MICHAEL H. PRICE: Spider-Man 3’s spectacular overkill
It helps to remember, now that a third Spider-Man epic has arrived to herald the school’s-out season at the box office, that the title character had started out as the comic-book industry’s least likely recruit to the ranks of super-heroism.
The idea of a human being with the proportionate strength of a spider had been kicking around since the 1950s. Comic-book pioneers Joe Simon and Jack Kirby seem to have arrived there first, with an undeveloped concept known as the Silver Spider. The inspiration ran afoul of a publishers’ bias against spiders and other such crawly creatures, the bankable success of Batman notwithstanding. But Simon and Kirby steered the basic notion into print in 1959 with a change-of-species Archie Comics series called The Fly – capitalizing upon an unrelated but like-titled hit movie of 1958.
By the early 1960s, Kirby was slumming at a low-rent publishing company that was soon to become the influential Marvel Comics. Kirby and writer Stan Lee had recently found competitive leverage with a band-of-heroes comic called The Fantastic Four – grimmer and edgier than the fare offered by big-time DC Comics. DC’s Superman and Batman franchises anchored a line of costumed heroes who got along well enough to have formed a super-heroes’ club.
Lee and Kirby’s retort to DC Comics’ Justice League magazine had been a Fantastic Four whose members quarreled and exchanged threats and insults. After Kirby had raised the Silver Spider as a prospect, Lee and Steve Ditko envisioned Spider-Man as a teen-age nebbish, afflicted with superhuman abilities by a bite from a radioactive spider. Artists Kirby and Ditko combined qualities of strength and neurosis in the character design: Superman’s alter-ego, Clark Kent, wore eyeglasses and feigned social withdrawal as a disguise; Spider-Man’s alter-ego, Peter Parker, wore eyeglasses because he was a nearsighted dweeb.
The embryonic Marvel Comics, having little to lose and plenty to prove, launched Spider-Man in a failing magazine and hoped that somebody might notice. Sales figures spiked against expectations. Lee’s unsophisticated attempts at philosophical depth struck comic-book readers of the day as comparatively profound. Spider-Man’s début in his own title involved a violent misunderstanding with the members of the Fantastic Four.
Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies date from times more recent (2002-and-counting), but they recapture well that early stage of 45 years ago in which Peter B. Parker, alias Spider-Man, marks time between altercations by wondering whether he deserves to be saddled with such responsibility. Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 (2004) is generally regarded as one of the more mature-minded comic-book films, reconciling sensationalism with provocative ideas.
Editor’s Note: SPOILERS after the jump…
The newly opened Spider-Man 3 finds Parker (Tobey Maguire) developing a swaggering presence, consistent with later issues of the Stan Lee–Steve Ditko books. Parker no longer feels compelled to guard his dual identity from romantic interest Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), and as Spider-Man he is experiencing an unaccustomed surge of favorable crime-buster publicity. Chalk it all up to the pride that goes before a fall, for soon enough Parker will encounter a cosmic force that can only unleash in him a grimmer personality, complete with re-designed Spider-Man costume.
As though the split-personality problem were insufficient, director Raimi’s collaborative screenplay raises the ante considerably with a recurrent menace known as the Green Goblin (James Franco) – Green Goblin Jr. is more like it – and a new arrival called the Sandman (Thomas Haden Church). Neither villain comes near the finer dramatic resonance that Alfred Molina achieved as the rampaging Dr. Octopus in Spider-Man 2, but the Sandman’s strange abilities to alter his shape account for some jaw-dropping visual effects. The script seems inclined to balance things out with an entirely human professional rival for photojournalist Peter Parker, until aggressive photographer Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) finds himself changed into a super-villain known as Venom. Enough, already.
The larger idea of having Parker explore his darker nature proves an ill-developed plotting device, lost in the shuffle of too many bad guys and a fitfully interesting sub-plot of jealousy involving Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane Watson and Bryce Dallas Howard’s Gwen Stacy, an endangered innocent in need of a rescue by Spider-Man.
Amidst the noise, Thomas Haden Church stands out with his portrayal of the Sandman as a figure of sorrow as well as menace. Topher Grace, who might as well be auditioning for the title role in some eventual Spider-Man 4, lends a current of ferocity that is lacking in the script. Although the present film does a fair job of tying things into a coherent trilogy, it also drops hints of yet another installment.
Dunst is uncharacteristically lethargic and petulant this time out, and her scenes with Tobey Maguire’s Parker lack the vitality of their earlier pairings. Maguire fares better at conveying Parker’s impatience with his own boyish naïveté, attempting to counter his mild-mannered nature with clumsy attempts at appearing confident and even arrogant.
None of which will matter to the fans who come to witness the more spectacular outbursts. In gee-whiz technical terms, the picture is right up there with the earlier efforts. (PG-13)
Writer of The Prowler and the forthcoming Fishhead, Michael H. Price claims a movies-and-comics pedigree via such second- and/or third- cousin kinships as Vincent Price (1911–93) and Mad magazine’s Roger Price (1918–90). MHP’s movie commentaries can be found at The Fort Worth Business Press and at SciFi And Horror.com.
