Broken Frontier

Welcome to Broken Frontier.  This is Guiding Lines where I, fanboy of fanboys, Scott Hinze, bring you quality comic book recommendations on a weekly basis.  Some of you might be feeling betrayed right now just by cheating and seeing which comic I’ve picked today already.  I’ve risen up some great Indie comics and other not-so-popular series out there and have constantly aimed towards mixing up the genre of each read.  For fans of my past columns, this may be the article you say has jumped the shark.  Yes, you people have already heard of Ultimate Spider-Man, but I’m not sure yon fair readers understand its importance in fan/non-fan relations.

There is a bizarre social divide between hardened comic customers and those outside the hobby.  I have seen this in faces of the people I tell what I do for a living. When I say I’m a comic book podcaster and columnist – it’s usually complete glazed-over apathy or, occasionally, a burst of geeky excitement.  When I go somewhere that is filled with more of the first response, I end up chatting about current events, movies and video games.  At the LCS, I never get too tired of talking comics, but I’m sure normal people (like my wife) do and I try to make sure I can vary the geek-speak with role-playing, miniature or video games. 

When cornered about Kevin Smith’s Superman script, director Tim Burton spouted, “anyone who knows me knows I don't read comics."  With comics content becoming more part of pop culture on a larger level, only the bitter or stupid would blacklist an art-form such as ours.  Alas, some do indeed think that we are freaks, perverts, underdeveloped, and/or dim.  No, we’re not retarded!  Those of us that aren’t as interested in the hobby as a form of investment are fascinated by the dance between words and pictures, honor the freedom of creators, and enjoy intelligent, original stories. 

The other responsible party in this cold culture war that’s keeping new readers away is the uber-fanboy guild.  Some obsessive readers care about Batman more than baths and Hawkeye more than hygiene and provide easy fodder for stereotyping.  Even worse, and I’m hitting a little close to home here, many of my fellow fans aren’t sure they even want a large influx of new readers our comic creators deserve.  They’re perfectly happy with this being a hobbyist’s gutter industry that revolves around their tastes.  I’m serious, both comic readers and non-readers should suck it up and start respecting the other group. People need to friggin’ lighten up about comic books and I’m just the guy to bring the glo-sticks.

Marvel’s answer to core readers’ intensity and non-readers inaccessibility came in 2000 with the launch of Ultimate Spider-Man.  A risky venture to say the least, this title rebooted all of Marvel continuity around the needs of this one story and stretched Spider-Man’s origin from one issue into seven.  It started with a basic concept that the staff still adheres to five years later—deliver the crispest art and tightest scripts possible that new and core readers will both appreciate.  Like a long running tv show or stage play, the professionals have fallen in love with the process and characters of this massive project and it definitely shows. 

Mark Bagley has been in charge of pencils for the entire five-year run and has obviously cranked out more than twelve issues a year.  At first, some fans were divided on whether Mark was the best man for the job—now there is not really any argument.  His personalized style was brash, but much needed for the new identity.  None of that really matters because his work is astounding.  The difficult Spider-Man costume, his unique expressions, the tricky age-group the main characters are in, the amount of action in each issue, the fun, the experimental layouts, the physics and apparent weight he brings to the page are all translated with crystal-clarity.  Again, I find myself praising the ‘storytelling’ ability of a top artist finding it to be much more valuable than the ‘graphics’ or extreme poses characters give us on a two-page spread. 

Here’s where this column gets tough—complimenting Brian Michael Bendis (I kid, I kid).  The writer has been known to enjoy his characters surprising him as he’s in the middle of conducting their events.  Again, this is risky, but his ability guides him with ease.  His realistic dialogue works incredibly well with the awkward teenage scenes and the newbie super-powered world he has created.  Brian is an incredibly kind, generous and hilarious person, and that has translated in his scripts best inside USM.  One of my favorite Bendis-isms I hear when we chat is, “See what I did just there?” which is what he says when pointing out a joke or observation he already made.  You can see the gangster Hammerhead saying virtually the same thing in issue #84 which made me laugh my keester off.  In my opinion, this is the best book Bendis puts out (with Daredevil a close second) and while its sales are top notch, it does not get the hype and fan attention it deserves. 

This read is a phenomenon that unites everyone.  Taking the two main threads of conversation I can have with both factions listed above, Marvel created an Ultimate Spider-Man video game for me to talk to everyone about.  While I don’t have enough space to give the astounding USM video game its complete props, the experience (much like the comic) is one of the best of its medium.  The game is the most ingenious promotion for comics reading I’ve ever seen.  [If you really want my take on the gaming experience check out the holiday edition of the Fanboy Radio Newsletter later this month].

Like I said before, whether it is sarcastic Wednesday Warriors or snobby non-readers, both sets of elitists have to admit that everything surrounding Ultimate Spider-Man is a ton of fun. It’s the PERFECT book to nab for someone’s first ‘modern age’ comic.  It’s also far and away the best Spider-Man book on the rack and—I’ll go ahead and say it—it has usurped the standard. USM is definitely the fan’s flagship title of Marvel Comics.  After every issue, I’m dying to read next month’s read for two reasons: a) I love the comic and b) I love the creators.  SMOOCH!

Guiding Line:  When I told Bendis that I was writing this, he gave me the perfect line: “I don’t care what Scott says, buy it anyhow!” ‘Nuff said.