Spider-Man Visionaries: Todd Mcfarlane

Rating:
Summary: Some of the better Spiderman stuff out there
Review: McFarlane's work on Amazing Spiderman was well-received by fans when these comic came out. He updated the visual tricks you could use in a Spiderman story, with funky webbing and a more dynamic page structure. Now, ten years later, these techniques still stand up well, though the work looks a little dated. But these are fun stories, and well worth the money.

Rating:
Summary: MacFarlane is good, but let's be serious!
Review: The art in these issues is quite good, but i remeber this period as the beginning of the wallcrawler's slide from the charmed period of the seventies and early/mid 80s. It's not macFarlane's fault--he is a visionary artist (although I was much more impressed by his work on the Hulk), but Michelinie's stories are pretty weak, compared to the glory days of Stan Lee, Gerry Conway (especially!), Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, Roger Stern &Tom DeFalco. I mean, what the hell happened in these issues anyway? Mary Jane gets kidnapped a few times, I think--I hate that!--and the old Parker luck kicks in and the couple gets kicked out of their apartment on X-Mas Eve, but there's nothing in here to match the power of the Gwen Stacy/Green Goblin death stories, the (original) clone stories in ASM #144-151, the Black Cat stories, the Hobgoblin saga, and, especially, the mid-80s reconciliation between Peter and MJ (their walks in Central Park, discussing the past, are great!). Besides, I guess my favorite spidey artist is still Ross "The Boss" Andru, and MacFarlane's funky experiments left me kind of cold. the webbing is neat though...

Rating:
Summary: Pretty fun book
Review: This is a compilation of Todd McFarlane's early works for Spiderman. Although his distinctive style is already pretty evident here, there's still something innocent and naive with the way he portrays he characters, unlike the tormented figures you see in Spawn and McFarlane Toys. As a collection, it's a hodge-podge, there's no clear story arc and time hasn't been kind to David Michelinie's writing style (unlike Frank Miller -- his early Daredevil work still packs a punch and is still fresh even if it was done 20 years ago). It's a basically a collection of stand-alone stories from the first appearance of Venom to guestings by second stringers like Silver Sable, Power Man and Iron Fist and the Prowler. I would like to make a special mention of that minor Marvel character. I don't know if the Prowler is McFarlane's idea but the way he drew him back then, it seems he was already doing the prototype for Spawn. From the cape to the design of the mask to the African American alter-ego, the similarities to his creation is very evident. The book is worth checking out just for that. All in all, the book is entertaining and brings back memories of my childhood/teen years.

Rating:
Summary: like the movie blah,blah,blah
Review: this was the first spidy book i ever bought.i thought i'd check it out because of the movie and because i am a mcfarlane fan.at least he didn't let me down,the art was fantastic!i loved the way he drew marry jane,a gorgious comic babe.the rest of the book was like the movie,to much talk and not enough action.at least the movie had a great villian,something this book missed.
i dont even know how to give a discription of the story because it was jumping around all the time and had no real plot.i realy am not a marvel fan.i think they have good heros,just bad storys.
i'd stay away from this one,unless you want to get it used and check out the art,which is far better than the story.that is why i give it 2 stars instead of one.