[Kinda Book Review] Spectacular Spiderman Vol 1

I have to admit that in my youth, I did not follow Spiderman too closely. I was an X-men guy. However, he was the subject of multiple TV shows and crossovers. He just wasn't my favorite.

When making my list of potential gifts for Christmas this year, I added a number of "Marvel Essentials" comics. I really dig that line of 25-30 comics from one series reprinted in black and white on newspaper paper. The great part is that you can get a full story, and more all in one place. I mean, isn't that what I love best? A full story.

I was really happy that my secret Santa (aka Kitty) chose that book! Excellent news. I placed it on top of my read pile and wait. The one book over that one was The Man with Two Names. Having finished that one, I dived directly into Spiderman with great gusto.

Now let me explain what I got from reading this book (and later confirmed by making a Wikipedia search). The stories focus more on Peter Parker and his entourage, the "normies" that surround Peter Parker: MJ, Flash, Betty, and Hector Ayala/ White Tiger are pretty important to the stories. I could say it is something akin to what the team-up series is but instead of Spidey meeting super heroes, he deals with his friends.

The story has one notable exception: it serves as an epilogue for the Champions title that was canceled a short time before. Appearing here are Angel and Iceman, founding members of the X-men. That story and seeing those characters hit a soft spot and I was really intrigued and devoured that story. I really liked it. Some of the other stories weren't as strong and some (the Brother Power/ Sister Light) were overly convoluted to provide a rewarding conclusion. Other characters, like the Arkansas Razorback (this is a wink to the mascot of the University of Arkansas' mascot, the razorback) were funny but became tiresome in his bad stereotype of a southern man.

Still an enjoyable read, that leaves me in a lurch between a 3 and 4. So to break the tie, I looked at the 3s and the 4s I rated on this blog and it is closer to the other 3s and 4s. So I rate this one a 3/5 because of the uneven nature of some of the stories.