‘Amazing Fantasy #1000’ Review (Marvel Comics)
Written by Various | Art by Various | Published by Marvel Comics
This comic obviously doesn’t really exist. There is no Amazing Fantasy #1000, it exists only in the heads of the Marvel marketing department. Spider-Man’s 60th anniversary, however, does exist, and he’s one of a handful of characters that forced his way into mainstream pop culture many years before Marvel became the pop culture juggernaut it now is. Peter Parker is, of course, all of us when we were teenage kids. Socially awkward, tough home life, constantly short of money…take your pick, there’s something in there that everyone could relate to. The fact he gained his powers also made every kid reading think, hey, if it happened to him, it could happen to me.
Peter Parker has also had a massive influence on a lot of professionals now working in the industry, as this anniversary issue shows. For every pro that worked on a story, there would have been a dozen who would have liked to. In this issue we get 8 separate stories, so let’s take a look.
First up is ‘Just Some Guy,’ by Anthony Falcone and Michael Cho. It’s fantastic and gets the book off to a great start. It charts the relationship between Spidey and low life villain Frankie Fama, and why Spidey sweats the small stuff just as much as the big stuff. A gorgeous, affectionate timeless take that is an 8-page masterpiece.
‘Sinister 60th’, by Dan Slott and Jim Cheung, looks at a possible future for Peter, as he celebrates his 60th birthday by taking on a new, young Vulture and letting down Mary-Jane yet again. All light-hearted enough, until age and carelessness lead to Spidey being badly injured. Talk about tugging on the heart strings. Another winner.
‘Spider-Man vs. Conspiriton’ sees Armando Iannucci (what a surprising but fab choice), Ryan Stegman, and JP Mayer take their turn. In a nice satirical swipe at modern politics and the modern publics gullibility, Spider-Man takes on a villain who uses hallucinogens to make everything reflect their own worldview. Funny and chilling at the same time. Fu story and great art.
‘The Kid’s Got a Good Eye’ by Rainbow Rowell and Oliver Coipel, focuses more on Peter and his life at the Bugle as a photographer. It’s lovingly done, gorgeous to look at and clearly written with a smile on the face. Another hit.
‘In the Flesh,’ by Ho Che Anderson and Guiseppe Camuncoli, sees the legendary Klaus Janson on inks. It takes a more psychological look at Spidey and some of the people he interacts with. Well told, though for me the weakest story so far.
‘Slaves of the Witch-Queen,’ by Kurt Busiek and Terry & Rachel Dodson, is a sequel to a story that ran in Amazing Fantasy #15. Hey, this is Kurt Busiek after all. It’s silliness but done lovingly with tongue firmly in cheek. I loved it.
‘You Get it,’ by Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto, sees our Spider-Man talking to the Council of Spider-Men. He wants advice on coping with the endless disasters they all endure as Spider-Men. Only, they can’t relate. It seems their lives are great…until they admit they were kidding him. Yep, it’s a multiversal thing, every Peter has the same problems. Hickman is telling us though that those hardships are at the heart of the character, his essence. Yet again, superb stuff.
‘With Great Power…’ is the big one, as it is written by Neil Gaiman, with the bonus of art from Steve McNiven. This is a highly personal take on Spider-Man, with Gaiman showing us the influence Spidey had on him growing up. Its as much a love letter to Steve Ditko and those old weekly British comics and their cheap tacky gifts as anything, but Gaiman does what he always does. He creates magic. He tells us his story knowing full well everyone reading will have their own, equally magical tale. Spider-Man was everyone’s best friend after all.
That would have been it, but there’s a nice tribute at the end of the issue. A longtime Marvel staffer, Mike Pasciullo, recently passed away, and to show their affection for him some staffers drew and inked some Spider-Man pages from an unpublished story Mike wrote. Not the best thing here, but Todd Nauck does a great job illustrating some pages that really capture Spidey and his essence well. Nice touch Marvel.
A slam dunk of a comic. A love letter for all of us for a character that was probably the most relatable one we grew up reading. His troubles were our troubles. Reading some of these stories I was 12 again, sitting in the garden drinking a bottle of coke and reading my stack of comics.
Beautifully written and drawn throughout, not a bad story in there. Near perfect.
