Spider-Man's Tangled Web Primer
Spider-Man’s Tangled Web was a prestige series that Marvel Comics ran for 22 issues from the year 2001 until 2003. The series featured a showcase of writers and artists who wouldn’t typically work on a Spider-Man comic book giving a unique look at the titular wall-crawler and the people who exist in his world. Most of the creative teams tapped for this series were either well established for their work on indie comics or from working at Vertigo Comics, an imprint of DC Comics. While none of the stories in this run were game changers they provided some interesting insights and often focused on characters other than Spider-Man, giving them a spotlight that they otherwise wouldn’t get on another title.
The first three issues were written by Garth Ennis and drawn by John McCrea. Their three part arc, Coming of the Thousand, featured Spider-Man facing one of his old high school bullies who has become a living spider-collective called the Thousand. The story is a massive stretch (even for Spider-Man) and while it’s not a bad story, it’s also not overly interesting. At the time, Ennis was a hot commodity following his work on Hitman and Preacher over at DC Comics (among other things), but if anything this story shows that while Ennis is a capable writer there are certain characters that he can’t really do much with. Spider-Man being Spider-Man really limits Ennis whose work usually features gratuitous violence, commentary on British/Irish relations, Russian communist, and military themes as these are hard to shoehorn into a Spider-Man book.
Issue #4 featured a story by Greg Rucka and art by Eduardo Risso and features a mobster working for the Kingpin facing the music after botching a job. It’s a gritty crime story. Risso being used as the artist is appropriate since, at the time of this story, since he was acclaimed for his work on the crime book 100 Bullets with Brian Azzarello. My guess the use of Rucka as writer instead of Azzarello was so people didn’t just pan the issue as a rip-off of 100 Bullets. Still, Rucka (a prolific writer in his own right) does a decent job.
Issues #5 and 6 was a two-part story focusing on the Rhino written by Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegerdo is a powerful story about the Rhino trying to regain his long lost humanity. Lee Weeks and Bruce Jones did a three-issue arc called Gentlemen’s Agreement. This story features a small-time crook learning Spider-Man’s identity thanks to a tumor. I wish I could enjoy this story, but it is a little too much like John Byrne/Howard Mackie’s awful Spider-Man arc where a Stalker basically did the same thing.
Issue #7 features Kaare Andrew’s story about a pair of boys whose home is destroyed during a battle between Spider-Man and Electro, while issue #8 by Darwyn Cooke and Jay Boone tell a madcap Valentines Day story featuring the Vulture. Zeb Wells and Fegerdo worked together on issue #9, a meta-story about how much of a loser Frog-Man is. Double Shots by Ron Zimmerman and Sean Phillips is an interesting story taking place at the Bar With No Name where villains share stories about their encounters with Spider-Man.
As mentioned above, Brian Azzarello wrote the story for issue #14 and featured art by Scott Levy. Titled The Last Shot it explores the life of Crusher Hogan, the wrestler that Spider-Man humiliated in the ring back in Amazing Fantasy #15. Other memorable issues are #16 and 17 by Daniel Way and Leandro Fernandez about Tombstone’s time in prison. Issue #20 by Wells and Dean Haspiel tell the untold origin of Spider-Man’s greatest nemesis: J. Jonah Jameson.
Sadly, this series was not long for the world and after 22 issues the title was canceled to make way for more conventional Spider-Books.
