Review: Dark Reign: Sinister Spider-Man trade paperback (Marvel Comics)

[Guest-blogger Doug Glassman brings us a little relief from the DC Reboot mania today ...]

The “Dark Reign” era was an interesting time to be reading Marvel books. After the Secret Invasion event, Norman Osborn has become a national hero and his Thunderbolts have taken the place of the Avengers. For quite some time, evil reigned in the Marvel Universe. My biggest qualm is the gigantic "Idiot Ball" carried by the residents of the Marvel Universe, especially the government, to allow all of this to happen. However, the overall concept produced some excellent stories, such as the year-long Invincible Iron Man story “World’s Most Wanted” and the entirety of the wonderfully over-the-top War Machine series. Another of these great stories is Sinister Spider-Man.

With Peter Parker going through hell (One More Day pun intended), the Spider-Man here is Venom, a.k.a. Mac Gargan, formerly the Scorpion. He hides his nature as Venom well ... at least, until his hunger and base urges take over. Yes, Venom still eats people, but it seems less for sustenance and more for the sheer thrill of cannibalism. This is one of those rare books where the title character is gleefully and criminally insane. There are no moral qualms as with many anti-heroes, and no ruminations about death, like the kind you might find in a Punisher story. No, Mac Gargan is drunk with power and wants nothing to do with responsibility.

Much of the story is based in Gargan’s origin as the Scorpion. J. Jonah Jameson hired him and gave him his powers to take on Spider-Man. Now that JJJ is the mayor of New York, Mac is envious of his success and wants to take his old employer down a notch. It doesn't all make complete sense, but then again, Venom isn't really all there, and as he points out later on, he could just eat JJJ at any point; this is about torturing the man for fun. Along the way, Venom’s victims form a support group in order to redeem this Sinister Spider-Man. The “real” Spider-Man does not make an appearance here except in flashback, busy as he was with "The List" and other storylines.

This is my first time reading a book by Brian Reed, and he has instantly become a new favorite, demonstrating in Sinister Spider-Man a particularly dark sense of humor. Someone gets partially eaten every five pages or so, and in many cases, it's played for laughs. It helps that those who are attacked are super-villains. The absolute best joke of the series comes from Venom's hunger, and I cannot say any more lest I ruin it, other than it addresses some of the more horrifying aspects of being eaten by a symbiote. There is also a great throwaway joke about a potential rendezvous between Gargan and Squirrel Girl ... which leads to him having an appetite for squirrels, which he calls “squirmy popcorn.” A less grotesque but still brilliant moment reveals that Venom has gained a fortune from selling Norman Osborne's Iron Patriot prototype and replacement parts.

Reed gives the Sinister Spider-Man a wonderfully lame rogue’s gallery led by the Redeemer, a nebbish psychologist with a skull mask who wants to bring the Sinister Spider-Man to the good side. Amongst his cohorts are General Wolfram, a man who thinks he is genetically engineered from a wolf; the Hippo, an actual semi-evolved hippo created by the High Evolutionary; and Doctor Everything, a parody of Watchmen’s Doctor Manhattan, complete with an ever-present “CENSORED” bar over his crotch. Bullseye and Daken (Wolverine’s son) of the Dark Avengers make a great set of cameos in the fourth issue. Since he is a major character, it is fitting that J. Jonah Jameson is very well represented; J.K. Simmons' voice rings through in every line. There are no combustible lemons here, unfortunately.

Chris Bachalo lends a unique style of art to this story. The cover is the first indication of the weirdly sketchy and cartoony style, including Venom’s multi-sectioned tongue. In fact, while the rest of the series has an animated feel, Venom is comprised of sketched shapes and ingrained lines, making him stand out. Occasionally, panels will be seen in only black and white inks, representing Venom’s vision, which is a creepy and very dehumanizing touch. Like Reed, Bachalo has taken advantage of this opportunity to let loose and try something new, which is something I think writers and artists should try more often, even if it is just for a limited series. A prologue story illustrated by Rob DiSalvo reinforces just how important Bachalo's art style is to this story. DiSalvo’s traditional art is perfectly fine for a traditional superhero book, but it would not convey Reed’s dark humor.

