Product Description: The neighborhood isn't so friendly anymore. Spider-Man has been operating in New York City for years; shunned or reviled, he has touched most of its eight million citizens. And each of them has a story.
It's an entirely different way at looking at Spider-Man, the way he operates and the world he lives in. Each story is by a different set of today's top comics creators, starting with "The Thousand," which introduces a new threat to Spider-Man courtesy of Garth Ennis (Punisher, Preacher, Hitman) and John McCrea (Hitman, Jenny Sparks, Hulk Smash!). What's it like to work for the Kingpin? It's answered in "Severance Package" from crime novelist Greg Rucka (Shooting at Midnight, Black Widow) and Edward Risso (100 Bullets). "Flowers for Rhino" is an offbeat look at one of Spider-Man's oldest foes, from Peter Milligan (X-Force, Shade the Changing Man) and Duncan Fegredo (Jay and Silent Bob).
Spidey through the eyes of his supporting cast! ^ I've read a lot of Spiderman stories. These are pretty good. A set of 3 tales told outside of Spidey's point of view.
3 stories... pretty great, but nothing spectacular! The Thousand is one of the better ones and I got a kick out of Rhinoplasty. Good stuff. Buy if you like Spiderman!
Excellent Spider-Man stories, even better than expected ^ From the reviews, I was expecting to dislike the Garth Ennis contribution to this volume. I love Ennis's writing, but also know that he seems to despise super-heroes. (He's superb on titles like The Punisher and Hellblazer). However, I found his 3-part story in Tangled Web to be highly entertaining as well as (of course) superbly written. At first glance, I didn't especially like John McCrea's pencils, but soon found that they worked just fine for this story. I wish we had seen more of his villain, "The Thousand" in the regular Spider-Man titles.
For the second story, "Severance Package", by Rucka and Risso, I was initially a bit worried because I'm rather tired of the Kingpin. However, the story wasn't really about him. It was a tightly written story in which Spider-Man doesn't even appear. Risso's art was as nicely rendered as in the classic 100 Bullets series, while Rucka did a fine job examining the implications of the failure of one of Kingpin's lieutenants. I actually felt sorry for the criminal fall guy.
The two-part "Rhinoplasty" by Peter Milligan and Duncan Fergredo was an enjoyable play on the classic SF story "Flowers for Algernon". The Rhino has always struck me as a particularly boring character, but here he works beautifully. A surprisingly standout Spider-Man collection.
Great, except for the first story ^ I would have given this book at least four stars if it didn't include Garth Ennis's three-part story The Thousand. It introduced a really silly villain who was supposed to bully Peter Parker as a kid. I hate it when characters who are supposedly part of the backstory come out of nowhere and I hate it even more when they are just silly. He had no motivation for wanting to kill Spiderman and take his place. The plot was just lame, which is a shame because Garth Ennis is one of the greatest comic writers ever. Having said that, John McCrea's art is brilliant! He uses a different style that I have never seen him use before. It relies less on shading and more on simple linework and colouring effects. Thankfully, it gets much better from here on. Greg Rucka of Detective Comics fame offers the best story of the collection with the simple yet effective Kingpin story Severence package. Its offers an interesting insight into the way the Kingpin runs his organisation and has one of the best portrayals of the character ever. Flowers for Rhino, based on the brilliant short story Flowers for Algernon, is one of the few instances that the Rhino is portrayed as a character you can feel for. Its a love story, believe it or not, in which the Rhino gains intelligence. This book collects the first few stories from Marvel's Tangled Web series, which is one of the best Spider-man books in a long time. The still going on and the stories are still excellent so you might want to search for individual issues if they are not reprinted in trade paperback form.
Great creators bring a fresh look at Spider-Man's world ^ Marvel Comics have been resurrecting the sales and popularity of their flagship character, Spider-Man, in the past year. It seems so obvious, but a big part of the character's resurgence has been due to the quality of writers and artists employed on the various monthly books. Tangled Web falls outside the "ongoing continuity" of the two main "core" titles, Amazing Spider-Man and Peter Parker, telling self-contained stories that focus on Spider-Man's world, as opposed to the lead character himself. The first volume of Tangled Web stories make up this book and within the pages you'll find the single best comic book produced this year. That story is the one-issue "Severance Package", a tale of the New York underworld. The Kingpin of Crime summons one of his hitmen, who has failed to carry out an order due to Spider-Man's interference. This story is the essence of Tangled Web: the people on the edges of the Spider-Man story, some never seen before, others (such as the Rhino, featured in the third story in this collection) who have been, at best, second-rate supporting characters, but in these stories become interesting characters in their own right. Fans of crime fiction should buy this book - it ranks alongside other current gritty mainstream comics such as Powers and 100 Bullets.
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