Comics I Bought: August 14, 2008

I'm back from the comic shop this week and I got one new comic plus a two trade paperback collections:

Walking Dead - 51

Coyote - Volume 2 - TPB

Small Gods "Killing Grin" - TPB

And now for a review of something I've read recently.

Spider-Man "Brand New Day" Volume 1

It's been many years since I've read any of the Spider-Books regularly. I'd heard about the "Brand New Day" story line where they strip Spidey of his marriage and send Mary Jane packing. It all has to do with a deal with the devil or some such. This book isn't that story line but is post that story line.

This volume collects Amazing Spider-Man 546-551 plus a few other things. They've canceled all of the other Spider-Man books and Amazing Spider-Man comes out three times a month now. I didn't realize that before I read Tom Brevoort's "Spider-Man Manifesto" in the back of this book.

The silly deal with the devil stuff was just a way to make Peter Parker and Spider-Man seem young again. It's not even mentioned in this volume and I think that's a good thing. Since "Amazing" is coming out three times a month there are rotating teams of artists and writers doing story arcs.

Over all I'd have to call this relaunch of the Spider-Man franchise a success. I enjoyed this volume more than any Spider-Man stories I've read in recent years. It wasn't earth shaking or ground breaking but it was fun. And that was what the creators were trying to do. Put the fun back into Spidey.

Spider-Man is back to being the fun loving and funny hard luck hero he used to be. His luck was maybe even a little too hard for my taste especially in the first few issues. I think they went a little overboard. One example is they went to all this deal with the devil trouble to give Spidey back his secret identity (that was actually part of the deal with the devil) and the first thing that happens is that some random mugger stumbles onto his secret identity. Hard luck.

And hasn't Spidey already learned that giving a sample of his radioactive blood to super villains is a really bad idea?

So the relaunch is not perfect but still I enjoyed it. If you are looking for a little bit of fun in your super hero comics give the Spider-Man relaunch a try. I look forward to volume two.