Overall, in an era of increasingly violent comic books and anti-heroes constantly inching towards the side of darkness, having an unrepentantly psychotic hero is a nice change of pace. The book is satisfyingly brief. Mac Gargan’s Venom would be hard to take as an ongoing lead, but for four issues, he is a lot of fun to follow.

Sinister Spider-Man does not require any additional reading; all of the required back story (which is fairly negligible) is provided. The book is dark, gory, and absolutely hilarious. The art is unique, and you may want to flip through the book in person to decide if it will really put you off. My one qualm is the price: $16.99, which is a bit much for four issues and a short prologue. I admittedly got mine at a sale at Tate’s Comics in Florida. Still, if you want to wait for a sale, check it out of the library, or if you have been waiting to see if it is worth it, then definitely take a look.

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Beginner's Guide to Marvel Masterworks, Essential, and Omnibus Spider-Man

[The following article comes from Collected Editions reader Davie Chin]

In recent years Marvel has released many reprint collections in trade paperback form containing their classic comics from the 1960s and 1970s. It can be a bit confusing which ones to buy as Marvel has three different lines of books which aim to reprint the same material but in different formats. Those lines are Essential, Omnibus and Marvel Masterworks.

The Essential line is the most economical as the softcover volumes are printed in black and white on newsprint quality paper. The book dimensions are virtually the same as the standard sized comic. The artwork comes out quite clearly in black and white and is perfectly readable. These trades are very convenient and lightweight, offering over 500 pages of content per volume. On the flipside, they are a bit flimsy and there have been reports of the occasional book falling apart due to their less-than-sturdy construction.

In 2007, Marvel began releasing Omnibus editions. These are massive hardcovers ranged from 700 to over 1,000 pages long. The dimensions of the reprinted issues are slightly larger than the standard comic book, and they feature artwork that’s been restored with remastered coloring to match the original comics as closely as possible. This makes the Omnibus books the most expensive, but you certainly get what you pay for. The main issue you may have is that these books are so big and heavy that you will need to put them on a table to read them. They aren’t books you can hold in your hands comfortably. As far as quality of the reprints themselves, you won’t find anything that looks better or more authentic than those contained in the Omnibus.

Marvel Masterworks were a series of hardcover reprints originally released in 1987. The original Masterworks are relatively hard to find and expensive, but luckily Marvel began re-releasing them in early 2009 in softcover trade paperback form. They have standard comic book sized dimensions and are printed in color. They offer the least content per volume, offering around 250 pages or more, but are a good compromise between the Essential and Omnibus editions.

Which you should purchase depends on what you’re looking for and what your budget will allow. In the Omnibus editions, all the issues appear inside with full page covers, but with few extras. For first time readers that are curious I think the new Marvel Masterworks TPBs are the best option, but if you don’t mind black and white you can get almost twice the content per volume at a lower price with the Essential books. It should be noted that the Essential line covers the largest amount of classic comics. For later issues published in the 1970s, the Essential books are your only option at least until the other books catch up.

Here’s a rundown of these volumes as relates to my favorite hero, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, Spider-Man made his first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15 in 1962. Months later that same year he would appear in his own monthly title called the Amazing Spider-Man. Up to now there are eight volumes of Essential Spider-Man which reprint Amazing Spider-Man.

Whether you choose to buy either the Essential, Omnibus or Marvel Masterworks reprint collections, you’ll be getting Amazing Fantasy #15 and at least Amazing Spider-Man #1-10. The stories in these issues encompass a lot of what fans love about Spider-Man.

Amazing Fantasy #15 details his origin story. It’s a simple story that gets straight to the point and in my opinion is an almost perfect origin story. It introduced the social (or lack thereof) life of Peter Parker as well as his Aunt May. It also showed how he got his powers and costume, and the event that motivated him to become a superhero.

