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AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #37
"Interlude"
Mildly Recommended (6/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Pencils: John Romita Jr.
Inks: Scott Hanna
Colors: Dan Kemp
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Axel Alonso
Price: $2.25 US/$3.50 CAN |
This issue is titled "Interlude," which is appropriate since it interrupts the story I wanted to see, the confrontation between May and Peter about his identity. It's an interesting story, although it seems forced and manipulative compared to the more natural characterization and flow of similar Peter Parker: Spider-Man stories, and the artwork is solid as always. However,
while I did enjoy elements of this, and I like that we're getting to see more of
Peter as a teacher, I thought this came off as a somewhat weak effort in
comparison to Straczynski's first arc and the rest of the Spider-Man titles
right now.
There are some terrific parts
of this story, however. May's reaction to her discovery, shown in silence, is
quite powerful, whether it's her departure from the apartment or her obvious
consideration of things in visuals throughout the issue. Peter's natural sense
of humor and intelligence comes through quite well in Straczynski's dialogue,
and he's being shown as a good teacher, certainly better than the photographer
he has been previously.
One of the really neat ideas
behind making Peter a teacher is to put him back in the high school setting that
gave Spider-Man such context, but in a completely different way. This could mean
we see him interacting with faculty, bullies and all his old familiar nemeses
and allies from a different point-of-view, or we could get a whole bunch of
"afterschool special" stories about relevant kids' issues. Unfortunately, this
issue falls very close to the latter.
The basic idea here, that
Peter sees a problem Spider-Man can't solve and that it relates to one of his
kids, is a really good one. Unfortunately, while I like Jennifer as a character,
and I enjoyed Peter's amusing back-and-forth with Missus James, Straczynski did
what he sometimes does with his issue-oriented stories and pushed too hard to
make us see how terrible it was. There's a fine line between telling a story
with a message and preaching, and Straczynski steps over it here. The problems
and tragedy of the story are clear through the artwork and the situation, to
punch it up even further with a drug overdose and some forced dialogue telling
readers how terrible it is seemed like going over-the-top.
Despite the blatant emotional
manipulation, though, I have to admit that the story got me in many ways.
Spidey's frustration and use of force of personality in the hospital was a
powerful moment that demonstrates how Peter is unlike most people, willing to
get involved when others wouldn't, for example. And while I'm not looking
forward to this storyline turning into some kind of super-powered fight with the
kids in the middle, as the drug dealers' comments would seem to indicate, I was
wary of Straczynski's first arc as well and it turned out just fine.
What I am looking forward to
is the confrontation between Peter and May in the next issue, which hopefully
won't take several months to come out. Though Romita Jr. shines especially when
doing action artwork, through his work in this issue and the previous ones he
has shown that he is quite good with character interaction as well, and
Straczynski seems to have a good grasp on the characters of Peter and Aunt
May.
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