AUTHOR: SEAN RYAN | ARTIST: NICO LEON | PUBLISHER: MARVEL COMICS | FORMAT: SINGLE ISSUE | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
For a Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Peter Parker sure does get about a bit. Not content with being an occasional member of the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and multiple team books over the years, Spidey now finds himself leading a ragtag gang of warriors from across the Seven Realms. But hey, it’s no less weird than the Punisher getting a spin-off out of it all. And, in spite of the many cosmic adventures and epic battles he’s fought since his creation, Spider-Man has always been one of Marvel’s most successfully grounded, street-level characters – the face of humanity when standing shoulder-to-shoulder with super-soldiers, gods, and giants. And so Peter Parker remains charmingly human and out-of-his-depth, even as he leads a team of World of Warcraft wannabes into battle. Driving a jeep, no less.
Writer Sean Ryan has a good handle on the Peter Parker sense of humour, with Spidey playing wonderfully against his new compatriots. Much of the first issue is just Pete bonding with his teammates, fumbling with their names (Screwbeard the Dwarf! Sir Ivory Honeyshot the Light Elf!) and struggling in a relatively rare leadership role. Handpicked by Thor himself, puny Parker has some mighty big boots to fill. And fill them he does, as only Spider-Man can. Just as much as the goofy jokes, Ryan understands that it’s Spider-Man’s empathy and compassion that makes him the hero he is, and it’s telling that he saves (part of) the day with his heart and mouth, rather than his fists. There’s still plenty of room for a smashing great punch-up though, and Ryan and the art team juggle both evenly and well.
The drawing by Nico Leon is crisp and clean, big and bold without being too cartoonish or messy. If anything, it’s a little sparse in places, but colourist Carlos Lopez gives the book a nice dusky tone that adds a sense of subtlety and realism; think Kenneth Branagh Thor versus Taika Waititi’s. Their Spider-Man compliments the fantastical warriors nicely, scrawny, expressive, and relatively normal in comparison.
Nobody is going to get much out of this without following the main War of the Realms book, but those who do should find plenty to enjoy. With it, Ryan reminds us that Spider-Man is one of Marvel’s most versatile characters, just as loveable battling Gods and monsters as he is fighting bank robbers and weirdos in animal costumes. Just don’t stray too far from the Friendly Neighborhood, huh?
