Hey, how about that. A few weeks after I complained that it was getting a little ridiculous, the “Brand New Day” logo has disappeared from the covers of Spider-Man. Glad to see I’m finally being taken seriously around here!

After a few looser stories, Brand New Day’s next arc - I think it’s Guggenheim’s third for those keeping track - introduces yet another new villain, though this time with a more familiar edge. It’s a new, female Kraven. Dangerous territory, because the death of the original Kraven is considered a classic story and has been left alone long enough now that it probably shouldn’t be touched again - although that said, the second Kraven, the “Grim Hunter,” already trampled that grave, so this can’t be any worse.

I’ve been pretty fond of Guggenheim’s arcs so far, and this one easily wins me over - not least because I’m a hopeless fan of Jimenez’s MacFarlane-inspired, giant-eyed, spindley-limbed Spider-Man. There’s a great bit of misdirection employed, and it’s genuinely amusing to see that despite her fierce conviction and calculating nature, the new Kraven (since, although it isn’t said in the issue, I’m assuming that’s who she is) has actually made a bit of a foul-up. Especially interesting will be seeing how this affects Vin’s already-strained relationship with Peter, should he begin to suspect the truth.

The opening scene, guest-starring Daredevil, quickly re-establishes the pair’s friendship post-OMD, although this version of Daredevil is far lighter than the one in his current title, and like ny time someone from Peter’s past returns, it just raises up more continuity questions that become distracting.  It’s pretty clear that this is heading towards a classically-inspired “costume switch” for Spidey and Daredevil, though the next issue teaser suggests it might have a slightly new twist.

After a few issues flipping between some excruciating Gale stories and a disappointing couple of issues from Slott, this issue re-establishes the title’s momentum for one arc - it remains to be seen if that’s going to feed into anything more long term, though with the Venom story arc coming up shortly, the title’s going to get itself a genuine boost one way or another.

It’s well-known that the 1990s weren’t kind to comics. A wave of 80s-inspired grit washed through the industry, and Spider-Man in particular suffered ridiculously under the weight of it. As increasingly dark storylines brushed his supporting cast aside and sent Peter himself into a downward spiral, the convoluted and editorially botched Clone Saga was conceived to try and fix things - but what was it that was so bad that they felt they had to take such radical steps as to REPLACE Spider-Man?

Well, there’s the events of Amazing Spider-Man #393, for example. A sort-of sequel to Maximum Carnage, it sees Carnage’s former allies, Shriek and Carrion going on a rampage, with Spider-Man tasked with bringing them in. Shriek is an insane goth-inspired villainess with a maternal complex, straight out of Ravencroft Asylum, and Carrion is her murderous “son”, an ordinary man transformed into a cold, super-powered killer by the Carrion Virus.

This issue is the last of a 4-part story - Shriek has gone to kill Carrion’s real mother so that she can replace her, leading to a stand-off as she’s trapped inside her own house. It’s night, naturally, because at this point all Spider-Man stories took place at night, and while Peter tries to sort the situation out. Mary Jane sits by Aunt May’s hospital bed, the old coot having had yet another stroke, and explains that she’s going to leave for a while because she can’t deal with how depressing life is.

It’s all quite unrelentingly bleak. After he attacks Peter to protect both of his “mothers,” Peter pounds the crap out of a confused, psychologically torn Carrion while shouting about how he should just let the Carrion virus destroy Malcolm (the unwitting host) for what he’s done. Shriek eventually saves Malcolm’s life by absorbing the Carrion virus to prove that she loves her “son,” and Spider-Man takes her to a hospital - though not before he takes a moment to wonder whether he should just leave her to die.

What we’re learning here is that Spider-Man doesn’t have much sympathy for the criminally insane. A pity, really, since he’s clearly not all there himself at the moment - the arc is littered with moments when Peter has an internal dialogue with two sides of himself - The Man and The Spider. Seeing Aunt May in the hospital, he plans to go home and beg MJ for help… but she’s already left town. The issue ends with perhaps the one panel that sums up this entire era for me - Spider-Man perches atop of a stone Gargoyle at night, hunched over and glaring down on the city, the captions declaring: “Never again will he allow the man’s voice to sway him; the man’s hopes to seduce him. Never again will he show his face to that cruel and merciless world down there. The mask stays on, the heart stays cold. Now and forever, he vows…’I AM THE SPIDER’”

Creatively, it’s not quite as bad as things ever got - Bagley’s artwork is immediately familiar as being one of the definitive Spider-Man artists, and in fairness to DeMatteis, it’s a fairly well-executed story for Shriek and Carrion. The problem is, really, that this unremittingly dark, psychological tone was ever considered good Spider-Man reading, because it’s so far from the character’s origins as to be almost unrecognisable.

It’s been a while since we checked in on Brand New Day, as it’s still being called. Seriously, isn’t it time to drop that particular piece of marketing-speak? The initial thrill has now roundly worn off, and the glut of new enemies and characters is starting to weaken a little.

It’s fairly confusing that, of all the writers on the Spidey “Brain Trust”, Bob Gale appears to be the one getting the most stories out the door - especially because he’s the got most individual style of the four (and, some would certainly argue, the worst style.) His frequent use of expository captions is quite grating, and his spidey wisecracks seem dated and unfunny, especially when placed alongside Slott’s genuinely hilarious dialogue.

