One thing I have not gotten used to, even though I'm no longer totally new to this comic book world, is how there can be multiple story lines and multiple books about one character. And that although they are loosely connected by the obvious fact that they have a main character in common, they have nothing to do with each other otherwise. If one comes in off the street and says, or thinks to themselves, "Hey, I finally wanna read Spider-Man," they get faced with the question, "Which one?"
"Ummm...I dunno. Is there more than one?" (Clerk nods head and points in the directions of multiple versions of Spider-Man stories.) "Okay. Well, I wanna read the real one. The definitive one."
It's sort of hard to pick out by name alone. I mean, The Amazing Spider-Man rings a bell. Is that because of The Electric Company? But then I see the title "Ultimate Spider-Man", and I think, "Ah, YES. This is IT. The ULTIMATE one."
But then you have variations on a theme. There's all these different stories that have branched off from the original. One of the longest ones I saw was called "The Amazing Spider-Man Presents Anti-Venom New Ways To Live", and no, I didn't memorize it. I wrote it down on a piece of scrap paper so I could find out what it meant later.
It meant a lot of things. I didn't write any of them down on a piece of scrap paper.
Why all this talk about Spider-Man? Because this week, I decided to go out on as many dates with as many different Spider-Men as I could. "As many" turned out to be six. But don't give me any lip! Six is A LOT of Spidey.
Let me be frank: I don't know if I want to commit fully to a superhero comic, but it was my idea to read a bunch of comics featuring one character to find out which version I liked best. The idea enchanted me. (Which means I enchanted myself, and that's kind of self-centered, but still, an enchantment occured.) So even if I come to the conclusion not to follow any one of these particular comics, at least I can know which one I like best. I'll have learned something about myself, and that's always a good thing. Besides, this is supposed to be fun, right?!?
So without further ado, six dates, one Spider-Man. Go!
Date # 1: A train ride with The Amazing Spider-Man
My first date was with The Amazing Spiderman. We met on the train, and rode together from Brooklyn to 28th Street in Manhattan. My first thoughts? Hello Gorgeous! I mean, seriously, the art in this comic is pretty striking. It's so picturesque - especially any sequence with snow in it. And let me tell you something, this book truly lured me in. I was so into this Spidey that I totally forgot I was on the train and lost track of the stops. I didn't miss mine, but nevertheless, that rarely happens to me. Even when I've got a great book or I'm listening to my iPod, I'm distracted by so many other things on the train, be it the public urination or the sight of hot boyz. Anytime I get so immersed in something that I forget the real world, it's worth looking into.
Plotwise, it's an enjoyable story. And I might feel that way partially because I've been marathoning old episodes of Law & Order, as well as finishing up this season of Dexter and there seems to be a little bit of homicide/serial-killer stuff going on in a mysterious and intriguing sort of way.
I was honestly surprised to like this one so much. But I did. I mean, I might not go as far as to say it was AMAZING, but it was certainly good. Sadly, all good things come to an end. And so this issue did. As well as my train ride. Let's see how date #2 fares.
Date # 2: Coffee with Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
I had high hopes for this one. I mean, we'd met before. First through a mutual friend who liked to read portions to me; and then we'd hung out by ourselves once before. I remember really enjoying the way this comic combined the angst and awkwardness of being a teenager with becoming a superhero. In the issue I read a while ago, the dialogue and situation was absolutely charming. So, I sat down at Birch to join Ultimate Spider-Man for coffee and a croissant.
It still has some of its charm. The whole portion with the girl waiting in his room, them making out, and then eating together in his kitchen was full of teen culture. It took a while to get to that, though.
What else? I liked the introduction. A nice recap, along with a funny set-up to see our hero cast as a fast food employee. But when it comes to the nuts and bolts of the actual story here? Um, I'm not really sure what was going on. Just as I was beginning to get my mind around this red caped villainous hero, we skip to the aforementioned girlie scene, and then in the last four pages we suddenly have the appearance of Storm from the X-Men, the Kingpin from....well, he's from something. And then a whole other villain!? It's a little much, you know?
