¡BAHIA DE LOS MUERTOS! Review

Spidey teaming up with his best pal, the Human Torch! This day can’t be ruined, can it? How about a haunted island off the coast of Puerto Rico?

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SPIDER-MAN AND THE HUMAN TORCH in ¡BAHIA DE LOS MUERTOS!
WRITER: Tom Beland
ARTIST: Juan Doe
LETTERS: Nate Piekos

PLOT:
Spider-Man rushes over to the Baxter Building (stopping a robbery on the way) to meet the Human Torch for some pizza and a few games of “Rock Hero”. Unfortunately, just before Spidey rocks out London, the Torch gets a call from Puerto Rico, saying that they need the Fantastic Four’s help. Well, they’re in a different dimension right now, so they have to settle with the Torch and Spider-Man.

As soon as they get there, the two pals are attacked by a giant water creature, (later called “Luminestro”) and get thoroughly beaten. Hey, when you bring a Human Torch to a water fight, you pay the consequences. Johnny calls Reed Richards, who gives them co-ordinates to follow before cutting off (ultra-dimensional trouble). They travel to the mysterious area only to find…DIABLO, MASTER OF ALCHEMY!

Uh oh.

He agrees to help the them fend the monster off the island, but will not help the heroes if Luminestro (I still don’t know why he is called that) attacks the mainland. Johnny uses his nova flame to attract the monster to Diablo, who refuses to stop the monster without a price. A local guard knocks him out, takes the formula and helps Human Torch deliver it to the fiend.

The Fantastic Four arrive (finally) and help Johnny recover. Reed talks to him and tells him that he doesn’t need to be as smart as him, because with enginuity like how he fought Luminstro, he can be a hero.

Meanwhile, Diablo lays low with his new monster…LUMINESTRO! (Who?!)

LIKES:
-The fun nature of this tale.
-The Johnny Storm/Spider-Man relationship being seen again.
-Lot of story here.
-ROCK HERO!

DISLIKES:
-Spidey is little more than a wisecracker.
-Luminestro?!

THOUGHTS:
Hey, this was a fun little tale. Mainly for kids, but there are a few jokes that the more mature will like. Especially one about what mountains look like…The mood was very light hearted and enjoyable. What more can you ask for?

How about a little bit of tension? You know this is just a one shot and nothing major is going to happen, but you still want to worry about the heroes, or at least the civilians. The monster never seemed to be much of a threat, despite being a huge, hulking, “Galactus size” monster. Which is another problem…Luminestro?! Whatever. The worst thing is that this uninspired monster might make another appearance if the cliff-hanger is to be believed.

We see the Torch/Spidey relationship (one of the best in the Marvel Universe, I think), but unfortunately, it isn’t the best rendition. The Human Torch isn’t confident in his intelligence or abilities and Spider-Man just wisecracks for most of the issue. This has been done much better, in the Spider-Man/Human Torch miniseries, for one example.

The art suits this type of story, very cartoony, but not off putting. It’s simplistic and looks to be a similar art style (in some ways) to the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon. It does get some detail occasionally, such as when the monster arrives. Extremely colourful too. Pretty to look at, but luckily it’s only one issue as it would wear thin eventually.

FAVOURITE QUOTE:
H.E.R.B.I.E.: Human Identified. Spider-Man. Threat Level: Zero
Spider-Man: Yeah, same to you Wall-E.

OVERALL:
3 webheads out of 5.

Don’t expect anything amazing, but if you read it as a light hearted tale which is just meant for fun, you can’t really go wrong.