This isn’t a traditional review in terms of the other articles you’ll find on Multiversity today, but after reading “Avenging Spider-Man” #5 there were some thoughts I couldn’t get out of my head. Thoughts that I knew I had to write down and put online somewhere on the Internet.
Click behind the cut for some thoughts on “Avenging Spider-Man,” Zeb Wells, why Peter Parker is the greatest superhero of them all (yes, even — and especially — better than Batman) and a whole lot of blatant editorializing.
I honestly can’t be credited with saying this, but if the Marvel Universe excels at one thing over its Distinguished Competition (not including any and all independently published superhero stories), it is the fact that these characters exist in “our” universe. That’s Marvel’s tag, after all: “Marvel: Your Universe.” The message honestly rings quite true; as “super” as these characters are, there exists fair amount of distinct character flaws and humanity in each of the heroes that keep them grounded to our world, even if they can fly above it. It’s one of the things I enjoy greatly about Marvel, truth be told, as it ultimately makes their stories more relatable in a weird sort of way — I may never be able to use a hammer to fly or build myself a cool suit made of iron, but there’s something be said about strained relations with parents or the general pressures of life that push a person into bad paths.
Whenever I get into this mindset, though, I always end up thinking about one character: Peter Parker, the Amazing/Avenging Spider-Man. Peter Parker is the epitome of the everyday hero archetype at Marvel. Here is a character who always exists at a street-level despite being a member of the Fantastic Four/FF and the Avengers/New Avengers and who is heavily invested in his friendships and family, especially in recent years. We’ve seen Spider-Man declare that no one will ever die under his watch, we’ve seen him bend over backwards to save the city he loves and the people residing in it countless times and now he’s going to “the ends of the Earth” to save us once again — this is more than just a day job for Parker, but rather his one and only calling, infinitely informed by that one mistake he allowed himself to make. Since then, Parker has become a character who has never thought anyone owed him anything, and as much as he is the “jokey” character he’s the very definition of a hero and has often proven it time and time again. Reading his stories are always inspirational to that end, because you always leave a finished Spider-Man story asking yourself if you’d do the same thing in his shoes, no matter how difficult or how the personal cost may be.
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| “Avenging Spider-Man #4”, art by Greg Land |
So when we look at a book like “Avenging Spider-Man” and hold it against Spider-Man’s main title, “Amazing Spider-Man”, we have to start asking ourselves — what justifies purchasing this comic book? It’s a tough question to ask, but it’s the most important one in our current economic climate when people can’t afford to buy every single book they want and are left picking and choosing. Why should you get two Spider-Man books, especially when one of them is “just a side continuity” (which we all, as fans, know is such a “huge problem” or whatever)? Heck, when we first ran a review of the book, reviewer Patrick Tobin essentially said that the only reason to buy the book is if you really like Zeb Wells and Joe Madureria, writing, ‘“Avenging Spider-Man” #1 is a promising side-trip, but has no bold path of its own. The storytellers provide the personality and flavor, not the story itself. At the same time, it’s hard to deny the fun that can be had with these guys, as Wells leavens Madureira’s fury with humor and Madureira livens up Wells’s conversations with motion. You could do a lot worse. A lot, lot worse.‘ That’s not a negative review by all means (especially where Patrick was concerned, because he certainly tore some books apart), but it’s not exactly a glowing recommendation either. If the selling point of a title is its creative time, I get the feeling that most people might go for the book that “matters” more — which is sad, and you should follow creators and not characters, but that’s beside the point and another discussion for another day.
Continued belowHowever, as the first three-issue arc of “Avenging Spider-Man” wrapped up, something changed in tone. Gone was the light-hearted bad-ass “my friends are cooler than your friends” attitude of the title and in its stead were two stories of a different kind. If you take in the fact that we know Zeb Wells wouldn’t be writing the book after #5 (although he and Madureira are supposedly coming back at some point, if not within the next four issues at least?), the books we’re given are basically the equivalents of one-shots. No more arcs showing off the creative teams of Wells and ____, but just one and dones — which are the bane of many comic fans, for some odd reason. Yet an easy way to look at it is: if Zeb Wells is the solo musician playing the Peter Parker shaped instrument who invites his talented friends to play along with him, then issues #4 and #5 were two pop singles released from his album — and good gracious me if they aren’t two beautiful little vignettes.
Let’s break it down accordingly (spoilers abound):
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| “Avenging Spider-Man #4”, art by Greg Land |
In issue #4 illustrated by Greg Land, Peter Parker teams up with the headstrong Hawkeye, who is having a rather strong bout of egotism, somewhat insulted that Captain America would force him to team-up with Spidey of all people. The two come up against the Serpent Society (who also appear in issue #5, offering up the only real ongoing story between the two issues), and it ends up resulting in a bit of a heart to heart between Barton and Parker in which Hawkeye explains that the reason he is so excessively cocky is because his “power” is to shoot a bow and arrow with accuracy, and if he isn’t the best there is at that then he’s nothing compared to these other characters, including Spidey. In fact, there’s a great line in which Hawkeye says/Wells writes,
I gave up a lot for this life. I could have been happy with Mockingbird — Bobbi. We could have had a good, simple life. But I wanted to play with the big boys. And if I miss, it means I’m just another dude with a bow. It means I’ve been fooling myself this whole time. And that’s why I never miss.
