The mission statement of the ‘Marvel Knights’ line is difficult to define. Were they “more mature” comics? Were they in current continuity or not? Did it matter? The line itself hasn’t really been seen since 2010 and its impact has been difficult to measure in the ever-shifting focus of the continuity of mainstream comics. If “Marvel Knights Spider-Man” #1 and the creative talent lineup is any indication, this banner just might be the place to go if you want to read your favorite heroes getting beautifully weird – plain and simple.
Written by Matt Kindt
Illustrated by Marco Rudy
Colored by Val Staples• From the haunted heights of a mysterious castle to the dizzying depths of the deep seas, the Amazing Spider-Man has to take on not one, not six, not twelve – but ninety-nine of the Marvel Universe’s deadliest villains to save the lives of countless innocents!
• Matt Kindt (Mind MGMT) and Marco Rudy (Swamp Thing) bring you a defining hour in the life of the webbed wonder in a race against time and a battle against evil.
Peter Parker’s latest story (yes, that’s right – Peter Parker) begins like so many other Peter Parker stories: no money, mo’ problems. In a very swift setup, Matt Kindt sets Peter back to his classic characterization; that of a down-on-his-luck photographer trying to scrape by with odd jobs. It’s a plot conceit ripped straight from the Stan Lee-era in the merry Marvel manner. In this case, it’s a family portrait shoot that promises to pay top dollar. Pretty simple, right? That’s kind of the point though, and Kindt clearly knows it. By starting Peter Parker out in the simplest, most classic situation that his character could be in, we really feel the table get flipped over when the warped action kicks in.
Kindt promises 99 villains, but “Marvel Knights Spider-Man” #1 springboards off of the actions of one specific one, who induces Spidey into the trippiest of drug trips. From here, Spidey starts ripping past those 99 villains at a breakneck pace, though not always as successfully as he’d like. Though we’ll come back to Marco Rudy’s art, which leans toward “Shade, the Changing Man” and “Sandman” Vertigo Comics entries, it’s important to note that there’s precedence for Spider-Man being at the center of this type of story. Several of Lee, Ditko, and Romita’s early stories employed Mysterio to put Spider-Man in mind-bending gauntlets of his enemies, even if they weren’t really there. These stories often found Spider-Man questioning his sanity – even driven right to the edge of madness. Even though there’s no evidence at all that this is a Mysterio joint, Kindt seems to invoke those kinds of Spidey stories in an updated sort of way. Spidey stumbles through some of his extensive and classic rouges gallery, each sequence befitting of the villain he’s up against. It may feel spare at times, but Kindt’s script and conservative use of exposition lets the art breathe, which is really necessary as it depends more on grand panel experimentation and page structure than most comics tend to.
Marco Rudy’s art on “Marvel Knights Spider-Man” #1 is nothing short of a revelation, when you consider his most recent work on DC Comics’ “Swamp Thing.” While his fill-in work for Yannick Paquette was certainly terrific and more than suitable, it very much walked the same lines that Paquette did, intentionally trying to maintain a semblance of continuity. As a result, I would not have pictured the gorgeous, painterly sequences of pure imagination that he spawned for Spidey’s drug trip. Rudy flips through what seems to be a limitless supply of styles to approach each villain from. Rudy opens with haunted house imagery and a gothic motif to set the stage for Spider-Man’s weirdest challenge yet. From there, he intercuts watercolor spreads that evoke Dave McKean’s whirling, blurring abstractions and create the sense of Spider-Man’s loopiness in the moments of terror. Over each of these gorgeous, full page paintings, Rudy overlays and splices in the less expressionistic representation of Spider-Man’s actions that move the plot forward.
Later, Arcade shows up to present the ultimate challenge Spider-Man. Once this occurs, Rudy continues to mix his conventional style with the painterly spreads and adds in an 8-bit video game element. Rather than choosing to keep all of these visual styles segregated, Rudy depicts Spider-Man as if he is phasing in and out of each one. The conventional art stretches to exaggerations that mimic the painted scenes. The 8-bit Spidey gets blocky around the edges, while smoothing out into a normal Spidey at the center. Just as Spidey can’t make heads or tails of things, the art doesn’t choose to settle on one thing or another. Val Staples’ colors shift with each changing style of art. Staples peppers the “reality” sequences of the comic with bold colors and a wide palette that serves to widen the gap between Spider-Man’s perception of the trip and the reality of the situation. Staples handles the “glitchy” Nintendo sequences especially well, blending the reality with the digital sensibilities of Arcade’s dangerous game.
The ‘Marvel Knights’ banner promises us a mix of unique creative talent that will deliver us stories that are edgier and different from what we get in these characters’ regular ongoings. In this case, “edgy” is an appropriate word – not for the maturity of the content – but the boldness of the storytelling. As great a job as I think Dan Slott has done with Spider-Man, you just aren’t going to get this kind of story in a regular Spider-Man book. You won’t get a 5-issue arc with this kind of commitment and detail given to a truly strange artistic cornucopia, anyway. Whether the story “matters” or not, with a creative team like Kindt, Rudy, and Staples doing work as expansive and weird as this, you won’t want to miss it. After all, what “matters” more than great creative teams on great characters like Spider-Man?
Final Verdict: 9.0 – Take the pill. Buy.
