Spider-ManVol 1: Down Among The Dead Men
Written by Mark Millar
Art by Terry Dodson
2004
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
Spider-ManVol 2: Venomous
Written by Mark Millar
Art by Terry Dodson and Frank Cho
2005
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
Spider-ManVol 3: The Last Stand
Written by Mark Millar
Art by Terry Dodson
2005
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
Pow! Everyone thinks that superhero comics are so easy. Good guy. Bad guy. Superpowers. Dangers. Action. Hot love interest. Fight Scene. End. Repeat. But gosh-damn-it: like all things - if you're gonna do it right - if you're gonna make it sing then you need to do more than just re-fry the basics - and in the same way that the people who work in the greasy spoon round the corner use (pretty much) the same ingredients as Michelin star chefs (ok - so this isn't a water-tight analogy - but just go with it...) there are some writers who can take all the superhero staples and then mix them together and cook them in such a way that just makes it all feel... right.
A Marvel Knights tale (which is like mainstream Marvel - only slightly darker/more mature - or as mature as Marvel can get anyway...) Spider-Man: Down Among The Dead Men / Venomous / The Last Stand is one big epic tale that pushes the webbed wonder all the way to the very edge (I really wish that this thing had one big collective title - if only to make it easier to catalogue: but each volume has it's own individual heading - oh well). Taking place at a time where Peter Parker has graduated high school and has now become a teacher - and got over the will-they/won't-they? with MJ (they're now happily married): Mark Millar still manages somehow to turn in one of the most dramatic and nail-biting Spidey stories I've ever read. Seriously: this is up there with Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man saga and if you're read what I've written about that - then you know that I'm dealing out some high high praise. One of the things that made me realise how good this thing is - is how several times reading it I actually feared for Spider-Man's life and assumed that there was a chance that he might just not make it. And there's loads of big crazy action that pushes the limit of how far a hero can go before he cracks.
If you like superheros - and especially if you like Spider-Man - then you owe it to yourself to read this book. And - even if you don't like those things (and if you don't normally like Mark Millar [1]): then you should still give it a spin. Hell - actually I think I'd even say that if you only ever gonna read one Spider-Man story: then make it this one.
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[1] I guess because this was written in 2004 - it's Mark Millar just getting starting up - but not yet gone full torture-obsessed crazy. So it has loads of inventive superhero fun - but none of that dark ever-so-off-putting "I've gonna make this more messed up and crazy than anything else seen before" undercurrent. Bonus.
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Links: The M0vie Blog Review, What Culture Review.
Further Reading: Ultimate Spider-Man, Fantastic Four: 1234, Wolverine: Enemy of the State, The Ultimates, Thunderbolts: Faith in Monsters / Caged Angels.
Profiles: Mark Millar.
All comments welcome.
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