It's as if my date and I had been having a nice chat, exchanging stories about our schooling and background which initially seemed similar, and then as he's leaving and asking to see me again he mentions that he's also pre-op for a sex change and is bi-polar, hates the color orange. It's too much all at once. Or maybe it's just too much. eesh. Did I find this Spiderman to be the Ultimate? Ultimately disappointing!
(I'm the only one who thinks that joke is funny.)
Date # 3: More coffee with Spider-Man 1602
I know it's not really cool to set-up dates back to back like job interviews, but time is money here in the Big Apple and one often has to "consolidate their moves" to use an old waitressing term. So Date #3, Spiderman 1602, also met me for coffee. At Birch.
The cover of this makes me laugh a bit. I mean, chuckle really. When you line all these comics up side by side and look at Spider-Man on each one, and on this one he's suddenly dressed like a colonial soldier, but still has the mask...it's cute. Yeah, I said it. It's cute.
If you don't know already, I love me some historical fiction. But would I love historically fictional fiction? I wondered.
Well, I was immediately charmed by the clever name spelling. Peter Parquagh? I love it. But I watched myself get charmed by this and thought it was a red flag. Sometimes I get so enamored with cleverness, I get completely snowed and never realize - until it's too late -- that there's no substance under all those pithy statements. So, I proceeded with caution.
And I'm here to report that I really dug this one. I'm actually a little embarrassed to admit it, considering that it's a pretty goofy looking comic where Spider-Man dresses like a colonial soldier. What I liked about it is probably the very same things that a long time fan would not like--it's pretty straightforward back-to-basics Spider-Man stuff. Peter's spider powers are still new to him and the story of him becoming conscious of his powers is pretty fascinating. I like that he's fallen in love with a shape-shifter (although her end is very sad), and I like the idea of dropping Spider-Man into the world of the 1600s and seeing what happens. It worked for me. So what if it's goofy?
(There was a part in the middle that is still sort of vague to me -- a guy who needed blood and then was about to send hornets to attack a miniaturized woman. I couldn't totally follow what was happening there. It did seem mean.)
It's the second time in my reading of these that they were alluding to mutants (unless I was reading into something that is not being said.) Is this odd? Or a new thing? Does Spider-Man crossover with mutants all the time?
Anyhow, on the whole, I had a pretty good time with this one. I experienced a full range of emotion while reading it, and am in a little bit of suspense to see what happens next. Do you like apples? Well, I liked Spider-Man 1602. How do you like them apples?
(I saw that in a movie about snobs.)
Date # 4: The Pedicure with Spider-Man Noir.
Spiderman Noir joined me for a Citrus Hot Cream Pedicure. Ooh la la! What a lovely date. And let's talk about that outfit, Spidey. I am LOVING it. It's fighter pilot goggles over the old Land Of The Lost masks. And while that might not really sound like a compliment, I actually mean this to be a compliment. It's a very creative way to dress up our Spider friend.
I did enjoy this comic. I ended up getting totally immersed, especially in the end. Oy, what an ending! But overall I felt it had a strange structure. There seems to be three distinct story lines going on in this issue. Whoever put it together decided to forego the idea of weaving the stories together. You know, like a soap opera? So that you've got a cliff hanger, a to-be-continued, nearly every other page as one subplot gets paused to focus on a different subplot.
But rather, in this case, they seemed to first focus on some Boss guy. Next, Peter sleeps with a Madame. And third, the entire plot line about the new scientist who experiments on monkeys AND, much to our surprise, black people. It's intense stuff.
All intriguing storylines, but not put together so well. Maybe it's just a preference things? As a date, this is the equivalent of a really smart guy who graduated in the top 2% of his high school class, but just dropped out of college because his parents are getting divorced. Like, everything is all out-of-order and wonky. Do you keep dating this guy to see if things change? Or do you move on and figure that if it's meant to be, you'll come into each other's lives again some day?
As much as I like the mood and the vibe and the art in this one, I'm going to have to pass on a second date.
Date # 5: The post-dinner hang out with Spider-Man Clone Saga
I didn't really have a desire to read this one, but since i'm trying to discern if there is one true Spider-Man for me, I figured I should read this.
