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SPIDER-MAN: QUALITY OF LIFE #2
Neutral (3/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Scott Sava
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Axel Alonso
Price: $2.99 US/$4.75 CAN |
Coming into this second, I knew what to expect from the artwork, but I figured Greg Rucka, a writer whose work I've come to respect a great deal in the last few years, had something up his sleeve, a new twist that would bring a greater complexity and a more modern sensibility to the plot and/or characters. No such luck. This is a fun Silver Age-type story, and while the art is eye-catching, it's rather stiff as well.
Spider-Man intrudes on the clash between the Lizard and the sensual, reptilian mercenary known as Yith in the New York offices of the Monnano Corporation. The Lizard scurries away, leaving a confused Spidey behind. As Peter Parker, he tries to unconver a possible connection between Monnano and the Lizard's human identity, Dr. Curt Connors. Meanwhile, Connors and his son worry about Martha Connors's chances of survival when another crisis strikes the family.
Sava's computer-generated art is richly detailed; he pays meticulous attention to little specifics, like reflections in glasses and light fixtures. But that attention to minute detail is in direct conflict with the cartoony design of the characters. The artists seems to be aiming for realism and steering away from it all at once. His digital images don't convey movement all that well either, and given the action-oriented nature of the main characters, that's a problem.
Rucka certainly does have a handle on Peter Parker's fish-out-of-water sense of humor. One really gets an everyman kind of vibe off of the title character. I also found that the way Curt Connors -- the real protagonist of this book -- interacted with his son in the closing scenes. Rucka captures some real humanity in those non-super-hero moments of the script.
The central plot -- an Evil Corporation needs to get the super-powered guy out of the way so it can go on poisoning people -- really doesn't hold up when one thinks about it at all. So these people kill Curt Connors... what about the next lawsuit? What about the paper trail left behind by this one? This is a basic plot. Younger readers, however, may get a kick out of it, as well as the computer-generated visuals.
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