Dark Reign: Sinister Spider-Man #4 – Review

By Brian Reed (Writer), Chris Bachalo w/ Rob Disalvo (Pencils), Townsend, Disalvo, Sibal, Irwin, Wang, & Mendoza (Inks), and Bachalo w/Fabela & Mossa (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: The storyline is a bit basic and the way the artwork is divided up tends to be annoying, but those issues haven’t stopped me from enjoying the hell out of the Sinister Spider-Man mini-series.

The Story: Mayor Jameson’s Big Apple Festival is in big trouble. The Redeemer’s there, the two rivals gangs are there, and, worst of all, Bullseye and Wolverine’s kid are there as well. Does that mean Spider-Man is in trouble as well? You better believe it.

What’s Good: Now that’s more like it! Sinister Spider-Man #4 manages to recapture everything that made the first issue of the mini-series so great. It’s funny as hell, the manic artwork kicks ass, and the story finishes in a way that’s so crazy it actually winds up being quite satisfying.

Brian Reed’s hilarious script elevates a fairly generic bad guy acting like a good guy story into something more. What makes it work so well is that Reed writes Mac Gargan (A.K.A. Sinister Spider-Man) as an asshole through and through. A funny, likeable asshole, but an asshole nonetheless. By doing so, Reed’s able to make you root for Gargan while loving every bit of chaos that erupts as a result of what he’s done throughout the mini-series. It must be said, however, that Reed’s script wouldn’t work nearly as well if the artist handling the craziest parts of it didn’t completely embrace the writers vision. Thankfully, Chris Bachalo does.

Right from the opening “What the **** is this **** all about?” splash page (that features, among other things, flying panties, gangsters, a poodle, and corn dogs), Bachalo establishes that the Sinister Spider-Man series is going to finish on one heck of a high note. Now I’m well aware that Bachalo’s kinetic style isn’t for everyone, but it’s hard to argue how fitting it is for the story being told and the action that takes place. I never thought I’d see both corn dogs and a “yap dog” being used as projectile weapons, yet there they are. The few pages Rob Disalvo contributes are solid as expected, though I can’t help but wonder why Marvel didn’t just give Bachalo another week or two to finish the book. It’s not like the whole Dark Reign thing is ending next week.

What’s Not So Good: The only real big negative about Sinister Spider-Man #4 is that occasionally Chris Bachalo’s artwork is too hectic. There’s a lot of stuff going on and sometimes it doesn’t come together all that well on the page. And that’s either due to small panel size or the amount of action being crammed into a scene.

Conclusion: Sinister Spider-Man #4 rocks pretty hard. Be sure to pick up the inevitable trade if you haven’t been following the Dark Reign mini-series.

Grade: B+

-Kyle Posluszny

Dark Reign: Sinister Spider-Man #3 – Review

By Brian Reed (Writer), Chris Bachalo (Pencils & Colors), Rob Disalvo (Pencils & Inks), Tim Townsend w/ Mendoza & Sibal (Inks), and Andres Mossa w/ Fabela (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: Note to Marvel: I demand a Brian Reed/Chris Bachalo Sinister Spider-Man ongoing series. It’d compliment the twisted Daniel Way/Paco Medina Deadpool series quite nicely.

The Story: The Sinister Spider-Man continues to stir sh*t up for J. Jonah Jameson as he prepares for the first annual Big Apple festival. Meanwhile, The Redeemer and his crew call in a nuclear bomb threat in order to get Spidey’s attention…

What’s Good And What’s Not So Good: Simply put, writer Brian Reed gives Sinister Spider-Man just the right tone to make it work incredibly well. It’s mean, violent, silly, and damned funny all at the same time. The one-liners alone are almost worth the price of the book. Reed’s approach to the series goes a long way towards making up for a story that, while a lot of fun, isn’t exactly mind-blowing.

The artwork in Sinister Spider-Man #3 is divided (rather unevenly) between Rob Disalvo and Chris Bachalo. That could easily be a bad thing; but thankfully, it’s not, here.

Bachalo handles the one big action scene and, as expected, it’s stylish and wildly chaotic. And while it definitely has a “wow” factor to it (as Bachalo’s work usually does), it’s hard to ignore how hard the action is to follow at times because Bachalo’s style simply doesn’t work all that well in small panels (and there’s quite a few). It adds to the insanity of the fight, that’s for sure. But that’s not necessarily a good thing in this case.

