SPIDER-MAN/DAREDEVIL #1
"Neighbors"
Mildly Recommended (6/10)
|
Marvel Comics/Marvel Knights imprint
Writer: Brett Matthews
Artist: Vatche Mavlian
Colors: Avalon Studios
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Stuart Moore
Price: $2.99 US/$4.75 CAN |
This one-shot shines a rather significant spotlight on two new creators. Brett Matthews is a TV writer, having worked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Marvel bills artist Vatche Mavlian as a hot new find. They prove here that they both boast plenty of potential when it comes to the comic-book medium, but this inaugural effort never really rises beyond the level of simply generic.
A little girl is kidnapped, and the intense, singular-minded hero known as Daredevil sets to work, tracking down leads, interrogating the underworld element and using his enhanced senses to pick up her trail. Meanwhile, Spider-Man webslings his way around the city, enjoying life and performing good deeds along the way. The two men boast different methods and even different priorities, but ultimately, they prove to be heroes of equally high caliber.
Though I detect Alan Davis and Sam Kieth influences in his work, rookie comics artist Vatche Mavlian seems to be clearly inspired by the work of Todd (Spawn) McFarlane. His work boasts a similar sense of darkness and exaggeration to bring the extreme characters to life. Unfortunately, the art doesn't really work with the script. The writer seems to be trying to explore who these characters are, but the art dwells on the amazing things that they can do and the dark world in which they travel. The figures aren't all that consistent, and the characters' humanity -- both of the heroes and the incidental characters -- is lost in the sometimes simple, exaggerated tone of the artwork.
The point of this story is to explore what sets the two title characters apart, but Matthews doesn't delve deeply into these characters at all. Daredevil is stoic and mysterious, uninterested in the spotlight, while Spidey is a loveable ham, always quick with a joke. But by the end of the book, Matthews still has explored why these men are the way they are, or why they do what they do.
The work that Matthews and Mavlian offer up here is entertaining, and it would have an excellent fill-in story for Daredevil or one of the Spider-Man titles. But I really don't see what merited the packaging of this material as a special, standalone book. The whole point of such a special is to present -- say it with me -- "special" material, and this story doesn't really fit my definition. Ultimately, it comes off as an effort on Marvel's part to get another #1 issue out there that connects the names of a big-screen hero with another costumed figure that's likely to do decently at the box office as well.
Email Don MacPherson comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.
|
