(Marvel Comics)
Spider-Man is Marvel Comic's flagship character. No matter how far is stretches the X-Men line of books, no matter how popular mutants are, Spider-Man is still the character by which you can measure Marvel's ups and downs in the comic industry. Once, Sales of the Spider-Man line of comics were so consistent from month to month and year to year, that when sales representatives gave reports on Marvel books, they measure their sales against the Spider-Man title (i.e."Defenders is currently selling 62% of Spider-Man, Wolverine is currently selling 118% Spider-Man). Alas, as Marvel had grown complacent and stagnant in recent years, so had the Spider-Man franchise. The whole "Spider-Man Clone" storyline was intended to perk up interest in the character and instead had the exact opposite effect. Long time fans deserted the book in droves. Spider-Man was soon going to be panhandling for work outside the DC offices ("Have costume, will swing from buildings for sales"). The last several months have seen a dramatic turnaround in the quality and interest in Spider-Man books. J. Michael Strazcynski's much hyped and anticipated take on The Amazing Spider-Man title has sent that book to its' highest sales in a very long time. Paul Jenkins work on Peter Parker: Spider-Man, while quieter, has also been well received. A third regular Spider-Man title began a few months ago. Named Tangled Web, it presents story arcs with different creative teams. The first arch, "The Thousand", was written by uber-hot writer Garth Ennis. For the second story, a single issue tale called "Severance Package", we get writer Greg Rucka teamed with 100 Bullets artist Eduardo Risso.
Spider-Man only appears in two panels in this story, and even then only in sillouette. "Severance Package" instead concerns the Kingpin and one of his henchmen. Basically, Spider-Man foils a weapons deal and the man who set it up spends his last night preparing to face the Kingpin. No super heroics. No easy moral stance. Nothing that you would normally expect in a Spider-Man book. In fact, this bears little resemblance to a Spider-Man book and perhaps even a Marvel Book at all. Greg Rucka writes mostly crime related books and has been creating some gritty Batman tales for DC. 100 Bullets is exactly the kind of daring book that has pushed DC ahead of Marvel in the "cool comix" category. So Marvel is taking a chance with a book that will certainly not fit its' casual readers expectations, and it pays off nicely. Even the readers who don't like the story will be talking about it, and that is the sign of a risk well taken.
Risso's art is the perfect match for this story, as he captures the quiet feel of a mans last hours very well. This is a story that works because of its' subtleties and the genuineness of its' human characters. In the two dimensional world of comic books we have no reason to think anything at all about the other people behind the scenes. The henchmen who might suffer due to Spider-Mans victory. We don't see them as having a family or a house or any sort of life beyond their role as someone for Spider-Man to pound on. No parent can look at page 8, where Tom Cochrane takes one last look at his sleeping children without being greatly affected. There is not a single caption or piece of dialog, but it is the most moving scene in the story. Without a series like Tangled Web, this story would have appeared as a one shot that would have most likely not even been noticed by fans. If this series allows for more offbeat work like this one, then Tangled Web will be a very welcome addition to an already improving Spider-Man mythos.
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are copyright 2001 Marvel Comics
