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STARTLING STORIES: THE MEGALOMANIACAL SPIDER-MAN #1
Recommended (8/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer/Artist: Peter Bagge
Colors: Laura Allred
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Axel Alonso
Price: $2.99 US/$4.75 CAN |
I honestly didn't know what to expect from this unusual take on Spider-Man. I've sampled little of Peter Bagge's comics work, but I was leery of how his storytelling approach and art would fit with the mainstream super-hero genre. To my surprise, I enjoyed it a fair bit. Bagge not only pokes fun at Silver Age super-heroics, but he tears apart American corporate culture and the human tendency toward self-interest and manipulation.
It's 1968, and Peter Parker's been at the super-hero game for a little while now, but he ultimately decides he's wasting his time with this whole great power-great responsibility gig. After all, he just gets beaten up by villains and trashed by the media; he's part of a routine, not a solution to any problems. He focuses his smarts and Spider-Man's reputation toward building a corporate empire, but whether or not this new life will be any more fulfilling remains to be seen.
Bagge takes a look at the Silver Age of comics through through a more cynical set of 21st century eyes, and it makes for entertaining satire. Instead of insecure and confused, Bagge's vision of Peter Parker is as a completely neurotic and emotionally crippled guy. He resents his sickly aunt. He allows his angst to define who he is, and despite his strength, agility and spider-sense, he ultimately feels powerless. He's oblivious to how the real world works and takes his cues from someone who is equally as dysfunctional: J. JOnah Jameson.
Bagge's art certainly reflects the over-the-top tone of the plot and characters. His shapeless interpretation of Spider-Man was a bit distracting at times. I can't help but wonder if this story might have had a greater impact if the art and some corresponding extreme dialogue had been played straight. Allred's primary colors capture the intensity and zaniness of Bagge's art nicely, though, while at the same time reminding the reader of the Silver Age origins of the story and characters.
In the end, though, Bagge's target isn't so much Spider-Man and the characters who surround him, but Western culture in general. He blasts corporate callousness with through his cruel interpretation of Peter Parker as a CEO from hell. Bagge also takes issue with how we relate to one another in our private lives. Gwen Stacy isn't worried about Peter's behavior, just how it impacts her. She questions his sexuality simply because she can't seduce him, while Peter views her affection as some kind of villainous plot. Though goofy and bright in tone on the surface, this is actually a thoroughly cynical examination of self and society.
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