Snapshot! Deadly Neighbourhood Spider-Man #2

Writers: Taboo & B. Earl

Artist: Juan Ferreyra

Depth of Field: Peter’s investigation into the mysterious dream rock continue following an encounter with the Demon Bear.

Focal Point: Believing that they have found the solution to their experiment Peter and Crystal put their theory into practice. The Demon Bear appears in their lab, and unknown to Crystal, the Bear delivers Peter a challenge. Find the Bear’s maze and defeat him or the nightmare world will become a reality for everyone.

Crystal takes Peter back to her home and discusses the myth of the Demon Bear. Concerned, Peter calls Wong for some advice, who refers Peter to a colleague based in LA. Spider-Man makes contact with the LA based sorcerer, who cameod last issue as an Installation Artist. The Artist examines Spider-Man’s mystical rock, informing him it has a sickness desperate to be free. The rock forcibly attaches itself to Spider-Man’s chest causing another disturbing dream sequence. Peter wakes up back in Crystal’s house, with the new rock welded to his skin.

I’m enjoying this. It’s a fun story, if not anything original. I feel it would have fit really well during the first half of JMS’ Amazing series. There were a number of arcs during that time that focused on the mystical, and this would have complimented those nicely. The narration box is a little overused, the writers spend too much energy explaining the mystically elements.

The real selling point for me is the art. The real world sequences are well done, whether that’s Peter and Crystal sitting in a diner, or Spider-Man standing up to some thugs. Then the tone changes as we enter the dream sequences. There are a number of splash pages and double page spreads where conventional panel layout is not being used. Reading the page from left to right is not what we are being asked to do. Normally this sort of layout can confuse me, and I end up missing part of the story or having to read the page again. That’s not that case here, Ferreyra’s art and colour move you through the work so you never get lost. There’s no colourist credited so I assume it’s all Ferreyra doing a brilliant job.

Photobombed: The MCU’s shadow looms over the book. When Peter calls Wong for help, I was shocked we didn’t see a Benedict Wong-looking picture in the book. It felt odd that Peter called Wong and not Strange. I appreciate Strange is dead at the moment, but as this books placement in continuity is vague at best, I’d have preferred a Strange reference, given their history together. It’s not like the book needs “Twitter armour”. 

Grade: B+ really enjoying the series, the exposition and dialogue can too much at time. Trust the art to sell the story.

Zoom In: Are you reading Deadly Neighbourhood Spider-Man? Let me know in the comments below.

– Adam