In Sinister Spider-Man #2, Rob Disalvo’s few pages were a bit jarring. In the third Sinister Spider-Man, Disalvo pretty much takes center stage and, therefore, doesn’t disturb the book in any way (if anyone does, it’s Bachalo). While his work doesn’t pack nearly the punch that Bachalo’s does, it’s clean, expressive, and solid as can be. In addition, most importantly, it tells the story effectively. Also, I’ve got to mention the full credit page shot of Gargan vomiting up a rabid squirrel (yep, it’s that kind of book). It’s easily the highlight of what Disalvo does.

Conclusion: The Sinister Spider-Man mini-series continues to rock pretty hard. It brings the funny and features some slick artwork.

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny

Dark Reign: The Sinister Spider-Man #2 (Dark Reign) – Review

By Brian Reed (Writer), Chris Bachalo w/ Rob Disalvo (Pencils), Tim Townsend, Mendoza, Sibal, and Disalvo (Inks), and Bachalo w/ Mossa and Fabela (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: I liked the first issue of Sinister Spider-Man a whole hell of a lot. Mean, hilarious, and absolutely awesome to look at, Sinister Spider-Man #1 might actually be one of my favorite single issues of the year. I wonder if Sinister Spider-Man #2 can live up to the high standard set by the first chapter of the Dark Reign mini?

The Story: Mac Gargan (Spider-Man) starts off a huge gang war in order to keep Mayor J. Jonah Jameson’s life as difficult as possible. Meanwhile, The Redeemer holds a group therapy session for villains that have been wronged by Spider-Man.

What’s Good and What’s Not So Good: The second Sinister Spider-Man issue is a lot like the first. The visuals by Chris Bachalo look fantastic (each page feels loaded with energy, even when nothing significant is happening), the dark humor by Brian Reed is spot on (who knew squirrels taste like “squirmy popcorn?!”), and the storyline is a perfect fit for a mini-series like Sinister Spider-Man. Sounds like another “A” right? Well, not quite… Two things keep Sinister Spider-Man #2 from reaching the heights of the previous Sinister Spidey issue: the visuals by Rob Disalvo and the nagging feeling that absolutely nothing of consequence is going to have happened when all is said and done.

Simply put, the change from Chris Bachalo to Rob Disalvo is downright jarring. It’s not because their styles are different, but because they are so similar. There’s one big problem though: Disalvo’s work looks incredibly weak compared to Chris Bachalo’s. While I’m sure a full book by Disalvo would look pretty cool, his few pages do not stand up well in comparison to the rest of Sinister Spider-Man #2.

The problem I have with Brian Reed’s storyline pops up at the very end of Sinister Spider-Man #2. It looks as though a major character may be as good as dead far sooner than later, but it’s EXTREMELY unlikely that the character would die in what is, ultimately, just another Marvel tie-in mini-series. The fact that the character is unlikely to die in a mini-series like Sinister Spidey definitely takes away from the overall effect the storyline being developed has.

Conclusion: While it’s got a few flaws, Sinister Spider-Man #2 is still one hell of a fun comic book. Most of the visuals are incredibly stylish and edgy, the dark humor works extremely well, and the overall personality the book has makes it easy to overlook some of the problems I mention in the review.

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny

Amazing Spider-Man #576 – Review

By Joe Kelly (writer), Chris Bachalo (art), Mendoza, Tim Townsend and Al Vey (inks), Antonio Fabela (colors)

The Story: It’s Spidey versus Hammerhead, Round 2 – but not before Spider-Man takes a major beating and gets mugged by the two kids he’s been trying to save. Taking just hours to recover, Peter takes it upon himself to find the elusive kids and stop Hammerhead’s rampage before more people are killed.

What’s Good? There’s an ironic twist of fate that takes place later in the story with the kids, and it’s quite frankly, surprising! While Hammerhead may now be amped up as a supervillain, he’s still not a top tier adversary and his intelligence proves it. He’s a brute and brutes are not a match for a scientist under a spider suit. Joe Kelly deserves credit for at making him a formidable opponent until Peter can regroup.

The way Spider-Man finally deals with Hammerhead is all centered around the Peter’s smarts and the end result is a laugh out loud moment. Great stuff!

What’s Not So Good: Chris Bachalo’s storytelling is still a mess. Many times I had to scrutinize panels and pages – doing double takes – just to make sense of it all. And that’s never a good thing. The guy can draw some pretty pictures, but the expense the reader pays is a hefty one.

Conclusion: I’m a bit fatigued with Spider-Man dealing with inner-city children, but this little arc is actually fun and quite satisfying.

Grade: B+

– J. Montes