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Writer: Chip Zdarsky / Artist: Pascal Ferry / Marvel Comics
One thing I miss as an elder millennial comic reader is the “What If?” era. Sure, we have the occasional Big Two multiversal hijinks becoming more common all the time, but that’s nothing compared to a good old fashioned look at what could have happened at key points in Marvel history. Spider-Man: Spider’s Shadow is a pretty entertaining throwback to the good old What If days.
This book delves into Peter Parker’s time wearing the Black symbiote costume after the Secret Wars (the first one) and ponders what would happen if he’d kept wearing it and leaned into some of his nastiest instincts. We meet a younger Peter at a time when his life is moreso in shambles than usual. His aunt isn’t speaking to him, his girlfriend can’t cope with his double life and he’s having feverish nightmares more frequently all the time. Our hero is unraveling mentally, and the only respite he seems to get is when he puts his newly acquired duds on and goes out superheroing. And even then, the stress seems to be making him a bit edgy.
Peter struggles with dark thoughts: his own and the symbiote’s…
Now, since this is a 40 year old story, we all know this inevitably leads to Peter rejecting the costume’s dark desires so it can become one of his greatest enemies. However, it’s still fun watching him gradually succumb to the whims of the suit. Zdarsky plays it a little like a psychological thriller. Peter genuinely believes for a while that the voice that speaks for the dark parts of his mind is getting louder when we know it’s the suit pushing him. The approach is effective in creating a creepier, more unsettling narrative when we feel like we should know where this is headed. The story reads less like a hero-turned-villain story and more like a monster movie in the vein of the 80s remake of The Fly or Earth vs. The Spider. And Pasqual Ferry does a lot of gorgeous work in this book, but the first glimpse at the symbiote’s more monstrous form will absolutely haunt me for the rest of my days.
Bottom Line: Chip Zdarsky took what could have been a paint-by-numbers What If and created an eerie beginning to a story that plays out more like a pulp horror movie of the week than a Spider-Man story.
9 Shirtless Jeff Goldblums out of 10.
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The post Spider-Man: Spider’s Shadow #1 Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
Writer: Chip Zdarsky / Artist: Pascal Ferry / Marvel Comics
One thing I miss as an elder millennial comic reader is the “What If?” era. Sure, we have the occasional Big Two multiversal hijinks becoming more common all the time, but that’s nothing compared to a good old fashioned look at what could have happened at key points in Marvel history. Spider-Man: Spider’s Shadow is a pretty entertaining throwback to the good old What If days.
This book delves into Peter Parker’s time wearing the Black symbiote costume after the Secret Wars (the first one) and ponders what would happen if he’d kept wearing it and leaned into some of his nastiest instincts. We meet a younger Peter at a time when his life is moreso in shambles than usual. His aunt isn’t speaking to him, his girlfriend can’t cope with his double life and he’s having feverish nightmares more frequently all the time. Our hero is unraveling mentally, and the only respite he seems to get is when he puts his newly acquired duds on and goes out superheroing. And even then, the stress seems to be making him a bit edgy.
Peter struggles with dark thoughts: his own and the symbiote’s…
Now, since this is a 40 year old story, we all know this inevitably leads to Peter rejecting the costume’s dark desires so it can become one of his greatest enemies. However, it’s still fun watching him gradually succumb to the whims of the suit. Zdarsky plays it a little like a psychological thriller. Peter genuinely believes for a while that the voice that speaks for the dark parts of his mind is getting louder when we know it’s the suit pushing him. The approach is effective in creating a creepier, more unsettling narrative when we feel like we should know where this is headed. The story reads less like a hero-turned-villain story and more like a monster movie in the vein of the 80s remake of The Fly or Earth vs. The Spider. And Pasqual Ferry does a lot of gorgeous work in this book, but the first glimpse at the symbiote’s more monstrous form will absolutely haunt me for the rest of my days.
Bottom Line: Chip Zdarsky took what could have been a paint-by-numbers What If and created an eerie beginning to a story that plays out more like a pulp horror movie of the week than a Spider-Man story.
