Given Marvel's recent launch of a new ongoing team-up title, this seems to be an odd choice for a new limited series. But then again, by the time this series is wrapped up and ready for the trade-paperback treatment, it will be time for the new Fantastic Four movie to be released. What drew me to this comic, though, wasn't the other-media tie-in, but the reputations of the creators. I don't think artist Ty Templeton has ever let me down, be it his light super-hero fare from the various Batman titles based on cartoons or his satirical graphic novel Bigg Timm, and Dan Slott's recent work on She-Hulk has deservedly raised his profile in the industry. What I didn't expect was a story set in the Silver Age of comics, and I think the creators do too good a job of capturing the campy nature of super-hero genre storytelling of the time.
In his early days with the Fantastic Four, teenager Johnny Storm, AKA the Human Torch, yearns for fame and glory, but he's frustrated to find that Spider-Man gets all of the headlines in The Daily Bugle, even though it's not the most glowing of media coverage. Johnny decides to hire the same photographer who's captured Spidey's adventures so often, unaware that the shutterbug and the wallcrawling hero are one and the same. Since his Aunt May needs the money, Peter agrees to take the job, but he may not survive it, since following the Torch around the city brings him into contact with the most fearsome villain imaginable.
Templeton is clearly inspired by the style of classic Amazing Spider-Man artist John Romita Sr. here. I'm reminded a bit of the styles of such artists as Gil Kane and Joe Sinnott as well. The book boasts a light, Silver Age look from start to finish, so much so that the extra depth and energ provided by the modern coloring methods seem out of place. Templeton seems to sacrifice some of his own unique style in order to capture that 1960s feel, and the art, though light, fun and capable, never really wows me either.
Slott pokes a little bit of fun at early Marvel continuity in an amusing sequence that explores the many times Peter Parker and Johnny Storm have met in the past. There really wasn't enough of that parody of Silver Age storytelling and the genre in general. More often than not, Slott plays it pretty straight here. It makes for a solid read for young readers who may be new to comics, but it offers little to us old fogeys.
Slott captures the simplicity and camp of 1960s super-heroes quite well here... too well, in fact. We've got reprints to satisfy those nostalgic cravings for the comics of yesteryear; a little something new, something other than the predictable and conventional might have been more fun to read. 6/10
