Avenging Spider-Man #2 – Review

By: Zeb Wells (writer), Joe Madureira (art), Ferran Daniel (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: Spidey, Rulk & J. Jonah Jameson are underground trying to save the Mole Man (kinda).

Five Things: 

1. Again with the great art! – The main reason to buy this is if you love Joe Madureira’s art and he really hasn’t missed a step in all these years since he was last working for Marvel.  That’s a real treat because some artists just kinda lose “it” and there’s no bigger bummer than a beloved artist returning only to see that his style has complete changed or that he just doesn’t have “it” anymore (see: John Byrne in 90% of the stuff he does now).  There are so many advantages to Joe Mad’s cartoony style.  Of course, it works great for showing Rulk and Spidey hopping around, but he’s able to even make boring scenes pop.  Like the one showing just Jameson talking to the Mole Man.  Jameson is standing (which is usually kinda a no-no), but just little things like hands on his hips (check that… FISTS on his hips), a slight shift of his weight indicated by the folds in his pants and a slight cock of the head…. It tells you he’s pissed off and looking for whoever is in charge down here.  A artist rooted in realism would have to handle this panel very differently because they couldn’t pull off that pose very well.  And….Ferran Daniel’s coloring is great!  Marvel has really upgraded their coloring recently.  So nice to see artists who aren’t treating the pages like a coloring book and actually putting some thought and color theory to work!

2. Funny & quick paced. – The story is so simple, but Wells shows that he knows how to write scenes in a way that feels quick and lively.  Too much exposition would have dragged this issue into quicksand.  And, this issue is funny in places too (especially relating to Spidey and how they escape from a giant worm).

3. Fewer double-pagers this time, but… – I know Joe Mad likes to do double-pagers, but this needs to stop.  Unless you can convince me that comics are different from all other forms of media, these things are going to be largely digital in the very near future and these double-pagers just don’t work nicely on the iPad and you can FORGET it on the Kindle Fire.  From here on, there needs to be a good reason for a double-pager and neither of the ones in this issue qualify.  There could’ve been some other way to show the moleoid’s destroyed city; it isn’t so dramatic that it needs a double-pager.  And then the first 2 pages show something that needs to stop immediately: the image that is spilling onto ~1/3 of the other page which is otherwise populated with standard panels.  True, the image looks more impressive being slightly larger on paper, but it’s going to look like hell on an iPad.  These things are true for all comics, but I’m emphasizing them here because Avenging Spider-Man is one of those issues where Marvel is giving away the free digital code in the back.

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Wolverine #19 – This was just a really funny book. Not so much in a way that detracts from the gruff and grim character of Wolverine, but more in a smart-ass, black-humor kind of way.  I love it.  And it was also great to see a couple of characters like Fat Cobra and Gorilla Man turn up.  Sure, they can’t sustain their own series, but they’re still great supporting characters.  Runner-up: Daredevil #6

Most Anticipated: Avenging Spider-Man #2 – There are a number of enticing offerings on an otherwise light comics week, but I’m probably most looking forward to another dose of Avenging Spider-Man.  Zeb Well’s script in the first issue was fun and funny and Joe Mad hasn’t missed a beat with the art.

Other Picks: I Zombie #20, Sweet Tooth #28, Amazing Spider-Man #675, Hack/Slash #10, X-Club #1, X-Men #22