Just as I reviewed Fantastic Four: Season One, and X-Men: Season One, I now review Spider-Man: Season One. This one featuring without a doubt one of marvel’s most famous hero’s Spider-Man, as much a classic and great back in the 60’s as he is now. But just like the other Marvel books in the Season One event, we have his earliest tales being told again with a modern perspective. all while trying to maintain a connection to the original continuity, to serve as a starting point for new fan’s and yet to offer something for long running fans as well. The question’s I must ask myself in writing this review is how well it lived up to those goals, as well as how well it entertained me.
Then we have to consider that this is far from the first retelling of his early days, Just to name the ones that pop into mind right away for spider-man would be, Ultimate Spider-Man, that started in 2000, then in 2002 we had The first of 3 films featuring spider-man Staring Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker. then this year we have a new movie set to debut and start from the beginning once again. and i barely scratched the surface of spider-man origin retelling’s so in this case, one must keep in mind what makes this one special and different? But I will get to that, later at the end of my review.
Story
from the moment I flipped open the cover, I had a hard time putting it down, even having read, watched countless telling’s of spider-man’s origin. this one drew me in quite well. in this telling it was given the length that it never could have had in the 1960’s with the original, and yet did not go on too long, like i felt Ultimate spider-man’s first tale did.
the story also was much more focused than the X-man:season one book, and even more focused than the Fantastic Four, sticking mostly to just two spider-man stories from the 1960’s to draw upon. helping to make it easy to read, and deep. yet with just a small set of source material, it never grew boring.
Artwork
I feel that some of the visual’s in this graphic novel where stunning and effective. it let me see, and feel at one with Peter Parker, as he undergoes the most defining moments of his life, the early days of being spider-man.
The Panel I choose to show, gives us a look at perhaps the most defining moment of that, when peter Parker is first bitten by the spider, and this becomes spider-man.
The other thing that was stunning about this issue was effective and creative design between the panels. in the later part of the story, we have spider-man battling it out with the vulture, the panels are separated by artistic webs, and hanging in them are snapshots taken by spider-man during the fight. making the fight scene that much cooler, and reminding the reader of the camera, something that is quite apart of the iconic hero.
In-Continuity
These Season One tales are supposed to fit with the continuity of the original tales, and I think perhaps none have done it better than Spider-Man Season one did. while taking its influence from spider-man’s debut in Amazing Fantasy #15 the issue spider-man first appeared in, and then only spider-man #1 to focus upon the events of the first story from Spider-Man #2 to tell the core of how spider-man became who we know today was quite effective.
The two stories in spider-man one; where best skipped, one featuring the fantastic four and spider-man wanting to join the team, and the other, the tale of the chameleon. both would not have served season one as well in getting people a good understanding of spider-man’s needs and motivations. That is not to say that those events did not happen, but that they where not needed to lay the groundwork in the retelling. In fact, the fantastic four have more than a few references in this book.
Character Depth
This story is all about Peter Parker, and that is a good thing. I was so afraid that they would have included and did too much on the other characters to make this tale a viable one. but instead the story stays where it should with the star, almost completely told from his perspective.
Spider-Man is one of the hero’s I felt had no shortage of depth in his early tales; that needed making up for, and this issue both gave him the depth he needs, and showed me how right i was about the originals.
Value Added
I feel that most spider-man fan’s whom have read the original issues, and are reading my words now won’t need much of an excuse to pick up this book. but here it goes.
Pick up this book. it is funny, and witty, and everything one could hope for in a modernized retelling of this hero. at this point, i just hope that the forthcoming movie can live up to this.
New readers
for those who are looking to get into spider-man, this also offers a great place to start, while it’s not exactly the same as the original, it is quite close, and true to the classic comic books, and offers a rich tale that is easy to read. so I suggest you buy it now!
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