Making the Case for Spider Verse....

It has come to my attention that some of you Spider-Man fans out there are not reading Spider Verse. I am encouraging those people to break themselves of this habit immediately. Now, I know SM fans (myself being one of them) tend to be divisive in their ideas of what makes a quality Spider-Man story, but I encourage you to give this one a shot no matter what side of the fence you're on.

1). Nostalgic Value: Every other beat calls back to the fun ridiculousness of the 90s animated series. As a matter of fact, the plot itself calls back to the final episodes of the series where Spider-Man had been chosen to lead an army of Spider-Men against (I shit you not) Spider-Carnage. Oh, it was delightfully silly. Basically, Peter was the only Spider-Man with enough compassion and caring for his fellow man to realize that all Spider-Carnage needed was to see Uncle Ben again and he would give up trying to destroy all of creation. I'm not kidding, by the way. Peter went and got Uncle Ben from another dimension and defeated Carnage with Love. Granted, Spider Verse deals with a far more vicious bad guy from the JMS era of Amazing Spider Man, but yeah, it's a lot of fun.

2). Dan Slott: He's quickly becoming the guy who takes a premise that should be really stupid and making it work because of the unique voice he brings to the project. Last year, I was at the head of the "Superior Spider Man Sucks" Chorus, going off about how it was a travesty and how Marvel was out of ideas blah blah blah, but the second half of the series (that dealt mainly with the war of the Goblins and Norman Osborn basically tearing down New York) really turned things around in showing that shit goes wrong when Peter Parker isn't Spider Man. If Slott can change MY mind, he can change anyone's mind.


3). The Art: Oliver Copiel is at the absolute top of his game here. Shut up and look at this gorgeous panels!

4). The Themes: The thing I personally find to be the most interesting that didn't happen in the animated series (see #1) is that instead of power and responsibility being the thing that makes 616 Peter so special, it's the thing that links all the Spiders together. It's their nature. It essentially MAKES them Spiders in the same way willpower and fearlessness makes Hal Jordan a Green Lantern. Their foes, the Inheritors basically have everything they have because they took it by force because they could. Even their name "Inheritors" implies that power is something they're supposed to have just because. "Might makes right" is their nature.

5). It's the best event Marvel's had in a while: I loved Infinity and ever since, Marvel's crossovers and tie-ins (except the Trial of Jean Grey) have been pretty questionable. X-Men's Battle of the Atom was awesome and so many things to love right up until you figured out it had absolutely no point. Original Sin is probably the WORST crossover event I've ever read. There were eight issues and at least three of them were a bunch of superheroes standing in a room either a). listening to a story or b). responding to the story they just heard. And Avengers/X-Men: Axis is a traveshmockery. My editor over at Black Nerd Problems, Will Evans and I split review duties on this book and every time it comes up on the assignment list, we both cringe like it's our turn to mow the lawn. Spider Verse takes place away from any other happenings in the Marvel Universe and so it doesn't suffer from too many shoehorned personalities that the story doesn't need unlike Axis and its Deadpool fetish.

Spider Verse isn't just another event. It's not even just The Best Event Marvel Has Right Now. So far, at least as far as the 21st century is concerned (showing much respect to the greats like Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and so forth in the 20th century), this book makes the case for Spider-Man. I can't speak for All Fans Everywhere, but that's why I think Spider Verse at least deserves a shot from anyone who fancies themselves a fan. Then again, I could be wrong.

The Week In Geek 8/27/14

So, one of this week's Geeky Things That People Were Talking About was the announcement that, Donald Glover, to the apparently overwhelming joy of Twitter, will be voicing Miles Morales in an episode of Ultimate Spider-Man. On one hand, it's cool that the social media campaign that inspired Miles in the first place gets a (kinda) win in seeing their idol on screen in some form. I'm just not entirely sure this is that much of a "win." Mainly because Ultimate Spider-Man is a uniquely awful half hour of television. The thing that makes it so notably bad is that a). Spectacular Spider-Man, a perfectly decent show got bumped for this and b). it's a titled after a Brian Michael Bendis work but follows it in the same way the latest batch of X-Men movies follow the comics (meaning there are characters with similar names and attributes, but aside from that....nope). I could go into everything this show does wrong but I digress. Donald Glover.

I'll say this for Marvel: They draw we better
edge-ups than DC (sorry, Mister Terrific).

Let me just say right away that I like Donald Glover. As this is being written, I'm actually listening to his Because the Internet album. I respect that he (as I've found out in the past couple of months) has a fanbase that is, to say the least, rabid. So, I don't have any personal distaste for the guy (I'm really trying hard to save myself any fan backlash here because I've seen them in action).

