Spider-Man Noir

After seeing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, I was stunned to see what direction Marvel had taken with Spider-Man; basically spinning him off into various universes, where he (or she) was a different entity. The one that intrigued me the most was Spider-Man Noir, who was web-slinging during the 1930s. I just finished reading the complete collection, most of which was written by David Hine and Fabrice Sapolsky.

The collection includes two four-issue stories, plus three other one-shots. Those last three incorporate other Spider-Men, notably a six-armed one (Spider-Man experts may recall that this once happened to the "real" Spider-Man).

The first series is basically an origin story It is 1932, and the depression is raging. Aunt May is an advocate for social justice, and Felicia Hardy operates a saloon called The Black Cat. The crime boss in town is known as The Goblin, and he employs a few henchman that readers will recognize as Spider-Man villains, notably The Vulture, who is here a former circus geek.

A reporter named Ben Urich takes Peter Parker under his wing, although Urich, like many in New York City, is in the Goblin's network. Of course, the Goblin was responsible for the death of Peter's Uncle Ben (poor Uncle Ben can't catch a break). During a break-up of a smuggling ring, spiders from an African totem bite Parker, who gives him the powers he will later employ.

The second story is called "Eyes Without a Face," set in 1939, and features a quite different Dr. Otto Octavius, who is here a German scientist trying to perfect a way to make docile slaves (('m not sure if this was written before or after the film Get Out). Parker's friend Robbie Robertson, along with many other black people, are kidnapped to use as guinea pigs (there is a playful reference to Tuskegee Institute as well). Meanwhile the local crime lord is now a masked figure called The Crime Master, who answers to the Nazis, and has a henchman called The Sandman.

I found these stories to be terrific. Of course they are darker, figuratively and literally, than most Spider-Man comics. Characters die gruesome deaths, including cannibalism, and there's no question that Parker is having sex with Felicia. At times the artwork is so dark that I had trouble telling the many masked figures in fedoras apart. But the spirit of noir is there.

These stories are a good opposite to the brightly-colored spandex of modern comic book superheroes. The characters here, except for Spider-Man, don't have superpowers (and Spider-Man even uses a gun on occasion). There are no spandex outfits, just trench coats and masks (Parker wears what look like part of a gas mask). It's a different kind of super-hero comic, and a welcome one.