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The Spider #2
Publisher: Dynamite
Writer: David Liss
Artist: Colton Worley (cover “A” by David Cassaday)
The Spider was created by Harry Steeger
Richard Wentworth has more enemies than friends at this point in his life. His latest enemy, Anput, has shown The Spider, and the police, that she can basically turn people into mindless zombies using some kind of chemical. Not only that, she and her boy toy are quite formidable in hand-to-hand combat, as well. There’s some insight to their origins provided here, and this might help The Spider in the future. Now, that’s also dependent on how long he lives, and right now that doesn’t seem too long of a period, considering Anput has ordered the hypnotized zombies under her power to kill The Spider.
This book is without a doubt one of the coolest books anyone can read on the shelves right now. It stands out for several reasons. First, it’s a noir book where a reader can actually see everything that’s going on and understand it. A lot of these books in this genre are way too dark and difficult to understand, or the text is difficult because of the font and/or the overall darkness of the book. This one is the perfect blend of dark and light when you need it. Secondly, the action scenes are always well done, and The Spider’s humor in the face of danger is fantastic. Liss has quite a knack for hitting the humor button at the perfect time. The Spider is tough when he needs to be, but his intelligence and agility are what usually get him out of trouble. The fact that he’s just a regular dude (a la Batman) is what really makes you root for him.

Colton Worley does a magnificent job on the artwork in this book. His version of The Spider is really cool and mysterious. The scenery backing up all these great characters is certainly a big reason for the way this book will be received. All of the settings look exactly like they should for as gritty a crime book as this is, but you also get a slight superhero book vibe, as well. The all-black costume, along with the mask that The Spider wears, is a subtle, but very cool contrast. The covers by such greats as Cassaday, Lesser, and Francavilla (below) add nothing but awesomeness to an already great book. Rating 5/5



Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net