In its heyday of the sixties, Marvel Comics stood head-and-shoulders above its competitors in the publishing field. When other comic publishers were content with churning out formula plots and uninspired artwork that hadn't changed that much since the 1940s, Marvel had the cleverest plots by Stan Lee and dynamic art work by the likes of Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. This "what-will-they-think-of-next" quality keeps me collecting every reprint of this stuff I can lay my hands on.
After reading the first three volumes in its series I had really high hopes for the Essential Spider-Man Volume 4, but it never really delivers the goods. This volume covers the time that Stan Lee, writer extrodinaire, was relinquishing his role as the sole creative force of the comics empire, and boy does it show! In twenty-two issues of this comic no significant new characters or plot developments occur. It's so much that it's bad -- it's just tired. The stories seem to have fallen into a rut with Jameson ranting about Spidey, Gwen being miffed with Peter, Aunt May being worried, and Peter feeling like a schmuck at the end of the day. Ironically, Spider-Man's adventures had become formula, just like the competitor's comics from which it had drawn readers away. My advice is to stick with the first three volumes.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I never was into comics. I think my mom didnt' let me, or I had no money, or both. But I wish I did. It's too late now.
Post a Comment