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 12th, 2008.

Today’s Issue:
Amazing Spider-Man #562 - #563, published by Marvel in June, 2008. This arc was written by Bob Gale (Back to the Future, Batman) with pencils by Mike McKone (Exiles, Teen Titans).

Premise:
A Spider-Clone? Not again! Oh – really? Not again? Is it a Skrull then? No. Oh - that was all covered on the cover? Then who could this Spider-Imposter be? Oh - right - an imposter. But what does he (or she) have to do with The Bookie!? Read these issues to find out.

Awesome Parts:
I have nothing to say. (Weird, huh?) This is the most neutral that I’ve felt about a comic book since I started this blog. Maybe I’m overloading on Spider-Man and all the stories are starting to feel the same - but nothing really jumped out at me in these issues as being particularly awesome. There were some great quips inside The Bar With No Name. And a great character moment when Peter Parker - given the opportunity to make 12 grand - instead insisted that the money be donated to the F.E.A.S.T. center that Aunt May works out (a charity organization.) But that’s all pretty standard Spider-Man stuff. They did FINALLY make a bit of progress towards these Spider-Tracer killings. A very very small little bit, but at least they acknowledged that Peter is looking into it.

Un-Awesome Parts:
The battle with the Enforcers was pretty lame. There really wasn’t much of a threat in any of this arc’s battles - I felt like nothing important was at stake. The “other Spider-Man” thing wasn’t nearly as cool as a clone or a Skrull. It was pretty obviously someone dressed up in a Spider-Man suit. Everything that happened was pretty standard – no surprise twists or turns. So nothing all THAT terrible… but nothing all that awesome, either.

My Recommendation:
Meh. I wouldn’t recommend this if money’s tight or if you want a particularly spectacular Spider-Man tale. But if you’ve been enjoying Brand New Day then you’ll probably enjoy this story, too. It’s a very generic / standard Spider-Man story.

I suppose that’s it for today. I wish I had more to say. Don’t take my lack of words as an indication that this story was bland – I was never bored, it wasn’t a chore to get through. It was just so utterly completely neutral. It’s an odd sensation, really, to be this neutral. It’s not even indecision. It’s just… neutrality. Actually, I think I want to take this opportunity to talk about comic book standards:

In an ideal world, every single comic book SHOULD be the best comic book you’ve ever read. It should keep you on the edge of your seat and make you come back begging for more. And each time you read a new issue, you should find it even better than the last. The art would be beautiful. There would be comedy, action, great characters, commentary about life, and whatever else you want from a story. But let’s be realistic. Not everything is as good as Watchmen or Dark Knight. But that doesn’t make them BAD comics for not living up to that perfect standard. A bad comic is one where the characters behave in illogical ways, they say things that don’t make sense, the story is completely predictable, or even worse – you’re confused the entire time, and by the end you aren’t even sure why you wasted your time bothering to finish. This arc was none of those things. It was a perfectly standard comic book. If you enjoy classic superhero tales, you will probably enjoy reading these issues. But there’s nothing spectacular in them. Nothing particularly noteworthy - good OR bad.

Alright, I’m done rambling. As always – thanks for reading – I’ll see you next time.
-Searnold