Spider-Man/Human Torch (2005) #5

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I read this series when it came out, but I barely remembered anything about it besides it being really good–I didn’t, for example, remember the crimes against the comic book medium the colorists perpetrated.

Suffice to say, I didn’t remember this issue.

This perfect issue.

I mean, it’s a perfect close to this limited series, but it’s also a perfect comic.

It’s not too mature, but it’s not written for kids. It has a healthy respect and admiration for the characters’ pasts, but doesn’t let continuity get in the way of a the story. It’s happy and sad and hopeful and just plain lovely.

This issue reminds of New Frontier in its optimism of the human condition.

It also reminds enough of Kesel’s World’s Finest limited series from a while ago… I wish Slott had ten issues too.

It’s a fantastic comic and really makes the bad colors okay.

Spider-Man/Human Torch (2005) #4

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It’s a cute issue. It’s set during the black costume period, when Spidey was with the Black Cat. I sort of remember reading these comics as a kid and, from just the Secret Wars II crossovers I more recently read, they aren’t cute. It’s a strange approach for Slott to make–it’s an all humor issue.

Some of the problem might be with the Black Cat. She didn’t end up with Spidey so watching this lost episode of theirs decidedly lacks drama.

The issue has some coloring problems, but it’s emulating a more slicker period, so it’s not as bad as when it’s bad. The inks… the inks are strange. There’s this whole sequence when Black Cat is in an evening gown and she looks about fifteen. It gets even stranger since there’s a scene with her in her undies.

The opening scene suggests Slott needs to do a She-Hulk team-up with

Spider-Man/Human Torch (2005) #3

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And the coloring problems return. Not quite as bad, but whoever’s doing it–there’s no name just Sotocolor–thought adding three dimensions with color shading was a good idea.

And is wrong.

But it’s hard to care, because the series just gets better issue to issue. Here, Slott marries two very disparate elements of Spider-Man history–he relieves Peter’s depression following Gwen’s death with the lunacy of the Spider-Man toys. The Amazing Spider-Mobile, or whatever it was called, will probably never be used so artistically again. Or the fruit pies. What Slott does with the fruit pies is just fantastic.

There’s not as much emphasis on the Human Torch here, except as a true friend to Spidey. Slott writes this lovely scene with Peter (in mask) telling Johnny all about Gwen’s death. And even though the issue is–relatively–light, the whole weight of Peter’s secret identity is clear.

Maybe the series’s first great issue.

Spider-Man/Human Torch (2005) #2

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Now, this issue doesn’t have the same coloring problems as the first. It has different ones, but they’re far less garish, thank goodness.

This issue, for the most part, is a Human Torch issue. He and Spidey swap jobs for the day. Spidey messes up the Fantastic Four’s scientific exploration while the Torch takes on Kraven and some drug dealers. Slott bookends the issue with Johnny hanging out Peter and the gang–this issue is set jut before Flash Thompson ships out and… wow, does Slott write the characters well. Even though Johnny has a bigger part throughout, nothing compares to the attention Slott gives the Spider-Man cast.

Templeton does a great job with the three facets–the mundane reality, Johnny’s Kraven adventure and the Fantastic Four sci-fi stuff. His Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy beg for a series of their own.

My only question’s Captain Stacy–did he know Peter was Spider-Man?

Spider-Man/Human Torch (2005) #1

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Who let this comic out with these colors?

I don’t usually go nuts, in support or against, over colors. I doubt I even know a single colorist’s name. But Felix Serrano is a criminal. He took Ty Templeton’s lovely retro-artwork–it’s supposed to be in the Silver Age style–and added this glossy Photoshop slime to it. I think it’s the bubble effect.

And this issue is just that old Dan Slott magic, from back when he could do no wrong and could get any reader with a Silver Age affection and some solid literacy salivating for his Marvel comics.

It’s got Peter and Johnny and Spidey and the Torch and the girls–Slott writes Betty Brant so perfectly he should do a whole series for her, a la Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane.

It’s just a magical comic book.

And Serrano does whatever he can to lessen it.