Tie-in comics – particularly those that serve as prequel to a movie or animated series – are a tricky beast. You have to tell a story that doesn’t step on the toes of what writers, directors, and others have planned to bring to the big screen, but you also have to try and deliver a story that feels like it’s set in the world of the show/movie. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 succeeds on one of those counts.
Set before the upcoming Disney+ series of the same name, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 opens with Spider-Man getting tossed off a building. It then turns back the clock to reveal how Peter Parker got bit by a radioactive spider, and how his investigation of a fight that broke out at his school pulls him into the orbit of the crime syndicate known as the Maggia.
That actually sounds like a solid pitch, but where Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man falls a little flat is that it feels more like setting the stage for the actual series than telling a story that feels at home with the series. Part of this is due to the fact that the actual Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man series won’t debut until January, and a huge part of the story is tied to events in the first episode. Compared to how X-Men ’97‘s prequel series rolled in tandem with the show’s release, this feels like a missed opportunity.
Marvel
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 does have a few elements working in its favor though. Chief among them is Christos Gage, who’s scripting the series; Gage has turned out some good Spider-Man stories, including prequels to Insomniac’s Spider-Man games, so he has a handle on Peter Parker’s character. It’s also interesting to see how Peter’s world is different from regular canon or the Tom Holland/Jon Watts movies, as Peter idolizes Captain America instead of Iron Man and befriends Nico Minoru (this Runaways-loving writer enjoyed every minute of Peter and Nico’s dynamic.)
The artwork from Eric Gatspur also makes Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man feel, for lack of a better term, animated. Peter moves with the speed and grace of someone who’s gotten arachnid-esque abilities, even ripping off a piece of a wall and beaning a thug with it when said thug tries to shoot him. Gatspur also gives Peter a outfit resembling his look from the Stan Lee/Steve Ditko era, while his Spider-Man suit feels like something a teenager would cobble together.
Jim Campbell’s colors help sell the animated element, particularly with how bright they are. Peter’s blue jacket and yellow sweater vest drew my eye every time he was on the page – which is good, since he’s the main character. The same goes for the bad guys, who are appropriately clad in black.
I wanted to like Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 more than I did. The idea of it, and the series it’s based on, sounded promising. But I need a little bit more before I fully hop on – and since the next issue is probably set to drop around the series premiere, maybe that’ll happen.
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