I've never been a huge Spider-Man fan, but I've been off and on following everything after the events of One More Day to see how it affects Peter's life, and sometimes the stories are hits and other times, they are misses. This Shed storyline, and especially this issue is one gigantic hit. The story had two different artists, which I'd normally hate: Chris Bachalo pg. 1-5 and Emma Rios pg. 16-22. As you were reading, you could tell pretty obviously that their were different artists on the books, but both styles were very nice and complimented each other very well, for the most part. As I said when I reviewed part one of this story, I love how Bachalo sets up his panels, and I love his splash pages. There's a great amount of detail within the work and nothing is muddy or confusing when you look at the pages. My favorite part of this issue was after so many years of the Lizard being well, "The Lizard," we finally got to see an evolution of the character in mind and powers. He's now a character that could become Spidey's A-List villain. Aside from all of that, this book is flat out enjoyable and fun as heck, and luckily you don't have to wait more than two weeks for the next issue, since Amazing Spider-Man comes out three times a month!
The Bad
I mentioned the two artists on this book. The second artist Emma Rios has some great work on her pages, except for Spider-Man himself. My only real concern is that it looked way too much like Steve Ditko's work, which usually isn't a bad thing; however, in this case, the difference in between how the Spider-Men look is distracting.
The Verdict: 5/5
PICK OF THE WEEK! This was the most fun I had reading a comic this week. It's characters I grew up with, and it puts a new spin on the characters. The art and writing are fabulous, and you don't have to be following this book hardcore to understand what's going on.
"beautiful cover art. and an excellent review G-Man "
Check the by-line :)
I haven't gotten my books yet, but I do agree that this storyline has done wonders for The Lizard. Can't wait to see this, curse you for getting me excited!!! :P
this issue was probably the lamest spider-man issue I've read in years. I hate the Lizard and I hate Bachalo's artwork. If I didn't love Spider-Man so much I would drop this book
I'd give it a 3.5, maybe a 4/5. Bachalo's really winning me over, but I'm still not a huge fan of Rios' fill-in art. Going from bug-eyed Spidey to early 70's-eyed Spidey takes me out of it for a second.
I'm also not crazy about Lizard's new power, which apparently centers around controlling the aggression and animalistic urges of guys. And also is apparently about to result in a very public raping.
BTW, I would sooooooooo watch "Dancing with the Ex-Avengers."
Without any rants, I honestly dislike how Marvel tries to become artistic with some of their comics, I do see the artistic in this comic, but myself and possibly others feel that it wasn't necessary. Mostly those who grew up reading Marvel like I did. I know what this comic was trying to do, and in a way some fans got it and some didn't. It tried to take a Mcfarlane approach, but it actually became difficult to make out what I was reading or looking at.
Some or many Marvel fans like the art to be basic and original instead of detailed and artistic, so I agree with you on that phrase But yeah, not to purposely downsize this comic, I would get the Thanos issue because it was very satisfying to read out of the whole batch of comics I got today.
@MTHarman: I'm actually a huge fan of the art on the first 16 pages. I really like seeing artists break the mold and get away from the cookie cutter madness you see with a lot of books. Even if the art isn't extremely detailed, and looks more cartoony than anything else, as long as it conveys the message the writer is putting out there, and doesn't annoy me, I can put up with it. But there's just something about Bachalo's panel composition and line structure that I personally really love.
" @MTHarman: I'm actually a huge fan of the art on the first 16 pages. I really like seeing artists break the mold and get away from the cookie cutter madness you see with a lot of books. Even if the art isn't extremely detailed, and looks more cartoony than anything else, as long as it conveys the message the writer is putting out there, and doesn't annoy me, I can put up with it. But there's just something about Bachalo's panel composition and line structure that I personally really love. "
I honestly careless about artwork, im more into the storylines and being able to understand it easily. But as I read through the 16 pages I tried to make out what was happening and it was becoming difficult to put both artwork and storyline together which really got confusing. Maybe for a different title, but to have this happen in a successful title like Amazing Spiderman was very risky for Marvel. Artwork was good, and storyline was good, but I felt it didn't mix in the Shed storyline.
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