I absolutely LOVE the recap page. It's my favorite recap page of all time. Basically it tells you that, although this series was done before, it was done WRONG. And these people, the original writers are going to write what should have been written all along. That's really weird and funny and different. I can't think of anything else like that. It's like watching the Charlie's Angels movie and having it start by saying that the original Charlie's Angels television show was completely screwed up, so screwed up that the true story of Charlie and his Angels has never been told...until NOW.
It's hard to dig on Clone stories. They're this millennium's version of Freaky Friday and all those movies where people "switch places." Who's who and what's really going on? Call me when Kirk Cameron gets involved.
On second thought, no thanks.
This story was somewhat interesting, but just took a long time to get to the point. A lot of extra time with clone jokes, and a lot of time to illustrate how in earnest Peter Parker is. Oh, and Mary Jane is pregnant. Awesome. (She looks pretty horrible in these drawings. Is that intentional?)
This one is fine. After a day of so many comics about the same character I honestly didn't care anymore. If it didn't grab me right away, then why go any further. I almost gave up reading this one in the middle. But who leaves in the middle of a date? So, I finished the story. But I'm really not intersted in pursuing anything serious. Clone Sagas just aren't my thing.
Date # 6: Web of Spider-Man - NO!
No no no! I just can't. Can't do this anymore. I mean I would have if it were just me and Spider-Man. But he wanted to bring two friends along! Three stories and me? That's just not cool. That's not a date. That's a "hang." The only way to get anything date-wise out of three guys and me is...well. Gross! It seemed sort of unfair. So, although we were set to meet....I decided not to show. I stood up Web of Spider-Man.
I'm not sorry.
Conclusion:
Looks like Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man 1602 will be getting second dates. Now I just have to decide if I want to go on second date this week, or date....I don't know, Wolverine or somebody. Batman? I guess Nightwing isn't around anymore.
-Nina Stone, 2009
Amazing Spider-Man is an almost-weekly comic. It's organized similarly to a TV show, where there's a rotating team of writers and each story has a different artist (like a TV director), and they coordinate everything so that it all flows together, story-wise. (Art-wise, there are often really drastic changes in style from one issue to the next, though it's always good.)
Spider-Man is not tied to mutants per se, but since this is the Marvel Universe everyone hangs out with everyone on a regular basis. Spider-Man has a rivalry with Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four going all the way back to the beginning of his series, he frequently teams up with Daredevil, he fights as one of the Avengers, etc. So while Spider-Man has no particular affiliation with the X-Men, if some mutants are involved in the story it's hardly noteworthy.
I'm not clear on why you were confused with Ultimate Spider-Man, since it seems to me it's a pretty clear and accessible issue. At the end there's a big-shot villain named the Kingpin who's shot through a window by some new guy. (That is most certainly not Storm of the X-Men, you're not expected to know who it is yet.) I guess if you weren't familiar with the Kingpin you might not understand the significance of the event, but it's still not hard to follow.
Posted by: Mory Buckman | 2009.12.22 at 06:14
Yeah, what Mory said about Amazing Spidey: different writers and artists every three issues or so, which you might or might not think are worthwhile.
The 1602 series is surprisingly enjoyable, but I give credit to Jeff Parker, who is an awesome writer. The second issue is fun, with him fighting pirates, but the third one, which comes out this week, isn't very good, and probably won't make much sense if you don't know who people like Hank Pym, Otto Octavius, and Curt Connors are. Proceed at your own risk.
Me, I'm still digging Ultimate Spidey; the art is charming as hell, the plots are fun and exciting, and the character interaction is probably the best that Bendis is doing these days. I know Tucker doesn't like the way Peter looks like a girl, and yes, his hair is pretty ridiculous, but I still dig it.
Posted by: Matthew J. Brady | 2009.12.22 at 10:44
Batman, definetly
Posted by: Seth | 2009.12.22 at 16:18
If you think it's difficult to sort out Spider-Man comics, Batman comics will drive you nuts.
Posted by: Bill Reed | 2009.12.29 at 22:21