I’m writing this at 11pm, two days past deadline.
I haven’t had a day off from one of my three jobs since September 25, and it doesn’t look like I’ll get another until November.
I’m finishing up my credential program to become an elementary teacher, with no idea if I will even be able to get a job next school year, or where I will have to move in order to have one.
I didn’t have hot water for half of this week.
And for so,e reason I continue signing up for comics to review.
This is the most I’ve ever felt like Peter Parker.
Marvel comics, Romita jr, Hanna, Memyz
“The world outside your window” is THE Marvel Comics tagline, and Spider-Man tends to represent that idea as well as any other. The combination of Paler Luck, Peter’s blue collar air about himself, and the general badness that happens to him on a weekly basis makes him easy to root for, easy to identify with, and lend itself to cathartic moments fairly often. Seeing Peter succeed after many failures is heartening: seeing him fail after many failures is the exact amount real that I want.
This volume is the latter on full display, done perhaps as brutally and fully as I’ve read in the last decade of Spider-Man comics.
Marvel comics
On one hand, we have Zeb Wells writing, who is maybe the master at presenting the saddest, most depressing events while somehow being one of the funniest books Marvel publishes. He puts this skill to excellent use here, with Peter being the butt of just about everyone’s jokes and it being extremely hilarious both because it’s the Rabbit but also because we know that Peter is on the verge of another mental breakdown, and damn dude same.
But it’s so well imbued in the comic that the goon named Kareem isn’t just a punchline tel,or three times, he ends up being an important character in his own right, while also providing one of the more sweet moments in a superhero comic recently. It all wraps around itself in a meaningful way that’s enhanced by sitting down and reading the whole trade as opposed to reading it monthly.
The real star of the book, though, is Spider-Man icon John Romita JR, who returned to the book with his absolute A-game, all to display the most pulpy smushed face Peter Parker has ever had, and it is glorious.
It’s okay with me if people don’t like JRJR’s art. It’s okay with me if people think he’s already drawn enough issues of Spider-Man and that someone else deserves an opportunity at bat. As long as he’s drawing Spider-Man, though, I will be reading, and hoping that Peter gets another ass beating next week, both because good lord look at that mushy face, oh my god that’s painful, but also, damn JRJR can draw amazing action and drama.
There are dozens of pages in this trade that I can point to that are just S-tier to me, that build drama, or have sick poses, or whatever. This is such a stylish comic, and as well told as any one the stands. JRJR might not be everyone’s favorite, but he drew one of my favorite recent Spider-Man stories, which is this one, where Peter Parker’s entire life has fallen apart and also he gets the hell beaten out of him.
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