Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "daily-bugle"

Spider-Man: The Daily Bugle by Paul Grist

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This collects a bunch of Daily Bugle-related comics.

First up is the three issue Daily Bugle mini-series, which is done in Black and White art. Honestly, this is my favorite part of the book. We follow Daily Bugle regulars like Betty Brant and Phil Ulrich, and a drunk down on his luck journalist named Charlie, while they investigate stories. In one story, with the paper stretched then, Jonah volunteers to investigate a case. It's a lot of fun, with good writing, nice characterization, and the black and white nature is really appropriate for the newspaper feel.

Then we get the Deadline Mini-series. A reporter is on the superhero beat but wants to get off of it and onto crime and she investigates a case where a judge is becoming an avenging vigilante...after apparently dying. This isn't bad, although I'd be lying if I said I liked the character. The biggest problem is that this isn't a story that needs told in the MCU. The MCU elements feel shoehorned in. Betty and Phil play roles in the story but could be placed by any generic characters. And the fact that a story like this happens in the MCU actually makes it less believable that something like this is going on near where Doctor Strange lives and it's up to a reporter to suss it out.

There's a back-up story from three issues of Spectacular Spider-man where Jonah is thrown into an existential crisis when he learns some randos think his newspaper is tabloid trash...mainly because it is. The end of this crisis is...not really satisfying.

Spider-man's Tangled Web #20 sees Jonah on the couch due to some anger issues and forced to confront and examine his past. While some of the interactions with the psychiatrist seem silly and over the top and most of the revelations of Jonah's past (i.e. overbearing/abusive father. Shocker!), I do think its mostly well-executed and its a decent read.

Next up we have Jonah's appear in Holiday Special 2004 where he experiences his own version of the Christmas Carol. It's kind of meh. Most of the jokes don't work and there's little emotional resonance. Plus the Marvel Universe being what it is, Jonah's not going to transform his character because of something that happened in a Holiday special.

Overall, nothing in the collection is bad, but only the three-issue mini-series is actually good, making for an overall mediocre reading experience.



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