Yeah, more of this. Everyone was just clamoring for more of this. Now with covers by noted hack Greg Land. He was clearly looking at Mike Weiringo for that Spider-Man, and the Gwen will just be some lady he traced. He was infamous in this period for just tracing any head he had in his files, no consistency from panel to panel. He routinely traced real stars, porn stars and wrestlers (There’s a picture of the wrestler Triple H that has appeared in, like, dozens of comics with different heads stuck on). Gwen appears to be Christina Applegate on this cover. As we’ve seen, a lot of guys are tracing photos at this point, but none of them are as lazy and creatively bankrupt as Greg Land. Part of the frustration is when he’d swipe from a comic book artist, he DIDN’T trace, so you got this crappier version of a familiar drawing. He swiped Travis Charest one time. That guy’s one of the true fine artists of 21st Century comics, and here comes this dope stealing from him. Needless to say, a popular mainstay Marvel artist. He’s central to my belief that people don’t actually spend any time looking at comics art anymore. His success is proof of it.
Well. Anyway.
Inside, we have writing by Sara “Samm” Barnes. Near as I can tell, she is yet another protege of J. Michael Stackzynski that he brought in from his TV gigs to write stuff he didn’t have time for. She produced this, a miniseries related to his Supreme Power series, and cowrote a Dr. Strange mini when he finally got around to one. Then she works in TV & film and widely leaves the world of comics behind. JMS appears to have first worked with her on a TV show called Jeremiah. One assumes the “Samm” was a pseudonym meant to make it sound like she was a guy, as many women have sadly felt the need to do to break into the historically sexist entertainment biz (As seen in these very pages with early work by Christie “Max” Scheele), but I don’t know why she needed the extra “M.” She’s joined by penciler Scott Eaton, inker Cam Smith and your reliable pals at Studio F. Scott Eaton was one of these kinda workhorse guys, like Manuel Garcia, who did reasonably good work, but didn’t have a style that really set them apart. Meat & potatoes comics art. Could certainly do worse, but could also do better. Cam Smith was a writer for venerable UK publication 2000 AD before ending up a celebrated inker in the US market. I, of course, was smart enough not to buy this when it came out. I hated the first story, why would I sign up for more? But now I’m much stupider, and the quest to get complete runs has led to me owning… this. I am really, really not excited about this.
A lot of preamble today. This one opens with Sarah, still wearing that friggin Gwen Stacy headband, crying in a bathroom, with a caption saying “Please come quickly. She needs your help.”
One immediately gets the feeling Eaton is trying to get his stuff to a place similar to Deodato’s for continuity, which is cool of him. We’re off to a rushed start, but this is only 4 issues, I guess they want to get this show on the road. Next we find Peter on a plane to Paris, being talked at by some American lady and her big galoot husband who looks exactly like Kingpin, but is not. Weird choice! Then there’s a bit of Komedy Business where the hotel Not-Kingpin recommended seems to be for guys looking for some temporary company, and then we can get on with our show.
Is there really an “American Hospital Of Paris?” “Unlike other Parisian hospitals, here you’ll pay through the nose!” It is, indeed, a real place. I would never go there. Peter goes on to recap WAY too much of what happened in Sins Past for this random doctor (“Her real dad is a mass murder in jail and she saved my life from her evil brother” Dude, come on!)
Boy that’s a big word balloon! The Bendis method of breaking a big speak up into beats is much better. Well, anyway, Peter says he wants to help, but they don’t really know each other, and he’d like to change that. He says he wants to see her Paris, the place she grew up. She says she coulda left the hospital any time, but wanted to see if he’d come for her. Starting in a weird place.
Quelle surprise! So Sarah lives in an old mansion, which she grew up in, but says she and Gabriel “chased off all the servants,” so it’s not in great shape. She convinces Peter to stay there, in Gabriel’s room. Awkward. More awkward, our man tucks Sarah in and gives her a peck goodnight, like she’s a little kid. Then he goes to call MJ and lies about staying in a hotel and is generally being mad weird, and Sarah is listening in on the phone call, because he’s using the landline in her house like that wouldn’t cost her a lot of money. This was a lot!
Ugh.
Ugh! Out on the town, Spider-Man attacks a guy who he thinks is a mugger, but it’s just a lover’s tiff, in French, which he doesn’t speak. Hot start to your Paris superheroing, buddy.
Komedy Business all over the place in this issue.
The title (Subtitle?) Sarah’s Story made me think we’d be getting a lot of flashback material in this, but… well, this is whatever it is. I envy past me being smart enough not to buy this.