I’ll open this review with my general feeling about this little 3 parter hitting the shelves. Marvel is a money hog, we all know this. If this was not true we would not have all these variant covers, one shots and other gimmicky comic book selling tactics. Regardless of this, it’s up to us readers to decide for ourselves what we want to spend our hard earned money on. With that said, I am usually weary of venturing outside of main titles, but I at least give them a quick flip through at the LCS because once in a while I will find a book (or mini-series) that actually looks very promising.
Peter Parker #1 is one of these examples.
There are a couple of things worth mentioning before moving on with the review.
1. This is the printed version of a digital comic that Marvel released.
2. The story takes place somewhere between Amazing Spider-Man (Vol.1) #592 and Amazing Spider-Man (Vol.1) #612 –
Post “24/7”, Pre “Gauntlet”3. The comic includes a worth-while back-up story by Fred Hembeck titled “Approaching Storms” (or, When Petey met Johnny) done in comic-strip fashion.
First off, the art. One of the main reasons I actually decided to pick up this issue was that Patrick Olliffe is credited with the pencils. I wouldn’t say I’m a huge Olliffe fan, but I’ve met the guy in person and he struck me as one of those artists with a great work ethic and a lot of integrity. His work has never disappointed me. His style is a great visual break from what we are used to seeing these days. I don’t want to call it “boring”, but it’s definitely a greatly welcomed change of pace as far as storytelling goes. I’ve always found myself relaxed after reading some Olliffe drawn work. He really has a knack for making the reader just sit back and enjoy every aspect of every page. Good Job Pat!
The writing. Bob Gale penned the main story. Bob’s a moderately known Batman and Spider-Man scribe who brought us one of Spider-Man’s “Brand New Day” villains, Freak. Freak is one of my favorite BND villains, so kudos to you Bob Gale.
The story in this issue opens with Spider-Man learning of J.Jonas Jameson’s plan to install cameras around the city to keep track of the webslinger’s vigilante activities. From there, Spidey runs into a new villain that goes by the name of “Spectrum”. Not much else is revealed about him at this point except that he seems to be able to manipulate the color spectrum. With a News crew on the scene, Spider-Man seizes the opportunity to expose the Mayor’s misuse of public funds to take down Spider-Man.
Another plot woven into this issue has Spider-Man following an acquaintance of Peter Parker’s roommate, Michelle Gonzales, to an underground fighting tournament where the winner will be awarded a spot in The Hood’s organized crime family.
All in all, this was some good, classic, Spider-Man story telling. A perfect blend and use of Spider-Man/Peter Parker’s supporting cast of characters while at the same time, introducing us to some new ones. I always love it when all aspects of the webhead’s life clash together to give us an intriguing story.
I give this issue a
solid 3 out of 5. It honestly would have been a 4 if Marvel would have slapped a 2.99 price tag on this thing. It’s worth the read and the story will easily fit into the ASM canon, but there wasn’t enough pages of the main story to fully warrant the 3.99 price tag. The back-up story was a fun read, but should have just been a “free bonus”. I’m looking forward to issues 2 and 3 though, this is some good, solid work from Gale and Olliffe.
Keep these guys on your payroll Marvel!