Spider-Man: Fever

Spider-Man: Miniseries

by Brendan McCarthy

One of comics' most innovative and original voices, Brendan McCarthy brings us SPIDER-MAN FEVER--a truly unique and surreal story evoiking the classic Silver-Age psychedelia of Steve Ditko's Dr. Strange. In FEVER, Spider-Man is abducted by a depraved tribe of spider-demons to a d\bizarre dimension where he is to be eaten alive. Dr. Strange goes on a perilous occult quest to rescue his friend--and tangles with some very peculiar characters along the way.

COLLECTING:

Spider-Man: Fever #1-3; Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Spider Man, Fantasy, Fiction, Superheroes

96 pages, Paperback

First published September 20, 2010

Reviews

[Quentin Wallace]

This was a good homage to Steve Ditko type Doctor Strange/Spiderman team up. It's a really far out story with really far out art, but that's Doctor Strange all over, especially back in the early Ditko days. A little too abstract and weird for me, but a decent read nonetheless, especially when you consider the original source material.

[Rosa]

esto es una cosa que se publicó por algún motivo

[Dean]

I like the ambition but not the execution.
More of a just over 1 star book.

Art wasn't for me but it's trying something. The colouring is REALLY not for me.
Dialogue and text weren't good, plot was fine.

[Richard]

Weird, trippy. I think that was the point. It worked visually, but the writing and the overall story left me wanting.

[Reni]

Imagine: You're just about to sit down with a good book, when you become aware of a dark presence in your bathroom. You pray it's not faulty plumbing drowning your bathroom tiles, but when you investigate it's only a giant spider wearing a top-hat, sucking out Spider-man's soul in your bathtub. Normal tuesday night for the good doctor.



This is only the opening to our story. And it gets slightly weird from there!

Gorgeous! This book is gorgeous! There is this unwritten rule that you know you're reading a good Dr. Strange story when you're wondering what the creative team (the artist in particular) must have been smoking. This is definitely the case here:



Brendan McCarthy set out with the intention to call up the era that birthed the character of Dr. Strange and he succeeded. "Why is that spider wearing a hat?" is not a question you should be asking if you're looking to enjoy the story. If you can't appreciate the beauty of a cosmic swan boat ride I don't even wanna know you, to be honest. ;)


The book is worth the price of admission for the art alone, but luckily there is also a solid story to go with it. Well, maybe "solid" is the wrong word to use here, it's more melting and dripping and sweaty. But it works with the art style and its bizarre characters underline the themes of the dreamstate we enter when opening the book's pages. I also appreciated the surprisingly underplayed humour of the book Like, making the spider who bit Spider-man a mystic spider prince just seemed like a sensible developement. "I did not glow because I was radioactive". No, of course not!. I had to laugh every time the seer drew an oddly specific tarot card.



Finally, Spider-man and Dr. Strange is a team-up I need more of. Spidey's humour works very well against Strange's more solemn personality.



The Trade also collects the story "The Wondrous Worlds of Doctor Strange" from Spider-man Annual #2 from 1965. Another story in which Spidey and Strange team-up, this time to defeat Xandu, as written by Stan Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko. This is just the right kind of comic to include with Fever. You can clearly see the influence the colourful trans-dimensional realms full of strange shapes and sloting doors of Ditko's run had on the art of Spider-man: Fever.

[LordSlaw]

This is an excellently trippy homage to Ditko's Dr. Strange. The story is a superb psychedelic excursion into weird alternate dimensions as Dr. Strange endeavors to rescue Spider-Man from spider-demons in the insect realm. The supporting characters are curious and cool, the writing witty and wonderful, the artwork vibrant and colorful. The reprinted Ditko-drawn Dr. Strange and Spider-Man story from 1965 is also extradimensionally excellent, filled with mystical mayhem. A fun read.

[Elisabeth]

This was extremely trippy and I’m kinda wishing I hadn’t read it right before bed...all the creepy psychedelic spiders were not exactly what I wanted to see...

That said, it was an okay story. I mean I really like Dr Strange and Spidey so it was cool.

I’m just gonna hope I don’t have any nightmares.

[John]

A love letter to Steve Ditko with some trippy art and fair writing.

In my head canon, I consider this to be a companion piece to Spider-Man: The Other, which in my mind also ties into the Avengers of One Million BC.