Amazing Spider-Man shows his exploits as he encounters many villains who would become mainstays of his rogues’ gallery like Doctor Octopus, Lizard, Sandman, Vulture, Electro and Chameleon. Early on Spidey tackles other popular Marvel characters such as the Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom. J. Jonah Jameson also makes his first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #1 as the Daily Bugle’s ranting editor. Later issues would introduce his secretary Betty Brant whom would be Peter’s first girlfriend. This is what you can expect from Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1.

In Essential Spider-Man Vol. 1 you’ll get ten more issues of Amazing Spider-Man and an annual. Other Marvel heroes such as Daredevil and Hulk make appearances, as well as new villains Mysterio, Green Goblin, Kraven and Scorpion. The annual features the formation of the Sinister Six which is a great action-packed story. Throughout all this Peter has to deal with his fair share of personal issues at school and at work but I’ll leave that for the new reader to discover.

Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus Vol. 1 collects Steve Ditko’s entire run up to Amazing Spider-Man #38 before his departure from the title. Compared to the first twenty issues of Amazing Spider-Man, the next ten or so feature some rather forgettable villains although some of the A-list villains do return. The first “appearance” of Peter’s future wife, Mary Jane Watson, also occurs but with her face obscured. You never actually see her face in this volume. Peter graduates from high school and goes to university where he meets Harry Osborn and Gwen Stacy. Harry’s dad Norman is also introduced. These characters would become very significant in the overall Spider-Man mythos. A real highlight are issues #31-33 comprising the Master Planner story arc which is considered by many fans to be one of the best Spider-Man stories ever.

To summarize:

Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 contains Amazing Fantasy #15 and Amazing Spider-Man #1-10 plus an introduction by Stan Lee from the original 1987 release. Volume 2 will be released in 2009.

Essential Spider-Man Vol. 1 contains Amazing Fantasy #15, Amazing Spider-Man #1-20 and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1. There are eight volumes in total with volume 9 being released in late 2009.

Note: If you intend to buy volumes 3 and 4 read the next paragraph as there are some discrepancies between different printings.

The more recent printings of volumes 3 and 4 are actually called second editions if you read the fine print inside the books. Older printings of volume 3 and 4 collect Amazing Spider-Man #44-68 and Amazing Spider-Man #69-89 and Annuals #4-5 respectively. The second edition printings of volume 3 and 4 collect Amazing Spider-Man #44-65 and Annual #4 and Amazing Spider-Man #66-89 and Annual #5 respectively. When you buy volumes 3 and 4 make sure to check that they’re both edition 1 or both edition 2 so that you don’t miss out on any issues. Edition 2 volumes have the title Amazing Spider-Man on their front covers (along with different artwork) while Edition 1 volumes do not. Issues reprinted are also indicated on the front cover.

Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus Vol. 1 contains Amazing Fantasy #15, Amazing Spider-Man #1-38, Annual #1-2 and the Spider-Man stories from Strange Tales Annual #2 and Fantastic Four Annual #1. All the issues are sequenced in the order they were originally published. Introductions from the original 1987 Marvel Masterworks volume appear at the beginning and every ten issues of Amazing Spider-Man. Extras include a full page copy of Steve Ditko’s original cover for Amazing Fantasy #15 as well as a few other unused Amazing Spider-Man covers. There is no release date as of now for volume 2.

Stan Lee knew how to create memorable characters and Steve Ditko knew how to draw them. Most of these tales were self contained and covered both Peter Parker’s personal life and his exploits as Spider-Man with the latter, often interfering with the former in humorous yet believable ways. Peter’s social outcast status at school made him relatable and his adventures as Spidey entertained us with acrobatic fights and funny quips. The more contorted, flexible body positions that Spidey artists draw today may make Ditko’s Spidey look stiff by comparison, but the art still holds up pretty well.

Even though the stories are dated and some dialogue super cheesy by today’s standards, they’re still a joy to read. Spider-Man had cool powers but often used his intellect to defeat his foes. There were certainly some lame villains whom would never be seen again, but the majority of them would be used by future writers for decades.

I highly recommend these early stories, no matter the format, to new and old readers alike.

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