Spider-Man does what a spider hero does and inadvertently starts a gang war between Tombstone and the Kingpin’s son, The Rose. Tombstone must reassert control over his criminal empire - and Spidey’s gonna help him, whether he wants to or not.
Thank Galactus Nick Spencer’s left Spider-Man - that guy’s run will definitely go down as one of the worst in the character’s history (coupled with his destruction of Cap as well, I think that makes Spencer the new Chuck Austen!). Zeb Wells picks up the pieces and… has written a shockingly good Spider-Man book??
That’s not a slur on Wells either - the guy’s written some fine comics in the past (Carnage USA is really fun) - it’s just that Spider-Man has been such a weak title for so long, even before Spencer crapped all over it, and my expectations for Marvel Comics in general these days couldn’t be lower (their output has generally been garbage for years and, sadly, it’s now bled over into the movies), so I was definitely not prepared for how brilliant World Without Love turned out to be.
Because I’ve not been reading Spider-Man for so long, some of the extraneous detail is beyond me - no idea what that opening scene meant, Peter’s poor again and MJ has kids with another man for some reason. What I liked though is that Wells downplays this soap-opera-y stuff, which are always the most tedious parts of Spider-Man, for me anyway, and you don’t need to know the background of any of it to enjoy the book either.
Tombstone gets developed as a character more than he’s ever been and comes off really well - not just as a viable Spidey villain but also surprisingly likeable and personable, to the point where I enjoyed seeing him get one over on Peter and his black and white view of being a superhero. His plan is really clever with an inspired twist you won’t see coming - instead of being told Tombstone is smart, you get to experience it along with Peter. Superb example of how to do show-don’t-tell-storytelling properly.
I like John Romita Jr’s art - it always looks very polished and unique, and here he does great work in showing the severity of Peter’s beating at the hands of Tombstone. Some of the panels of Peter’s face were almost unnerving, which I don’t expect in a Marvel comic. His kid character designs remain shaky though.
It seemed odd that Spidey wouldn’t have been able to break free of chains - I thought he was stronger than that; maybe something happened recently that I missed that explains why - but it’s a nitpick. Overall I really like Zeb Wells’ Spider-Man - he’s focusing on story and character and downplaying the more annoying features of the character like his constantly unfunny quipping and the never-ending MJ melodrama.
World Without Love isn’t the epic kind of story that stands out - it’s actually quite generic in concept which makes it less memorable - except for the first-rate execution. Wells isn’t doing anything groundbreaking with the characters but he is doing a high quality version of the sort of story they often feature in, much to his credit and, I’m sure, the relief of the long-suffering readership.
It’s a really good start to Wells’ run on the title and I hope it carries on throughout the series. I’m looking forward to reading more on Tombstone and Spidey’s tense new rivalry and I’m curious to find out what’s going on with Doc Ock and Mysterio, both of whom got teased in this book. Spider-Man’s back folks and he’s thwippin’ good again!
...if this is good story, I hate to see your idea of trash.
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