A while back I came across a piece Wizard magazine did where they reviewed Spider-Man comics during an important time, as Joe Quesada was making his mark on Spider-Man. J. Michael Straczysnki and John Romita Jr. had Peter Parker change professions, and face new villains as well as situations ripped from the headlines. The anthology title Tangled Web featured a different team for every story, with a general focus on people affected by Spider-Man. In Peter Parker Spider-Man, Paul Jenkins and Mark Buckingham told quieter stories. Ultimate Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley featured a teenaged Peter Parker in a different continuity.
Some of these stories are among the most acclaimed Marvel comics ever, so it’s interesting to see what people thought about them when these came out.
For me, these comics were important because it was the first time I was following Spider-Man when all of the books were really good. I remember looking forward to what the article had to say about Jenkins and Buckingham’s Peter Parker Spider-Man, and being really disappointed at the low, and probably, unearned grade. Tangled Web also had a much better batting average than the review gave it credit for.
Although the weirdest thing now may be the realization that the kids born when this magazine issue was on the stands are now able to vote.
In an earlier Wizard had reviewed Kurt Busiek and Pat Oliffe’s Untold Tales of Spider-Man. They gave that book a five out of six.
Do you agree with these reviews? What did you think of these comics?
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“A -” for the Straczynski and Romita Jr.’s run; never got that all.
It feels like they were having a hard time accepting that Spider-Man could never be 100% cool according to their metrics.
All of those books at the time put Spider-Man at the top – and not because of the movies.
As for “The Untold Tales…” What a fantastic book; no one could disagree with it.
The grade on Jenkins’ PPSM is laughable. While JMS’s Spidey run had its ups and downs, it was still pretty good. But Jenkins’ run was awesome. Even though he went back to the well a few times on quieter character dramas (how many issues did he do that were just about Peter and Ben’s relationship?) it still was great, and a breath of fresh air. That grade is much too low.
Wizard was a cancer on fandom in the 90s and early 00s. They practically invented toxic fandom. Not to mention had a big part in the speculator bubble that almost bankrupted the comic industry. Glad they’re out of business.