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Spider-Man: Quality of Life #1-4
Spider-Man: Quality of Life
When a corrupt corporation blocks Dr. Curt Conners' bid to help cure his cancer-stricken wife, his only hope for curing Martha might involve unleashing the monster within -- the Lizard
112 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2002
About the author
Greg Rucka
1,511 books1,939 followersGreg Rucka, is an American comic book writer and novelist, known for his work on such comics as Action Comics, Batwoman: Detective Comics, and the miniseries Superman: World of New Krypton for DC Comics, and for novels such as his Queen & Country series.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 15, 2022
Ever wanted to read a comic that looked like a shitty digital children's cartoon?
Me either.
And yet, one of my Shallow buddies found this little gem and somehow made it seem like a fun idea to read it with him. So here I am.
I was not the only friend harmed by this prank.
Honestly, I thought it would be worse than it was.
The art is slick and bubbly, but the story is so at odds with this childish look that it made it pretty easy for me to swipe through the digital panels.
That statement is in NO WAY an endorsement of the comic. I'm just saying it was hard to look away from this trainwreck.
The gist is that Curt Connors' wife has a massive cancerous tumor on her spine and is undergoing a high-risk surgery that has a very low chance of working. Her cancer is from chemical dumping from a corporation headed by a real sleazeball who is (gasp!) denying all culpability. Connors is suing, and unbeknownst to him is the target of the snake chick who was hired by the above-mentioned corporate sleaze.
The stress has Connors turning back and forth into the Lizard and hijinks ensue.
Except that no matter how quippy Spider-man is, or how innocuous the art is, it's still a story about a man whose wife is dying. Oh, and whose son suddenly gets cancer while they're in the hospital watching the mom die.
Very uplifting!
Don't hand this to small children!
Me either.
And yet, one of my Shallow buddies found this little gem and somehow made it seem like a fun idea to read it with him. So here I am.
I was not the only friend harmed by this prank.
Honestly, I thought it would be worse than it was.
The art is slick and bubbly, but the story is so at odds with this childish look that it made it pretty easy for me to swipe through the digital panels.
That statement is in NO WAY an endorsement of the comic. I'm just saying it was hard to look away from this trainwreck.
The gist is that Curt Connors' wife has a massive cancerous tumor on her spine and is undergoing a high-risk surgery that has a very low chance of working. Her cancer is from chemical dumping from a corporation headed by a real sleazeball who is (gasp!) denying all culpability. Connors is suing, and unbeknownst to him is the target of the snake chick who was hired by the above-mentioned corporate sleaze.
The stress has Connors turning back and forth into the Lizard and hijinks ensue.
Except that no matter how quippy Spider-man is, or how innocuous the art is, it's still a story about a man whose wife is dying. Oh, and whose son suddenly gets cancer while they're in the hospital watching the mom die.
Very uplifting!
Don't hand this to small children!
July 15, 2022
This was surprisingly not as awful as its interior art suggested it would be. For one, the story actually was interesting and rather well-written and that really saved this comic from being a total train-wreck.
The artist was clearly either someone who had just discovered Blender existed or someone who had decided to make a comic using toy action figures. And whilst it resulted in hideous art, it was less of a distracting eyesore and more like an unexpectedly hilarious inclusion. If you didn’t focus on it too much the ridiculousness of the art sort of infused itself into the story and amplified the humorousness of scenes that probably should’ve been more serious given the delicate topic being explored. And the art was, in some ways, reminiscent of the “it’s so bad, it’s good” attitude adopted around cult classics.
However, the ending was inadequate and very abrupt, as though Rucka didn’t have time to address the consequences of any of the plot points, so he just threw his hands in the air as though to say “oh well, this is the best you’re going to get” and quit whilst he was ahead. If only the story had been a bit longer in order to properly explore the complexities of the topic and more conclusive to round out the story, then it would possibly have been able to surpass the cringy art and earned itself 3.5 stars or, dare I say it, 4 stars.
The artist was clearly either someone who had just discovered Blender existed or someone who had decided to make a comic using toy action figures. And whilst it resulted in hideous art, it was less of a distracting eyesore and more like an unexpectedly hilarious inclusion. If you didn’t focus on it too much the ridiculousness of the art sort of infused itself into the story and amplified the humorousness of scenes that probably should’ve been more serious given the delicate topic being explored. And the art was, in some ways, reminiscent of the “it’s so bad, it’s good” attitude adopted around cult classics.
However, the ending was inadequate and very abrupt, as though Rucka didn’t have time to address the consequences of any of the plot points, so he just threw his hands in the air as though to say “oh well, this is the best you’re going to get” and quit whilst he was ahead. If only the story had been a bit longer in order to properly explore the complexities of the topic and more conclusive to round out the story, then it would possibly have been able to surpass the cringy art and earned itself 3.5 stars or, dare I say it, 4 stars.
March 22, 2022
Yikes, I can't believe Greg Rucka's name is on this. It's bad. It's really bad. Curt Connors's wife is dying of cancer. Every time he's under stress, he turns into the Lizard and goes after the CEO of the company that poisoned her. Meanwhile, the company has hired a half snake female assassin to kill Dr. Connors rather than admitting guilt. Spider-Man is, of course, in the middle of it. The story is way too short for such a serious subject. The end just comes out of nowhere with just some explanation of "Haven't you ever been in love?"
