SPIDER-MAN'S TANGLED WEB #11
"Open All Night"
Highly Recommended (10/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer/Pencils: Darwyn Cooke
Inks: Jay Bone
Colors: Matt Hollingsworth
Editor: Axel Alonso
Price: $3.50 US/$5.75 CAN |
This stands out as my favorite issue of Tangled Web -- even better than Rucka and Risso's highly acclaimed "Severance Package" in the fourth issue. Why? I have to admit a bias... as a newspaper reporter, the newsroom hijinks really spoke to me. Cooke has crafted an array of wonderful new characters, and he's done some great work with some of the more familiar residents of Spider-Man's world. An irreverent script couple with equally irreverent art made for a deliciously entertaining read.
It's the end of the work day in the Daily Bugle newsroom, and it's Valentine's Day. Two radically different reporters -- the outrageous Jillian Blythe and the reserved Miss Kay -- call it a day and get ready for their Valentine's dates. What they don't know is that it's with the same man: Peter Parker, who, in his other identity, is nursing quite a lump on his noggin. Meanwhile, we meet Bugle intern Spence, who weaves in and out of everyone's life in the newsroom.
Cooke's cartoony art captures the light yet sexy tone of the story perfectly. He obviously had a lot of fun putting this self-contained tale together. Every panel exudes fun. The opening action sequence was wonderfully kinetic, but it was the scenes of the regular folks in the newsroom that really caught my attention. Cooke tells us so much about these characters with their body language. From Kay's shy stance to Robbie Robertson's tired haunch, the tone of the story is conveyed well even without the dialogue.
As a reporter in the real world, the portrayal of the profession in super-hero comics has always been a pet peeve. Fortunately, Cooke joins a short list of writers who get it right. He conveys the excitement and chaos of a newsroom. Sure, he's stuck with the stereotypical blowhard characterization of publisher J. Jonah Jameson, but everything going on around him really rang true for me. Hell, Spence's voluntary coffee run for the newsroom and his familiarity with the coffee shop staff was a page out of my own life. At The Daily Gleaner, I am the Coffee Slut (and I am beloved for it, trust me ).
The worlds of Spider-Man and Archie collide in this... joyful tale. There's a teen drama riff going on here, but there's also a more mature but giddy tone at play as well. If this story is about anything, it's about karma. When it comes to Valentine's Day, this particular bachelor is a stereotypical grump, but I have to admit that Cooke drew me with this cute and goofy on love and laxatives.
Yes, laxatives.
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