By the end of the issue, Hawkeye attempts to make a shot at Sidewinder from 700 yards away. Spidey doubts his abilities and swings to the rescue, which turns out to be a pretty good call as Hawkeye misses Sidewinder by an inch, leaving Spidey to take him down. Hawkeye calls out to Spider-Man on their comms, “Did I get him?!”, and Spider-Man picks up Hawkeye’s missed arrow and jams it into Sidewinder’s armor, leaving Hawkeye the win and another opportunity to be a cocky bastard.
In issue #5 illustrated by Leinil Francis Yu (who really makes Peter look like Andrew Garfield in this issue, by the by), Spidey brings an article from the Daily Bugle to the Avengers Mansion running an old comic that Steve Rogers drew when he was younger, starring Roger Stevens aka Sir Spangled, The Human Tank and his trusty dog sidekick, Liberty Bonds! It turns out a collector found some of Rogers’ old work from when he was a young kid and an aspiring artist, and is now selling them at an auction. The idea that Captain America, the Super Soldier, used to be a skinny dork like Parker excites Spider-Man, and he uses it as a chance to try and connect with Steve on a deeper level, although Rogers rejects his advances.
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| “Avenging Spider-Man #5”, art by Francis Lenil Yu |
During a team-up as the Avengers try and peg the remaining members of the Serpent Society, Peter grills Cap all about his past, offering to help him return to his art if he’s interested, and when they return from the mission Peter reveals that he bought the old art piece that Steve did as a gift for him. Peter’s hope is that this might reawaken Steve’s passion for art, but Steve’s reply is cold: “Do you still play with your first chemistry set? Would you want to go back to being a kid, nose in a book when he wasn’t being tossed around by bullies?” Peter leaves, dejected, his hero having shut him down, and he finds his old chemistry set in his closet, setting out to trash it all in an effort to “grow up”. Yet on his way to the dumpster, he’s stopped by Rogers on the way, who asks Peter why he was late to the meeting Peter proposed about helping him with his art. It’s a really touching moment between a character who seems impenetrable outside of his established “clique” (over in the Brubaker books) and Marvel’s favorite punching bag, all wrapped up with a dedication to the memory of Joe Simon.
Continued belowThese two stories define, I believe, why Peter Parker is so damn important in the Marvel universe, and why a character like him will always be needed (my clearly obvious bias aside). Sure, Bendis illustrated the hell out of this idea in “Ultimate Spider-Man” and the death of Ultimate Peter Parker (a real tear jerker, that one), and Dan Slott sure does a regular job of illustrating why you should love Peter Parker, but those stories don’t really cut to the core of his role as a personable hero so much as they capture his role as an epic hero on par with those who have “better” powers. What these stories show that the others don’t is that, in no short terms, Spider-Man brings out the best in others. Without Spider-Man’s quite form of motivation, Hawkeye wouldn’t have the confidence to stand with the Avengers and Steve would slowly be losing one of his traits that makes him human. Spidey certainly cares about himself a fair deal, sure, but when it comes to the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few, he’s the first in line to put others before himself for the benefit of everyone — whether that means taking a bullet or just letting himself lose a fight.
The perfect person to put Parker against is Matt Murdock, really. Peter Parker’s actually a bit of the anti-Daredevil, in a manner of speaking; where Murdock used to live and breathe off of brooding and reveling in tragedy, Parker used his own darkness as a motivation to be embody the exact opposite — and hey, now Murdock is a happy-go-lucky “let’s laugh in the face of danger” character, and look how critically acclaimed that book has turned out to be! No wonder Waid puts Daredevil and Spider-Man together.
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| “Avenging Spider-Man #5”, art by Leinil Francis Yu |
There are very few heroes that follow the infinitely selfless path, and while there are certainly many great heroes out there, they really don’t measure up in this same way. There’s a certain sense of narcissism that seemingly comes with being a superhero, because while you’re a hero you’re still ostensibly better than everyone else. Thor has a hammer that lets him fly; the hammer I own just hits nails into a wall for me to hang frames. Captain America is a patriotic symbol, sure, but he’s in better shape than I’ll ever be (unless I start taking steroids, maybe). Any of these characters, assuming they were real and actually were in our universe, would protect us on a daily basis, but there’s that extra inch that Spider-Man always goes that others either don’t care enough to or don’t seemingly know how to. It’s this idea that has been imprinted into Spider-Man by many writers, as far back as his debut by Lee and Ditko, but Spider-Man is us as much as we are him.
