Spider-Man #2 Review

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Reviewer: Iain Burnside
Story Title: Down Among the Dead Men part 2

Written by: Mark Millar
Penciled by: Terry Dodson
Inked by: Rachel Dodson
Colored by: Ian Hannin
Lettered by: Cory Petit
Editor: Axel Alonso
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Let’s have a quick recap here… In addition to the irrepressible Amazing Spider-Man, the mandatory Spectacular Spider-Man, and their better-looking cousin, twice removed, Ultimate Spider-Man, 2004 has also given us the following:

  • The bimonthly futileness of Spider-Man Unlimited.
  • The unnecessary solicitation nightmare that is Marvel Age Spider-Man.
  • The second coming of Spider-Girl in digest format.
  • The second coming of “Spider-Girl” in Amazing Fantasy for no apparent reason.
  • The manga-lite irreverence of Mary Jane.
  • The good Dr. Octopus mini-series, Negative Exposure.
  • The bad Dr. Octopus mini-series, Out of Reach.
  • The other Dr. Octopus mini-series, Year One.
  • The yes-its-still-here ongoing series, Venom.
  • The 1993 battle-cry that is Venom vs. Carnage.

Throw in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe 2004: Spider-Man one-shot, movie adaptations and various other appearances (Ultimate Six, Secret War, etc.) and it’s plain to see that this is over-exposure on an X-Men scale. Sure, trying to capture a few extra readers from Spider-Man 2 is an essential business strategy. However, most of the target audience is going to end up spending its pocket money on the numerous Spider-Man action figures, video-games and DVDs on the market. If any do make it to the books themselves, they are more likely to pick up Ultimate Spider-Man TPBs or Marvel Age Spider-Man digests than anything else. The logic behind battering the wallet of the diehard consumer at the local comic store is baffling, as is the mindset of those who would quite happily snap up all these titles. In other words, with all of the above either out already or looming on the solicitation horizon, the need for yet another Spider-Man book is unfathomable so this one had better conjure up something distinctive and worthwhile real quick.

The fact that it is being published under the Marvel Knights banner obviously helps, as MK is apparently all about letting a more mature side to the Marvel Universe be seen. Of course, given the mature nature of some of the more famous Spider-Man tales (Death of Gwen Stacy and Kraven’s Last Hunt, to name a couple) and the highly dubious nature of Marvel’s own PSR rating on their regular titles, the relevance of MK has been decreased severely since its inception. The real onus is on the writer, Mark Millar. The man is synonymous with controversy in the comic industry, much as Marilyn Manson is in the music industry or Quentin Tarantino is in the movie industry. Thankfully Millar, much like those two gents, has the talent to back up the hype and has delivered far more often than he has failed. While Tarantino continues to flounder over acquiring the reigns to his fictional hero James Bond, Millar has been given the chance to work on his childhood hero with this title. With the passion, talent and attitude he possesses, Millar is the ideal candidate to craft a Spider-Man tale with a difference. To put it bluntly, so far he hasn’t.

To put it in his own words from a Newsarama interview, Millar wanted “to find the clitoris of the Spider-Man fans with this series.” That’s fair enough Mark, but easier said than done in both the literal and metaphorical sense. It involves more than merely lining up the rogues gallery once again and rifling through them in overdrive, as has been the case in the opening two issues of this series. In this issue alone we get appearances from the Black Cat, the Owl, the Avengers, Electro, the Vulture and Norman Osborn. It involves getting the essence of the character down pat, which admittedly has been done very well here. It involves crafting an intriguing emotional rollercoaster of a story with humour and pathos in equal measure. Therein lays the problem with this issue. For all of Millar’s talk of hating the increasing tendency to write comics geared toward the TPB market, he is guilty of that very crime here. The plan from the start has been a specific twelve-issue tale told in three four-issue chapters. Given the mystery gimmick involved here, this means it remains nigh on impossible to judge any single issue of this until the whole picture can be seen. Look at the obvious inspiration for this tale, Batman: Hush, for proof. While it was being printed it seemed exhilarating. After the finale, it seemed bloated and pointless. I would hate to see the same thing happen here.

