Weekly Review - Spider-Man/Human Torch "I'm With Stupid"

This is from last week. A review of some releases from this week will go up in the next couple of days.

After the Joss Whedon love fest of earlier reviews, I start the next trend: A Dan Slott love fest.

This series flew under the radar for me. I didn't even know it existed until last week. But, since it was written by Dan Slott (writer of the current She-Hulk and GLA comics), I decided to give it a chance.

This man just gets it. He really gets it. He understands the comic form, but he also gets the comics universe as well. This digest collects five independent yet interdependent tales, all with Slott's quick humor and touching relationships.

These tales borrow from and enrich previous Marvel Universe continuity, yet a complete newbie to comics could understand them, as all the necessary exposition is given - yet given in ways that feel natural. None of the backstory's intrusion on the main narrative feel forced in any way - yet it manages to make stories steeped in previous continuity accessible and fresh. Slott, all by himself, has shown that gifted comics writers can tell tales that use previous continuity without alienating new readers.

And, as usual, Slott engages in metanarrative criticism of comics in a way that also seems to naturally flow from the comics. In GLA, Slott used the device of Squirrel Girl and Monkey Joe as narrators, but here he does it with off hand comments. (Re: When the Human Torch mentions previous adventures he had with Spidey's Clone during the ill-begotten "Clone Saga" of the 90s, Spidey says "why don't we just skip over that whole period?" - something most fans of Spider-Man want to do).

However, the best reason to read this digest collection is because these tales are fun. Sheer, goofy, down home fun. Moments of endearment and heartfelt sentiment occasionally intrude on the narrative, reminding us that these characters have hopes, dreams, etc. - but the tales are fun. While Slott's GLA engaged in very dark humor, and his She-Hulk series indulges in metanarrative humor, this series gets its humor from the situations the characters find themselves in. I haven't had this much fun reading a comic in a long time.

Slott has shown himself to have mastery over many forms of humor, and of the superhero comics form in general. Long may he write!