Marvel launches its new Spidey anthology series, and the creators involved all offer up solid, competent efforts. The writers -- the newbies in the equation -- do a particularly good job, delivering some decent dialogue and light but entertaining plots. Ultimately, though, the plotting in both cases is more than a little routine. I've seen these stories before. The creators aren't really to be faulted with the rather generic quality of the stories, though. It's a shame this new format isn't being used to push the envelope more, to tell more unconventional stories set in the world of Marvel's wallcrawling hero.
Peter Parker accompanies a reporter on a human interest assignment at a home for sick children, and in the process, he becomes aware of a little girl with terminal cancer who worships Spider-Man. Meanwhile, an old enemy from Spider-Man's past resurfaces, looking to best his old webslinging opponent in the course of a heist. The problem is that Spidey has no recollection of the friction-less foe, as he was little more than a footnote in Spider-Man's history.
Takeshi Miyazawa was an excellent choice as the artist to bring Goodrich's story to life, as his artwork really brings out the tender age of the little girl around which the plot revolves. His Spidey sequences reminded me of a cross between the styles of Rob (Daredevil: Ninja) Haynes and Pat (Namor) Olliffe. Sean Chen's work on the Slyde story was really strong. His detailed approach really makes the action of the piece work well. Mind you, his conventional approach isn't exactly what one expects to find on a comedy story. Don't get me wrong... his work here is strong and clear, but it doesn't exactly reinforce the farce that unfolds.
Lynch's script is a nice satire of the super-villain dynamic, and of the modern trend of making the rather goofy antagonists of yesteryear into darker, more menacing figures of the 21st century. On the surface, though, the script offers up more of Spidey mocking his enemy. While it's a little too familiar on the one hand, it's also quite true to the character at the same time.
Goodrich's story strikes the right chords, and for younger readers, it offers up good messages and morals about death. For those of us who have been around for a while, though, we've seen this sort of story before, with other super-heroes and with Spider-Man in particular. There was even a similar plot that was at the heart of an episode of the 1990s Spider-Man cartoon (the one that aired regularly on Fox). When dealing with characters that have been around for decades, it's understandable that one would encounter duplication. Again, I wish the writers had been given more freedom to explore less formulaic territory, but there's no denying the tried and true quality of the formulae used in this issue.
