Amazing Spider-Man Annual #01
Writer: Various
Artist: Various
Colorist: Various
Publisher: Marvel
The way I see it, annuals are supposed to act as a sort of "love song" to these heroes who have made it through (at least) a year of ups, downs, and relatively inconsistent characterizations denoting clear author biases as well as "zeitgeists." Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 does so little to do pay true homage to such a timeless hero, that I actually want my money back from Marvel for a Spider-Man comic.
Besides the point that Marvel seems to look for any excuse to work in a $5 price tag on any issue (especially Spidey related titles...), the narrative is disjointed and scattered, painting a seemingly OCD and scatter-brained Spider-Man as opposed to someone who is on par with the Avengers and (arguably) one of the best scientists in the Marvel-616. Now hear me out: the issue is broken up into several sub stories, and I'm only detailing the first one, which is made worse by what seems to be some rather sub-par (digital?) art that's rather unconvincing when it comes to body language as well as facial expressions. So... first of our stories? Bad.
The second story is nice and sweet and actually rather touching, in a sense, so I’ll give a pass to that one. It goes through a “cartoon-y” depiction of Peter Parker’s/Spidey’s/Aunt Mays relationship, and is ultimately pretty cute and sweet. Heck, to me it actually might be the saving grace of this comic, if it weren’t for the damn $5 price point. The last story is also kind of nice, using a collection of B (if not C) side villains attempting to pull a heist only to be thwarted by a muted Spider-Man – I enjoyed this one just because it pays mind to how important dialogue and banter is in Spider comics. This of course still does not validate the comic as a whole, and I still feel a little cheated.
I’m in no way saying this is the worst “Spidey-book” I’ve ever read, just that it might actually be the worst one since our heroes triumphant return. For such a classic hero, Marvel could’ve done a lot better and exuded a lot more effort. I’ll even go as far to say as this wasn’t wholly the creative teams’ fault – for such an uncanny collaboration of writers, artists, and colorists, they put together a quite decent anthology picking up on some of the best traits our favorite wall-crawler has to offer; they did highlight the best traits of Spider-Man. However this fell just short of… well, I guess my own personal expectations. Once again, I see these annual editions as a chance to highlight and pay homage to a hero – where they’re at, where they’ve been, and where they’re going. And while Amazing Spider-Man Annual #01 is a rather messy attempt to do this, it’s a step in the right(ish) direction. Maybe next year?
Artist: Various
Colorist: Various
Publisher: Marvel
The way I see it, annuals are supposed to act as a sort of "love song" to these heroes who have made it through (at least) a year of ups, downs, and relatively inconsistent characterizations denoting clear author biases as well as "zeitgeists." Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 does so little to do pay true homage to such a timeless hero, that I actually want my money back from Marvel for a Spider-Man comic.
Besides the point that Marvel seems to look for any excuse to work in a $5 price tag on any issue (especially Spidey related titles...), the narrative is disjointed and scattered, painting a seemingly OCD and scatter-brained Spider-Man as opposed to someone who is on par with the Avengers and (arguably) one of the best scientists in the Marvel-616. Now hear me out: the issue is broken up into several sub stories, and I'm only detailing the first one, which is made worse by what seems to be some rather sub-par (digital?) art that's rather unconvincing when it comes to body language as well as facial expressions. So... first of our stories? Bad.
The second story is nice and sweet and actually rather touching, in a sense, so I’ll give a pass to that one. It goes through a “cartoon-y” depiction of Peter Parker’s/Spidey’s/Aunt Mays relationship, and is ultimately pretty cute and sweet. Heck, to me it actually might be the saving grace of this comic, if it weren’t for the damn $5 price point. The last story is also kind of nice, using a collection of B (if not C) side villains attempting to pull a heist only to be thwarted by a muted Spider-Man – I enjoyed this one just because it pays mind to how important dialogue and banter is in Spider comics. This of course still does not validate the comic as a whole, and I still feel a little cheated.
I’m in no way saying this is the worst “Spidey-book” I’ve ever read, just that it might actually be the worst one since our heroes triumphant return. For such a classic hero, Marvel could’ve done a lot better and exuded a lot more effort. I’ll even go as far to say as this wasn’t wholly the creative teams’ fault – for such an uncanny collaboration of writers, artists, and colorists, they put together a quite decent anthology picking up on some of the best traits our favorite wall-crawler has to offer; they did highlight the best traits of Spider-Man. However this fell just short of… well, I guess my own personal expectations. Once again, I see these annual editions as a chance to highlight and pay homage to a hero – where they’re at, where they’ve been, and where they’re going. And while Amazing Spider-Man Annual #01 is a rather messy attempt to do this, it’s a step in the right(ish) direction. Maybe next year?
A Look Inside
