In light of recent events found in the Wolverine monthly, and stemming from a conversation with some CCL colleagues, I decided to revisit this mini-series which I purchased way back in 2001.
If anyone remembers this era, Kevin Smith had killed off the Mysterio character in the DareDevil series. There was some confusion there because around the same time, Mysterio was fighting Spider-Man in ol'webhead's book. So my best guess is that Marvel came up with this story to clarify the true identity Mysterio. The purpose seemed to also possibly confirm the death of the original Mysterio, Quentin Beck.
So as the issue starts, I'm quickly reminded of Peter Parker's situation during this time. Mary Jane is believed to have died in an airplane explosion, Peter is living with Randy Robertson and is in a state of mourning. In true Peter Parker fashion, he's also financially struggling.
Lee Weeks' art here is great. He utilizes a very classic Spidey look. The bug eyes aren't quite so big and seem to slim out alot more to show emotion. The lines are very similar to Patrick Oliffe's work as well. This is by no means a bad thing. Although not terribly dynamic (compared to McFarlane, Larson or even Romita Jr.), the panels are very effective in telling the story and delivering the dialog. I had no issues with following what was going on, and believe me, there's plenty to get confused about in this 3-parter.
DeFalco's writing is off to a good start. As I mentioned, even upon revisiting this after 7+ years, I was quickly sucked into the era in the manner of a few short pages. The setup is quick, no fluff or too much back story needed, I can only assume that the more relevant things will be explained in quick flashbacks later on.
The dialog and character interactions are believable for the most part, even when there are imposters running around (hey, it's a Mysterio story after all). Meaning that sometimes the characters act out of character cause they are imposters (or illusions). I'm not familiar with all of the characters though, in particular DareDevil, so I don't know if DeFalco is portraying him properly, I'll let you judge.
Key points of this story are as follows:
- DareDevil is set up and quickly gets to the bottom of things by locating Spider-Man.
- Jack O'Lantern is back and co-plotting with a "mystery" Mysterio to round up Spider-Man, DareDevil, J.Jonah Jameson, a guy named Joe & Betty (Quentin Beck's old Girlfriend).
- Peter is made to believe it was all a dream and he's back in his Penthouse with Mary Jane and their newborn daughter.
So considering this is the first issue, not much happens since it's basically the setup of what's to come in the following issues. All the pieces are in place and one can assume that the action really gets going starting with the next issue. There are alot of questions to be answered.
- Is Quentin Beck still alive?
- Who is under the Jack O'Lantern mask?
- What do the 2 villains want with J.J.J.?
- Who is this guy named Joe?
I give it a
3 out of 5. The art and writing are solid, but didn't blow me away. It does reek of late 90's Spidey "reboot" era, but that's not this creative team's fault.