a spoiler for the new direction they were going to be taking the character. The basic plot: Spider-Man - on his way to Aunt May’s birthday - stops to stop an out-of-control driver named Overdrive.

Awesome Parts:
While the story is a fine introduction to Brand New Day, what’s really great about this Director’s Cut are the behind-the-scenes documents. Getting to see the “Spider-Man Manifesto” was a blast for me as a lifelong Spider-Man fan. They really did put a lot of thought into this re-vamp, trying to get back to the core of what makes Spider-Man so iconic. We got to see Tom Brevoort’s thoughts on issues such as bringing Gwen Stacy back to life, whether a modern Peter would still be taking still photos, and how to update villains’ motivations. I enjoyed learning that Tom thought Spider-Man 2 (the movie) was a great example of an iconic Spidey story. This type of behind-the-scenes look into the minds of the creators is all too rare. Also, since the “Spider-Man Manifesto” was written way back in September 2006, we have the perspective to know which of Tom’s ideas were implemented, and which ones weren’t.

Less-Than-Awesome Parts:
The “Series Bible” was pretty lame. It included character descriptions of each of the main characters from Brand New Day that went into so much detail they needed two whole sentences per character! (That was sarcasm – two sentences isn’t actually a lot of detail.) The descriptions were superficial, and everything explained about the new status quo was revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #546 (the first issue of Amazing to take place during Brand New Day). They crammed this book full of “extras,” but Tom Brevoort’s “Spider-Man Manifesto” was the only one worth reading.

My Recommendation:
If you are a Spider-Man fan, I imagine you’ll have a great time getting into Tom Brevoort’s head. I also recommend this book to anyone interested in the comic book creative process. This type of insight inside an editor’s mind is invaluable for anyone hoping to make it in the biz. But a lot of the stuff he talked about is Spider-Man jargon - meaning it might not make any sense to someone unfamiliar with Spider-Man’s world (for example, the importance of whether or not to be Gwen back to life will make no sense to people not already familiar with her character and the circumstances of her death.) In terms of whether or not you should read this book if you are interested in the Brand New Day storyline – if you feel that you just can’t get enough of Brand New Day, absolutely pick it up. It’s a fine story (nothing spectacular, but certainly not bad). However, there’s nothing in this story that you need to read in order to follow what’s going on in Amazing Spider-Man.

That’s all for today. As always – thanks for reading – see you next time.
-Searnold