9 Shirtless Jeff Goldblums out of 10.
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Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
The post Spider-Man: Spider’s Shadow #1 Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
Greetings to our loyal listenership! Try your best to schedule in three hours this Wednesday for another fact-finding mission dubbed Afronerd Radio's Mid Week in Review-airing on Btalk 100 at 8 p.m. eastern. Join your highly favored AFROnerdist hosts as they unravel the latest "Scooby-Doo" mysteries this week: our thoughts about another untimely young Black male death-this time it's Daunte Wright dying at the hands of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota police; some folks are giving the Black Lives Matter movement the "side-eye" treatment based on recent media reports of several expensive real estate purchases by BLM leaders; noted Brooklyn Nets basketball player, Kyrie Irving got into a bit of a dust-up when an opposing Black player from the LA Lakers called him the "n-word," much to his chagrin. The internal/external debate of the n-word's usage continues; Legendary Pictures is purportedly working on a live-action film version of the mecha anime franchise, Gundam for Netflix;
More details are arising from the planned Black Lightning CW spinoff series centered around the Painkiller character, and speaking about Black Lightning....what went wrong with the series' demise int the fourth year?; per usual, we will address some issues that were left on the kitchen table from Sunday's Grindhouse show; lastly, another casualty of the pandemic wars is being reported-18 Arclight and Pacific theaters are closing shop and it again, places focus on the precarious viability of the movie theater industry.
Oh and coming in under the wire and hot off the presses, some people (ok, a BBC-UK TV executive) think that Idris Elba's popular Luther character is unauthentically Black.....here we go.
One thing that Dburt is doing (finally) is investing in cryptocurrency, courtesy of Roundlyx. We would implore our followers to investigate, discern and then explore by using our referral code: afro-87A4BF
Call us LIVE at 508-645-0100. AFTER CLICKING ON THE HIGHLIGHTED LINK, GO DIRECTLY TO AFRONERD RADIO!!!
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Writer: Vita Ayala / Artist: Bernard Chang / Marvel Comics
At first glance, Children of the Atom almost seems like a bizarre send-up wandering in the outskirts of Hickman’s X-verse. But when you look a little closer, you realize you’re seeing a Young Avengers-esque take on a fresh set of mutants and their life outside of the Mutant Mount Olympus that is Krakoa. Not only are we getting some new blood in the mutant community, but we’re also getting an idea of the social landscape in the human world as a result of Krakoa’s presence.
Issue #2 picks up with the Avengers catching wind of the X-Men’s young counterparts and their exploits. And they’re not as impressed as the Krakoans seem to be. The ensuing exchange between the Avengers and the mutants ends up being pretty telling as far as relations between the species. Ironically enough, because of the stir Krakoa is causing on the world stage, things are getting much harder for mutants that either can’t come “home” or are afraid to. It’s a tense situation between both peacekeeping entities reminiscent of the Avengers Vs. X-Men days. Also, we get a closer look at Cherub, the overachieving boy next door modeled closely after Angel. As much as I like this character, I have to admit I’d be a little more impressed with his characterization if he didn’t implicitly tell the audience more than once that he’s not just a stereotype. His interaction with friends and family throughout the comic does a pretty good job without writing out in bold comic sans font in the exposition.
And their rematch with their first real villains is pretty entertaining. They’re clearly outmatched and outclassed, but their ability to roll with the punches and learn on the go makes for a fun fight. Bernard Chang’s artwork here is a vast improvement from the first issue which felt unfinished and confusing in some panels. The facial expressions are much cleaner, and there’s a better sense of scale among the various characters. The action in particular is still a little frantic but also much easier to follow than Issue #1.
Bottom Line: This series didn’t make the best first impression, but Issue #2 definitely irons out some of the wrinkles visually as well as in the character development department. Probably worth revisiting a little longer.
7.5 Cyberpunk Visors Clearly Ordered From Wish out of 10
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