Then we get to the art. It made my eyes bleed. It looks like CGI from the Reboot cartoon era. The lighting is constantly messed up with multiple light sources and reflective surfaces. I couldn't tell what was happening in any of the panels with the Lizard in them. This is just trash and it has major ramifications on Curt Connor's life.
Then we get to the art. It made my eyes bleed. It looks like CGI from the Reboot cartoon era. The lighting is constantly messed up with multiple light sources and reflective surfaces. I couldn't tell what was happening in any of the panels with the Lizard in them. This is just trash and it has major ramifications on Curt Connor's life.
March 21, 2022
So yes, this is a bad comic. The art is eye-wateringly atrocious - not only do the characters look lifeless, their surroundings look lifeless. Reading this CGI mess, I kept smelling rubber.
But it's written by Greg Rucka, surely the story is okay? Nope! The story he is trying to tell is weighed down down down by a woman dying from cancer. You've got to have real chops to pull that off, and Rucka didn't. There are only four issues, there's not enough space to handle the topic sensitively, and so the fact that someone died from cancer is more or less forgotten towards the end. The sproingy CGI art and Peter's dumb spider-quips also clash horribly with the severity of the storyline.
Run away because of the storyline, crash through a window because of the CGI art.
But it's written by Greg Rucka, surely the story is okay? Nope! The story he is trying to tell is weighed down down down by a woman dying from cancer. You've got to have real chops to pull that off, and Rucka didn't. There are only four issues, there's not enough space to handle the topic sensitively, and so the fact that someone died from cancer is more or less forgotten towards the end. The sproingy CGI art and Peter's dumb spider-quips also clash horribly with the severity of the storyline.
Run away because of the storyline, crash through a window because of the CGI art.
March 20, 2022
This one’s a Buddy/Hate Read with the fellow Shallow Colics Readers. And boy did it look like a prime candidate, with this “it looked dated when they did it in 1994 with the Saturday morning Reboot cartoon” 3D art.
Pour one out for Rucka, even his worst script deserves better than this anachronistic terror artwork.
Just reading the first two pages, I can’t take it seriously. Is this a joke to you Mr. Rucka?
By issue 2 it’s no longer funny. It’s just sad. I read the effusive thanks from the artist to all the 3D assistants he had to build to world, the rooms, the body models, the ridiculous textures. I feel for the dude who took this as a challenge. I hope he’s better now.
By issue 3 I’m finally concentrating on the characters, and I realise even Rucka can’t take this seriously. A half-snake, half-female assassin? A sleaze bag pharma CEO? And yet another time when Dr. Curt Connors’ whole family is in dire straits?
Issue 4 the art seems ridiculous again. Did someone lose a bet? Then that ending. The assassin Like the creators couldn’t even be arsed to put together a coherent story, they were just so ready to give in to the spectacle?
What a wet fart in a pair of plastic boy shorts this all was.
Pour one out for Rucka, even his worst script deserves better than this anachronistic terror artwork.
Just reading the first two pages, I can’t take it seriously. Is this a joke to you Mr. Rucka?
By issue 2 it’s no longer funny. It’s just sad. I read the effusive thanks from the artist to all the 3D assistants he had to build to world, the rooms, the body models, the ridiculous textures. I feel for the dude who took this as a challenge. I hope he’s better now.
By issue 3 I’m finally concentrating on the characters, and I realise even Rucka can’t take this seriously. A half-snake, half-female assassin? A sleaze bag pharma CEO? And yet another time when Dr. Curt Connors’ whole family is in dire straits?
Issue 4 the art seems ridiculous again. Did someone lose a bet? Then that ending. The assassin Like the creators couldn’t even be arsed to put together a coherent story, they were just so ready to give in to the spectacle?
What a wet fart in a pair of plastic boy shorts this all was.
November 30, 2025
Read as single issues.
Some early computer generated art, too cartoony for its hyper-realistic colouring/rendering.
I liked the main antagonist, the snake woman Yith, but Lizard stories just don't do it for me. Also, I think the story could have been told in 2-3 issues instead of 4.
Worst of all, the emotional impact of a death in this story falls completely flat in my opinion.
Some early computer generated art, too cartoony for its hyper-realistic colouring/rendering.
I liked the main antagonist, the snake woman Yith, but Lizard stories just don't do it for me. Also, I think the story could have been told in 2-3 issues instead of 4.
Worst of all, the emotional impact of a death in this story falls completely flat in my opinion.
February 28, 2024
Dear lord this comic is ugly
October 30, 2016
Computer art may be good for what it is, but it's not for use in a comic book. Didn't work for me at all.
February 19, 2023
I'm not going give this book more credit then it deserves, because it's just not good. The art is bad and doesn't make sense in the context of marvel comics, the story is just a run-of-the mill backstory for a villain, it just doesn't work. But in terms of the art, Scott Sava had submitted almost 32 years worth of great, non-animated art for comics and got rejected, and he made this under Greg Rucka's suggestion and this Marvel said yes to. I think that's important to know.
January 3, 2010
Not actually a bad book, but unless you just need to read a novel about Spider-Man, there is little to recommend it.
May 14, 2021
Possibly the worst choice of art style for a comic book I've ever seen.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews