Spider-Man: Spider-Hunt

Collects: Amazing Spider-Man #432-3, Sensational Spider-Man #25-6, Peter Parker: Spider-Man #88-90, Spectacular Spider-Man #254-6 (1998)

Released: June 2012 (Marvel)

Format: 272 pages / color / $29.99 / ISBN: 9780785160519

What is this?: Spider-Man is hunted for a bounty after being accused of killing a man.

The culprits: Writers Howard Mackie, J.M. DeMatteis, Todd DeZago, and Tom DeFalco and artists John Romita, Jr., Joe Bennett, Tom Lyle, Todd Nauck, and Luke Ross

Spider-Man: Spider-Hunt — as well as Spider-Man: Identity Crisis — came at a strange time for Spider-Man. Between the end of the disastrous Clone Saga but before the almost / soft reboot of the Next Chapter / Chapter One, Marvel had to figure out what to do with Spider-Man. This could not have been an easy task.

For about a year, the Spider office laid low. Aunt May was dead — almost three years dead by the beginning of Spider-Hunt — but that didn’t stop anyone from plugging Mary Jane’s Aunt Anna into a similarly shaped hole. Norman Osborn was back from the dead; obviously, he became Spider-Man’s main adversary, pulling Peter’s strings in costume and at the Daily Bugle, which Osborn has bought into. And Spider-Man kept plugging along.

Spider-Hunt was Spider-Man’s first big crossover after the Clone Saga. The idea is a good one: Osborn, at some point before Spider-Hunt begins, has put a bounty of $1 million on Spider-Man’s head, causing Spider-Man to become the target of amateur and professional bounty hunters. The police join in after Spider-Man is framed for killing a low-level street punk. To make sure Peter can’t stay off the streets, Osborn’s grandson is kidnapped by a non-Osborn Green Goblin. None of those three plots needlessly ratchet up the stakes — the bounty is a normal sort of villainous plot, the frame-up seems like something Osborn would try to increase the pressure on Spider-Man, and the kidnapping is an interesting complication. Dirtying Spider-Man’s reputation works because Osborn is trying to become the hero in their fight; he simultaneously works to salvage his own reputation, threatening Ben Urich to make Ben recant the book that accused Osborn of being the Green Goblin.

The execution of these ideas doesn’t deliver, for several reasons, ranging from the mundane to the intrinsic. Most damning is that Spider-Hunt does not contain a complete story. The bounty is issued before Spider-Hunt begins. I don’t have to see that, but some context or footnotes would be nice; from the dialogue of page #1 of the first issue, it sounds like the bounty — and the “spider hunt” — has been going on for some time. How long? I don’t know. I would rather see Osborn issuing the bounty than the second issue in Spider-Hunt, Spectacular Spider-Man #254; the issue has an awful “Spider-Man confronts his personal demons while under the control of the villain” A plot, but unfortunately it has too many important subplots to excise it from the collection.

More damningly, however, Spider-Hunt does not have a resolution for two of the three parts of the setup. The Spider-Hunt continues after the four-part “Spider-Hunt” storyline and ten-part collection ends: Little Normie is rescued by the end, but Spider-Man still has a price on his head and is still suspected of murder. Spider-Man makes almost no attempt to clear himself in Spider-Hunt, except to briefly consult with Arthur Stacy. He makes no attempt to discover who the murdered man was or to use his press contacts to find anything about the killing. Peter complains he’s “not the world’s greatest detective,” but Spider-Man usually blunders in the right direction with some convenient breaking and entering. I understand Spider-Man is being hunted, but there’s nothing preventing Peter from poking around. I understand that a murder mystery might seem a little complex, something to be avoided after the Byzantine twists of the Clone Saga, but Peter acts like an idiot in Spider-Hunt.

Presumably the murder and bounty plots will be wrapped up in Identity Crisis. The last four issues of Spider-Hunt are a trailer for Identity Crisis, with Spider-Man concealing his identity in some way or another in each issue, consulting with Prowler on new costumes, and unveiling two of the four identities he will use in Identity Crisis.

