posted 03-01-2002 01:06 AM               

While the Ultimate Marvel project has offered new takes on the classic Marvel superheroes, Marvel hasn’t stopped publishing the originals. Indeed, 2001 saw the flagship titles receive creative overhauls of their own; among those overhauls was Babylon 5 and Midnight Nation creator J. Michael Straczynski taking over the writing of The Amazing Spider-Man. Coming Home collects his first story arc, an action story that tries to refocus on the character’s strengths and make a few changes in the status quo.

One of the interesting things about Straczynski’s move to comics is that it illustrates how in many ways comics are light years ahead of television or even films in terms of speculative fiction and fantasy storytelling. Comics had been doing the long-form finite arc for years before Straczynski made the concept work on TV with Babylon 5, for example. Many of the plot elements he introduces here are things that have been employed elsewhere in comics over the years, and it reduces the story’s impact for those who have read a lot of comics. A mysterious stranger shows up to question’s Peter Parker’s beliefs about the origins of his powers, and suggests he is part of a lineage of spider-powered heroes, destined to fight other human representatives of the natural world. None of these are exactly revolutionary concepts in comics, even (or especially) superhero comics. Stracynski also occasionally overwrites here, trying to make events seem more portentous or life-changing than the reader might think they are. (He also sometimes falls victim to expository dialogue, as on the first page where Peter’s Aunt May leaves Peter a message on his answering machine that conveniently articulates the central character elements that Straczynski attempts to explore.)

That’s not to say this is not a worthwhile story. It is, because Straczynski understands the character of Peter Parker and that character’s appeal to the reader. Peter is an intelligent guy with a good sense of humor, modest almost to a fault, and determined to help others and do the right thing no matter the personal cost to himself. Straczynski has those elements down; he portrays Peter as a confident, experienced hero and uses just the right amount of humor in dialogue and the captions that depict Peter’s inner monologue to keep the story from being overburdened with angst or despair. So when Peter returns to his old high school to try to help out as a substitute teacher, or spends the night fighting a seemingly-unstoppable villain named Morlun across New York City, it’s easy to identify with Peter and root for his success. The only familiar figure from the Spider-Man supporting cast is Aunt May, but Straczynski does a good job with this character as well; writers have recently begun making May seem less old and frail and more of a strong, capable mother figure for Peter, and Straczynski continues that trend while setting up some significant changes in Peter and May’s relationship.