Gale’s last two issues have made use of the interesting concept (recently introduced to the Spider-Man universe) of “The Bookie” - a small-time crook who takes bets on Superhero fights in the Bar With No Name - a super-villain sanctuary. The idea is uniquely suited to Spider-Man, and adds nicely to the fabric of the Marvel Universe. Unfortunately, Gale’s attempt to write a story about the character - while quite welcome - has ended up jettisoning the elements that made Brand New Day seem successful in the first place - as a result it doesn’t feel classically-influenced so much as it feels generic.

There are some good moments - the bartender halting the fight because technically, Spider-Man’s a “villain” and the bar is a sanctuary for crooks was a nice touch, as was Spidey making use of the cross-town train system in lieu of swinging. Finally, too, we get some advancement on the Spider-Tracer killer plotline which has been running through the books - turns out, Spidey’s being set up, though if it’s clear the “victims” died of natural causes, one would hope that it’d be… picked up by the coroner? Personally, my money’s on the “killer” being one of Spidey’s more well-known foes, and that this plotline might actually tie into the return of Venom.

Largely, though, it feels like a bit of a mis-fire, and perhaps because while there’s a lot of Spider-Man, there’s not actually much Peter Parker - he appears in one panel at the end. If the idea behind Brand New Day was to get back to Peter’s life, this issue is definitely a failure in that regard. McKone’s artwork is reliably good, at least, but he colouring seems a little too muddy and dull, and makes the book read about as entertainingly as it’s written.

Certainly Amazing #563 isn’t the worst Brand New Day issue, but it does have the dubious honour of being the least remarkable - and that might ultimately be more of a worry in the long run.

In something of a quiet week, our attention switches to British football comics, with the sad news of the passing of writer Fred Baker, and the rather more pleasant prospect of a happy nostalgia trip for Roy of the Rovers fans. Elsewhere, we bemoan the fact that it’s… well, a quiet week, really - and the usual linkspamming of articles written elsewhere that we don’t even really need to mention in these leads any more, do we? Continue reading »

Comics Daily coverage of Final Crisis continues as our more qualified DC enthusiast, Seb Patrick, takes a look over the events of DC Universe #0 and, elsewhere, the viral marketing for The Dark Knight. I geek out about the latest Spider-Man announcement, and then there are more examples of articles we’ve written for Den of Geek, which covers Moore’s defining Batman/Joker story, The Killing Joke, and everyone’s new favourite Marvel character, Iron Man. Continue reading »

It doesn’t take a genius to realise about whom Mark Waid was (somewhat snarkily) talking when he recently said “[Spider-Man]’s dialogue is a joy to write, and if you don’t have your readers chuckling or even laughing out loud a few times per issue, you should go write Thor or something”. But either way, it’s certainly not an accusation that can be levelled at Brian Michael Bendis. One of the absolute cornerstones of his run on Ultimate Spider-Man has been in providing character-driven moments and dialogue that can, on occasion cause you to laugh out loud. It’s one of the reasons why it’s managed to remain so (almost entirely) consistently great for 120 issues and counting, and why it can still on occasion feel fresh.

It’s also the case that some of the very best issues of the series so far have been individual, done-in-one vignettes (it means Bendis can’t have a fight scene last three issues, or whatever), and ones that focus on Peter’s life away from the mask. And what we’ve got this month is an excellent example of that formula. In class, Peter is asked to explain why the dummy baby he and Kitty had been looking after as part of a project has turned up charred and destroyed - it was, of course, because of a supervillain attack, although ironically enough this occurred at the Daily Bugle, and so he’s able to tell the story “as” Peter as if he’d been there watching.

It’s a neat little trick (although more than a bit “Hey, where did Clark Kent disappear to?”), and as Peter’s talking about himself, we’re able to view a fairly by-the-numbers fight sequence (with the faintly ludicrous-looking Omega Red) from something of an outsider’s perspective. If anything, it’s just a shame that Peter’s narration only pops up in a couple of panels - I would have really liked to have seen a bit more of his “describing” Spidey and the battle.

But this shines, as most of Bendis’ best USM stories tend to, primarily because it’s funny. Something about featuring Peter either at high school or the Bugle (or, in this case, both) just brings out the best in him, and after 120 issues of this stuff he can still pull out the trademark Spidey wisecracks (the opening one about personal ads is a classic). Flash Thompson, meanwhile, gets some amusing exasperation at the continued suggestion that he might be Spidey. It’s also neat to see Ultimate versions of Betty Brant and Ned Leeds show up - I honestly can’t remember if they’ve been around before, nor indeed if we already knew that Betty was a reporter rather than a secretary; but it’s good to see, and I wonder if it’s sewing seeds for something.

Immonen continues to bring a vibrancy to his art that has been a major factor in rejuvenating the series lately, and he’s really getting a handle on some consistent character designs - they differ from Bagley’s in places, but they are all recognisable individuals (in fact, when it comes to the high-school kids, they’re arguably more distinct than Bags’ versions). Overall, the feel is still of a team running high on confidence, and continuing to turn out solid, consistent, entertaining superhero work. Despite the early optimism of the Slott/McNiven Brand New Day arc, I’d still put my cross next to Ultimate as the best Spidey book going.