Thursday, May 19, 2016

The Amazing Spider-Man: Election Day


   The days of the New York mayoral election are coming to a close and the polls show the race neck and neck. The only thing that could swing it in either sides favor is a massive takedown of a super villain or maybe your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

  A serial killer is on the loose and the murderer been planting patented Spider-Tracers on the corpses. With the cops on his trail, Spider-Man is seriously wounded. A quick escape is just what the web-slinger needs. But a run-in with a new Goblin-like menace (aptly named Menace) arrives on the scene and gives Spidey the fits, resulting in the wall-crawler's arrest. Thankfully, Spider-Man has lawyer Matt Murdock on retainer...

    Then in a history making team-up, Spider-Man comes to the aide of a guy named Barry on the streets of Washington D.C. The Spidey villain Chameleon seems to think that if he can take President-Elect Barack Obama's place during the inauguration, he'll become the 44th POTUS. But with the Spider-Man's Spider-Sense and the Knight Rider-like driving skills of Joe Biden, Democracy should still be save- for now.

  Lastly, Captain America and Spider-Man join forces to fight a group of robots that look like Abe Lincoln and members of his historic cabinet. Offended by the poor imitation, Capt. regales Spidey with a tale of the time the Sentinel of Freedom met Honest Abe thanks to the always trusty cosmic cube.

   All three stories were very good. I had read the Obama Election special somewhere before. Though, I don't remember Joe Biden being such a goof. I guess the VP's antics being constant fodder for the likes of Jimmy Fallon made me more aware of it.

   The main election story reminds me of how little I know of this era of Spider-Man. Yes, I am more of a DC person but I try to be very well round. Yet for some reason, the 90s and 00s were just a period of Marvel history that I have considerable gaps of knowledge.

   Published in 2008, Election Day to me marks the beginning of John Romita Jr's 'Big' period. I dunno if it's arthritis, or age, or just a change in styles, but this is the earliest accounts of all of the characters in his works becoming more barrel-chested and broad-faced. The art isn't lacking in quality and there are still glimpses of his iconic touch that made him a comic collector's household name in the 80s. But his artwork has definitely changed over the years.

   A very good volume that 5-6 years ago would've been priced in the $30-50 dollar range due to the hotness of Obama collectibles. But controversies, approval ratings, and the fickle nature of comic collectors have resulted in this book's value to drop considerably. I found my hardcover copy for $2.99 at Ollie's Discount!

    Take a gander for it, folks. You might get lucky like I did. And who knows... maybe after the election, this book might rise in price again...

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

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