MONDOmagazine

Isaac’s Book of the Month

Amazing Spider-Man #600
Dan Slott (w), John Romita Jr. (p), Klaus Janson (i), Dean White (c). Marvel Comics.

What the guys creating Amazing Spider-Man have done so well in the past 19 months is to tell their stories while subtly introducing the threads of stories to come. The result creates stories that we actually care about. But it’s a delicate balance: if you wait too long, the audience will get sick of being strung along. Eventually, you have to provide some answers to pulse-pounding questions like “Who was that man in the shadows on page seven?”

In this context, the big thing Spider-Man #600 accomplishes is the resurgence of Doctor Octopus, with a complete adventure of Spidey versus Doc Ock, and then Octopus escaping, vowing his vengeance, and tantalizing us with his imminent return in the future. To contain all of that in a single issue is already something special.

Two tricky areas of characterization were hit bang on in my mind: Spider-Man’s humour and his interactions with fellow super guys. As for the humour, well, I laughed, so check mark that one. As for the other heroes who show up, we’ve got cameos from Daredevil, the Fantastic Four, and the New Avengers. Well, let’s be more accurate here: Daredevil has a role: a fight scene, dialogue, it’s great — he’s there for a good five pages. The FF don’t get to be around as long, but that’s okay, we just needed to meet up with them so the Human Torch would have an excuse to head out with Spidey and let things go all buddy comedy from there. The New Avengers do what the New Avengers always do, swing down from a couple of ropes and stand around an exploded area like they’re going to keep it from getting more destroyed by virtue of their presence. Someday they’ll be useful. At least Spider-Man got to say at their appearance, “Well whaddaya know? If it ain’t my team: the Spidey Ladies Auxiliary!” Ah, it’s funny because it’s true.

It’s hard to know whether I’m let down by this or not, but there’s a distinct lack of “being heroic via the lifting of something really heavy.” It’s a Spider-Man standard, one that is always overused, but it always works on me. Gets me all misty and cheery for Spider-Man. In that case, I’m glad they didn’t play that particular card.

Among the other features of this book, “Spider-Man comics you’ll never see” by a rotating creative staff is pretty amazing. They got one that is a reference to the infamous “Saga of the Supersons” where Batman and Superman have teenage kids running around, only in this case it’s Spider-Man and Luke Cage that have the kids. That, plus an over-the-top anti-hippie cover and a Spider-Man Batman team-up (with Batman almost covered by a censoring notepad) makes for a fun section.

And finally, Peter Parker and Norah Winters (a reporter for the Frontline newspaper) check out the Smithsonian National Design Museum where everyone is making fun of the Spider-Mobile. A lot. Especially one little kid who just wouldn’t let up, but then his mother shows up, says to show respect for Spider-Man because he saved the little boy’s father, and proceeds to beat the kid off-screen. Well, it’s up to you what she does to the kid off-screen, but it seems to me that the harsher it is, the more hilarious Peter’s last line, said with tears in his eyes: “It’s just nice to see some good parenting, is all.”

Miles’ Book of the Month

The Hunter
Darwyn Cooke (w + a). IDW Publishing.

I’ve been looking forward to this book since it was announced last summer. I’ve scoured the internet looking for any mention or interview with Cooke about the book, and hopefully a scrap of artwork. I opened the first page to incredible expectations — expectations that were met and exceeded with every subsequent turn.

The Hunter is an adaptation of Richard Stark (pseudonym of Donald Westlake)’s novel of the same name, the first to centre on the master criminal known only as Parker. As the book opens, Parker has two grand to his name and nothing to lose. His accomplices and wife have all turned on him, stealing his sweet take of a job gone bad, and Parker wants more than a little revenge. My favourite page is an aerial shot of the city at night, just after Parker strangles a man to death with his bare hands. The caption reads, “The night air was crisp. Parker was suddenly famished. He headed for his hotel, a hot shower and a thick steak.”

It’s hard to tell who has the better economy of words and images: Stark or Cooke. I’ve never read the original novel, so I don’t know how much of the text is borrowed, but it’s working perfectly together. With the exception of a few scenes, Cooke lets his artwork do a lot of the heavy lifting in the storytelling. There are times when he will let the dialogue cover backstory or exposition, but there’s no way around that, and a lot of the character development is shaped through action. And there’s a lot he leaves for the reader to fill in.

I don’t think there’s ever been dispute that Cooke is an amazing artist, and in many ways this is his greatest work so far. Cooke forgoes his controlled and clean look for a balls-to-the-walls gestural masterpiece created solely from black, a couple shades of light blue, and white. It’s his use of blue in the artwork that I’m the most impressed with. He primarily uses it for shading, but he’ll also have it be the edge of a face without linework to encase it. He’ll do the same with whites on occasion, and it brings a realness to the world — life isn’t surrounded by black lines. It’s so distinctly Cooke, but also looks like nothing he’s ever done before.

So pick it up, you won’t be disappointed. I’ll give you a money-back guarantee on that. Summer 2010 can’t come soon enough for the return of Cooke and Parker.

Owen’s Book of the Month

The Unwritten #3
Mike Carey (w), Peter Gross (a). Vertigo Comics.

As weeks have passed since the release of this issue it’s had time to sink in and I think it may well be my favourite issue yet. The character work that Carey and Gross have done so far on the series is amazing, and that is well demonstrated within these pages. In these short 22 pages we are introduced to a whole new level of Tom’s relationship with his father, a new wrinkle is added to Tom’s relationship with his travelling companion, several new characters are introduced (as stand-ins for different kinds of horror writers, as is shown in a hilarious scene), and a villain is introduced in a horrifying manner, all while exploring the significance of the house where Frankenstein is written.

Carey does this in an economic but fulfilling way, leading to the most satisfying read I had in June. Meanwhile, Gross’ art has never looked better, especially in the way he draws the Frankenstein house as a sort of shrine to Gothic literature, but not in a campy way. It was a great setting that Gross made the most out of.

This continues to be my favourite comic every month, and if for some reason you haven’t checked it out you owe it to yourself to do so.