MARVEL KNIGHTS: SPIDER-MAN #5

By: Tony Whitt
Date: Thursday, August 19, 2004

Aunt May has been kidnapped by one of Peter's old foes who knows his identity. His barely masked face has been plastered all over the BUGLE with a reward posted for his name. Peter himself has been pummeled half to death by Electro and the Vulture. The Black Cat, who has saved Peter's life, is also complicating his relationship with MJ. And MJ has been hiding the fact that they have money troubles. Oh, and did we mention that the next person Petey runs into is a Doc Ock hopped up on drugs?

The main reason I'd avoided reading MARVEL KNIGHTS: SPIDER-MAN is the same reason many of my friends used to give me back in the 70s for not reading PETER PARKER: THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN and MARVEL TEAM-UP: if the stories didn't take place in the main SPIDER-MAN title, then they had no bearing on Spidey's life. In short, if they appeared in another title, then they had no real life of their own. Having gone back to reread the complete run of MTU, I can see just how flawed my friends' logic was and how flawed my own is concerning MK:S-M is all too clear after reading this issue.

For one thing, Mark Millar gives J. Michael Straczynski a real run for his money as far as writing Peter and MJ as fully-fledged characters is concerned. This issue in particular gives us a chance to see more of that relationship in action as MJ tries to convince Peter to give up concealing his identity even as she's concealing how broke they both are. The slight competition between MJ and Felicia is equally well-handled rather than having them snipe at each other, Millar makes them act exactly like two young women both concerned over the same man would act. And, in one of the best moments in a Spidey comic this year, we see Peter's reaction to MJ's reaction to Felicia, and his thoughts at that moment are heartbreaking. Finally, after all that groaning I did about the scene in SPIDEY II in which a trainload of New Yorkers sees Spidey without the mask, Millar gives us a spin on that same concept that sits just that much better with me and I'm sure it'll do the same for you, too.

For another, Frank Cho is a superhero in his own right. The answer to the question "Can the writer/artist of such fare as LIBERTY MEADOWS handle an action title like SPIDER-MAN" is an unqualified yes. Cho's clean lines and smooth imagery give the domestic scenes that extra bit of realism that brings us even closer to Peter and MJ, and those same elements give the action scenes a clarity that's all too often missing from fight scenes these days. In many books, it's hard to figure out exactly what's going on when Hero A meets Villain B in combat unless you have a magnifying glass, a light desk, and about two hours to spare. In Cho's artwork, it's never an issue the movement is fluid and solid, the action is spare and economic, and every panel is pure poetry.

I still can't say whether any of the other Marvel Knights titles that double an already existing book are worth reading but this one most definitely is. Instead of thinking of it as the equivalent to PETER PARKER: THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, think of it as AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: MARK II.

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