With that said, he's no Spider-Man, cartoon or otherwise. Black, white, whatever...there's a certain atmosphere of iconic, dormant heroism to everyone to play/voice Marvel's poster child. Tobey Maguire had a wide-eyed, nebbish Luke Skywalker quality to him. Andrew Garfield is a dorky smartass more like the Ultimate Peter from the comics. Even Christopher Daniel Barnes from the animated series that dominated most of the 90s had an unassuming everyman quality. Donald Glover is....well, Troy Barnes. Putting Troy Barnes in a Spider-Man costume is nothing less than fan service. And that's okay. With superhero comics, if they run long enough, it's inevitable that they're all subjected to a degree of fan service. It's just that sometimes, that works out for the better (Dick Grayson as Batman, Bucky Barnes as Captain America, Wolverine being on virtually every major Marvel team possible) and sometimes you get Childish Gambino being snarky in a Disney cartoon for 30 minutes.

Then again, I really could have stopped this little analysis at "Ultimate Spider-Man is a uniquely awful cartoon" anyway.

Anywho, my comic reviews for the week are available on Black Nerd Problems for your perusal. As always, feel free to comment, like, share and troll as you see fit. This week, I took a look at.....

All New X-Men: I have to say that I like the groove Bendis has found for his take on the X-franchise. The Original X-Men are at their best when they're getting into trouble while the staff isn't around. I like the direction of the whole "different factions fighting for different aspects of the dream" thing, but the Originals, not having all of that baggage, serve as a nice break from all that without completely departing from it either.

Batman Eternal: Finally, some major plotline payoff!!! This is definitely one of the top 3 best issues of the book. James Tynion IV did a pretty good job of balancing all the plotlines he had to work with. Granted, he conveniently didn't have as many to juggle as pretty much every other writer has, but still. Masterful job getting to Gotham's big upheaval. I'm VERY excited about what's next.

Stuff I Read This Week 5/7/14

Iron Fist The Living Weapon #2: I'll be honest with you. I don't know if Marvel is going to really invest in keeping an Iron Fist title alive. Historically, despite decent sales, they haven't kept the series around for very long. I CAN tell you that if they do plan to really keep this series happening, Iron Fist: The Living Weapon stands a pretty good chance.

Issue #2 picks up almost directly after the first one in the immediate aftermath of the (I shit you not) robo-ninja attack on Danny Rand's apartment. As I mentioned in the last review for this title, readers who are used to a slightly more jovial Iron Fist might feel a little disoriented by this battle-worn, disengaged take on the character. A lot of the issue is centered around giving us a look at the magical city of K'un Lun where Danny Rand had to kill a dragon barehanded to acquire his kung-fu powers and become the Iron Fist (Did you hear me? I want to take a second and harp on that fact that HE HAD TO KILL A DRAGON to become a superhero!!!!). Sadly, Kung Fu Heaven's festivities are about to be interrupted by uninvited guests. We also get to see an equal amount of spotlight lent to the moments in Danny's childhood that inevitably lead to him becoming the Iron Fist. Kaare Andrews is clearly influenced by old martial arts films and brings several of those elements to the script with shrieking women, strong familial bonds and grand speeches driving the narrative. Visually, the book has yet to lose a step. There are certain panels that look like they could be stories from an old scroll. Andrews makes Danny's abilities really seem like something you'd have to kill an ancient dragon to obtain.

Bottom Line: Another strong offering from Kaare Andrews that'll keep new readers sated for next month. 8.5 out of 10

Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #1-With all the Amazing Spider-Man 2 in theaters, Peter Parker returned to former glory in his own relaunched title, a Spider-Man 2099 title on the horizon....it's only appropriate that Miles Morales get a fresh coat of paint. Also, Marvel's Ultimate Universe is a lot like a 90's boy band. There's mostly B and C students talentwise and then there's one breakout star that makes it all profitable. So far, New Ultimates is the Joey Fatone (the "who the fuck is that" guy), Ultimate FF is JC Chasez (the "close but not really" one) and Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man is Justin Timberlake, the profitable one.

Despite the new title, there's not much particularly new about this book, really. However, that's not actually a bad thing. This has been the standout property of the Ultimate line for as long as its been around, so if there's nothing broken, there's no need to fix it. And Brian Michael Bendis sticks closely to this old adage. Things pretty much pick up where Ultimate Spider-Man #200 left off. Miles is still coping in the aftermath of Galactus' attack on Earth as well as his father's disappearance. Bendis handles this with his usual perfect blend of humor and real pathos. While most of the dialogue is as good as you would expect from a Bendis book, the interactions with his best friend, Ganke, are easily the strongest in this issue with a Mary Jane Watson run-in at a close second. The book really goes out of its way to hammer home that just because Ultimate Peter Parker is dead, that doesn't mean the problems and villains he left behind are all taken care of. Miles really struggles with the "What Would Peter Do?" predicament and it makes for a layered plot that doesn't chase away Parker fans, but still attracts new readers. And it's always nice that Marvel can manage to write a person of color without constantly hitting you over the head with the fact that he's a person of color (I'm looking at You, EveryoneAtDCWhoEverWroteCyborg).

Keeping David Marquez drawing this book is probably the best decision Marvel's made this year. This issue is probably some of the tightest work I've seen from him on this franchise. There's a clear sense of what's happening in every panel and you're never confused during action beats. And the way he conveys emotion is second to none.

Bottom Line: This is still the best Ultimate book without question. 9 out of 10