Review: Spider-Man: Life Story #1 (of 6)
Probably built from the idea of the multiple lives of multiple Spider-Men seen in Into the Spider-Verse, this book serves as a celebration of everything our Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man has gone through since his debut way back in 1962.
Chapter one, entitled The War at Home, sees a rather tumultuous time for young Peter Parker. Juggling school, Gwen, Harry and finally finding some peace with his frenemy Flash is nothing compared to the realisation that his greatest enemy, at least back then, the Green Goblin is not only Norman Osborn but Norman also knows who Peter really is. Set around Flash leaving for Vietnam, this almost slice of what had happened in the past hopes to recapture some of those classic moments in Peter’s life.
Chip Zdarsky, who has spent more than a little time with the wall-crawler, is on hand to scribe this tale. Back in the day, Peter carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. He hadn’t yet really integrated with Marvel Universe so much, was floundering in his love life and Aunt May was always on death’s door. It’s important to recognise these facts as the Peter Parker in this book is a far cry from the Peter Parker we are used to seeing in Amazing Spider-Man. His younger self is obsessive, whinny and believes that the whole world is against him. Zdarsky builds on that in part, with some decent dialogue that harks back to yesteryear. The fight scene is terrible. There is no other way around it. It’s contrived and resolved too quickly, with the amnesia element kind of just happening effectively turning Norman into King Tut!
Mark Bagley, who is a lot of peoples Spidey artist of choice, is the penciler for this issue. Full disclosure, I am not a Bagley fan. I find the small poses effectively take away parts of the character, the bodies look to similar regardless of gender and nearly everyone has high cheek bones and square jaws. If this book is supposed to be a reflection of the 60′ then I am sorry, but Bagley is the wrong choice. Granted, it would be hard for anyone to go up against Steve Ditko in comparison, but surely even the biggest Bagley fan can agree that his art would be better served in the 90’s version of Spider-Man, unless Marvel are bringing back Todd McFarlane back for one issue. (I would have said Sal Buscema, my personal favourite Spidey artist, but his work transcends petty notions such as decades). It doesn’t help that the book doesn’t play on Bagley’s strengths with Spider-Man looking pedestrian in a lot of of panels. John Dell supplies the inks which are quite heavy in places further creating the squareness of the characters. Frank D’Armata’s colors are fine, if a little too “today”, which works against the central idea of the mini series at least in this chapter. Letters are provided by VC’s Travis Lanham who uses an almost comic sans font that make the book easy on the eye.
This mini series is being published as part of Marvel’s 80th Anniversary. That’s great and all, but the cynic in me things this is just trying to cash in somewhat with all the 80 year hype happening over at DC, where their characters and their comics are actually 80 years old. The other thing that makes me think this, is the simple fact of timing. You see, Spider-Man first appearing 1962. Wouldn’t this book be better served as a Spider-Man 60 year celebration, which is only two years from now rather than a celebration for a period which includes 20 years before his inception? I am not sure who this book is aimed at, if am being totally honest. With the differences between than and now Peter, is there any real resonance for the current Spider-Man reader; is the book too different from the past to service the older fan who has been there and seen that albeit done with more quality and back when it was original? Guess you will have to drop $4.99 to find out.
Writing – 3 Stars
Art – 3 Stars
Colors – 3.5 Stars
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Written by; Chip Zdarsky
Art by; Mark Bagley
Inks by: John Dell
Colors by; Frank D’Armata
Letters by; VC’s Travis Lanham
Published by; Marvel Worldwide
Author Profile
- I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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