Spider-Man Noir GN-TPB (Spider-Man (Marvel))
The year is 1933, and New York City is not-so-secretly run by corrupt politicians, crooked cops, big businesses and suave gangland bosses like New York’s worst, the Goblin. But when a fateful spider-bite gives the young rabble-rouser Peter Parker the power to fight the mobster who killed his Uncle Ben, will even that be enough?
- New
- Mint Condition
- Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon
- Guaranteed packaging
- No quibbles returns
<- Read More Buy Now for [wpramaprice asin=”0785129235″] (Best Price)
Spider-Man Black,
 Â
Like Superman, I’ve often found Spider-Man to be a bit too colorful and high-key. Sure there have been many exceptions among the thousands of issues and dozens of incarnations, but I prefer my heroes to be darker. As a big fan of film noir picking up this hardcover graphic novel was a no-brainer.
Set in depression-era 1930s New York the story has Parker as an assistant to Ben Urich. He’s bitten by an exotic spider and has an averse reaction, taking on new spider-like abilities. With his new powers he proceeds to take on the crime bosses taking advantage of NYC’s poverty-stricken underbelly.
The artwork is great, and Spider-Man’s Noir costume is brilliant. It’s surely my favorite Spider-Man costume of all. I hear that the movies are going to be rebooted (rebooting a franchise less than 8 years old seems kinda odd, but that’s a rant for another day) and this Noir costume is the way to go. Sam Raimi’s approach to the material was far too camp, cartoonish and gaudy. If the new movies mimic this design it would be like comparing Batman and Robin to The Dark Knight. A gloomy, downbeat Spider-Man would make a great movie, it certainly made for a worthy graphic novel.
There are faults though. It’s far too short and never really gets a chance to truly immerse itself in this alternate 30s universe. Aunt May’s righteousness and Parker’s belief in her is getting REALLY boring, and was surely the lowest point of each of the movies and many previous comics. Move on from that already. Plus, despite the dark nature of the Noir universe, he STILL resists killing people. I’m sick to death of Spidey’s goody-two-shoes attitude and I expected a harder edge in this adventure that I never truly got.
I still highly recommend picking it up. I will also be checking out the other Noir editions when I get the chance.
Was this review helpful to you?Â
|Excellent,
While initially you may think that Spider-man is not suited to the noir style, his character has been altered just enough to make him a believable protagonist. The story is very well written and the artwork really matches the style of the storytelling. This is a darker universe with a less sympathetic hero and it is interesting to see well known marvel characters re-purposed, yet familiar at the same time. My only disappointment was that the story was fairly short, as I managed to finish it within an evening, but none of the story elements felt “rushed” – all the main character introductions and back-story were dealt with in the first “issue” leaving room for the story to develop over the course of the 4 issue run.
As for the physical book itself, it was slightly smaller than I expected (the book is approximately A5), although I’m not sure if there is a size difference between the paperback and hardback editions – I imagine there would be. It really doesn’t matter though; either way your getting a quality graphic novel, one of the best I’ve ever read anyway. I don’t know when the second book “eyes without a face” is released, but I would still recommend reading this now rather than waiting to buy both together – because the story is fairly self-contained and doesn’t necessarily scream “sequel”, so you don’t need to worry about any cliffhanger endings.
Was this review helpful to you?Â
|Smaller than I expected..,
 Â
When it arrived, was slightly different to what I expected.Instead of the usual graphic novel size, it was only A size with slight differences to the cover than what I expect.
Other than that, it was an alright story and good for the price paid!
Was this review helpful to you?Â
|