Last Week’s Comics 6/1/2011
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Amazing Spider-Man #662
(Marvel – writer: Christos Gage; art: Reilly Brown)
Christos Gage went and got all serious and sappy on us!!
In this follow up to last weeks ASM, Gage provides the conclusion for his story “The Substitute.” Spidey uses the one thing he has in spades in order to help him save the Avengers Academy students: character. Which isn’t as much fun as ass-whooping.
The conclusion is satisfactory, but a bit forced. The students have to reach inside themselves in order to beat Psychoman. I enjoyed the first issue much more as its message wasn’t so heavy handed.
What I enjoyed most about the issue was Reilly Brown’s art. One thing a lot of artists try to do, somewhat unsuccessfully, is show how quick Spider-Man is. I don’t know what the technique is, but rather than use action lines, Brown draws two or three silhouetted Spider-Men, and then a darkened version of the character. The result is to show how Spidey moves from one place to another, but quickly. Brown uses this a few times, both for effect and economy. Rather than wasting a few panels showing how Spider-Man dove between a villains legs, Brown shows it all in one.
This isn’t as fun a read as a Dan Slott Spider-Man comic, but it’s more fun than a non-canonical Superman or Batman comic. While I wasn’t wholly impressed with the conclusion of the story, it doesn’t mean that it’s bad story. On the contrary, there’s still a lot of humor, and a lot of action. What hurts this issue is that there’s enough sap to make gallons of maple syrup.
Still, I’d recommend reading “The Substitute” for a more light-hearted Spider-Man story.
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The Tattered Man
(Image – writers: Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti; art: Norberto Fernandez)
The Tattered Man is a cross between Ragman and The Spectre. Born of the bloodied rags of Holocaust victims, the Tattered Man is a spirit of vengeance who uses new hosts – people who have done terrible things – as a means to avenge victims of heinous crimes.
I haven’t read any Palmiotti and Gray, so this was my first introduction to them as wrtiters. It feels more like a first issue, a pilot almost, rather than a one-shot. But for a one-shot, it’s still a bit clichèd.
The story opens with a bunch of drug addicts trying to get a fix on Halloween. Their plan is to knock on doors, then rob the suckers who assume they want candy. There’s not much character development besides that as the main bad ass, a guy named Zeke (and dressed as a vampire of sorts) swears and tears around the issue like he’s always wired. He’s just a prick.
Dannika and David, two meth heads who somewhat see the errors of their ways, or at least two people who don’t want to be associated with a drugged out psychopath, split with Zeke and move down the path of redemption.
There’s an attempt at retribution, but with such a short issue, it doesn’t really work. We’re left with what appears to be a reformed David and Dannika (a plot thread that’s resolved in one panel), and the feeling that the Tattered Man still has more work to do.
I wasn’t impressed with The Tattered Man. I wanted to be (at $4.99, I wanted to be in love with the damn thing!). But it falls into too many stereotypes to be approached seriously, and critically. Instead, it’s a story I’ve read countless times before – one which has been told better.
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