Slott tries really, really hard. But the earring-wearing Harry Osborn, the weirdly youngish Aunt May (think Ultimate Spider-Man), the endless malarky with the Bugle… Brand New Day is off to a terrible start. Some of the problems stem from the relaunch, which barely deals with the continuity changes (the most interesting things about the comic), but mostly it’s just silly.
It’s Peter Parker acting like an obnoxious kid off a CW show, but only half of the time, because when Slott isn’t trying to make him hip, he’s writing a good Spider-Man comic. Except, of course, when the silly relaunch stuff gets in his way. There’s a reference to Slott’s Free Comic Book Day issue and it’s kind of sad, since that issue was so much better.
Besides some lame Peter Parker narration and some bad, cliffhanger plotting, Slott does a fine enough job with what he’s been dealt. It’s not his fault Steve McNiven is an awful artist for the book. He draws Peter like a thug (or he draws the thugs like Peter), so when Aunt May doesn’t get Peter any wheatcakes, thanks to McNiven’s art… it’s like Peter’s going to hit her.
McNiven’s Spider-Man close-ups are boring and static, his webs suck (I actually was wishing for some McFarlane… how sad is that?).
I understand why Marvel put McNiven on the book, but if they’re going to stick with the story they did this relaunch because it was the best way to tell Spidey stories… they ought to at least get artists who can draw good Spidey stories.
C
Technorati Tags: Comic Book, Dan Slott, Marvel Comics, Review, Spider-Man, Steve McNiven
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1 response so far ↓
1 north shore comics dealer // Feb 14, 2008 at 7:20 pm
If you think this book is a little weird, the next story arc has art by Salvador Larrocca, with a style that really doesn’t mesh with the clean line style of McNiven. I yearn back to the old days of three Spidey books with their own personality, and sales that more than made up for this floundering weekly.
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