When J. Michael Straczynski began writing for Marvel Comics in 2001, he asked one simple but fascinating question: What if it was the spider, and not the radiation that gave Spider-man his powers?
That question, which made Spider-man fresh and new in a way he hadn't been for years, bears mixed fruit in "The Other: Evolve or Die." On the one hand, the entire concept of Spider-man as a totemistic hero, one chosen to serve as an avatar of the spider, is a fascinating idea. On the other hand, it takes about two-thirds of the collection before the storyline actually presents us with anything new along those lines.
Written across four concurrently published Spider titles, "The Other" has Spider-man come face to face with his own mortality as a mystery ailment leaves him addled and weakened, and ultimately unable to defend himself against a murderous foe. The story suffers from too many writers, but its highlights make it worth reading: the insights Mary Jane Watson, Spider-man's wife, has into what drives him; the tender moments between the two of them; and even Spider-man's death scene, which was his fifth and easily best-written.
Like many other stories in a long-running title, the events of "The Other" don't count for Spider-man's continuity any longer; but that's a shame. While it's not as strong as the earlier stories from Straczynski's tenure on "The Amazing Spider-man," "The Other" remains an engaging read.
That question, which made Spider-man fresh and new in a way he hadn't been for years, bears mixed fruit in "The Other: Evolve or Die." On the one hand, the entire concept of Spider-man as a totemistic hero, one chosen to serve as an avatar of the spider, is a fascinating idea. On the other hand, it takes about two-thirds of the collection before the storyline actually presents us with anything new along those lines.
Written across four concurrently published Spider titles, "The Other" has Spider-man come face to face with his own mortality as a mystery ailment leaves him addled and weakened, and ultimately unable to defend himself against a murderous foe. The story suffers from too many writers, but its highlights make it worth reading: the insights Mary Jane Watson, Spider-man's wife, has into what drives him; the tender moments between the two of them; and even Spider-man's death scene, which was his fifth and easily best-written.
Like many other stories in a long-running title, the events of "The Other" don't count for Spider-man's continuity any longer; but that's a shame. While it's not as strong as the earlier stories from Straczynski's tenure on "The Amazing Spider-man," "The Other" remains an engaging read.
