I'm Not Even a Morning Person
"Dan Slott is a namby pamby, Spider-Man-ruining milksop," the kids down at the local comic store would tell me. "'Brand New Day' is the nail in the coffin for all true Spidey fans," they'd add, lips slick with freshly sucked down Yoohoo. I used to be in this camp, and surely, there are more holes in "One More Day" than in Courtney Love's drug-addled memory, but 546 was in a box of comics I got in trade from a local bespectacled roofer in need of new reading material. I gave it a read, and whaddaya blinkin' know? It's not that bad. I ate my veggies and they actually tasted kinda decent.
First, Dan Slott crafts a story that neither ignores the fact that Peter Parker unmasked in front of the whole Marvel Universe in the middle of the Civil War, nor that he turned on Iron Pants and is now a fugitive hero. Yeah, it's a little sketchy that Tony Stark wasn't shaking his head, "Man, I musta been on some kinda bender last night..." and checking into Betty Ford, while other people aren't blaming Spider-Man for a mass hallucination as "no one could seem to remember just who was under the mask," but that was part of the deal with Mephisto, right? "You were never married, and so it's all erased. ANYWAY: Aunt May alive and looking old and frail as she always did, while Harry Osborn seems more James Franco--Liz Allen and their baby don't figure in the first story arc 'tall--and J. Jonah Jameson n' the Bugle staff back to their good ole loveable selves (even Betty Brant, whose life had taken more hits than Courtney Love's drug-addled memory). Anyway, the first story arc in "Brand New Day" isn't too shabby. Oh! And we are introduced to a brand new villain on this brand new day (Mr. Negative), brand new complications (someone other than Aunt May having a heart attack... Spider-Mugger), and brand new cutie pies for lonely fan boys to write dirty fan fic about (Carlie Cooper, Jackpot, and Lily Hollister). Slott kinda sorta recaptures the fun of Spidey books back in the way back while invigorating it with some contemporariness. Nicely done, fat boy.
Meanwhile! Steve McNiven's art... Me likey. I hear bitchin' about it, and I don't know why. It's more realistic than anime, and doesn't appear like the ole Greg Land computery stuff, so what's the deal? Unlike John Romita, Jr., readers can discern different emotions from characters' facial expressions, and where Brian Bolland and Adam Hughes over at DC have fallen back to illustrating just covers, McNiven's art is dynamic, moving from panel to panel seamlessly. Is bueno! Whatever, whiners.
Finally, the back-up features are good, bringing readers up to speed on not only Pete, but other characters in the Spidey-verse. All in all, I didn't feel like "Brand New Day" was the wet turd that everyone told me it was. The first story arc seems strong. Now "Big Time"... There! There is the Oxycontin in our Courtney Love's memory...!
