PETER PARKER: SPIDER-MAN #41

By: Arnold T. Blumberg
Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2002

Sometimes you need comfort food. After all the Mangaverse this and Ultimate that and upcoming film version the other, it?s nice to get back to the Spider-Man we remember from our old fogey youth. You know, the original ? the one who stars in the core titles and might just possibly be related to the one that started it all in the 1960s ? if, that is, we could get a straight answer on the non-existence of John Byrne?s abortive restart, CHAPTER ONE. Ah, but enough of my ranting. Let?s stay on track here.

As I was saying, sometimes you need to get back to the basics, and sometimes with just a few flourishes here and there ? a modernizing touch or a new twist ? you can freshen up the old reliable material and make it exciting or at least entertaining once again. Paul Jenkins has been turning out some spectacular (in-joke for the old-timers there) scripts for PETER PARKER, focusing on Spider-Man?s affect on those around him in a series of one-offs and multi-parters that frequently breaks format and treads new ground. In the last several issues, however, Jenkins has gone back to the roots of the character and the series with a good old-fashioned showdown between Spidey and his #2 arch-foe (the Green Goblin being #1), Doctor Octopus.

Innovation One: In the early parts of this story, Jenkins cast Doc Ock as a seemingly submissive fool working for another villain. Now we?ve seen Ockie suffering from inferiority complex before, but this seemed very odd. And indeed it was ? he was only fooling, folks. More murderous and formidable than ever before, Doc Ock cut loose rather gruesomely at the end of last issue and now this installment is a classic style issue-long battle between the spider and the octopus. Jenkins captures the snappy repartee that used to mark Spider-Man?s most amazing fight sequences, and he also nails Octopus? usual flowery air of superiority. He even manages to make Ock seem frightening again, which is no mean feat considering that awful white suit era he went through. Here he?s back in his old green togs and Beatle cut, and all is right with the world. The artwork, a fair pastiche of the Romita-era tone, is a big help as well.

Innovation Two: For a couple seconds, you actually can believe that Peter will forsake his steadfast adherence to morality and allow Octopus to plummet to his death, and it?s a tribute to Jenkins? writing that even though the story ends as we all know it must, there?s that brief bit of doubt that clouds our expectations. This ain?t brain surgery, but it?s solid Spider-Man. The real one.

PETER PARKER: SPIDER-MAN

Grade: B+

Issue: No. 41

Author(s): Paul Jenkins, Mark Buckingham, Wayne Faucher

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Price: $2.25