When I first started to collect comics, Ninja Turtles were my drug of choice. I went for Ninja Turtles and nothing but. Soon however, I found that Turtles alone couldn’t sate my thirst and for whatever reason I gravitated to Spiderman. He’s been my favorite hero ever since (though Iron Man gives him a run for his money). By now the Spiderman section on my shelf almost rivals the Turtles section and on occasion I go back and read some of my favorites. The longest complete run I have is Marvel Knights Spiderman, it ran 23 issues (before being renamed, Sensational Spiderman, and handed to a new creative team) so I read it from time to time.
MK Spiderman was written by Mark Millar of Civil War and Kick-Ass fame, among other things. Though originally slated to be written by Kevin Smith, scheduling conflicts resulted in it being handed to Millar. While I love me some Kevin Smith, Millar churned out a great book.
Issue one begins a four part arc titled “Down Among the Dead Men” which, in a nutshell, is the story of Peter’s identity being discovered by an unknown figure and the dangers that presents to him and his family.
Issue #1 opens on two restaurant employees taking out the trash when they discover Spiderman laying in a pile of trash looking fairly badly beaten with tufts of hair sticking out through his torn mask. The Green Goblin appears tossing pumpkin bombs into the alley, Spiderman narrowly saves the two restaurateurs before giving chase to the Goblin.
They leave the alleyway and break into the main streets of the city. During their exchanges it becomes apparent that both Spidey and the Goblin aware of the true identity of their opponent. Spiderman fights hard, gouging eyes and ultimately beating the Goblin with a mailbox at the suggestion of an onlooker. I’m not talking about a simply little neighborhood mailbox, but a big bulky R2-D2 looking official postal service drop box. The Goblin doesn’t get up.
For some reason the crowd begins to turn on Spidey, saying he went overboard, that he could have caused brain damage. That he’s dangerous and reckless, and they threaten to call the police. Spidey leaves the Goblin hanging web cuffed and leaves the scene, returning home.
When he gets to Aunt May’s house he’s greeted by May and Mary Jane, they are packing things up for Aunt May to move into the city. She’s finally ready to leave the house and thinks it would be best to have a family in it again. She’s gotten an apartment in the city near Peter and MJ. Peter vomits into the sink and takes a dozen Tylenol to dull the pain.
Aunt May, though worried goes to record the news footage, saying she wouldn’t be much of an Aunt if she didn’t record her nephew’s heroics. It’s clear that she and Mary Jane are both aware of Peter’s little hobby.
Note: The story, save a handful of details, is one we’ve seen before. Spidey balancing being a masked hero with his normal life. What makes Millar’s take special is the dialogue and the way the characters are handled. He makes them real, three dimensional with bits like Peter’s discovery of Iron Man tapes alongside his own. It turns out May records him too because she has a bit of a crush on Stark. “It’s the little mustache sweetie.” she says “Don’t you think it makes him look like Ronald Colman?”
Peter and Aunt May reminisce in his old bedroom and embrace. As a mysterious figure watches from a tree across the street. Cut to Peter in a classroom. He’s a science teacher. The students say they Googled his name and found out that he used to be a photographer for the Bugle and got all the Spiderman pictures, the conversation turns to how he’s married to a supermodel, Mary Jane, the class breaks into a gossip discussion about the details of his life. Peter wonders if they do background checks on all their new teachers.
In the midst of the conversation another teacher enters the room and tells Peter he has a phone call from city hall. Someone has vandalized Uncle Ben’s headstone. While he’s at the cemetery surveying the damage he gets another call, assuming it’s from Aunt May’s new apartment, he answers. On the other end of the phone is the mysterious figure that had previously been watching him with a voice, as Peter later says, like cut glass.
The figure on the other end of the line congratulates Peter on finally taking down the Green Goblin and laments he cities inability to differentiate between heroes and villains, he cites the Goblin filing charges on Spiderman for assault. Peter is shocked, someone has called his personal phone and knows that he is Spiderman.
He protests, saying there must be some mistake. But the figure on the other line tells him to stop being childish and asks if defiling Uncle Ben’s grave was enough to convince him or if he would have to do something truly terrible. Peter asks what he wants and he responds saying that he simply wants Peter to know how bad things can quickly get when something so simple as his real name falls into the wrong hands.
Peter leaves the cemetery and swings across the city out of costume. There’s no time for a change. He reaches Aunt May’s new apartment and crashes through a closed window. The interior has been ransacked and Aunt May is nowhere in sight.
First issues are hard to review, they are like origin story movies. They set the stage so you sort of just have to roll with them. The real test is where the story will go from here. Personally I think where it goes is pretty cool, which is why we are talking about it now. Stay tuned for issue #2 or if you simply can’t wait, hit your local comic shop or favorite digital site and pick them up.
Cheers.