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Spidey seems care-free, but he ought to do something worth reading about, no? (Chron.com)
Does anyone get the feeling that Spider Man today is simply resting on his laurels?
He swings to and fro and brags an awful lot in today's strip,but, when all is said and done, doesn't actually accomplish all that much. He's a "crowd pleaser," but this reader was left distinctly unsatisfied upon realizing that not one iota of story had advanced in any of the three panels of Monday's offering.
That really goes against the grain of the entire genre of "soap opera strips." Every day, in offerings ranging from "The Phantom" to "Apartment 3-G" to "Mary Worth," something new happens. It's not momentous; more often than not, it's merely incremental. But the story must move forward in one way or another.
So one might suggest that Spider-Man is really just being lazy - behavior he's displayed in the past. Coming up with these stories certainly can't be easy. How many times can Spidey go up against the Rhino or Kraven the Hunter? Add to this the fact that oftentimes, what Spider Man can do in the funny pages is governed by what Spider Man is currently doing in comic books.
No matter - at least for today, Spidey is phoning it in . "Some job!" he snipes in today's strip. "The hours are rotten...but I dig the fringe benefits." One of those perks, apparently, is the ability to do nothing worth reading about.
Honestly, we probably ought to blame the writers, not Spider Man himself, but he makes a more convenient target than Stan Lee or whichever flunky is tasked with devising Spidey's latest non-battle with Sandman, Electro or the Green Goblin. These days, apparently, the Wall Crawler must do battle with inertia and ennui instead.
For more info: To reach the Comics Examiner, email me at bristei@aol.com
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comic strips ·
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Apartment 3-G
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