Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four: Silver Rage

Upon a chance encounter with the Impossible Man, Spider-Man runs afoul a mysterious alien scientist who sets up residence in Central Park. Resulting in the seemingly thought impossible death of the Impossible Man, the alien menace establishes protocols that begin fusing the people of Earth with a never before encountered race of cosmic parasites. 

Needing help, Spider-Man seeks out the Fantastic Four. Having defeated cosmic threat like Galactus and Blastaar, The First Family of the Marvel Universe have experience with this sort of thing. But as the fusion of humans and parasites seem permanent, Mr. Fantastic decides to go on a search of the universe for answers on how to defeat this joining. 

As the FF are now three, Spider-Man finally gets his dream chance of becoming the team's fourth. But something seems to be wrong with the wall-crawler. Is he succumbing to these parasitic beings? Or is there something a little more sinister behind his malady? Help might only be forthcoming in the one person least expected- Doctor Doom!

A chance find on the new shelf at my local library, I had no prior knowledge of this 2007 story. Written by Jeff Parker (Batman '66), this story is rated all-ages. But I didn't feel that the action and adventure was watered down in any way. I never even saw what the rating of this book was until after I finished this book. What I am saying is that Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four: Silver Rage doesn't feel like an all-ages tale. 

Around this time of this limited series original publication, Marvel was publishing a series of all-ages comics under the banner of Marvel Adventures. While I am a huge fan of these books, you can tell that they are written for both young and older readers to enjoy without anything offensive. There's nothing tell-tell about the universal age recommendation to this four chapter book! 

I also adored the artwork. Penciled by the late Mike Wieringo, there's a quirky appeal to this book. 'Ringo, as he liked to refer to himself when signing autographs, had a timeless style that was super-fluid. It works amazingly well as Mr. Fantastic, Spidey and the Impossible Man are all characters that seem the be triple-jointed. A national art treasure, Wieringo is yet another artist who left us too soon!

An exciting Fantastic Four and Spider-Man team-up filled with tons of cameos and levels of drama, excitement and physics! This is an underrated read that needs a second look.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.