Oct 25 2008
The End Of The Ultimate Review Week - Ultimate Spider-Ham
Greetings from your friendly neighborhood Searnold [Shár- Nŭhld]. Today is Saturday, October 25th, 2008. Welcome to my comic book review blog - thanks for tuning in. Are you interested in a comic book but not sure you want to shell out the cash? Let me know and I’ll review it for you - letting you know if it’s worth your hard earned money!
Today’s Issue:
Ultimate Civil War: Spider-Ham, published by Marvel back in January 2007. This is an “Ultimate” book that I only recently stumbled upon. I heard Straczynski (Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four) mention it in a Marvel podcast and had to go looking. Being a Spider-Ham book, it’s a complete non-canon parody, so I figured it would put a nice cap on The Ultimate Review Week. The credits for the book are as follows: Pig Tale by J. Michael Hamzynski; Pigpen-ciling (and Inking) by: Mike “The Swine” Wieringo, Mike Manley “Hamly”, Nick “The Pig” Dragotta, John “Ham of Legend” Severin, Skottie “Lil’ Piggy” Young, Jim “Pigging Out” Mahfood, Ariel “Hamming It Up” Olivetti, Clayton “Whole Hog” Crain, Laurence “Son of Ham” Campbell, Chris “When Pigs Fly” Giarrusso, Todd “Mad Hog” Nauck, Robert “Ham-panella” Campanella, and Sean “In a Pig’s Eye” Phillip. What a plethora of artists! And now you really know everything you need to about the terrible pun humor that fills the pages of this comic book!
Premise:
This is my favorite premise for a comic book in quite some time. Spider-Ham is upset that he has lost his thought bubbles. On his quest to find them, Dr. Strange accidentally transports him through all sorts of alternate dimensions where he sees various versions of himself such as Wolverham and Captain Hamerica.
Awesome Parts:
This is odd. Looking back on it (I actually read the issue yesterday) I remember it as being quite funny. The jokes are quick and pointless and, well, mostly ham puns - but I remember it as being quite funny. Oddly enough, I also remember that while reading it I was thinking “During the Un-Awesome Section I’m going to mention that humor is not Straczynski’s strong suit.” So obviously I must not have thought it was very funny yesterday. My guess - most of the book is riddled with bad puns that got old after a few pages. But looking back, I only remember the funnier ones.
Un-Awesome Parts:
Well gee, comedy sure doesn’t seem to be Stracyznski’s strong suit. 
See - this is why I shouldn’t wait a day before I write my reviews. One of the things I do remember not being a fan of - many of the alternate universes were just pin-ups with a name and maybe a one-liner. We don’t really see Spider-Ham going on any sort of “adventure.” And the Ham jokes do get old very quickly.
My Recommendation:
Honestly - if you can find Ultimate Civil War: Spider-Ham - it’s worth the money (or at least worth its cover price). If you HATE puns, you won’t like it. And if you aren’t familiar with the Marvel characters this parodies then I don’t see why you would find it funny. Also - it’s such a quick read - you might could get away with scanning it while in the store (I’m kind of a cheap bastard, so ideas like that pop into my head even though they oughtn’t.)
That’s it for today. As always - thanks for reading - see you next time. And don’t forget to let me know if there are any comic books you’d like me to review for you - I take requests!
-Searnold, SuperSearnold@yahoo.com
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