What I Bought 9/27/2019 - Part 2

I'm writing this up last week, since I'm out in the field all this week. Hopefully the river levels aren't up too much, or that's going to make getting to some of the places I need to get rather difficult. Plus, the folks around here really don't need more flooding to contend with.

I left this book for last since it had a three stories, so I figured it could carry its own post.

Amazing Spider-Man: Going Big, by Gerry Conway and Ralph Macchio (writers), Erik Larsen (writer/artist), Mark Bagley (penciler), Todd Nauck (artist), Victor Olazaba, Andy Owens, Dexter Vines (inkers), Carlos Lopez, Laura Martin, and Rachelle Rosenberg (colorists), Joe Sabino and Ferran Delgado (letterers) - I'm not sure I have the energy to write about the actual comic after listing all those people out. Also,I have no idea what's "going big" about this issue. It's not like it's a 100-page special or anything.

So, three stories. Starting from the back of the book, we've got Larsen writing and drawing a story that starts with Spidey fighting Nightshade and a bunch of people she turned into werewolves in a subway. Which makes him late to meet Mary Jane for a movie, and he forgot the tickets, so he has to rush back home to get them. He says he'll be back in four minutes, but the story ends as he's taking off, so who knows if he made it.

Larsen's artwork is about how I remember, except the faces are a bit rounder than I remember. Might be a shading thing, but I definitely think Peter's jaw is less pronounced than it was in the '90s. Also, Larsen always liked to treat white ovals on Spider-Man's mask as being able to can shape to help convey emotion, but I feel like he used it in almost every panel in this story. Webs is squinting more than Clint Eastwood in a Dirty Harry movie.

The middle story is a quick 3-page bit by Macchio/Nauck/Rosenberg about Spidey fighting some disgruntled Oscorp employee in a stolen mech. Spidey took some hits protecting bystanders but can't escape. So he recalls some conversation Uncle Ben had with him about how to handle bullies, complete with little kid Peter throwing an ice cream cone in a kid's face, and then defeats the guy by blinding him with webbing and hitting the mech really hard once. Don't think he should have needed a wise lesson from Uncle Ben to handle that, but whatever gets you through the fight, I guess.

The first story is a 20-pager by Gerry Conway/Mark Bagley, and Victor Olazaba, plus all three of the inkers listed above. MJ's cousin Kristy has gone missing after investigating sex trafficking of undocumented immigrants, and MJ asks Peter to investigate. Spidey finds the right group, but they have super-powered back, in the form of a character I figured we wouldn't see again after his original appearance. Fine with me that he's back, although I hope he's wrong about another villain being dead. Spidey is having a little trouble, because the guy's power is weird, but there's a mysterious someone on a rooftop nearby shooting people when it's helpful. A someone who narrates the parts of the story taking place at the fight, who doesn't like costumed vigilantes (or 'super-suits' as he calls them here), but really hates criminals. Hmm, I wonder who that could be?

With three inkers, the art is a little variable, although I'd say still recognizably Bagley's. The expression work is clear and easy to read. The action is easy to follow and presented cleanly. Nothing special about page design, just making sure to help tell the story. I think he's drawing his spider-sense squiggles differently, though. They used to be a lot more jagged, closer to lightning bolts, and these are either like snakes or like "w"'s. Not a criticism, because I think he might have gone to a more snakelike look back when he was doing Ultimate Spider-Man with Bendis, but something I noticed.

I can only distinguish two different inkers, mostly based on how they shade the eyes on Spidey's mask. One does it in such a way they have a convex appearance, like they bulge out from the mask, and the other they seem to be flat against the mask. It's possible the third inker is doing the flashback sequences of how Peter tracked these guys down (in just 4 hours, no less, beat that Batman). In parts of that, the faces of some of the characters have a much scratchier, busier look than I'm used to seeing on Bagley's stuff, and Peter's head seems more square than normal. But that doesn't hold in all of them, so I don't know.

I was able to find a copy that I guess wasn't in the best condition, so it was a dollar cheaper. I can't tell what the problem was, but I'm fine with it. I wasn't going to buy it for $5, and having read it, that would have been a good call.