Wells and Crews and Slott

From the Used Book Store Finds File:

Peter Parker: Spider-Man, volume 5: Senseless Violence



Step One: Notice deadly awesome John Romita, Jr. cover - very classic Spider-Man image, I think. Attentive, on his toes, looking for trouble and living up to his responsibilities. EVEN IN THE RAIN.

Step Two: Look at back cover. Realize that this book collects those two Spider-Man issues that Sam (The Maxx) Kieth drew a few years ago that I totally missed somehow.

Step Three: Buy this shit as fast as possible.

Step Four: Read the Kieth-drawn story. Wonder if Sam Kieth wrote it himself, exploring as it does the different psychological elements of Sandman's personality, including his "baby" side and his "feminine" side. Double-check.

Step Five: Realize the whole thing is written by Zeb Wells, who I've kinda brushed off in the past.

Step Six: Read the rest of the book. Laugh out loud at several of the Wells-written Spidey jokes (Why you hittin' yourself, Boomerang?! Huh? Why you hittin' yourself?!) and appreciate the fine balance of action, humor and character development.

Step Seven: Go to the store and ask for more of Zeb Wells' Spider-Man, because shit, this was actually really good, classic stuff. Spider-Man is not broken, Marvel. Spider-Man is fine. He doesn't need new costumes or to move to Stark Towers or any of that crap. He needs exactly this kind of treatment; he needs to worry about whether or not he's making a difference, deal with people in his life being hurt as a result of being Spidey, take crap from the cops and everyone else, fight a wide range of super-villains who all hate him for being such a smartass, make fun of them as he kicks their ass, and at the end of the day, go home, because "That's what us heroes get to do."

If a Spidey series was running right now that featured this kind of Spider-Man story, I'd be all over it.

Good one, Zeb. Now I especially can't wait for the upcoming FF/Iron Man: Big In Japan trade.

*****

Hot damn! It's a good time to be a fan of all the writers I'm a fan of. Looking for still more news about Harry Crews, I discovered that two major films based on his books are on their way.

The Gypsy's Curse, directed by Philippe Decoufle, is gonna star Johnny Depp and Harvey Keitel. That's right. A movie based on a book by one of my favorite writers and starring two of my favorite actors. The main character is a mute cripple who does acrobatic acts with his arms with his tiny whithered legs tied behind his back. Holy shit.

The Hawk Is Dying, directed by Julian Goldberger, stars Paul Giamatti as George Gattling, "A Gainesville Florida auto upholsterer [who] attempts to subvert his mundane life by training a wild, red-tailed hawk." Ooh, baby yes.

*****

Dan Slott discusses his upcoming Two-Gun Kid one-shot with preview art at Newsarama today, and Slott's one of the few writers whose interviews I'll read regardless of whether I plan on buying the book or not. I often prefer to go head-in-the-sand style when I've already decided to follow a given project because it lets me approach the book with fewer expectations, but Slott's pretty entertaining no matter what he's writing. Example:

And let me tell ya, She-Hulk #9 is going to be awesome! Something big happens at the end of our Civil War crossover issue this week... And the repercussions of that are going to be severe! And... well... let's just say after two months of Civil War knocking your socks off... She-Hulk #9 is going to be the book that tickles your feet!