“Happy Birthday”
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Artists: John Romita Jr. & John Romita Sr. (p), Scott Hanna (i)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Big anniversary issues usually end up being the culmination of a long story arc in which the protagonists fights against great odds, wins, and goes home happy. Very rarely do they afford the hero the opportunity to look back at his/her life and take stock of where they’ve been and how they got to where they are, and therefore issues like this are usually meaningless fluff dressed up in “DOUBLE SIZED” issues and slapped with heftier price tags. Poorly done anniversary issues are a sign of average writing, and no one has ever accused JMS of that, so I’m happy to report that the writer doesn’t fall into that trap. Once you get past the garish cover, you’ll find an action-packed story that still manages hit all the right emotional chords.
Right off the bat I could tell this story would an ordeal Spider-Man the likes of which he hadn’t seen in some time as the character is forced to make an impossible choice. Granted, he ends up choosing the third, less obvious option, but it’s his inaction in this case that shows the true heart of our hero. From there JMS takes Spidey on a tour of his life, hitting many of the high points of his Rogue’s Gallery (although we barely see the bad guys JMS created) as well as some of the moments that have defined the character over the years. Not surprisingly, Spider-Man almost breaks down at one point because of the trauma, and it’s here that JMS demonstrated his mastery of the character. Sure, it’s his guilt that drove Spidey at first, but ultimately it’s his desire to do what’s right that keeps him going long after the sham over the part he played in Ben’s death should have passed.
When we finally get back to the scene in Times Square that started this arc the creators let the heroes off the hook a little too easily, but after the long fight to get back there I’m not sure I wanted nor was prepared for a protracted fight scene with a bunch of non-descript stone-looking creatures. That the heroes assembled trusted Spider-Man, the character that’s forever been the redheaded stepchild of the spandex community, was enough for me to go away happy. As a side note, I knew Dr. Strange was powerful, but sweet Christmas who knew he could wipe out that many villains at once?
Scenes between Peter and the spirit of Ben Parker have been done to death, so I was a little wary when I realized that was where this issue was going. I’d like to be able to say that JMS gives us something new and unique here, but that isn’t really the case. Yes, it’s better than pretty much every other scene of this type, but the same themes and emotions are discussed here that have been dealt with elsewhere. I liked their conversation, but in the end I didn’t think it added all that much to the story and therefore read almost as if it was included as an afterthought.
Artistically this book is nearly flawless. Is that praise too glowing? Probably, but as I was flipping through the book I found myself stopping to admire the pretty pictures far more often than I usually do. Whether it’s Spidey alone against a black background or our hero fighting every villain under the sun on a two page spread, Romita Jr. has set himself up as the definitive Spider-Man artist of the past five to six years. I have a feeling that people will look back on his run the same way they look at McFarlane and Larsen during the 1990s. Everyone knows his action sequences look great, but look a little deeper and you’ll see what I’m talking about. The artist is able to convey the character’s emotions without resulting to the cheap trick of playing with the size of his mask’s eyes. Spidey’s body language tells you all you need to know about how he’s feeling, and that’s hard to do given the fast paced nature of this story.
Given the rather definite ending to this arc I have no idea where this title is going, but I can’t say that bothers me all that much. I’ve learned to trust this creative team the same way the heroes of the Marvel Universe trust the title character, and that irony isn’t lost on me. While I loathed the cheap way Marvel and JMS plugged the upcoming Dr. Strange miniseries, the few pages drawn by John Romita Sr. more than made up for that. It was a treat to see him draw that final scene, and that’s part of the reason I rated this book so high despite it’s few flaws. Now if only the covers weren’t so consistently awful…
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