Writer: Joe Kelly
Pencils: Chris Bachalo
Chris Bachalo can draw a mean looking Monster Truck, can’t he? Look at it. Nice to start on a positive.
Spoiler Alert for this review. I didn’t enjoy this issue. If you are looking for insightful or fun storytelling look elsewhere. If you are interested on my opinion on this flop please keep reading.
Depth of Field: In order for the book to keep its fast paced momentum there is a time jump from last issue. Kel is now in hospital and Spider-Man must team-up with everyone’s favourite Click-Bait journalist Norah Winters to stop the spread of A-Plus, a deadly new drug. Impossible to understand fight scenes ensue.
Focal Point: I honestly don’t know where to begin with the story so I’m going to start on the art. Last issue I compared the panel layout to shakey-cam. This issue took that to the absolute limit. Bachalo is a fan of close-ups, and the extreme kind being used in this issue make it near impossible to decipher what is happening in the action sequences. If not close up, he moves the prospective so far away that I can see a blur fighting a bigger blur.
I once liked Chris Bachalo’s art style, but it seems like his people are moving further and further away from what is passable for the human form. Someone one told me art doesn’t need to be literal it just has to be convincing. This art is neither. Spider-Man, see a doctor, you’re spine should not bend that way.
Okay, time to discuss the elephant in the room. The plot. I feel like Joe Kelly opened up his browser and googled outdated story tropes before plotting this issue.
Kelly has two Mexican Wrestlers confront Spider-Man to protect the drug dealers. Cringe worthy by itself. Added to that, remember in the live action Super Mario Bros. movie when Koopa’s Italian stereotype cousins get “evolved” so they become articulate and intelligent henchmen. The same thing has happened to these Wrestlers . Isn’t juxtaposition fun? The Mario film isn’t the only story to do this, it is a a trope after all, other examples have even done it well, but not here.
Spider-Man and Norah discover that the drug dealers are purposefully targeting people of color. A mixture of tropes here; “White Saviours” and “People of Color are addicted to drugs”. Kelly went out of his way too establish Norah’s heritage, so it’s clearer important to him. I know Kelly is aware of tropes, he’s a good writer and purposefully calls out Norah for not being a Damsel.
A lot of exposition is needed to explain the effects of A-Plus, the science behind it and what it does to people. This slows down the momentum of this Non-Stop adventure. I worry that the plot is over detailed and does not suit the popcorn action feel this title is presented as. In the middle of a chase Norah and Spider-Man stop to discuss this, its jarring.
Photobombed: Norah Winters’s inclusion isn’t really a surprises. She was created by Kelly and Bachalo after all. I actually like Norah. I see her as an exploration of “What If Harley Quinn went into Journalism instead of Medicine” and no one writes her irritating humour quiet like Kelly. He also tries to give her some character growth by revealing she too has an emotional connection to one of the victims.
The head scratcher was that Norah and Peter are currently entwined in a professional relationship in Amazing Spider-Man. So their first conversation here, where Peter wants nothing to do with her, was very confusing. The editor’s note at the end of the conversation to say this issue is set before Peter started working for Norah would have been more helpful earlier, then I could have focused on the conversation rather than trying to figure out what was going on.
Negative Exposure: As I said. I struggled with this issue. Kelly’s dependency of these stereotypes and tropes are uncomfortable. Now this is only issue two, so he may be setting these cliches up to dismantle them later, I hope. I know this creative team can do better
Grade: D – I hope this is just a poor chapter and that this book can recover from this. I did not want to come in here and be negative. I was going to pick up the baton laid down on the podcast about whether Kel is based on a Crawlspace contributor, but this issue is so far off the rails I just couldn’t. I did like the cover by David Finch.
Zoom In: What did you think of Non-Stop Spider-Man? Full speed ahead, or stalled in place? Let me know in the comments!
- Adam (alias AdamBParker)
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@Adam — Negative Exposure. Duh — I should have caught that. Thanks!
By the way, I just read your little biography, and — while Spider-man was always my favorite character — my love grew immensely, like you, after the close of the Clone Saga, together with the Fox animated series. Spider-man Vol. 1 (75) was the first in a very long series of uninterrupted collecting. (I have that first issue of Maximum Clonage Alpha, but I think I was just biding my time until the Clone Saga was over.)
@Evan – thank you. I didn’t want to be negative. I asked for this book because I thought it would be fun. I hope it can improve.
Glad you like the photographer gimmick. I do have negative exposure where I discuss where I discuss the cons of the issue, that just took over the whole review this time
I didn’t read this issue, and from what you’ve described, I’m glad I didn’t. As far as I’m concerned, never apologize for being negative when honestly reviewing a comic, especially when your reasoning is clearly explained and justified. It’s far better to hear a reviewer’s honest thoughts than wondering later if any praise is genuine. This was an excellent review. (And that panel of Spider-man crouching actually caused my back to twinge.)
I must say, given your photography theme, that I was surprised you didn’t work “negative” into the motif. Are there cameras that even use actual film anymore?