Prowler’s back on the… prowl… because of some baddie abusing crowdfunding… or something… Then Spidey’s back down in Under York to start a revolution with the Fantastic Four. Also, a day in the life of MJ and the continuing, er, adventures of May going through chemo.
Wow, this series went south FAST! The second (and final) volume of Tom Taylor’s Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is a massive drop in quality. And I think I see why it got cancelled so quickly, as Taylor didn’t really have the material for a longer story - even getting a second volume out feels like a stretch.
It’s only been a day or so since I read this and I’ve already forgotten what the main story was about. Prowler’s back in action because some homeless shelter was being threatened by a literal Nazi (of course) who’s making money off fake crowdfunding accounts… what? It’s too convoluted, which is mostly why it’s so unmemorable, but it’s also just boring.
Ditto the Under York/Fantastic Four storyline - didn’t grab me at all. And the resolutions to these stories are so rushed and easy. Tony Stark swoops in to use his money - problem solved! Start (and finish) a revolution in less than an issue - problem solved! These are really complicated mechanisms that are vastly oversimplified for the sake of a dull story and they’re so unconvincing and silly to read.
The day in the life of MJ short was fine but nothing special. Similarly the blackout/May story that closed out the book. Taylor was probably trying to replicate that powerful closing chapter of the last book here but it didn’t land and felt forced. It was also another one of those “whiz-kid does something impossible” tropes - a teenager in the ‘burbs manages to black out a city as massive as New York from his home computer. Yeah, ok.
Ken Lashley’s art is fantastic and sells the action well, and Juann Cabal returns to draw some good-looking pages. Besides the art though there isn’t much to recommend this one. The storytelling is too contrived and uninteresting - if you enjoyed the first book, I’d leave it at that rather than finish out the run with this uninspired volume.
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