trike's review
3.0
This is a random collection of Spider-man one-offs and short story arcs. They vary widely in quality.
AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #14-15 ★★★★☆ features Spidey in the Savage Land teaming up with Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy. This tripped the nostalgia trigger for me since the very first comic I bought way back in the Before Times was about Spider-man teaming up with Ka-Zar and his sabertoothed tiger Zabu in the Savage Land. Basically this is a similar story riffing on Jurassic World. I liked that neither Spidey nor Moony could understand each other, but they managed to work together despite this impediment. This was a solid superhero adventure of the old school variety. I really liked the art in this one.
AVENGING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1 ★★★☆☆ sees a couple criminal brothers stumble over alien tech that somehow affects human emotions. No explanation is given as to how it escaped detection before or how it works, this is just the vehicle for some hjinks and silliness with The Thing. It's aight. Mostly forgettable.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #39 ★★★★☆ is one of the stand-out stories. One of Peter's coworkers is messing with time travel, and everything goes perfectly fine. You know the drill: Pete gets lost boomeranging through time and no one remembers him in the present because he never became Spider-man. The world is objectively a better place for Spidey not existing, but the time stream is tying to correct itself, which is causing devastating chronoquakes. (It's a comic book, just go with it.) So the Avengers show up and Iron Man figures out what's happening. To save the city they get Peter to the epicenters, which are all moments from Peter's past. The drama comes from the fact that Uncle Ben is still alive. Peter gets some manly-tear Hallmark-card moments with his uncle as they correct the timeline. Touching. Solid artwork here, too.
"Spider-man For A Night" from AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #692 ★★★★☆ is another solid piece. This flashback starts off with the iconic trashcan scene from the classic "Spider-man No More" story. A desperate grandfather and would-be thief is running from a cop when he finds Spidey's discarded costume in the trash can. He puts it on because his ailing granddaughter is a huge Spider-man fan, and he figures he can rob some people as Spider-man to help pay for her treatment. It's a touching little short.
"Just Right" from AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #692 ★★☆☆☆ is the main story and it tries too hard. This is classic sad-sack Spidey who can't do anything right. But really it's too much. Everything he does is wrong. At this point Spider-man wouldn't make these rookie mistakes, and the main thrust of the story about Peter connecting to a bullied young boy is overwrought with forced humor. No crazy about the art here.
SPIDER-MAN VS. VAMPIRES #1 ★★☆☆☆ is pretty weaksauce. Some super-powerful ancient vampire has captured Blade and is using his blood to create artificial vamps for an underground fighting ring. I don't know how they make money from this scheme, but that seems to be the goal. Even for comics this doesn't make any sense. Spider-man is one of the premiere fighters in the Marvel universe, so for him to get taken out by a bunch of junior executives temporarily turned into vampires is just lame. The whole thing is just annoying. The art is serviceable but nothing special.
AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #14-15 ★★★★☆ features Spidey in the Savage Land teaming up with Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy. This tripped the nostalgia trigger for me since the very first comic I bought way back in the Before Times was about Spider-man teaming up with Ka-Zar and his sabertoothed tiger Zabu in the Savage Land. Basically this is a similar story riffing on Jurassic World. I liked that neither Spidey nor Moony could understand each other, but they managed to work together despite this impediment. This was a solid superhero adventure of the old school variety. I really liked the art in this one.
AVENGING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1 ★★★☆☆ sees a couple criminal brothers stumble over alien tech that somehow affects human emotions. No explanation is given as to how it escaped detection before or how it works, this is just the vehicle for some hjinks and silliness with The Thing. It's aight. Mostly forgettable.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #39 ★★★★☆ is one of the stand-out stories. One of Peter's coworkers is messing with time travel, and everything goes perfectly fine. You know the drill: Pete gets lost boomeranging through time and no one remembers him in the present because he never became Spider-man. The world is objectively a better place for Spidey not existing, but the time stream is tying to correct itself, which is causing devastating chronoquakes. (It's a comic book, just go with it.) So the Avengers show up and Iron Man figures out what's happening. To save the city they get Peter to the epicenters, which are all moments from Peter's past. The drama comes from the fact that Uncle Ben is still alive. Peter gets some manly-tear Hallmark-card moments with his uncle as they correct the timeline. Touching. Solid artwork here, too.
"Spider-man For A Night" from AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #692 ★★★★☆ is another solid piece. This flashback starts off with the iconic trashcan scene from the classic "Spider-man No More" story. A desperate grandfather and would-be thief is running from a cop when he finds Spidey's discarded costume in the trash can. He puts it on because his ailing granddaughter is a huge Spider-man fan, and he figures he can rob some people as Spider-man to help pay for her treatment. It's a touching little short.
"Just Right" from AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #692 ★★☆☆☆ is the main story and it tries too hard. This is classic sad-sack Spidey who can't do anything right. But really it's too much. Everything he does is wrong. At this point Spider-man wouldn't make these rookie mistakes, and the main thrust of the story about Peter connecting to a bullied young boy is overwrought with forced humor. No crazy about the art here.
