The premise that serves as the foundation for this story is full of potential, but that comes as no surprise from the writer of Y: The Last Man, Mystique and Runaways. Unfortunately, the execution is a bit lacking here. The title character comes off as rather one-dimensional, and the real conflict here doesn't really involve the villain at all. I look forward to how Vaughan develops the story, but so far, we're getting just typical super-hero fare, illustrated in a style that's rather sketchy when it comes to the action.
Jeffrey Haight is a staff photographer with The Daily Bugle, and like anyone working in journalism, he longs for his work to run on the front page. That hasn't happened in a long time, though, as there's plenty of competition from staffer and freelancer alike, but the biggest thorn in his side is Peter Parker. He always seems to get the perfect shots of Spider-Man in action. But Jeffrey Haight's time has come, as he gets a tip that Dr. Octopus is on a rampage, and he plans to get there first.
Staz Johnson did solid work for a long time on Robin, bringing the grounded, teenage-drama elements to life. And he does fine work in the more everyday, human scene in this story. But when it comes to the almost alien action of a Spider-Man and Doc Ock fight, his art just doesn't work for me. The action is difficult to follow, and at times, the figures seem rushed. Johnson's take on Spider-Man seems far too elongated. I'm also not wild about the Doc Ock redesign. The sleek, sterile look of his tentacles is gone, replaced with faux, octopus-like "suckers" that look kind of silly rather than intimidating.
As a journalist at a daily paper, you'd think this story would be right up my alley. But I found I was distracted by some of the inaccuracies in Vaughan's depiction of a newsroom/photo department environment. I'm nit-picking, I know, but it did take me out of the story a bit. A chance encounter with another photographer in a darkroom is really a thing of the past, as digital photography is the norm with the big -- and even small -- papers these days. No one develops anymore, they download.
Still, there's a great deal of promise to Vaughan's premise and in the character of Jeffrey Haight. My hope is that the writer will examine the ethics of Peter Parker's profitting from his activites as Spider-Man, especially when we see that it's at the expense of others. One could argue that Parker is creating the very news shots he's selling, and that's definintely a no-no. I also loved Vaughan's description of Peter as an artist. We see him as a hero, a scientist and an average guy, but I'd never considered the artistic side of what he does for the Bugle.
