Interesting premise ends up being boring and derivative.
The Lizard is running wild in New York and behaving terribly unlike himself. He murders a total of 6 people leaving clues to Spider-Man in order to draw him out. His call for battle works as Spider-Man goes after him and they clash; but there's more to this feud than Spider-Man realizes as he's being attacked in another way. -summary
During the late 1980's and leading into the 90's, Todd McFarlane had become a big deal around the comic campfires by planting his flag as comic's premier artist. His artwork during the Amazing Spider-Man run when partnered up with David Michelinie at the time were enough to further establish the wall-crawler as the man in Marvel. Therefore, in 1991 Marvel thought it to be a great idea to debut another long running Spider-Man title, the fourth book in the line-up. This run would be simply titled Spider-Man, and it would be written and drawn by Todd McFarlane. In all fairness, this title was also handed over to him granting his request at wanting a shot in writing. This would be McFarlane's first outing as writer and this book clearly shows. Spider-Man: Torment is a very redundant 5 part series that hasn't gotten better over time. This book collects the entire saga across the first five issues.
At some point McFarlane made a bold claim that people buy comics for the artwork and not the stories. Sadly, this view actually did catch on and it's one of the reasons why people do not look back fondly on mid 90's comics. Well anyway, that attitude shines through and through with McFarlane hoping to high heaven that this story flies on looks alone. He shamelessly apes off two sources in an attempt to cover up his weak storytelling. He shoots for the dark atmosphere found in Batman titles, along with J.M. DeMatteis' story Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt, in which that story is largely regarded as a masterpiece in the Spider-Man mythos.
The book has a very interesting premise as a mysterious woman appears to be working some type of voodoo spells to attack Spider-Man from within, and at the same time enslave the Lizard. McFarlane also revamps the Lizard's character into a silent killer, in which he had been written as quite talkative over the decades. I actually liked this change for him because he felt more animal like and very dangerous. Marvel would continue to run with this more sinister version of the character. It's such a shame that besides the artwork, this is where all the real goodness ends.
McFarlane makes several mistakes here, and one is just how derivative the story is; he wants this to be some type of sequel to Kraven's Last Hunt. Now that story was dark and even horror like; some of the reasons why that story worked so well is because Spider-Man became a side character in his own book. In fact, he was pretty much disposed of with Kraven taking center stage, and the story focusing on his insane obsession with Spider-Man which played with its dark tone and themes. To include, the half human and rat creature Vermin was very well used and developed, and both of these characters would earn the readers sympathy. You would even cheer for the villain Kraven as he took on Vermin. The problem here is that Spider-Man is being written in a style that clearly doesn't fit him, and the Lizard isn't strong enough to help carry this story being nothing more than a lapdog, which is kind of wrong considering that he is among the more popular Spider-Man villains. The only thing interesting about him here is that you know he just wants to rip into Spider-Man and nothing more. The main antagonist whom happens to be Calypso is never named here. This does work into her mystery as Spider-Man doesn't understand why he's being attacked. She's developed in a subtle way, and there are clues as to why she's torturing him but McFarlane's narrative drags way too much, and he stretches into 5 issues which could have been told in three. There is way too much of nothing not happening and repetitive writing.
Some of the naysayers will mention that this is the worst Spider-Man story ever told. I probably would agree it was for that time, but it isn't downright horrible though. McFarlane shows traces of talent here as he plays heavily on the unknown; the thing that tormented Spider-Man most was not knowing why he was targeted and never getting a reason. Calypso definitely had potential to be a threat, but she felt all too typical by the end. The story is stacked with potential; McFarlane knew what he wanted but he just didn't know how to get it to play out. I think Marvel should have stood their ground with him and handed this off to someone else. It would take another 8 issues or so before McFarlane got Spider-Man down.
Now on to what was so important to the author. McFarlane whipped up some cool splash pages. The artwork is stylish and finely drawn; there is a sense of urgency in the intense showdowns with the Lizard. The amount of savagery used here works well with the tone he sets. There is a good amount of blood, and there's at least one very creepy segment involving someone's remains. Calypso's lair and flashbacks reflects the demonic persona of the character. I think she would have made a better villain for both Ghost Rider and Morbius the Living Vampire around this time. I think the coolest looking character is the Lizard though. If only he had just lost the torn lab coat and trousers, then it would have supported the possibility that his humanity had been long gone.
Todd McFarlane definitely botched this story, there's no doubt about it but he would go on to pen some great stories when he debuted Spawn for Image Comics. So I don't believe any of the hack talk some folks tried to pin on him. Now as for this book, it was a very weak debut for a Spider-Man run. Some will have you believe this is a classic story because it sold about 3 million copies. The sales did not come from this being a quality story, instead there were about 5 collector's issues floating around and some serious fans tried to grab them all.
Spider-Man: Torment is something I can only recommend to the most hardcore of Spider-Man fans. It's not essential in the least with so many better stories out there to choose from. The exceptional artwork simply doesn't make up for the bad pacing, writing, and sloppy ending. If you're in the mood for some 90's Spider-Man, then I recommend Return of the Sinister Six, Spirits of Venom, or even Invasion of the Spider-Slayers.
Pros: Artwork
Cons: Potential was wasted due to amateurish storytelling
