Cover to SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED #1.
© Marvel Comics
Issue: 1
Authors: Joseph Goodrich, Takeshi Miyazawa, Brian Lynch, Sean Chen, Sandy Flores
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $2.99
SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED #1
By: Tony WhittDate: Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Peter uses his Spider-Man persona (and a little bit of help from his friends) to ease the pain of a young girl who's dying of cancer. Then he combats Slyde, an old enemy who's gotten a new origin, new costume, and new modus operandi - none of which helps Spidey remember him, of course.
The title SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED is likely to mislead a lot of readers. The words imply a largeness and freshness of vision will be unveiled on every page, unhampered by the restraints of traditional comic book storytelling - or something like that. Instead, what we get is a slightly lesser version of the late lamented SPIDER-MAN'S TANGLED WEB, and this time we're not even going to get it monthly. I'd have felt far more sanguine giving this title to that former series, as it really did push the boundaries in a way that this new series, no doubt trotted out just in time to cash in on the new movie coming out this summer, simply doesn't.
That's not to say there's nothing good worthwhile here, mind you. "Human Interest," Joseph Goodrich's story about Spidey doing a good deed for a dying girl, is the weakest of the two, relying on a cameo appearance by three other heroes that's awfully hokey and on an ending whose pathos doesn't feel earned in the least - if we're feeling any sadness by the end of this story, it's because we've been tricked into it. Can't say I'm a fan of putting in an H.P. Lovecraft reference that has nothing to do with the story just for the sake of putting one in, either. Luckily, Goodrich's weak script is given a shot of caffeine by the impressive manga-esque artwork of Takeshi Miyazawa. Usually I frown on using manga-style art in a Western book, but that's usually because such work is done by Western artists who don't completely understand the visual "language" they're working in. Miyazawa's work goes to show that the opposite isn't always true - a Japanese artist can use the visual convention of Western-style comic book art and do a bang-up job. With any luck we'll see more of this guy's stuff soon.
Brian Lynch's "Slyde Into Destiny?" goes down a treat, though. Not only does Lynch know how to write Spidey right (Goodrich's version, by contrast, doesn't crack a single joke), he knows how to milk a comical situation, that of Spidey being confronted by an old villain he doesn't even remember in the most surreal fight he's ever likely to have had, for as much as it's worth. I'm not sure I buy the coda, which attempts to pass the whole situation off as a particularly pathetic case of mid-life crisis, but up to that point it's one of the most enjoyable short stories featuring Spidey I've read since...well, since the late lamented SPIDER-MAN'S TANGLED WEB, to be blunt. And then there's Sean Chen and Sandy Florea's artwork, which is good enough to give us hope for that inevitable yet unthinkable day when John Romita Jr. and Scott Hanna decide to move on from AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. Looks like there's actually someone around decent enough to replace them.
If SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED can continue to deliver writing as strong as Lynch's and art as impressive as Miyazawa, Chen, and Flores', then it just might deserve that title after all. But if it's going to hamper both its writers and artists by making them halve a book with another creative team and then come out only once every two months, perhaps it should be retitled SPIDER-MAN LIMITED TO TWO BOUTS OF ELEVEN PAGES EACH, EVERY OTHER MONTH. If they can fit that on a cover, that is.
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