Reviewer: William Cooling
Story title: Hollywood Pt. 6
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciller: Mark Bagley
Inker: Scott Hanna
Colourist: J.D Smith
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Publisher: Marvel
Underneath all the fourth-breaking self-indulgence/cheap plug/editorial egotism surrounding the filming of a Spider-Man movie two big plot lines have ran through Hollywood. Firstly we get the return of Doc Octopus to ensure that come July there are even more Doc Octopus centred trades for the hordes of eager Spider-Man fans to be buy when they so enthralled by the movie rush into their nearest comic book shop (hmm Marvel plots or business strategies, which are more unbelievable?). Secondly there is the relationship between Gwen Stacy (the cool one not the plot device) and Peter as she at the end of issue 57 discovers him to be Spider-Man and then confronts him at the end of last issue with a gun. I did mention that she blames Spider-Man for the death of her father didn’t I?
And that’s where we begin Issue 59 with Peter trying to explain to Gwen that (duh) he couldn’t like kill her dad because he was standing next to her the whole time. Of course being a BMB comic this take five pages-but there a good read so I’ll let it go. You see this really marks a return to the more soap opera focus after some pretty spandex orientated issues recently as the trio of Peter, MJ and Gwen try to sort out how it all works with Gwen knowing. To be honest these scenes are bit disappointing with Bendis almost like slipping into (and I don’t mean this in nasty way) self-parody with his usual over-literary tics. Even more shocking is the flaws in the characterisation of Gwen; we last see her running out shocked and upset and then she comes back like all-yeah whatever, no big deal me finding out. Firstly its disappointing that Bendis flunks out of showing her wrestle with the thoughts privately instead having her describe what she does. Secondly although I’m not one to tell Bendis how to write it but does seem slightly stupid to have a character undercut the importance of a major plot development so brutally. Personally, if a character tells me something isn’t important then I can’t help but wonder why the hell I should care. Thirdly her reaction is way too reminiscent of MJ’s “wow this so cool, etcâ€, which makes no sense whatsoever after her being so annoyed at the end of last issue. Of course Bendis could (and probably has) take an editorial plot and turn into a good read so despite the thematic disappoints its all still a good read and delivers an interesting enough new status quo.
We also find out what happened to Otto and yes he’s back in the hands of one Mr. Fury and we get a damn interesting occurrence although you can’t help but think that Fury would have been slightly more pissed at Otto for what happened in Ultimate Six than this story-arc and so taken the action then. But hey the Ultimate mini-series are only cash cows with pretty art with no relevance to the wider continuity.
Bagley’s linework continues to on the whole impress with some particularly good panels between Peter and Gwen. He’s cartooney, exaggerated style perfectly suits the tone of the title with excellent facial characterisation, character design and panel layouts all of which help him to pull off what is not an easy script for an artist to impress. However, he isn’t getting the support he deserves with Scott Hanna’s emergency fill in ink job (as shown by his credits only now being included on the cover after a three month stint) not being a patch on Art Thibert’s being too heavy and lacking synergy with Bagley’s pencils. There are some problems with the colouring as well, which despite improving over the course of the arc is still a bit garish and plastic. Still the quality of Bagley’s pencils shine through especially with the closing pages.
Whilst this is a good read (as all Bendis work is) a hard luck at it reveals a slightly disappointing issue with Bendis’ script overloading on the decompression and so not having the room to properly explore the feelings of the different characters. Its also annoying that room has been giving to pointless, unfunny in-jokes at the expense of stuff more important. Still this is one of the best comics on the market and Bagley’s linework is still good if hampered by his artistic cohorts.
