A Wonderful Confection: A Review of Superman/Spider-Man #1

written by Mark Waid (main story), Tom King, Christopher Priest, Sean Murphy, Matt Fraction, Jeff Lemire, Greg Rucka, Gail Simone (back-up stories) 

drawn by by Jorge Jimenez (main story), Jim Lee and Scott Williams, Daniel Sampere, Sean Murphy, Steve Lieber, Rafa Sandoval, Nicola Scott, Belen Ortega (back-up stories)

colored by Tomeu Morey (main story), Alex Sinclair, Alejandro Sanchez, Simon Gough, Nathan Fairbairn, Ulises Arreola, Marcelo Maiolo, Jordie Bellaire

So far, I have had mixed feelings about this new wave of DC/Marvel crossovers. I hated last year's Deadpool/Batman published by Marvel, but enjoyed the DC-published counterpart, Batman/Deadpool.

Well, so far, the third crossover book, Superman/Spider-Man, is the very best of the bunch.

The main story features Clark Kent aka Superman, and Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, going up against their long-time foes Braniac and Doctor Octopus, who have teamed up to help Braniac unload corrupted code from his system into the brains of humanity.   Doc Ock has agreed to help Braniac in exchange for the chance to travel to worlds that will appreciate his genius. The plan to dump this toxic code into people's brains, of course, will have catastrophic consequences for humanity, and must be stopped. Can Supes and Spidey save the day?

As main stories go, this one is as strong as it gets, with a tight, entertaining script by Mark Waid, who knows his way around both Marvel and DC characters, but also with some astonishing art by Jorge Jimenez, who has, in my opinion, just made the case for a regular gig drawing Spider-Man, assuming DC ever lets him go. Even though I've kept abreast of the emergence of new artistic talent over the years, Jimenez has flown under my radar for a while since he's done mainly DC stuff, while I'm mostly a Marvel guy. Like his fellow DC exclusive artists Dan Mora and Sean Murphy, this is someone I would love to see working on a Marvel book in the future.     

The back-up stories, ranging from four to nine pages, also feature Superman and Spider-Man and their supporting cast, like Mary Jane Watson, Lois Lane, J. Jonah Jameson, Perry White, Jonathan Kent, Ben Parker, Jimmy Olsen, Superboy Prime, variants of the characters like Spider-Man 2099 and Batman Beyond, other characters like Power Girl and the Punisher, and even villains like High Evolutionary and Carnage.  There's even a walk-on from arguably one of the most hated characters in Spider-Man's history, Paul Rabin. While some stories are better than others, there is not a single lemon among any of these stories.  Every single one is worth reading. 

It should be emphasized that none of these stories, main or backup, are canonical, which, as I understand it, is in keeping with the very first crossover back in 1976 (50 years ago now). There's no effort to explain how these characters occupy the same universe, which was done rather laboriously in the 1990s DC vs Marvel crossover and the JLA/Avengers crossover in the early 2000s.  Non-canonical, to my mind, is the way to go.   One story in particular (no spoilers, I promise) really runs with this non-canonical premise and delivers a tongue-in-cheek shocker that I'm frankly kind of amazed DC editorial greenlit (you'll know which one it is when you see it).

Next to the main story, which I absolutely loved and give a full 10/10, the other highlight of this anthology is some very nice wish fulfillment that's been decades in the making for me: I finally get to see Jim Lee drawing a Spider-Man story, which is something for which I have been pining since he  broke out in the 90s, even before his Image and DC-exclusive days. Sure, it's only nine pages long and doesn't have any real money shots like a two-page spread of Spidey swinging or anything like that, but at least it's an itch scratched after a really long time.  It's also worth noting that in the Tom King/Jim Lee story, Mary Jane is wearing what clearly looks like a wedding ring on a necklace, which means that in that little pocket universe, Peter and MJ are still married, so it's wish-fulfillment in more ways than one.  On that note, the brief Paul Rabin appearance (in the Power Girl/Punisher backup) is just as insulting and demeaning as it needs to be.

Comic books being as pricey as they are nowadays, it's hard to recommend to people to go out and buy one, but in my humble opinion, this one is definitely worth the money. 

9.5/10

 

Hickman's Brilliance: A Review of Ultimate Spider-Man Issues #18 to #24

 written by Jonathan Hickman

drawn by David Messina and Marco Checchetto

colored by Marcio Menyz

It's been challenging to pick up comics in the last year or so, but of the backlog I've accumulated, easily the best issues to read have been the remainder of Jonathan Hickman's Ultimate Spider-Man, which wrapped up its first mega-arc with issue #24.

So to make a long story short, Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, and his family have survived attempts on their lives by the likes of Ultimate Kraven and Ultimate Sandman, and Peter, his son Richard and Richard's new female friend Felicia Hardy, are now ready to take the fight to the architect of all their misery, the lethally dangerous crime boss Wilson Fisk (aka the Kingpin), who is now allied with the equally deadly Martin Li (aka Mister Negative). Will Peter and his family prevail, or will the combined might of the Kingpin and Mister Negative prove too much, even for Spider-Man and his allies like Harry Osborn, Mysterio and Otto Octavius?

This series has gotten a great deal of hype mainly for its depiction of a Peter Parker who, unlike his mainstream 616 counterpart, is happily married with two children. To my mind, that feels a little reductionist; there's a lot more to Hickman's take on Spider-Man than this. At the same time though, the character is a little hamstrung by the fact that unlike his 616 counterpart, this Spider-Man picks up his powers in his mid-thirties and basically has to take a crash course in being Spider-Man so that the story can wrap up in two years. While there are admittedly some stories that don't need retreads, it's fairly clear that this particular Spider-Man is quite distinct from his 616 counterpart in that, while he is motivated by a deep sense of responsibility, he is NOT motivated by guilt, because Uncle Ben is very much alive here, with Aunt May having died through no fault of Peter's.  It's a completely different dynamic that makes the character worth exploring, which I'm sure Hickman and Marvel plan to do now that the take on the character is an established success. 

All of that said, I don't agree with all of the narrative choices that were made, such as the notion that Peter knocked up Mary Jane and dropped out of college of be a dad, which doesn't quite feel in keeping with 616 Peter's scholastic dedication. Still, Hickman has managed the difficult task of a truly fresh take on an iconic character.  It's even better still that Marvel has let this iteration of the character grow up with his readership, keeping him relatable.

It's also gratifying to see Hickman's take on Peter's supporting cast, in particular the now living Uncle Ben, who's a touch more Ben Urich than Ben Parker here, and Jonah Jameson, who is much more of a hard-boiled journalist here than he has been throughout a lot of his 616 tenure. MJ is also a markedly different character from her 616 iteration, but these have clearly been shaped by her life's experience as a thirtysomething mother. Also, this is an MJ who clearly loves Peter, and who has, fortunately, not been forced to apart from him by some hamhanded editorial mandate. There's a lot left to explore with these characters so I imagine Hickman's got a few stories left to tell.  Well, with these twenty-four issues, he was off to a very good start. 

It helps, of course, that he Hickman some truly capable artists illustrating his work, namely Marco Checchetto and David Messina.  Checchetto's considerably more experienced when it comes to drawing the webhead, but Messina holds his own whenever he takes over, and even though their art styles are visibly distinct from one another they still manage to complement each other pretty well.

I do confess that I am curious to see where Marvel takes this character next!

9/10