September 6 Reviews

Amazing Spider-Man #544
Marvel
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski
Art by: Joe Quesada
3/5

So here it is, and yep, it's here. Hype is a funny phenomenon. One More Day is, well, happening right now, but at this point that doesn't really mean anything. This is a fluid continuation of the Back in Black (BiB) storyline and no, nothing revelatory happens in this first issue. There's nothing to freak out about yet, aside from that in itself warranting some frustration. What sets this installment apart from the recent arc is that it clearly identifies and understands itself as a starting-point of something new. The book is presented as though droves of uninitiated or returning readers are making this their first trip to the current Spidey-verse. It's also clearly intended to be a handy opening issue in future trade releases.

Essentially, this is a more concise and fleeting presentation of the themes from BiB, served up as a somewhat muddled re-cap/introduction. It seems a bit like Zyn is wasting his time (he's only got a few issues left), but since many fans will probably never go back and read the BiB issues again I can sort of understand why he would want a nice clean starting point for this new attempt. Still, the issue had problems. Quesada's facial work is truly ridiculous at times and I can't wait for the impressive new art teams to get their shot. Zyn continues to give Peter the voice and perspective of a sixteen year old. Horrible lines such as, "tune your ear to the frequency of despair, and cross-reference it by the longitute and latitute of a heart in agony," are truly unforgivable and I can only hope are bits quoted from classic songs or literature I don't recognize. Even then, still, my God. I'm finding it safe to assume that Straczynski has never had his life collapse around his ankles in the ways he's trying to present Peter Parker's as doing. Those whom have had the experience of hitting rock bottom, or that can at least write as though they have, will tell you it isn't a time involving cheap poetics or a bunch of self-loathing whining. Save those theatrical responses for high school breakups, sick puppies, or cases of never-having-forgiven-daddy-for-leaving-mommy. We're supposed to buy into Peter's emotions here, trouble is, they don't always make sense. I want to believe in what he's going through, but it's got to be reasonable first. Perhaps I shouldn't speak assumptions on Straczynski's personal life, of which I know nothing, but the mood of his writing just isn't ringing true to this context.

I'm still holding out hope that come several months from now, when we're into the swing of the new Spidey creator teams, we'll have a moment where we realize all of this led to something pretty damn fun and meaningful. If Zyn and Quesada don't start shifting the formula immediately though, we may not be having any such realizations until well after those new writers have a chance to make their mark. I've been tepidly following/endorsing Spider-Man these last few weeks because I'm excited to see them take a shot at doing something new and have been willing to give the benefit of the doubt that eventually this things gonna get some legs under it. Still waiting.
-Tom