Zeb Wells's efforts on this title in the past year or so haven't really grabbed my attention. My reactions to his scripts can be described as lukewarm at best. So I was pleased to find a more character-driven story that plays to the strengths of the unconventional artist. By the end of the issue, the plot is more than a little obvious, but there's a creeepy yet oddly natural tone to the story. And Kieth's gritty, twisted artwork really helps this issue to stand out as unique.
It's a rainy day in New York, and Peter Parker decides to get some long overdue housework out of the way. But deep within a meach miles away, something far less mundane is happening. The grains of sand on the beach seem to be giving birth... to William Baker, the Sandman. But he's not alone; a Sandbaby emerges as well. It's quite confusing... both for the one-time super-villain, and for his sparring partner, the wall-crawling wonder known as Spider-Man. But Spidey is surprised to meet up with something other than the violent creature he encountered the last time.
Kieth is the star of this particular show. His exaggerated and dark imagery immediately establishes an unsettling, foreboding atmosphere. The Sandman's shape-changing powers play to the strengths in Kieth's twisted style, as does the offbeat, strangely psychological tone of the script. Kieth also emphasizes the alien look of the title character's costume quite adeptly too. Avalon's dark, textured colors work incredibly well with Kieth's unconventional linework.
Wells's script is much more inventive than the typical super-hero/villain showdowns we've seen from him before, but at the same time, he never loses sight of the main character. Peter Parker's everyday challenges are thrown in with his more extraordinary ones, and there's a grounded, relaxed tone in the dialogue as well. Wells telegraphs the plot a bit too much, to be honest, though the cliffhanger moment was unexpected and striking, but stikll in keeping with the premise.
When this title and Amazing Spider-Man relaunched with new numbering four or five years ago, a more traditional approach was taken with the character, and it included returning some of the villains to their classic, Silver Age status. Sadly, the Sandman was reduced to a one-dimensional thug, undoing some interesting characterization that was achieved through his reformation, which began in the 1980s. Wells holds out a candle of hope to readers like me who enjoyed that Sandman, or at the least, he's offering a better explanation for the regression.