Wow – Michael Price on ComicMix?! That is great news. Your stuff always provides an excellent read, Michael, so glad you're here. PS – Keep your eyes peeled for Little Shoppe of Horrors when it comes out this fall. Mark Clark and I have a little something on Fisher and Horror of Dracula I'm dying to have you read. Bob
A man who plays with toy trains is either addled or sinister. I don't know why I have that impression, maybe it's from Gomez Adams. Neil Young would probably disagree.I like Mrs. Solstice. Sort of a matronly "Alfred the Butler." Her name implies that she might have a "secret origin" or super powers herself! What if she's the widow of Dr. Solstice! Dr. Solstice was either a super-villain that LJ fought and defeated; or a Super-Scientist/Inventor, who helped develop LJ's arsenal of toys, tricks, weapons and vehicles! What if Dr. Solstice was both, a reformed super-criminal, who assisted LJ with his super-gadgets. The "Q" of the Lone Justice Team. I know, turning Lone Justice into a team, that's a bit of an oxymoron And forgive me, I'm on a kibitzing riff here!Lone Justice remains excellent. Since it's first issue, three weeks ago, it's become the Best Comic Currently Published by ComicMix! Wait, since the debut of Lone Justice, it's been the ONLY new comic on ComicMix! I LOVE Lone Justice, but the links in the header are looking ridiculous.Read free online -Lone Justice (new) | Lone Justice | Lone Justice | Lone Justice | The Pilgrim | The Original JohnsonIt's not Wheatley and Tinnell's fault for getting their pages out on time. But, in two weeks, people new to the site will think that "Lone Justice" is the only comic on ComicMix.One tiny quibble with LJ#4. Some of the ballooning seemed awkward. Balloon tails wrapped around other balloons or swept off panel with extra long tails that sometimes even went behind character's heads. The ballooning was internally, stylistically consistent. So maybe I just have to get used to the style. I just found some of the balloons distracting, not as transparent as usual. It reminded me that I was reading a comic. It's one of those niggling details, that once I noticed it in one panel, I started to pick up on it in other panels.OK, I won't end on a sour note. I love the colors in Lone Justice. The muted tones, leaning toward rusty sepias and hazy blues, set a dark, warm vibe. Cozy and menacing. And, here's something that was ENTIRELY transparent until I really looked closely at the colors, the color of the borders and gutters! It's faded pulp paper! So perfect. So clever. It's an obvious choice once you think about it. But I hadn't thought of it. It was just so natural, just there. But Mark Wheatley (or Robert Tinnell or Mike Gold) thought of it, and that shows the kind of attention to detail that is making "Lone Justice: Crash!" something very special.
I think you might be doing Mrs. Solstice an injustice to spin off her story to another character. But you are plugged into this tale to an uncanny degree. And while I don't think we will be seeing a LONE JUSTICE TEAM anytime soon – consider it an underpinning of this story that people are a part of their community, supported by it or opposed by it.Your comments on the lettering remind me of a time years ago when I was just starting to get a handle on typesetting, type design and sentence structure. I became so conscious of the words on the printed page that for about a year I found it impossible to read any novel or short story. I would get distracted by noticing how the type was set. Irregularities in the type (back when it was printed from hot lead) were suddenly catching my eye when before that my imagination was filled with images of the story. That said, I have intentionally moved a step away from the "newspaper comics" level of lettering I was using on EZ STREET to something a bit more challenging. My reasoning is that LONE JUSTICE:CRASH! is a graphic novel being created by Scott and Danny Fletcher for the comic market. So they would push it a bit. Probably more than I am actually doing!As for the pulpy paper – that is entirely the selection of the pulp collector on the team (me!). And if you are really curious – I can tell you that the pulp paper is a direct scan from a 1931 issue of BLUE BOOK. I was aiming for 1930 pulp paper, but there was a nearly blank page from 1931 that worked just fine. Hopefully, readers will not notice the anachronism!
You are right, it was a bit sexist of me to think that Mrs. Solstice and the reformed Super-Scientist Super-Villain "Dr. Solstice" couldn't be the same person. Actually, I did think of that earlier, but Mrs. Solstice just doesn't have that Marie Curie (mad super-scientist) mystique about her.Are there any plans to have Lone Justice interact with actual Historical Figures from the period? If so, I vote for Madame Curie and Nikola Tesla for starters. Nikola Tesla was the epitome of "Mad Super-Scientist!"
Actual Historical Figures? You mean other than LONE JUSTICE!?
Lovin' it Mark. It took me till the weekend to crack it open, but yet again you deliver a fine chapter. Kyle (my co-plotter, and fellow unshaven comic creator) and I agree we like the underpinnings of a more historically conscious "masked vigilante" who's story takes place in such a tumultuous time. It adds a layer of desperation and wonder that you can't get in a modern book. Kudos! And also, I should note I love your color palates and inking… it's unlike so much of what I read these days, and it's always refreshing to see such saturation and contrasting warm and cool scenes.
Thanks Marc! It is great to get comments from someone who obviously has given a great deal of thought to what goes into making a comic and telling a story. Between you and Russ I think ComicMix has two of the best fans available! Although I think your fan status in in danger of being revoked now that you work here. Hopefully you are training young fans to take on the responsibilities should you be drafted into the major leagues! BTW – I think fantasy always has more power when it is staged against a background that seems real. Two great examples are LITTLE BIG by John Crowley and WAR OF THE FLOWERS by Tad Williams.
I'll look em up soon Mark, for sure. And trust me… it seems like unshaven comics is still a few millenia away from being drafted. Or atleast it feels that way most of the times! :)I'll look forward to the next installment…. and if you see my articles up here on comicmix, be sure to comment! Have a great weekend!
Yeah – the problem is – when a lot of that draft stuff happens – it is a very close shave.
That's why unshaven comics has beards… when the draft happens, we want something to be there to shave off.
Now, that's using your follicle!