In any event, there’s not much time to wrap up these plots or any of the subplots, such as the identity of the new Green Goblin or how Punisher gets even with Norman Osborn; the subplots were mainly jettisoned by the time of the Howard Mackie-written relaunch that came later in 1998. (It’s hard to believe that many Spider-fans were optimistic about Howard Mackie writing the two surviving Spider-titles, but I remember it clearly on Usenet and the Web at the time. It took about two months for everything to turn to Spider-shit and for Mackie to forget what “simplified” and “not using past continuity” meant. But I digress.) For those of you wondering who Osborn’s successor as Green Goblin is, keep wondering; we’re meant to think it’s former Hobgoblin suspect Flash Thompson, but it’s never confirmed.

The actual Spider-Hunt is disappointing as well. Most of the people chasing Spider-Man are nitwits with guns — some high-tech guns, sure, but mostly just people who are good with guns. There are exceptions; I have a soft spot for husband-and-wife team Aura and Override, not the least because Aura has the sense to wear a wig to conceal her identity. And the three-way shootout at the end of Spider-Hunt, part 1 (Sensational Spider-Man #25), is kind of neat. But even though Joe Bennett isn’t bad, I wish a more action-adept, established artist had drawn that first double issue. (Which is odd, because in general I enjoy looking at Bennett’s clear, clean art more than John Romita, Jr.‘s grittier, faces-as-series-of-planes work.) And there should have been more of these yahoos getting in each other’s way; it happens once more in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #89 and Spectacular Spider-Man #255, but given that two of the parties are organized crime goons and Punisher, the resulting conflicts seem old hat. There should be mutants and old enemies trying for the reward, Spider Slayers and obscure characters from the past and … well, it’s $1 million. Think big. (No, bigger.)

It’s a crossover, so we get divergent art styles — not as variable as usual, though. Romita, who draws all of the Peter Parker: Spider-Man issues and Amazing Spider-Man #432, is as good as usual; I like Bennett, but his work lacks heft. Tom Lyle (Amazing Spider-Man #433) shows promise but has occasional lapses, especially in faces and women’s chestal regions. Todd Nauck’s style in Sensational Spider-Man #26 is off-putting, with occasional disturbing conceptions of human skeletal structure. Luke Ross has a steady and solid hand on Spectacular Spider-Man, but if I ever see Spider-man with his mask but no shirt again, it will be too soon.

There are moments that I really liked Spider-Hunt. Unfortunately, those moments can’t conceal that this is a half a story in many ways — lacking a payoff and lacking full commitment to hits concept. Paired with Identity Crisis, this might be a fine story, worth rescuing from a time I thought Marvel was trying to forget. Without having read Identity Crisis, though … well, my guess is that it’s skippable.

Rating: <
(2 of 5)

Punisher War Journal Classic, v. 1

Collects: Punisher War Journal v. 1 #1-8 (1988-9)

Released: August 2008 (Marvel)

Format: 208 pages / color / $24.99 / ISBN: 9780785131182

What is this?: Jim Lee doing a Punisher series before he became a mega star

The culprits: Writer Carl Potts and penciler Jim Lee

There are an awful lot of Punisher stories out there. Many are available in reprint form; one of those reprints is Punisher War Journal Classic, v. 1. How is this Punisher reprint different from all the others?

The others aren’t drawn by Jim Lee. That’s about it.

This is early Lee — before Image, before he took creative control of franchises, before he even began on X-Men. In fact, this is before everything he did at Marvel but Alpha Flight, where he worked on the tail end of Bill Mantlo’s subpar run. As you might expect, his early work is like his later work but less so, like a less exaggerated imitation of his later work. It’s good work, solid and filled with action, but it’s not the kind of work that would spawn a decade of imitators.

