Graphic Novel Review J Michael Straczynski Spiderman Coming Home

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2001 Marvel Comics – Spoiler alerts Not to be confused with the recent Spiderman Homecoming movie, this I an epic story created by the writer behind the Babylon Five TV series. Soon after his girlfriend Mary Jane leaves him, Peter (Spiderman) Parker goes into a state of depression, which he relieves by using his Spiderman powers to the maximum, destroying a derelict building and being particularly aggressive to mal time human crooks he catches. As Parker, he take on a part time teaching job, showing that he is moving away from being the teenage hero of earlier comics. He suddenly meets a mysterious but non-threatening stranger called Ezekiel, who seems to share many of his powers. Ezekiel eventually warns Parker that he (Spiderman) is being pursued by a relentless vampire like Terminator entity called Morlun, who for reasons unstated, kills all the purest essence superheroes. Believing Spiderman to be the pure essence of a spider, he is after him. Spiderman ignore Ezekiel’s wishes to hide him in a special room that Morlun cannot find, and Morlun beats him and nearly kills him before Spiderman finally realizes that though spider-like, his powers are not from the spider but from radiation. He makes himself extra-radioactive so Morlun is weakened and killed by the radiation. The final frame is a shocker as Parker goes home too exhausted to stay awake after the battle, only for his Aunt May to find him asleep in his costume, and in effect discovers his secret identity at last. Well written, drawing on the core mythos of the story and with a genuinely menacing villain, but Ezekiel serves as little more than a source of exposition. There are some great flashes of humour, which some background character even making fun of Babylon Five. Youtube Spiderman cartoon theme Arthur Chappell