This book proves that which most any fan of Spider-Man comics knows all too well: writer J.M. Straczynski and the designer of the overall story for this book is out of his mind!
“Spider-Man: The Other: Evolve or Die” is already too long of a title and serves as a form of foreshadowing, that this book would be too long. Three artists and three writers worked on this book and it is amazing that not one of them could manage make it somewhat interesting between them.
In this story Spider-Man finds himself probably facing his greatest challenge yet, preparing for his own death. That’s right everyone’s favorite wall crawler is dying.
The book never fully explains why he is dying, we just get the same one liner from all of Spider-Man’s fellow superhero scientists: “You’re a good man who’s led a good life, now prepare to die.”
You would think that at this Peter would hang up his costume and let the three or four other members of the Avengers pick up the slack while he spends his last remaining days spending time with his beloved Aunt May and long time love interest, now wife Mary Jane. For only one twelfth of the book are we fortunate enough to experience this logical and interesting idea.
By the next chapter he has the costume back on and he is out there doing what Spidey does best. He sacrifices his own personal interests and is out there protecting the ever so under protected streets of New York at ten o’clock in the morning.
From here on out the book just spirals down with huge sections of philosophical dialogue which never lead to anything. They are only there in an attempt to make the book seem smarter than it really is.
I write this in short only because I wish not to spoil this book for any hardcore Spider-Man comic book fans who still plan on picking this trade up even though I am telling you not to.
To add insult to injury, this book has some of the worst artwork I’ve seen in a good long time. And between the three artists in the book the worst of them is Pat Lee.
Even though his cover art is very well done, his artwork in this book is just plain terrible. It’s almost as if they simply took his rough sketches of what the pages should have looked like and colored them in.
I do not think I can express any further my disappointment with this book. If you really want to read a good Spider-Man book that has little or no ties to continuity and that any person can basically just pick up ,start reading, and understand it; pick up “Spider-Man/ Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do” by Kevin Smith and Terry Dodson. It will capture your interest at the first chapter and leave you moved and touched by the end of the sixth and final chapter.
Until next week true believers, this is Comic Book Boy saying: “Take care!”
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