Spider-Man: Fever by Brendan McCarthy

On a “I guess I’ll take a chance with this” whim I picked this trade up at BMV in Toronto for seven bucks, and in exchange, I got a psychedelic fever dream of Steve Ditko proportions. Spider-Man: Fever is a three issue limited series that Marvel published in 2010, and was clearly created by Brendan McCarthy as a tribute to the great designs of Ditko (the artist/co-creator of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange, among others). He weaves an oddball tale full of magic, eccentric characters, and mystical dimensions inhabited by demon spiders. There is nothing ordinary, normal, or otherwise about this book. It’s a kaleidoscope of insanity wrapped up in a Marvel wrapper. And I think I love it.

The book starts with Dr. Strange mulling over an ancient portal but quickly switches gears to Spidey relaxing on the side of a pigeon-poop stained building before being attacked by the Vulture. As much as the book is mimicking the Ditko style, it’s here that we see some Stan Lee shining through as well. As the Vulture and Spidey grapple, Spidey says “Gotta knock this crazy old bird off of me. He’s heavier than I thought. We’re swinging wide of the wall!” For some reason, that phrasing ripped me back to memories of the early Spider-Man stories, and from there on in I was hooked, even though this adventure was going to be nothing like I’d ever read before. With the end of the Vulture fight, we are torn away from the standard super hero fare, and quickly McCarthy’s story opens up the bizarre. Spidey is rendered unconscious and a multi-dimensional demon spider captures Spider-Man’s soul and takes it away to his own dimension to be eaten. Dr. Strange is privy to these events and sets off to rescue Spider-Man from this horrible fate. Along the way we meet a number of eccentric characters, including a man who has been turned into a fly, two sad and constantly eating dogs, and an Australian Aboriginal woman with a personality similar to that of Tank Girl’s. There is also a clearly non-canonical explanation of how the radioactive spider that bit Peter Parker came to be. As you can gather, this isn’t a book for those with a zealot-like passion for the traditional Spider-Man.

I’ve already hinted that the art is uniquely captivating -it reflecting a hippie’s acid dreams- however, it requires more discussion than a simple line or two. McCarthy’s art is strangely beautiful. His lines flirt between wispy and bold, and his choice of colours accentuate the mind-bending quality of his inks. He is no traditionalist in his cartooning, yet he draws one of the best Spider-Men I’ve seen, right up there with Ditko and John Romita Sr. You can tell by looking through the book, that he was both influenced by and influential to the progs of 2000 AD; his style is a grandiose mixture of future shock, psychedelic, and fantastical. His comfort with playing around with the Marvel flagship character and having no problems with placing him in gonzo situations speaks to the faith he has in himself as an artist. Clearly, this man knows how to harness his talents. Any apprehension I felt about picking up this trade was clearly unfounded, and I feel a level of guilt in originally thinking this book might barely be worth the measly seven dollars spent.

I, for one, think this might be one of the best Spider-Man comic books I had never heard about. It’s a wondrous mash-up of American comics with British subversiveness. As well, it is a great throwback to the days when American comics could do anything, and a fantastic riff on Ditko’s surreal stylings.

Disney’s John Carter

Having just seen John Carter with a few members of my family, I feel compelled to write briefly about it. This isn’t going to be a long winded thing, and it’s not a review, but more of a what-I-think (which is pretty much what this blog is anyway, I suppose).

I went into this movie with moderately low expectations based on the trailer, which I suppose helped it some. My only true knowledge of the film so far is having seen the trailer a few times while at the movies (which has never impressed me) and having listened to the first few hours of an audiobook of the original A Princess of Mars story by Edgar Rice Burroughs when I was much younger (given to me by my uncle, who has always had a taste for wonderful B-grade things and pulp). I don’t know anything about what others are expecting or have said, but on personally, I mostly enjoyed it.

What worked for me, and why I feel it deserves at least one watch, is that for the most part, the filmmakers managed to make a world that lived in. Even though the CGI was thick and fierce, the screen didn’t feel sterile like some Star Wars prequel, and most things seemed to have a weight to them that a lot of over-the-top-CGI-fests lack. Also, the number of extras that were not just computer models was refreshing to see, and the costume designer deserves kudos for incorporating the pulpy sci-fi/fantasy clothing motif without it appearing ridiculous.

What was surprising was how little of the film I had a problem with. My only true nitpicking is that there were a few rocky parts to the story, (though not nearly as bad as many summer blockbusters), which pulled me out of the movie. The most jarring one was when suddenly grandiose assumptions were being made over a discovery that Carter and Princess Dejah Thoris had made a little less than half way through the film. Beyond that, I enjoyed the story, and was happily surprised to see Michael Chabon’s name attached (having fond memories of the novel Wonder Boys, even if it did take some time after reading it to really appreciate it).

What I appreciate most about the film is that it took a risk. While not an original IP, it is the first time that I know of that this character has been translated to the big screen, and A Princess of Mars is not an overly well-known book either. It is also a story that is pure pulp and features a unique alien world that runs the risk of turning off the masses, (though the film uses plenty of tropes to clifnote the audience whenever it can). What is incredible with this film is that Disney went all in, and didn’t cut corners to save on the budget, (which according to IMBD was an insane $250,000,000), in order to hedge their bets. I feel that the film needs to be seen just to show support for something that does not rely on a franchise or inane board game name licence in order to get made. Lastly, watch this movie for the clearly meant for the kids CGI (non-talking) wacky sidekick. They somehow managed to win me over with it, and I’ll probably watch it again just so I can see it zooming around the screen again.

So ends my brain dump on John Carter. Perhaps next time I will actually discuss something out of my backlog instead of talking about something new.