Radiant Comics

I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got 3 new comics plus a hard cover collection:

Local -12

Fear Agent – 21

Jack Staff – 17

Starman Omnibus Volume 1

And now for a review of something I’ve read recently.

Spider-Man “Kraven’s Last Hunt” by J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck

Here I am delving into the past again. This was first published in 1987 and I have not read it since then. A lot of people I know who are a few years younger than me have fond memories of this story. I was twenty-one at the time this came out and all I really remember of it was that I never liked it as much as those others did. I didn’t hate it I just remember thinking that the authors were trying too hard to make an “important” Spider-Man story.

I was interested to see if my impression of it has changed in the last twenty one years. I must say that it has. I really like reading it this time around. The basic plot is that Kraven the Hunter goes crazy and then “kills” Spider-Man and takes his place to prove he is better than Spidey.

The story is filled with overlapping narrations by four or so characters. I find that an overused technique these days but it is quite effective in this story. It is well written and has quite a bit of style to it. I can see how this story influenced a lot of future comic book writers.

The art is also very good. Once again, I never loved Mike Zeck’s work as much as others did but this is a well drawn comic. His story telling is especially good here as his drawing perfectly captures the narration with overlapping narratives of it’s own. He also uses repetition of sound effects and scenes quite well. I can see now that Todd McFarlane must have been looking at these stories when he did Spider-Man. Bob McLoeds inks are also first rate.

Overall I have to say that these guys were really trying hard with this story. That’s what makes it good. You can tell they were thinking about it. My “trying too hard” memory probably has more to do with me being twenty one and tiring of mainstream super hero books than the actual work. So if you want a good Kraven story masquerading as a Spider-Man comic pick up this book.