Snapshot! Non-Stop Spider-Man #4

Writer: Joe Kelly
Artist: Chris Bachalo

You wait for ages for a Spider-Man comic, then they all come along at once. Amazing, Symbiote, Life Story and even Non-Stop Spider-Man came out this week, is this one worth your time and money? Read on.

Depth of Field:
This issue, titled The Secret Lives of Savages starts where we left off; with Spider-Man racing to confront Baron Zemo. And I’m already confused because every other issue has been titled Big Brain Play part x. C’mon, Non-Stop Spider-Man, I really wanted to be positive this time, you can’t even get the name of the arc right!? And Peter Parker looks like he’s wearing Peter Pan’s shoes!

*calm breaths*

Spider-Man confronts Zemo and his new enforcer Wülf and tries to bring them in for a number of recent deaths involving the designer drug A Plus.

Focal point:
While running up the side of a building Spidey calls Doctor Strange to help with a medical emergency. The minions from the previous issue had their brain’s explode out their heads. Not sure there’s a cure for that. For some reason Doctor Strange makes out he and Spider-Man have no relationship and Spider-Man explains he got his number from Iron Man. Weren’t you on an Avengers team together, Doc? Aren’t you currently investigating what’s wrong with his soul? I would have an easier time believing Peter has Doctor Strange’s phone number than Tony Stark does. Doctor Strange, Stephen, cause we’re friends, agrees to help Spider-Man.

If the trade of this series, released just before the movie comes out, has Spider-Man and Strange together somewhere on the cover I wouldn’t be surprised. Though I think the ship has sailed on anything from my reviews being used as a pull quote.

While trying to capture Zemo, Spider-Man is attacked by Wülf. He looks a like a Red General Grievous with Wolverine claws and enough swords and pouches to make Deadpool jealous. Hydra have breed him to be the ultimate smart fighter, but not to look good doing it. He calculates how much webbing Spider-Man has, then causes enough collateral damage so that he runs out during the fight.

It was a fun fight. For once Bachalo’s cantered angles and camera positioning work. It’s much better suited to this kind of sequence, then in previous issues where Spidey and Norah were doing exposition science in a sewer. Spider-Man has a number of funny one-liners and I believed Peter’s commitment to wanting to stop Zemo. Although he does switch from enraged to flippant and back a number of times which is a little confusing at times.

The banter is strong and I did like when Wülf asked Spider-Man if he was familiar with the Myth of Prometheus, and Spider-Man retorts he’s going into a “haughty monologue” – he sounds so disappointed in him. Zemo also points out that we can’t forgot the umlaut when speaking about Wülf which I thought was a nice allusion to Spidey’s often forgotten hyphen. Unfortunately some misplaced text had be thinking his name was Wiilf at first.

The downside of the scene is Spider-Man keeps accusing Zemo of being racist (which he is) while spouting cliche anti-German language. Making Spider-Man look quiet racist himself. So I’m not sure what the tone of the book is meant to be.

Zemo and Wülf escape in a hi-tech aircraft. Spider-Man manages to hang on to the side, and while Zemo is happy to wait for him to get blown off, Wülf notes that Spider-Man could do a lot of damage before that happens. I liked that in the short time they’ve had together Wülf acknowledges that Spider-Man is a threat. Spider-Man manages to make it on board. In the final fight with Zemo and Wülf they manage to inject Spider-Man with A-Plus. Spider-Man, with his mask ripped in half like this is a Sam Raimi film, lies comatose on the floor. Based on the art there is no reason for Peter’s mask to be ripped. It was intact, he got stabbed in the back, then his mask is torn. It’s a dramatic conclusion, that would loose impact if we couldn’t see his face, I just wish Bachalo had used the fight to show how Peter’s mask became so damaged.

Okay, one issue to go, everyone.

Photobombed:
In issue one I noted Doctor Strange in the background of a scene, and thought it was a reference to Bachalo’s previous work on that series. Though now, I’m wondering if it was preparing us for his appearance here. Though it is limited to mostly a voice over and one panel.

Negative Exposure:
I do think this is one of the stronger issues of this series. That being said, I don’t know what the stakes are. Norah calls Spider-Man during the fight to say he must capture Zemo if there is going to be a positive resolution to this. Does Zemo have a cure? He admits himself he didn’t even come up with this plan, but inherited it from the Hydra group he killed in issue one. So why does a positive outcome depend on Spider-Man capturing Zemo? It would be nice, sure, but not worth bothering the superhero during the big battle to remind him of this. I’m sure there is a reason they must capture Zemo, but I have no idea what it is given the breaks between each issue.

Grade: C-

I liked the banter in the fights, and the fights looked dynamic. However the character design of Wülf, the art outside of the fight scenes and the overall lack of clarity about what is going on, prevent me from giving it more than that.

Zoom In:
What did you think of Non-Stop Spider-Man? Let me know in the comments!

Adam