Web of Spider-Man #12 – Review

The Ex-Terminators by: Fred van Lente (writer), Pepe Larraz (art), Andres Mossa (colors) & Clayton Cowles (letters)

Arms against a Sea of Troubles by: Roger Stern (writer), Philippe Briones (art), Chris Sotomayor (colors) & Dave Sharpe (letters)

The Story: The Black Cat – Mary Jane team-up continues and we get a reminder of Doc Ock’s origins.

What’s Good: I like anthology books for two major reasons: (a) there is a surprise in what kind of stories you get and anything bad is over quickly and (b) they tend to be a showcase for new(er) comic artists who Marvel/DC wouldn’t put on a major book yet.

I really enjoyed the first story in this issue (The Ex-terminators) which continues the team up between Black Cat & MJ as they try to find a missing Spidey.  What’s not to like about that?  There is just all kinds of fun, silly dialog between the two ex-girlfriends that would be a little out of place in a standard Amazing Spider-Man story, but works just fine as a short-story in Web.  The art on this was kinda a revelation too because I enjoyed what Larraz was doing.  For one thing, he switches effortlessly between a very contemporary digitally-drawn-comics look and a flash-back that is old-fashioned scratchy pencils.  For another, he just has all kinds of interesting panel compositions and perspectives going on.  How can you not respect that: guy gets a shot to do some comic work for Marvel (working with van Lente) and actually flexes his muscles a little.  Bravo!  Kudos to Mossa on a really nice coloring job too.  Point is, there are more than a few “pause worthy” panels and pages in here.

The Doc Ock story is just a condensed origin tale and that story is nothing special, but it too features some nice art.  In this case it is more of a classic pencil/ink look which makes sense for an origin of an established character.