Friday, July 5, 2013

365 Comics...185: The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #1 (2013)

As I may or may not have stated before, Spider-Man isn't my bag, and yet I'll often peek into Spidey-type things with a keen eye when it's the Sinister Syndicate/Sinister Six.  This stems back to the early 90's Deadly Foes of Spider-Man mini-series which I picked up and quite adored, though I can think of no real reason for either picking it up or adoring it so.

Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber's revival triggers that same sense of glee in me.  It's not like the Suicide Squad, Secret Six, or Thunderbolts, which feel big-time in comparison, no, this is more akin to Great Lakes Avengers or Justice League Antarctica, a group of also-ran villains who would find it difficult to find a slot in Spider-Man's rogues gallery.  They're super powered (or often not even) crooks, almost not even bad guys.

Spencer adopts a semi-comedic tone, getting into the head of Boomerang, the gimmicky criminal who leads a group called the Sinister Six that has only five members.  Tells you a lot right there.  Lieber, who I've dug since he cropped up on Hawkman back in the early nineties, nails the comedic tone of the book expertly and negotiates densely structured, multi-paneled pages with ease.  His pages square up nicely with Marcos Martin's crafty cover, shifting his style somewhat to be quite clean. It's a highly entertaining book, though surprising as an ongoing, but it makes me wonder why DC has never been ballsy enough to do a Flash Rogues ongoing in much the same vein.

While the last thing I really need is another title to add to my monthly pulls, I'll give this a couple just because it's so entertaining.  There's no "must read" feel to it, but it puts a pretty good smile on my face and provides more than a few chuckles.

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