| Amazing Spider-Man #10 |
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| Friday, 21 November 2014 22:04 |
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You'd think that adding a complication to an already-complicated, many-stranded story would be needless and maybe even a bit unwieldily, but actually this issue introduces a welcome wrinkle to this story. And in fact, it pumps up the interest and momentum in a storyline that's already a wild roller coaster to begin with.
If things were to go as expected, Spider-Man would join with his alternate-dimension selves and share a series of trials with them through to the end, but the wrinkle here is that, actually, there are two sets of alternate-dimension selves, and the alternate alternate-group is run by Spider-Man's "Superior" counterpart, Doctor Octopus. It's actually one of the things I was looking forward to in this series-- a way to have Spider-Man and Superior/Doc Ock interact. And this way they will have a distinct motivation and raised stakes for their (very understandable) conflict. Add the "regular" conflict of the Inheritors, some additional conflict between Spider-Man and Spider-Gwen, and some token incongruties like Spider-Ham versus Spider-Monkey, and there is a feast of intriguing relationships and balance between high-action and simmering tensions.
Some of this is a natural convenience of having alternate-selves interact with each other. In other words, it's less man versus man kinds of conflict, and really man versus self, just writ larger and more metaphorical. It's convenient, too, in that you don't really have to establish characters since you essentially have the same character over and over again. All that pesky establishment of character and motivation can largely be taken for granted, and the high concept can be paid more attention to. Regardless, it's used for good effect, as I've mentioned, and it also allows genuinely different characters like Mayday/Spider-Girl, Silk, and Superior/Doc Ock to be more highlighted be default. The exception here might be Miles Morales, who seems to be poised for more inclusion by being the issue's opening focus, but he's completely absent afterwards.
Unfortunately, it makes the cast almost a bit "too big," so when such characters cannot be highlighted, they are quite explicitly shunted to the side for their own stories. Three different comicbooks are referenced within the space of three pages, as characters literally jump into those storylines on panel here. It's so explicit as to be a bit disruptive to the overall narrative, but maybe I'm not used to those "See Other Book #1!" kinds of blurbs any more. As a kid it might have washed over me a bit, but it's hard to not see it as a bit crass and shameless nowadays.
The art handles the challenge of the large cast and the resulting action quite well, even though Copiel's facial expressions overall tend to the bland and reserved here. The real standout aspect of the art is Ponsor's colors. Scenes are rendered with texture and glows, with a tinge of mystery in most scenes. When the Inheritors show up, the effects are vibrant and dramatic, making it just as much a visual as a narrative surprise. It's too bad, however, that the last page dramatic pose is somewhat obscured, both by the choice of pose and the darkness covering Superior/Doc Ock's pronouncement. So, too, could Ezekiel's death been staged for more significant attention. Still, these are minor quibbles for great artists delivering great work.
by Danny Wall
The post Amazing Spider-Man #10 appeared first on Weekly Comic Book Review. Read more: http://weeklycomicbookreview.com/2014/11/22/amazing-spider-man-10-review/ |
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