In case you need reminding, the mystery revolves around an unseen antagonist that knows Spider-Man’s secret identity and has kidnapped Aunt May from her new home. Wanting to avoid any further disasters in his life after seemingly getting this in order for the first time in years, Parker sends Mary Jane away to hide in a hotel under an pseudonym until things blow over. Not knowing who to turn to, he then calls the Black Cat, who points out the bleedin’ obvious – Norman Osborn knows who Spider-Man really is as well and, having just been incarcerated in Riker’s Island by him in issue #1, he is going to be slightly peeved to say the least. So Parker dons the costume, goes to visit his old friend and finds out Osborn may or may not have instructed someone to “kidnap, torture and execute” his oldest living relative if he ever succeeded in throwing Osborn in jail. Having had his mind warped further still, Spider-Man turns to the Avengers for help but is reluctant to reveal his identity to them and takes off. His next stop is the Owl, “the most connected individual on the Eastern seaboard” now that Kingpin is gone. Following a few phone calls, the Owl reveals that Electro and the Vulture are the culprits. Spider-Man tracks them down celebrating their recent endeavours at a brothel and cut to commercial breaks until next month.

The vital ingredient in using this “guest stars as plot advancement” writing technique is that there must be logical reasons for the protagonist to go to each of them. Personally speaking, the reasons given here are just not taut enough for my liking. Felicia Hardy has been both an accomplice and an aggravation of Parker’s over the years, but she has never been an ever-present character and so choosing to call her before anybody else seems rather odd. It makes far more sense to go to the Avengers and try to contact Nick Fury, as he eventually does, but once again an irritating comic book standard is brought into play and we get “treated” to some “hilarious” unintentional fisticuffs between Spider-Man, Quicksilver, Hawkeye and some security guards. Millar is capable of far more than relying on such a hokey gimmick as superheroes coming to blows over some sort of misunderstanding. Keep that drivel to the likes of JLA/Avengers where it belongs, please. Finally, his decision to visit the Owl (bearing more than a passing resemblance to Sean Penn here) comes way out of left-field. The Owl is a character with precious little history with Spider-Man and there are certainly other people capable of finding out the information he provides. People like Daredevil for example, who certainly has more influence in the city than the Owl since Kingpin’s demise. What’s more, he knows who Spider-Man is, saving Parker the trouble he would have faced with the Avengers. Not to mention there is no mention of the Fantastic Four, in particular Johnny Storm. Those characters have a far stronger relationship with Spider-Man than any of the people used here and it would be far more plausible for Parker to turn to them for help before anyone else.

Having said that, the rest of the book is coming along nicely and once we start to see the forest instead of the trees things should look better. The only other major complaint is that this person dressing up as Spider-Man, sending his wife Mary Jane away and calling himself Peter Parker looks absolutely nothing like Peter Parker. Never mind who the mysterious kidnapper is, who the hell is this guy?? Oh well, to put it in Parker’s own words, “it’s never as bad as it looks.” Certainly the Dodsons know how to produce artwork of the highest caliber as the rest of the book is flawless, particularly the last page that reflects the darker side of the Spider-Man aura. Unfortunately, when there is a Bruce Campbell look-a-like taking on the Peter Parker role it does tend to make the reader lose focus somewhat. Fortunately, even if he doesn’t look the part he does sound it as Millar’s dialogue is spot-on. Two scenes in particular stand out, the opening conversation with Mary Jane and the chat with the Owl’s bodyguard, both of which are reflective of the true essence of the character. With Mary Jane he is struggling to contain his rage and grief for her benefit, trying to play things calmly for her benefit in order to gently shuffle her off to a safe haven. With the bodyguard he quickly flips from the imposing figure of Spider-Man confronting a crime lord to a concerned citizen helping out a man still recovering from a serious operation. Even in the middle of his worst nightmare Parker still has time to help out a stranger and try to persuade him to rethink his ways. It is a brilliant touch and better fits the character than some of the lows forced upon him during the Clone Saga. Ultimately however, the jury is still out on this title. If this opening arc fails to deliver the goods by issue #4 then the next two could prove to be quite the letdown.