When I said Lee was the only draw for this book, that wasn’t to slight writer Carl Potts. At the time War Journal started, the first Punisher ongoing was at the end of its first year, so it must have seen like there was a near unlimited field of stories to tell. But from this end of the Punisher’s publication history, the novelty has worn off, and readers have seen some of these stories many times. The opening three-issue story with the Punisher running into the mutual revenge plots of two characters peripherally connected to his family’s murder is the most interesting. The Punisher is shaken from his general certitude about who to blame (and thus kill), and the plot is a good reminder that drugs and organized crime have a longer reach than we sometimes remember. It can be seen as a needless addition to the Punisher’s origin, which was my first reaction, but a tie-in to the Punisher’s origin is a logical start to a new series, and the characters involved can be easily jettisoned without regard to the story’s continuity or consequence. It’s not an epic story, but it was a good choice for the opening of the new series, and it does take the character in an interesting direction (temporarily).

The rest of the stories are mostly by the numbers. There’s also a story featuring the Punisher’s Vietnam comrades and a story with the Punisher vs. street gangs. Neither is very memorable, although the Punisher’s van beats a vicious street gang by itself in the latter story. The former involves a secret conspiracy that falls apart far too easily; the conspiracy is backed by a secret government organization — the DEA — and their trade in drugs. In the Punisher’s world, that stands for Defense Espionage Agency rather than Drug Enforcement Administration; I wonder whether Potts didn’t know about the real agency or enjoyed the irony of accusing the DEA of dealing drugs and spreading, rather than stopping, the drug trade. This story is preachy, making me suspect the latter.

Punisher War Journal, v. 1, also has a two-part story that is easily the most transparent and contrived excuse for a Wolverine appearance I have ever seen; strangely, despite Lee’s future career advancement, I found his Wolverine unimpressive. It involves cryptozoology and poaching in Africa; after noting the general lack of preachiness, the less said, the better.

A running subplot throughout the volume features the Japanese family that runs a convenience store in the first floor of one of the Punisher’s safehouses. It seems like a trailer for Potts’s Shadowmasters miniseries, which featured the family and came out later that year. Readers can look at this as a detriment; the optimistic can see it as a inducement for all the Shadowmaster fans — all five of them — to buy this book as a part of their self-constructed Complete Shadowmaster collection.

As a historical note, as a study of the evolution of an artist — and you shouldn’t hold your breath for those mostly forgotten (and rightly so) Alpha Flight issues to be reprinted — Punisher War Journal, v. 1, holds some interest. Otherwise, it’s mostly a bland book, with only the opening arc to rescue it from the skull-covered, Tim Bradstreet-drawn Punisher background.

Rating: (2 of 5)

Punisher War Journal, v. 1: Civil War

Collects: Punisher War Journal v. 2 #1-4 (2007)

Released: November 2007 (Marvel)

Format: 144 pages / color / $14.99 / ISBN: 9780785123156

What is this?: During Civil War, a battle between heroes in the Marvel Universe, the Punisher declares war on supervillains.

The culprits: Writer Matt Fraction, pencillers Ariel Olivetti (#1-3) and Mike Deodato (#4)

Writer Matt Fraction is a bit of conundrum for me. While he is the darling of certain corners of the Internet, I didn’t care for the first volume of his Casanova. Punisher War Journal, v. 1: Civil War doesn’t answer the question of where all the unabashed adoration is coming from either.

I can see part of it. There are great moments and great lines. Stuart Clarke, a robotocist and Iron Man villain, has a flock of little robot Iron Men whom he alternately terrorizes and orders to do his bidding. A groggy Spider-Man, after he has been saved from the Jester and Jack o’ Lantern (really?) by the Punisher, tells his savior he can’t pay him, and when the Punisher says Spider-Man doesn’t have to pay, Spider-Man says, “Action is my reward too.” And pretty much the entirety of issue #4 — with the exception of the presence of the Prowler and Puma (really?) — is hilarious.

But there are plenty of moments that strike me as wrong. (At times, Fraction’s entire Marvel Universe seems wrong, but I’m blaming that on Civil War.) The Bugle reluctantly endorsing the Punisher’s killings, for example, seems something the paper of J. Jonah Jameson would never do. The Punisher himself seems off as well; he mixes his steely, stoic demeanor with jokes that go flat, and he has his moments of comic fallibility. I don’t want the Punisher to be too personable and human; he never really has been either of those things. He’s a remorseless killer, and the closest he comes to jokes is the black humor about the villains’ deaths.

