Spider-Man: The Short Halloween Review

WEEKEND UPDATE! With Patrick Brusnahan!

Sorry, I couldn’t resist, not when I’m reviewing a book written by Seth Meyers and Bill Hader of SNL. Whatever your opinion on the current state of SNL, I think these two are pretty cool, especially Bill Hader. Let’s not forget the art is done by Kevin Maguire, the artist of one of my favourite runs ever (Justice League International).

So this looks like a recipe for success. Let’s see if it is.

SPIDER-MAN: THE SHORT HALLOWEEN
WRITERS: Seth Meyers and Bill Hader
ARTIST: Kevin Maguire
COLOURS: Dean White
LETTERS: Chris Eliopoulos

PLOT:
It’s Halloween and everybody’s having a good time. Apart from Spider-Man of course, who has to chase down a super-villain, Fumes (who?). He gets knocked out by one of his gas bombs and is mistaken for a drunken man, dressed up as Spider-Man for Halloween.

Ronnie, the faux Spider-Man, gets captured by Fumes and taken to his team-mates, the Furious Five (who?). They all argue about what to do with the super civilian, kill him or go to the newspapers to claim their fame. Eventually, Badger Teeth freaks out and turns on the group.

On the other side of town, the real Spider-Man gets dragged up stairs, tormented by an ex-girlfriend and attacked by Doc Ock and the Green Goblin (not the real ones of course). Hilarity ensues.

Eventually, Fumes realises that he doesn’t want to be a super villain and goes to save Ronnie. Spider-Man takes care of his assailants, saving Shaun of the Dead in the process. Ronnie takes out The Killer Teeth (the villain, not his dentures) while Spider-Man re-unites him with his friends. Fumes renounces his super villain ways and Spider-Man calls this the best Halloween ever.

LIKES:
-Good humour in this book.
-The art was great.
-I liked the characterisation of Fumes, added something to the book.

DISLIKES:
-The basic idea isn’t very original.

THOUGHTS:
I had high hopes for this book. It didn’t disappoint me, either. This one shot is funny, it had at least three or four laugh out loud moments for me and it was fun all the way through. A lot of this was due to the art, as Kevin Maguire is known for being able to reflect humour in his work, and it works here perfectly. Bill Hader and Seth Meyers inject some humour into this book, and they must know their comics, otherwise this probably would have been a train wreck. Filled with many hilarious characters and situations, this was a job well done.

The character, Fumes, was actually quite interesting. A G-List villain (and a very self aware oneat that) with a conscience, one that actually shows through. We’ve seen this sort of villain before, but I think this time it was done just as well, if not better than in other comics, as he has the Furious Five to contrast with, villains such as “Haymaker” who think they can become Magneto’s superior by giving Spider-Man to the newspapers.

FAVOURITE QUOTE:
There were many, but I’ll just give you one.

“Okay Ronnie, let’s get you to bed”
“Can you technically say ‘To Bed’ if he sleeps on a futon?”
“I will not say ‘Let’s get you to futon’.”

OVERALL:
4.5 out of 5 webheads.

Very funny. If you have $3.99 hanging around, I strongly recommend this.

Oh, and look out for the scene with a faux Doc Ock and a bookshelf.