by Randy Lander

STARTLING STORIES: THE MEGALOMANIACAL SPIDER-MAN Mildly Recommended (5/10) Marvel Comics Writer/Artist: Peter Bagge Colors: Laura Allred Letters: Comicraft Editor: Axel Alonso Price: $2.99 US/$4.75 CAN Peter Bagge doing Spider-Man. I expected over-the-top, I expected funny, I expected a story that would send some of the hardcore Spidey fans into fits of rage on message boards across the Internet. What I didn't expect was a story that was quite so tame. While I'm not fully versed in all of Bagge's work, I have read some of his Hate, and I was surprised to find that the Megalomaniacal Spider-Man didn't show much of that edge. It has its wicked side, poking fun at Spidey's tendency for banter or the goody-goody nature of his personality, but these aren't exactly new observations, and it seems that this may be that rare case where an appreciation for the character stopped a talented creator from going where the story really needed to go. Don't get me wrong; Megalomaniacal Spider-Man is sometimes fun, but it's a little toothless. One of the big problems that faces this comic is that I'm not entirely sure who it's for. The traditional Spider-Man fan will be put off by Bagge's unusual art style and talky script, but the Bagge fan will no doubt find themselves wishing for a more biting satire of the spandex set. I love super-heroes, but I'll be the first to admit there's plenty of absurdity there to be mocked within an inch of its life, and Bagge seems to pull back rather than unleashing the venom that he's known for in the pages of Hate. Given the title of the story, one would expect that Peter Parker in this issue would be something of an enormous jerk. He is, to some degree, but the characteristic that defines him is that he's a complete loser. In keeping with the hard-luck persona that has dogged Peter Parker throughout his life, Bagge sets up a story where even a life of financial security and a beautiful wife hasn't saved him from nagging insecurities and an inability to do anything right. He's even a buffoon compared to the blustery and stupid J. Jonah Jameson, which is an impressive feat. It takes a while for the story to really get going. The opening sequence sets up the premise, but it then spends a fair bit of time on getting Peter from the Spider-Man status quo to the more interesting megalomaniacal situation promised in the title and in solicitations. While there were some funny gags, including a running reference to the homo-erotic relationship between Spidey and his villains, there was too much familiar in these segments of the story, and by the time the story got on to new material, there wasn't much room for Bagge to run with it. I won't deny getting a few chuckles out of this story, particularly the sequences which feature Gwen wondering aloud if her husband's interest in Spider-Man is romantic or the disturbing demands by Doctor Octopus that Spidey not leave him, but I didn't get the same amount of enjoyment I would have gotten out of Bagge's other work. This felt like someone gently poking fun at Spider-Man, when what the story really needed was the no-holds-barred, acidic humor that Bagge is known for. Email Randy Lander comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.