I didn’t care much for Civil War, the massive crossover that had Marvel’s superheroes fighting one another over civil rights, in either concept or what I saw of the execution. This doesn’t change my opinion on the matter, but it does give the Punisher a reason to enter superhero politics, which are usually settled at the end of a (metaphorical) gun. It also gives Fraction a chance to re-enact the Scourge of the Underworld storyline, which started in 1985 and climaxed in Captain America #318-20. In fact, #4 is a direct homage to Captain America #319, where the vigilante the Scourge kills a bar full of supervillains, most of whom are less than super. (The Punisher, admittedly, only destroys the bar and poisons its occupants; we don’t know the fates of his targets.)

I’m not exactly sure I see the point of killing third-rate villains. The original Scourge storyline was supposed to thin out the ranks of the incompetent, but their numbers exploded in the ‘90s, and even some killed in the massacre at the Bar with No Name have returned. I don’t even think killing these long-time punching bags will have much emotional impact. That being said, I don’t care for the Punisher killing classic Silver Age villains, even if they’re goofy. It just makes me dislike Fraction and the Punisher, because idiots like the Jester and Stilt-Man are weak, easy targets. Go after those disposable ‘90s villains, especially ones that clogged the Spider-Man books at the time. Man, those were awful.

Most of the art is provided by Ariel Olivetti, but his art leaves me cold. It appears to be painted, but it makes his characters look like motionless cutouts on a dark background. The colors are a bit washed out as well. Neither particularly fits for the title; the Punisher is a figure of action, in a world of blacks, whites, and arterial reds. Also, although I have nothing to say about Fraction making SHIELD agent G.W. Bridge a Muslim, I don’t like Olivetti’s design of Bridge, making him a paunchy old man — albeit a giant old man.

On the other hand, I love Mike Deodato’s gorgeous work on #4. It is a series of crowd scenes, but that’s all right; I can generally identify who’s who without gratuitous exposition, and everyone looks good. Especially Princess Python, one of my favorite Steve Ditko creations. I love Ditko’s work, but the Princess has never looked as good as she does here.

The price is a bit steep, considering the content. $15 for only 4 issues, even if one is supersized, is too much, and adding the black and white edition of #1 (which was actually released before the regular #1) doesn’t help much.

I really was on the fence about this one, but at that price, I can’t recommend Punisher War Journal, v. 1.

Rating: (1.5 of 5)

Essential Punisher, v. 2

Collects: Punisher (v. 2) #1-20, Punisher Annual #1, Daredevil #257 (1987-9)

Released: September 2007 (Marvel)

Format: 536 pages / black and white / $16.99 / ISBN: 9780785127345

When you buy a book with the title Essential Punisher, v. 2, you know what you’re going to get. Criminals stomped out like cockroaches. More guns than an NRA wet dream. Many non-lethal (for the Punisher) gunshot wounds, wearing out the old “creasing the skull” trick. And Frank Castle being a master of disguise, despite being a white guy built like a square-jawed tank.

Essential Punisher delivers on all that. V. 2 covers the first 20 issues of the first Punisher ongoing series, just before the glut of the early ‘90s gave the Punisher three ongoing titles. Writer Mike Baron deserves at least part of the credit for that, following the Punisher template of killing criminals and blowing stuff up. This may not sound like much, but given the attempted revival of the Punisher as an angel of vengeance about a decade ago, not derailing the essential appeal of the character has to count for something.

Baron did more than that, though. The Punisher has always been short on recurring characters because the title has always been long on lethality. But Baron pulls together some loose ends and puts them into a four part story (#15-8) in which the Punisher goes of the Kingpin. It’s effective, it puts some emotional impact behind these characters’ fates, and it’s interesting to see those characters again.

