A review by trike
Avenging Spider-Man: Threats & Menaces by Gabriele Dell'Otto, Cullen Bunn
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.