This review contains some spoilers for The definitive Spider-Man #9, on sale now, from Marvel Comics
For years, one of the easiest pop culture jokes was to simply point to a superhero comic book convention and, like, that would be the entire joke. The most infamous example was the absurd “What, would you rather have yellow spandex?” row from the first X-Men movie, which was strangely included by the filmmakers as what they felt would be an Easter egg for comic book fans (“See? We know Wolverine wears the yellow costume! We're acknowledging that fact! Making fun of it, but, well, at least we recognize it!”). A much harder thing to do, however, is to get us to re-examine some accepted parts of comic book mythos from a NON-cynical, “Ha, ha, isn't it so stupid that Superman wears underwear on the outside of his pants?” his pants?” position. This is what Jonathan Hickman excels at in his ongoing charm The definitive Spider-Man series with the great Marco Checchetto.
The definitive Spider-Man Issue #9 is by Hickman, Checchetto, colorist Matthew Wilson and letterer Cory Petit, and follows the introduction of the Sinister Six with Spider-Man and Green Goblin (Harry Osborn) attacked by the Black Cat. The fight brings out a pair of fascinating new takes on some major aspects of Spider-Man's background in a truly clever way, while meanwhile, J. Jonah Jameson and Ben Parker's journey into newspaper publishing is also an intriguing new take on the classic Spider-Man . comics concepts.
Can you imagine J. Jonah Jameson NOT ever wanting pictures of Spider-Man?
One of the series' regular subplots was the search for Ben Parker (in this universe, since Peter Parker was not bitten by the radioactive spider, Ben was never killed. However, before the series' launch, a number of New Yorkers are were murdered in a terrorist attack used to frame Tony Stark in the eyes of the world as a terrorist, and one of the victims was May Parker) and J. Jonah Jameson to form their own newspaper after they both left the Daily Bugle.
Well, their newspaper (titled The Paper) has become a huge success, but the twist is that FAR's most popular articles are the ones about Spider-Man (complete with awesome photos taken by Peter Parker), and both Ben and Jonah love it. are grappling with the idea that their success was driven by these sensationalist Spider-Man stories. This, of course, is a twist on the fact that in the original continuity, J. Jonah Jameson was ALL about Spider-Man stories. Here, though, we see the downside of being successful at something less intellectual than the work they WANT to be known for. It's a truly amazing argument, but Mary Jane tells them why they're being unreasonable (since the success of the Spider-Man stories ALLOWS them to do the OTHER stories, including examining the alleged Stark terrorist attack, something the owners of The Daily Bugle wanted be stopped, since the owner, Wilson Fisk, is in cahoots with the bad guys who are trying to frame Stark).
Marco Checchetto uses his visual literacy for some clever and subtle suggestions towards the future
In an excellent visual cue, Checchetto alludes to Otto Octavius' fate by showing him standing in front of some cables, which are meant to evoke his Doctor Octopus arms. It's such a cute, subtle thing. One of the problems that Spider-Man and Green Goblin have is that since their suits are based on Stark technology, Tony Stark can follow them wherever they go, so they look for a solution, but in the end, the solution for Spider-Man is to wear a VERY costume low-tech, which is basically the classic Spider-Man story. It was a roundabout path to get here, and it's really smart to introduce the classic costume AFTER a series of problems with a high-tech costume.
In a battle with one of the members of the Sinister Six, we see two new twists on the Spider-Man mythos. First, the introduction of Spider-Man's spider-sense, which he obviously doesn't understand, so it's fun to see it in action. Secondly, and most importantly, we'll see Spider-Man's stance on killing. Spider-Man is notoriously anti-killing, but refusing to kill a villain you're fighting is an interesting stance that you can't really TEST until you're actually IN battle. Hickman challenges our preconceptions of what is actually reasonable when fighting someone trying to kill you. Harry Osborn has no problem killing the black cat, but Peter doesn't agree, and the funny thing is, without the character's history, it's a complicated concept. For us it's normal, because we know superhero conventions, but it's harder to describe in a world WITHOUT superhero conventions.
Of course, the different positions on the murder will probably explain how Spider-Man and Green Goblin will soon be at odds with each other, but in the meantime, there's an interesting ethical debate going on between two close friends.
Checchetto and Wilson describe the battle with Black Cat beautifully. They really captured HOW new Spider-Man is in fighting a supervillain. A couple of issues ago, Wilson Fisk beat the shit out of Spidey and the Green Goblin, and now we see how new these guys are to being vigilantes, especially since Spider-Man doesn't kill (which the Black Cat constantly takes advantage of).
The Cat Black's possible fatal ending suggests we'll soon see his daughter in action as the NEW Cat Black, but that, of course, is a story for another day. In the meantime, we only have this excellent current chapter in this Spider-Man's world.