That’s not to say everything Baron does works. The death of Microchip Jr. feels glossed over, barely referenced or affecting Microchip after it happens. The main story in the annual is part of the Evolutionary war crossover, which 1) is a horrible fit for the Punisher, and 2) feels like a missed opportunity. It would have been nice to see the Punisher use his military skills to use the drug king’s goons to mount an effective resistance to the armored Purifiers; instead, it was a less satisfying three-sided fight.

(There’s also Daredevil #257, which duplicates Punisher #10, except from Daredevil’s point of view, with the added advantage of a snippet from the Typhoid Mary storyline that is completely out of place in this book. That’s not Baron’s fault, of course.)

Art comes mostly from Klaus Janson (#1-5) and Whilce Portacio (#8-18). Their styles are completely different, although strangely, neither clashes with the other. Portacio’s style is the future (for the time, at least) — stylized, out-of-proportion figures (usually the Punisher, who looms over the common folk), with clean lines. Janson’s style recalls Frank Miller, whom he worked with for a while on Daredevil: thick lines, sparse details, lots of shading. Both appropriately use a lot of shadow, which doesn’t reproduce well in black and white. Janson’s art is especially victimized by this; his thick lines really need some form of color to provide some contrast.

Also: there are frequent pools of blood. They have no color in this book. That’s creepy after a while.

The enjoyment you get out of Essential Punisher, v. 2 will vary by your fondness for the Punisher. Keeping in mind that Baron is no Garth Ennis, Punisher fans should be happy — there are enough interesting plots and clever twists to keep you entertained. Those with less tolerance for the Punisher will be reminded there are only so many Punisher plots out there.

Oh, and a healthy nostalgia for comics’ last boom days won’t hurt your enjoyment.

Rating: (3 of 5)

Wolverine / Punisher, v. 1

Collects: Wolverine / Punisher #1-5 (2004)

Released: September 2004 (Marvel)

This one’s simple, even by Punisher standards: Wolverine and Punisher find a fabled jungle city where criminals hide from the Punisher. Death and small arms fire (not in that order) ensue.

But that’s overly simplistic. Wolverine / Punisher is a book that illustrates writer Peter Milligan’s oddball style. The jungle town is called Erewhon (“nowhere” spelled backwards — almost), which is taken from Samuel Butler’s satire of Victorian England as a utopia. The criminals aren’t exactly hardcases, like mobsters or gangbangers; they’re violently insane and choose names for themselves like “Napoleon,” “the Atheist,” “the Demon,” and “the Lady.” Erewhon was founded by Nazis, and it’s certainly hinted that Adolph was the founding Nazi. Milligan points out that to the Punisher, Wolverine is a “limp-wristed liberal” even though everyone else sees him as considerably less than enlightened.

This is more of a Punisher story than a Wolverine story, with the Punisher killing and killing and killing while Wolverine has trouble with a small group of thugs and fails in the only two tasks he attempts to achieve. Although the Punisher does get put in some jeopardy, he spends most of his time in workmanlike carnage while Wolverine gets to be a punching bag.

Which is the main problem. The villains put their plan into motion to lure the Punisher to Erewhon, and it works, except that it draws in Wolverine as well. For the most part, it’s the Punisher vs. the residents of Erewon after that, with Wolverine being drawn into a side plot and occupied chiefly by the Atheist. Milligan goes to great lengths to keep Wolverine out of the Punisher’s story, even having a crossbow bolt shot through Wolverine’s unbreakable adamantium skull. A great deal of the action is attributed to a deus ex bookkeeper named Books, who does as more to move the story along than Wolverine.

Lee Weeks’s pencils are an asset, depicting the carnage well, with sort of a Romita Jr. feel that manages to get across the bloodbath without descending into cartoonishness. His jungle is hot and claustrophobic, and the villains look tired and middle-aged — just as you’d expect criminals harried into fleeing into the godforsaken jungle to look.

This is a light book — well, as light as a Punisher story gets. If you like Milligan’s sense of humor, fine; otherwise, this probably isn’t for you. It certainly doesn’t measure up to his best Marvel work, such as X-Statix.

Grade: B-