Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Gurihiru
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Plot:
Gus Beezer continues to move through his life envisioning himself as his favorite heroes, and when he wins a race in gym class he becomes convinced he's well on the way to becoming a super-hero. However, when he's challenged to a race by his sister, and he finds he's unable to beat her, we see his confidence is shaken. However, a visit with his cousin Peter Parker gives out young hero a boost of confidence, thanks to an inspirational message from Spider-Man.
Comments:
I picked this one-shot up largely because it was a rather slow week. There's also the simple fact that I'm rather fond of Gail Simone's work on other projects so I was curious to see what she was doing with these Guz Beezer one-shots. Plus, putting Spider-Man on the cover doesn't hurt the chances of a book being picked up by myself, as I'm just this side of obsessive-compulsive when it comes to the character of Spider-Man. Now that I've justified why I'm picking up an all-ages title, I have to say that Gail Simone can proudly stand besides Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes) and Mike Kunkel (HeroBear and the Kid), as she's managed to craft a rather high-energy young child who doesn't quickly become grating. In fact while there are moments when I found myself growing a bit anxious for Guz Beezer to actually do something beyond move along with the plot, Gail Simone does manage to create a couple moments where I was delighted by the situation she managed to place her character in. I mean one has to love the scene where Guz Beezer, a die-hard Spider-Man fan, is placed in the same room as J. Jonah Jameson, as one is left to wonder if Jameson has it in him to launch into one of his classic anti-Spider-Man tirades, or will he hold his tongue and let this child educate him on the virtues of Spider-Man. The secondary plot involving Gus' race with his sister manages to have some fun with the concept that Gus' attention is very easily diverted.
As for the art, Gurihiru brings a fairly engaging animated style to the material as one has to love the opening sequence where Spider-Man faces off against his rogues gallery, and one has to love the shot where he's running up the wall, as Adam West and Burt Ward would be proud. The art also manages to capture the idea that Gus is a high energy character, as I rather enjoyed the series of panels where the character is delighted by the notion that he won the race, and the expressions on his face when he proceeds to lose the subsequent races to his sister are also nicely done. Now while I don't expect one is supposed to be impressed by the art of the lower third of the page I have to say I was very impressed by how well the art captured the illusion that this art was delivered by Guz Beezer himself. I just wish the font style had also been altered on this story to reflect its younger creator.
Final Word:
This one-shot wasn't enough to convince me the track down the original one-shots, but I'm glad that I gave it a look as Gail Simone puts on a pretty convincing display of her ability to deliver an all-ages title that manages to appeal to the older comic fans, as I'm sure most fans will recognize elements of themselves in Gus Beezer. In fact if nothing else the comic that runs on the bottom third of the issue manages to perfectly captured spirit of the comics that I put out when I was a child, as one has to love the fact that the comics are delivered on ruled paper, and that occasionally there are little bits of text to describe a scene that might not be clearly understood (e.g. the dog is shivering). The book also does a pretty fair job of merging its comic book action with the reality of Guz Beezer's world, as one has to love the scene where the Lizard starts calling for his mom. I also rather enjoy the notion that Guz Beezer is Peter's cousin, though I'm not about to attempt to figure out if Peter's family tree allows him to have a cousin.
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