[Bob]

Co-writer of *Mad Max: Fury Road* hits all the same notes of JMS's awful 70-issue Spidey run but does it in 3 issues & it is actually great

Would love to see the awesome Ms. Ningirril return in a Doc Strange book

Nice bonus Ditko reprint of Spidey & Doc Strange too

[Roman Colombo]

Abundantly trippy with some brilliant art. It also has a nice nostalgic touch. So strange.

[Vash1012]

3.5

[Brian James]

What was this s..t ?! One of the most annoying reads EVER... and that f*$&ing 'harrah, harrah' chanting x 1 million. Back on ebay it goes!!

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy]

So trippy visually- vibrant colors and dark shadows. A fun read!

[Jim Loftus]

Amazing artwork but the story was really weird and confusing. I feel like something more interesting could’ve been done with these 2 characters.

[Elin]

I couldnt look away, not sure if it was in a good way or bad way tho

[Brian]

A good mind-bending trip through another dimension with the Sorcerer Supreme and your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Short and interesting story, with some great art and even better colors.

[Ryan]

Really wanted to like Brendan McCarthy's art more, but I just didn't feel it. I did not buy this book for Spider-Man, but for Doctor Strange. And the story was weird. But it was so weird that I could not tell what was going on. The story put me into a sort of waking coma. Once I finished the story, I woke up, feeling like I had just mixed too many different types of hard liquor. So disappointed. Oh wait, I just thought of something nice to say: the colors were really nice. Good job, colorist.

[zxvasdf]

I'm an instant convert to Brendan McCarthy. I've given up on most Marvel comics, and keep it at the level of picking up the occasional paperback from the library. There's so much to follow, entire storylines that spill into other issues. I just do not have the wallet for that! I was a big Spiderman fan, so it was nice to find a standalone story. Now, even after reading just one work by him, do you know how excited I was when I heard rumor he would also be writing Mad Max 4?

The art is delirious, and the story peels off yet another layer of the Spiderman origin story. Sorry, I'm mum on this, it's for readers only. It's also a fine introduction to Dr. Strange. It makes me want to find more of Ditko's work on Strange and follow up.

I am kind of wishing I lived in a time and place where I could have gotten easier access to McCarthy's work. I believe I would be a different person, but there's nothing I can do of it now but to make up for lost time.

[Matthew]

This is a rather silly book that's part satire/part homage to the 60's and 70's Teamup comics with Dr. Strange and Spiderman. Basically, Spiderman is just hanging around near Dr. Strange's place when the good doc reads an enchanted text, setting off a trap that sends a spiderdemon searching for a soul to bring back to its spiderdemon master. The plot jumps around a lot, and you get a lot of the writing style you got in the 70's where every character tells you what they are doing and then does it in the next panel (ie Now I shall cast my spell of invisibility, which will allow me to walk unnoticed throughout the demon kingdom...not a real example, but you get the idea). What really brings this alive, though, is the ultra-psychedelic artwork. Very quirky, very fun, but probably only for a really limited audience.

[Mike]

Yeah, it's weird and groovy-looking - far out man, the pages *look* pretty cool. But without a compelling story, it falls flat - a gimmick that doesn't carry my interest enough to even bother finishing. Maybe it would've worked better as a silent wordless tale.

[Craig]

Really nice to look at (I mean, REALLY nice) but too committed to Ditko and too silly a plot to be really enjoyable. I dug the intro of Ms Ningorril, but not much was done with her. I'd love to see her pop again some day.

[Tamahome]

Psychedelic Steve Ditko-like spiders & sorcery with Dr. Strange, man.

[Joseph]

As weird as it gets. Perfect Dr. Strange story.

[La Revistería Comics]

Fiebre de un arácnido por la noche junto al fumanchero Doctor Strange en una MGN de lo más ditkera.

[Dony Grayman]

Tomo de la Colección Marvel Graphic Novels de Panini con los dos personajes más emblemáticos de la dupla Ditko-Lee a cargo de un lisérgico Brendan McCarthy.

[Variaciones Enrojo]

Edición española en tapa dura. Colección Marvel Graphic Novels.

[Kapitol Tank]

Traduce Spider-Man: Fever #1-3 y Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2 USA.

[Kerry]

A little too of the mark for me.

[Dave]

1.5/5

Actually read off of comixology, but no digital copy is listed here, so the paperback will do.

While a good looking and certainly psychedelic as can be, the actual story here is just a weightless mess that adds up to nothing. McCarthy is aiming for nightmare logic, but the whole thing feels forced, with embarrassingly bad attempts at humour. Not recommended.