We’re all Peter Parker sometimes, really. We’ve all used humor as a defensive front in the face of our own battles. We’ve all been inexperienced idiots trying to make names for ourselves, or at the very least carve out our own private corners in life. We were all (ok, most of us) outcasts at one time or another, whether it be as nerdy kids in school or awkward adults at other times. We’ve all even had run-ins with our parental figures that informed who we grew up to be (although hopefully not resulting in death as the prime motivator). Peter Parker is so full of universal traits that it’s actually rather impressive that he isn’t a walking cliche of kinds, instead existing as the prime archetype for positive behavior that we all can only hope to aspire to. I don’t think I could ever be half the person Peter Parker is, as much as I’d like to, but I can’t say I don’t envy his ability to keep his head high in the face of tragedy time and time again (as much as any character who doesn’t actually exist and is instead the product of imagination of hundreds of people can have a consistent trait).
Continued belowZeb Wells has always been good at telling personable stories, though. It is the single biggest thing about his work that I find the most endearing. Whether you’re looking at a mini like “Dark Reign: Elektra,” his relaunch of the “New Mutants” (the issue where Doug came back killed me) or his various history on Spider-Man (both as a member of the Brand New Day team and earlier), Wells is absolutely great at taking stories about characters we might never have thought we could relate to and bringing us very closely to their world. Heck, even in “Carnage” and “Carnage: USA”, you’ll find a fair deal of humanity within what is otherwise a pretty dark/chaotic story (although that shouldn’t be too surprising what with Spidey’s central role and all). Yet these past two issues with Land and Leinil Yu absolutely floor me in relation to the scripts. Wells writes Spidey and his relations with Hakweye and Cap from such a personal perspective that you can effortlessly connect with the characters and what they’re going through. Sure, on some level it’s a bit funny; “Oh, look at me, the poor big damn hero with his muscles and fast cars and awesome lifestyle. My life is so hard.” (#firstworldproblems) But when you cut through the machismo bullshit, these stories really hit home that idea that the Marvel heroes are characters you can ultimately relate to, and that aspect alone makes “Avenging Spider-Man” truly worthwhile. If the book’s original selling point was just that it had two talented creators spearheading the book enough to make you want to see what they do together, the book’s new selling point is that it shows — as the title of this article says — the secret heart of Spider-Man that doesn’t come out nearly as often as it should, and that aspect certainly helps the title measure up to the lofty goal of comparing with Slott’s celebrated run.
(This could all change within the next few issues depending on what Rucka/Waid/Checcetto and the Immonen’s have planned, of course, but let’s ignore that for the moment.)
Really, this is why superhero comics are so damn great, and I say that from the heart of a fan who has been reading these damn books almost his entire life and has spent almost the past three years critiquing every stupid little thing I can on this site. There’s a lot of cynicism that comes with being a fan of comics these days, and while that is often times for good reasons, my personal stake in the game has always revolved around the web-slinger. This is probably the only character I allow myself to be infinitely optimistic about anymore, as Peter Parker (and Miles Morales, truthfully) are the only characters who I don’t think will ever let me down. Whenever a new writer comes to the character on his various titles, I always implicitly trust that these creators are going to know Spider-Man to the same extent that I feel like I myself do, and 9 times out of 10 they do (I can’t think of the one that doesn’t, but I’m leaving myself open just in case). Truth be told, if I was forced to drop every Marvel book I currently read, there are only three I would refuse to part with: “Ultimate Spider-Man,” “Amazing Spider-Man” and “Avenging Spider-Man.” Perhaps that makes me a crazy fanboy here, but these three books are what I love about Marvel, what I love about superheroes, and what I love about comics. They’re stories about a guy who comes from a very acknowledgeable and down to Earth point of view, and I’ll be damned if I can’t see myself in his webby shoes sometimes.
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| “Ultimate Spider-Man” #3, art by Sara Pichelli |
Of course this is just me, and this is all obviously biased and idealistic rhetoric. I get that. Yet, between Peter Parker and now Miles Morales, I don’t think it is to hard to point to these books the character is in and show what a “good guy” is.
Continued belowI’ll be a Spider-Man fan for life, so there really is no need to go the extra mile to convince me of why he’s awesome. I already know it. Yet it never hurts to get issues like these, written by writers who really manage to pull out the best in a character like Peter Parker. In a world full of heroes who would die to protect us, Spider-Man is perhaps the only character who would go beyond that if he could. He is the hero of the Marvel Universe: a selfless, extraordinarily good person who would give up anything given to him (fame, glory, redemption, etc) if it would help just one person somewhere — whether that be a superhero putting on a front, an artist too obsessed with image to pick up the pen again, or just some random person he’s never even met who has had a bad day. If the world was just a little bit more like Peter Parker, the world be would a much better place.
All of this basically amounts to my own personal recommendation of “Avenging Spider-Man” as a book I think people should read, assuming you like this sort of thing. I can admit that as a cynic I did somewhat doubt the value of “Avenging Spider-Man,” but I find myself rather smitten with the book. I really hope that, at some point, Zeb Wells is back on “Avenging Spider-Man.” I like Rucka, Waid and the Immonens, and I’ll be sticking with the book beyond the currently solicited issues, but if issues #4 and #5 proved anything it is that Wells loves Spider-Man, that Wells understands Peter Parker, and that both Spider-Man and Peter Parker love and understand us.
tl;dr — I really like Spider-Man, you guys.
