WRITER: MAT JOHNSON | ART: MACK CHATER | PUBLISHER: MARVEL | FORMAT: SINGLE ISSUE | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
The Daily Bugle is an odd creature. It starts out like an Aaron Sorkin take on the inner workings of Spider-Man’s primary employer (since 1963), which most previous writers and readers have taken relatively little interest in except as background scenery or an occasional MacGuffin to further adventures.
This comic sees the Bugle, that eternal New York institution (well, since 1898), very differently, and the opening pages give us quick sketch portraits of employees nervous of job cuts, AV departments trying to work out what they’re for (one of the writers clearly knows newspaper journalism) and the top talent (headed by now editor-in-chief Robbie Robertson) trying to work out how to keep the whole place afloat. Initially, it’s difficult to see what the plot would be (and if there would be any room for Spider-Man in it at all), which had this reviewer simultaneously scratching his head at what this comic thought it was and also absolutely loving it.
In a pleasingly multi-stranded plot, top investigative journalist Ben Urich is given Robbie’s niece to babysit (although she has journalistic ambitions and leads all of her own), but also an apparent non-story about a disappearing science professor to look into. Meanwhile, Spider-Man follows up his own duck-based investigation (no, really) and strangely persistent plagues of webbing haunt downtown New York.
The Daily Bugle takes its time to get going and revels in its minor characters and takes a look at Spiderman’s New York from the bottom up, a fresh new take on a city so often threatened by jeopardy on a cosmic scale. While it takes a while to deliver the actual plot, this comic’s scene-setting helps to firmly establish that this is not [just] a Spider-Man story. (Also massive props for front and centring Ben Urich as a hero in his own right.) We’re not entirely sure where The Daily Bugle is going, we’re not even 100% sure that it works, but we know that we love it.