SPIDER-MAN VS. VAMPIRES #1 ★★☆☆☆ is pretty weaksauce. Some super-powerful ancient vampire has captured Blade and is using his blood to create artificial vamps for an underground fighting ring. I don't know how they make money from this scheme, but that seems to be the goal. Even for comics this doesn't make any sense. Spider-man is one of the premiere fighters in the Marvel universe, so for him to get taken out by a bunch of junior executives temporarily turned into vampires is just lame. The whole thing is just annoying. The art is serviceable but nothing special.
nnebeluk's review
3.0
A mix of team-ups and one shot stories. As everyone else has pointed out the stories very wildly in quality but make for an entertaining read overall
just_fighting_censorship's review
3.0
2 1/2 Stars
Collecting AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #14-15 (1 star) and ANNUAL #1 (1 Star), AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #39 (3 Stars), SPIDER-MAN VS. VAMPIRES (2 Stars) and material from AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) #692 (5 Stars)
Let's break this down....
Some of the issues presented in this volume are so incredibly awful that they caused me physical pain. No really. Okay, not really but Avenging is so very poorly written with jokes that try too hard and just fall flat. Avenging Spider-man is supposed to be about cool team ups and lighthearted fun so naturally in issues #14 and #15 we see Spidey on a Horizon Labs field trip to Savage Island (Marvel's answer to DC's Dinosuar Island...?) where he teams up with everyone's favorite Savage Land duo....Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy!!!!!
What's that you say? You've never heard of them? Well neither had I but thanks to Wikipedia now I know all about them....well there really isn't much to know. Anyways, this exciting duo teams up with Spidey to face off against Brainchild, a lesser known X-Men villain not to be confused with Brainiac the more famous and interesting of the two who can be found battling Superman. (Is that 2 points for DC?)
But whatever, it takes 2 issues to tell this very boring jungle romp in which absolutely nothing remotely interesting or memorable happens.
Next is the series annual....
The Thing guest stars with Richard's son and daughter and does nothing but embarrass himself. It was just pathetic to see the Thing reduced to a giant clown..."It's Slobbering Time" Really? This story involves an alien device that can cause people to fight but it is poorly explained and there seem to be a ton of plot holes....why isn't Spidey affected but The Thing is....?
The good news is that after these 3 terrible issues the volume switches course and features issues from Amazing Spiderman...
The content improves significantly.
The Amazing Annual has some timey wimey stuff going which seems to be the focus at first but then progresses into a more sentimental piece. It was pandering and I hate that, but despite my heart of stone a tear or two did fall.
Next were a few shorts from Amazing #692 which was an over-sized issue due to the 50th anniversary of the title. These were short but very sweet. First, we see a criminal stumble upon an abandoned Spidey costume and find out what it really means to be a hero. Then, we watch as Spidey tries to do a good deed for the day but just can't seem to get it right until he meets up with a kid who is also having a pretty bad day. This last short entitled Just Right might be one of the best one-off stories I have ever read. It was hilarious and brilliant in its simplicity.
Lastly we have Spider-man teaming up with Blade to fight vampires.
No. Just no. A flimsy plot terribly executed.
Overall, the Amazing Spider-man Annual #39 and the shorts taken from Amazing #692 make it worth checking out from the library but not worth buying.
Collecting AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #14-15 (1 star) and ANNUAL #1 (1 Star), AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #39 (3 Stars), SPIDER-MAN VS. VAMPIRES (2 Stars) and material from AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) #692 (5 Stars)
Let's break this down....
Some of the issues presented in this volume are so incredibly awful that they caused me physical pain. No really. Okay, not really but Avenging is so very poorly written with jokes that try too hard and just fall flat. Avenging Spider-man is supposed to be about cool team ups and lighthearted fun so naturally in issues #14 and #15 we see Spidey on a Horizon Labs field trip to Savage Island (Marvel's answer to DC's Dinosuar Island...?) where he teams up with everyone's favorite Savage Land duo....Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy!!!!!
What's that you say? You've never heard of them? Well neither had I but thanks to Wikipedia now I know all about them....well there really isn't much to know. Anyways, this exciting duo teams up with Spidey to face off against Brainchild, a lesser known X-Men villain not to be confused with Brainiac the more famous and interesting of the two who can be found battling Superman. (Is that 2 points for DC?)
But whatever, it takes 2 issues to tell this very boring jungle romp in which absolutely nothing remotely interesting or memorable happens.
Next is the series annual....
The Thing guest stars with Richard's son and daughter and does nothing but embarrass himself. It was just pathetic to see the Thing reduced to a giant clown..."It's Slobbering Time" Really? This story involves an alien device that can cause people to fight but it is poorly explained and there seem to be a ton of plot holes....why isn't Spidey affected but The Thing is....?
The good news is that after these 3 terrible issues the volume switches course and features issues from Amazing Spiderman...
The content improves significantly.
The Amazing Annual has some timey wimey stuff going which seems to be the focus at first but then progresses into a more sentimental piece. It was pandering and I hate that, but despite my heart of stone a tear or two did fall.
Next were a few shorts from Amazing #692 which was an over-sized issue due to the 50th anniversary of the title. These were short but very sweet. First, we see a criminal stumble upon an abandoned Spidey costume and find out what it really means to be a hero. Then, we watch as Spidey tries to do a good deed for the day but just can't seem to get it right until he meets up with a kid who is also having a pretty bad day. This last short entitled Just Right might be one of the best one-off stories I have ever read. It was hilarious and brilliant in its simplicity.
Lastly we have Spider-man teaming up with Blade to fight vampires.
No. Just no. A flimsy plot terribly executed.
Overall, the Amazing Spider-man Annual #39 and the shorts taken from Amazing #692 make it worth checking out from the library but not worth buying.
birdmanseven's review
3.0
I liked the time travel annual the best, but I always enjoy when Moon Boy and Devil Dinosaur stop by. I didn't bother with the vampire thing.
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