Web Of Spider-Man #11-12: Have You Seen... That Vigilante Man! / Law And Order

Plot (#11): Danny Fingeroth
Script (#11): Bill Mantlo
Writer (#12): Peter David
Breakdowns (#12): Sal Buscema
Art (#11) / Finishes (#12): Bob McLeod
Letterer: (#11) Phil Felix / (#12) Rick Parker
Colours: Bob Sharen (whew!)
Editor: Jim Owsley
Editor-In-Chief: Jim Shooter

It had to happen sooner or later. Peter Parker intervenes as himself in a crime, and suffers what in his Spider-Man disguise he never has to.

Suddenly he's accountable. To everyone.

He becomes a local hero - that's good. The bad guys take revenge by torching his flat - that's bad. Actually, that's very bad.

The local community turn him into a role model, setting-up alliterative 'Peter Parker Patrols' to watch over each other. Throughout it all our mild-mannered hero has to reluctantly wrestle with which expectations to accept, and which to discourage.

In part two Peter David takes over the writing credit, and in such a serious tale his deft comic hand finally reaches the balance between fun and believability that he's always had in him.

Really - he's writing this as a sitcom, and quite a funny one at that.



As you may have spotted at the top of this review, it's not just the writing credit that changes between issues, but pretty well everyone else too.

Where these staff-changes really notice is in the artwork, which remains exceptional throughout, but in wildly different styles.

For example, part one has Peter Parker and Mary Jane looking the way they used to when they were still in high school:


But part two on the other hand looks as though it's set maybe ten years later...


Wha' haaappened???? Oh, that's right, Peter's apartment got gutted.

Without wishing to sound too flippant, I'd guess we'd all probably put on a few years at that.