Spider-Man: Blue
25TH REVIEW!!!
Writer: Jeph Loeb
Artist: Tim Sale
Peter and Gwen Stacy's love sparks! Loeb and Sale succeed in adapting Stan Lee's classic Spider-Man tales into a tragic romance!
Ranking: 5 stars
Jeph Loeb has become one of my all time favorite comic book writers! He knows the characters he writes extremely well, and drives deep into their heart and souls. He may use less dialogue than most writers, but he does this to show the main character's thoughts through narration boxes, and allows the story to flow as if you were actually looking into the character's psyche. It's Loeb's greatest strength in his writing ability, and has led many of his works to become some of my all-time favorite comics including BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN, BATMAN: DARK VICTORY, BATMAN: HUSH, and now SPIDER-MAN: BLUE!!!
SPIDER-MAN: BLUE is one of the three Marvel color works produced by Loeb and Sale. Along with HULK: GREY and DAREDEVIL: YELLOW, this book adapts Stan Lee's work from the sixties, and then expands it into a tragic romance of the hero's past. "Spider-Man Blue" begins on Valentines Day, with Spidey swinging towards the Brooklyn Bridge, the site of Gwen Stacy's death. For Spidey fans that do not know, Gwen Stacy was Peter Parker's girlfriend before Mary Jane during the sixties, until she was brutally killed by the Green Goblin. As Spider-Man leaves a rose on the bridge, as he does every Valentines Day, he begins to look back on the past to the days where he first begun his relationship with Gwen (see Amazing Spider-Man #39-#49). The flashbacks portray Peter Parker trying to form a serious relationship with Gwen, but complications arise, as Mary Jane walks into the scene (as Loeb and Sale put it, it's the story of how Peter and Gwen almost didn't fall in love). All at the same time, he must deal with challenges in his life as Spider-Man to, as he battles the Green Goblin, Rhino, Lizard, two Vultures (read Stan Lee's work in MARVEL MASTERWORKS: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VOL. 5 to understand the back story behind that), and finally comes face-to-face with a man from behind the scenes who is controlling it all.
Loeb's writing is a sensational read! He has Peter narrate the story through tapes he is recording for Gwen, which allows us to understand Peter's pain and sorrow for the loss of Gwen, and the final scene of the book almost left me in tears! Tim Sale as always, does beautiful art whenever he is paired up with Loeb, as his illustrations allow Loeb's story to come to life. Much of Sale's artwork in this book is bound to become some of the best Spidey's history!
Ignore the recent criticism towards Loeb. He is an amazing writer who is able to create a new look on the personalities of the character's he writes. He has earned his place as one of my favorite comic book writers, along with Frank Miller (BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS), Brian Michael Bendis (ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN), Scott Snyder (BATMAN: THE COURT OF OWLS), and Masashi Kishimoto (NARUTO). He just creates sensational works!!!
I better sign off now; I'm feeling blue from writing this review (LOL)!
