Itsy Bitsy Part 1
“thanks Oprah Spinfrey”
Writer Joe Kelly
Penciler Ed McGuiness
Inker Mark Morales
Colorist Jason Keith
Letterer VC’s Joe Sabino
Editors Jordan D White & Nick Lowe
Issue 9! This year is going fast isn’t it? Time for our monthly check in on our motor mouth duo as they kick off the second arc of the ongoing “itsy Bitsy”. The first arc has been acclaimed as one of the best spider-man stories this year. Can the second hold it’s own? Let us find out.
Cover.
Ed McGuiness drops a great cover of Itsy Bitsy (our new villain) playing with a tangled Spider-man and Deadpool. The nice subtle touch here is the logo like our main characters is upside down but it is also part of her costume so it is how it should be. I got to say this comic really stood out on the busy store shelf. So it easily accomplishes the job of good comic cover
Synopsis
Spider-man and Deadpool as a crime-fighting duo are going great. Things couldn’t be going better. Dare I say they have become close friends? This cannot last however. While the two fight newly formed team of classic villains “the Hateful Hexad” things go horribly wrong when a new character, with ties to our protagonists, “Itsy Bitsy”, kills/maims the villains and leaves Spidey and Deadpool to take the blame with authorities .
Plot.
This issue is one big fight almost from start to finish with a handful character moments (Peter shopping for gifts, Wade and his wife, Villains Forming). It is not to say this comic is without character. We see our heroes’ centre stage here doing what they do best. Fighting and one lineing. This is the first issue of an arc and it is setting the stage. We get to see the heroes as they naturally are, as well as catch up on where they are. I.e. Peter is rich, Deadpool is normal looking again. We get hints Parker is lashing out more than normal. This seems to be setting the stage for a mystery yet to come.
Most of the dialog in this issue is one-liners delivered by both Peter and Wade during the battle with Hateful Hexad. Joe is one of the funniest writers in comics and this is his top-notch skill on display.
The real fun for me in the issue comes from the characters in the Hatful Hexad. White Rabbit, Ox, Bearboarguy, Swarm and the return of one of the greatest spider-man villains of all “the Squid”.
(Ok … I have to stop the review here and self indulge. Are the people at marvel messing with me right now? Not only do they give me this book with my favourite Deadpool team but now they are giving me my favourite Z-list marvel Villain “the Squid”. Am I the last guy-buying marvel and they are just trying to keep me happy? That said ….NOOOOOO! Why did you kill the squid! )
To be fair to Joe, he didn’t take from the toy box without adding to it. We get two new rivals. Bearboarguy has to be a play on South parks “Manbearpig”. So much so I read the character to sound like Al Gore .
Itsy Bitsy however is the main focal point by the end of the issue. What we assume is the girl Patient Zero was experimenting on at the end of the last issue as a mix of Deadpool and Spider-man DNA. It Seems having that connection to Peter she is able to get around his Spider-sense
I’m going to go into the cons on this book here. Shocking, as it may be to here based on my first half of the review. I do feel however this this book had some flaws. While Itsy Bitsy did make an impactful entry that established her as dangerous and creepy (Why did she have to kill squid though … Why !?! ) … She made herself known to the heroes and then disappeared to fight another day. This scene is a troupe of comics. How many 90’s villains were established in such a way? Maybe we will learn there is more to her plan down the line but on the base of this issue alone it didn’t have that normal creative flare Joe Kelly tends to show. I also feel the book was padded out to reach this end scene. The fight went on for more pages than it needed too. I would have preferred the panel space be used for flashback character development or more back-story forming of Hateful Hexad.
Art.
Ed McGuiness is a master of his trade. I mentioned above the fight scene played out too long story wise above. While interest wise Ed keeps me hooked with his art. The momentum he has to the fights is superb. This is a book easily worth flipping through and just observing the panel flow.
I also enjoy his character design of Itsy Bitsy. There are flairs of both characters in the design but they are subtle. I.e.: Spider-man’s colours, Deadpool’s black eyes with white pupils. The blue humanoid spider design does make me think of Webstor from Masters of the Universe.
All in All
Did anything much happen? No, but as mentioned this is a stage setting issue, so that should be the case. While it had some flaws they weren’t major or book ruining.
The book got me to buy it and I’m excited for what’s next so it did its job.
In my humble opinion this is still the best spider-man book on the stands and if you aren’t reading it… well you are just missing out on some good comics.
Rating B+
That final image had me laughing so hard it hurt… I feel like this is everything Joe Kelly’s ASM issue with Deadpool (Circa… 2012?) wasn’t.