This second issue is not only an improvement over the first, but it stands out as the best Spidey story to spin off from New Avengers. Actually, it stands out as the only one to boast any kind of creative strength at all. Bedard offers up some strong characterization in this issue, and not just when it comes to the well-known title character. He takes us inside the heads of a couple of the more obscure super-villains who serve as key players in this little drama. The writer is really capitalizing on the foundation he laid down last month. My one qualm with the book at this point remains the artwork. Manuel Garcia tells the story clearly enough, but there's just a roughness to the line art that doesn't sit well with me.
The Controller and Mister Fear wage war on the U-Foes in the streets of Manhattan, and Spider-Man is left trying to save lives and make sense of what's pitted two factions of super-villains against one another. As the U-Foes try to make good their escape, Spidey focuses on how the Controller has turned a crowd of New Yorkers into a zombie army, not to mention how to avoid exposure to Mister Fear's fear gas. A couple of clues lead Spider-Man and friends toward some possible answers, but a dead end spurs Spidey to seek information from an unlikely and sinister source.
Garcia seems to strive for a darker atmosphere here, bathing characters' faces in shadow. The approach makes sense, given this plot's beginnings as a prison story. The problem is that he's dealing with characters such as the U-Foes, and the darkness just doesn't work. Vector's bright orange and yellow in appearance, and X-Ray is pink, fer cryin' out loud. Garcia maintains those characters' classic look, and the dark and the dayglo just don't mix. I did like Garcia's take on Captain America, though. The final scene isn't nearly as clear as it ought to be. For one thing, the plunger one character holds looks like a truncheon of some kind, ruining a gag.
I love the mystery that unfolds in the latter part of this issue, bringing the story back to what happened in prison three years ago as opposed to super-villain fisticuffs. It adds a complexity to the story that really draws the reader in. Furthermore, Spider-Man's avenues of investigation makes sense, given recent developments in other titles, but at the same time, Bedard doesn't require the reader to be intimately familiar with the events of the Millar run on Marvel Knights Spider-Man, for example. That accessibility is welcome.
Bedard explores Spidey's trouble of accepting and adapting to life as a member of a team, building nicely on the opening arc of New Avengers. Cap's annoyance with his decision to work alone makes a lot of sense in that context, but again, the writer doesn't require the reader to follow the team title either. Furthermore, Bedard gives Spidey a logical reason to continue working alone even after the Cap/Iron Man encounter. The brief exploration of what makes the Controller tick and Mister Fear's insecurities about being a rookie villain provide some much-needed depth of character as well as more information about who these bad guys are. I hope we see more of the same when it comes to some of the other villains in future issues. 7/10
