Saturday Splash Page #180

"Who is that Helmeted Man?" in Sensational Spider-Man #27, by Todd DeZago (writer), Mike Wieringo (writer/penciler), Rich Case (inker), Gregory Wright (colorist), Richard Starkings and Kiff Scholl (letterer)

So, Marvel canceled Web of Spider-Man in late 1995, still in the midst of the increasingly tedious Clone Saga. Shortly after that, Peter Parker (touted as the clone, but married and a father-to-be) went into retirement and Ben Reilly (at that time touted as the original Peter Parker after all) took over as Spider-Man, with a new costume and all that jazz. And Marvel decided they naturally still needed a 4th monthly Spider-Man book, and here we are.

The book ran for just under three years, and probably the most notable part was that Mike Wieringo was the artist for a decent chunk of those issues. I remember reading somewhere (maybe the online "Life of Reilly" history of the Clone Saga) Wieringo wasn't happy to finally get to draw Spider-Man, but not the "real" Spider-Man.

As it turned out, Marvel only dragged the clone thing out another year, then it was Peter Parker back in the classic look. Maybe that perked Wieringo up a bit. Hard to say, because I never hear much about this book. Anything about it, really. Even by the standards of Marvel's mid-90s output, there was no reason for this book to exist. I don't think it had any special focus to differentiate it from the other monthly Spidey books.

Nor do I think, based on the 4 issues I own, that Todd DeZago was doing anything as the writer that really made it stand out. This issue above features editor's boxes that point out inconsistencies or lies in the Looter's account of things, playing up that he's off his rocker. Which I assume was a collaborative effort between DeZago and editor Ralph Macchio. But after the 2-part Identity Crisis tie-in, there's a two-part team-up with the Black Cat against Arcade that's just lifeless and perfunctory. (Also, none of the artists can keep straight what the Cat's costume is like at the moment.)

Maybe the Spider-books were too tightly interconnected for a writer to go far afield. This was the era where they routinely had 4-part stories that ran across all 4 ongoing series in the span of a month. Each creative team had to stay within the prescribed role for their chapter. But I don't think that's all of the problem.

Sunday Splash Page #197

 

"Masked Menace Abducts Insane Newsgirl," in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (vol. 1) #4, by Peter David (writer), Mike Wieringo (penciler), Karl Kesel (inker), Paul Mounts (colorist), Cory Petit (letterer)

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man wasn't the first book I dropped after I started this blog (Sensational Spider-Man gets that distinction), but it was one of the ones that didn't survive the first year. I don't think there was really any specific need for this book, outside of Marvel's urge to put more Spider-Man comics on the stands, because idiots like me would buy things that said "Spider-Man" on the cover. And it worked, at least for a while. Until about the middle of 2006, really. After that I showed at least a little discretion.

In theory, Peter David was probably planning to focus on more ground-level stuff. JMS was still writing Amazing Spider-Man, which seemed most likely to deal with Avengers-related stuff, so that left a niche for stories where Spider-Man deals with smaller threats, things more closely related to his teaching gig. What it left for Marvel Knights/Sensational Spider-Man I'm less clear about.

In practice, not so much. The fact the book opened with tie-ins to The Other should have been the first hint. I kept this one issue, because I enjoy the sequence where Peter, having returned from the dead just prior, takes Mary Jane on a ride around the city. They swing past the Bugle, Jonah leans out the window to yell, MJ flips him off (with the offending digit tastefully obscured by a pigeon. Because, "flip him the bird", get it?) Not a great reason to hold onto a comic for 15 years, but 2006 was not a great year for Spider-Man comics, I took what I could get.

It's too bad. I think this was the second time Marvel got Mike Wieringo as artist on a Spider-Man book. The first was, unfortunately, the original Sensational Spider-Man, back when Ben Reilly was being Spider-Man, something Wieringo apparently didn't love. He wanted to draw the real Spider-Man. At least he got his wish this time, even if the stories he got to draw were kind of a waste. Again, The Other. Plus the story where David makes fun of bloggers portraying them as self-important losers with no life of their own. Truly an epic for the times.

I dropped the book about the time it looked as though an Uncle Ben from another universe had shown up and was a killer. I recall being outraged they would dare to do something like that, which is really embarrassing. Nowadays I'd just shrug, maybe roll my eyes. I think it turned out to be the Chameleon of some other universe, possibly from the distant future (the same year as that other Spider-Man David created when he did the original Spider-Man/Spider-Man 2099 crossover), but I was long gone by then.