Friday, May 7, 2010

Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #1 (of 6)

Before I started reading comics someone at DC Comics had the clever idea of teaming up its two biggest heroes in a single comic.

World's Finest was still going strong when I started reading, and it was one of my early favorites.

Marvel Comics has tried team-up comics in the past (such as Marvel Team-Up and Marvel Two-In-One), but they all featured a rotating cast of guest stars.

As near as I can remember, Marvel never had a single comic devoted to a team-up between two of its most popular heroes - until now.

And they have an Odd Couple working together in Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine - but that's about as close as you can get to a "World's Finest" team at Marvel.

The two characters are, of course, polar opposites - Spider-Man all intellect, introspection and laughs, Wolverine all anger, killing and, well, more anger. Of course, that makes them a lot of fun together, and that's certainly true in this issue, as they find themselves in a strange world, trying to survive in the face of certain death.

It's an odd story that takes Spidey out of his element, while dropping Woverine right into a world that's built for his skill set.

It's still a bit early to judge the story, since this is just the introduction, and it could go anywhere from here.

The best thing about the comic so far is the outstanding artwork by Adam Kubert, with inks by Mark Morales and Dexter Vines. It's powerful stuff, with loads of detail and dramatic storytelling. I suspect the Kuberts (sons and dad) couldn't draw a bad story if they tried.

So we have the beginnings of an unusual tale here - time will tell if it's a good story. But my, doesn't the art look fine.

Grade: A-

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