Now here is a comic book! I have to say, when I first heard about Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine, I groaned at the idea of it just like I’m sure many other comic readers did. I couldn’t believe that Marvel would take two of their three most over-exposed and over-used characters (they left Deadpool out of this one) and were going to give them their own book, even if it was a mini-series. Even the creative team, the excellent Jason Aaron and the always-talented Adam Kubert, couldn’t keep me from feeling this was a terrible idea. Despite all this hesitation though, I’ll be the first in line to step up, get on my knees, and apologize to those who obviously knew better than me.
I should probably clarify a bit. When I think of comic books, I think of pure entertainment. That’s exactly what comics should be. Whether superhero, graphic novel, slice-of-life, or whatever kind of comic book it is, it should first and foremost entertain or otherwise captivate its reader and I’m not sure if I’ve been this entertained by a single issue of a comic book in quite a while. Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine is not trying to get a political statement or attempting to make any sort of message at all. There’s no deep psychology, though that’s not say there aren’t great character moments, but it is balls to the wall fun from start to finish and that’s more than all I needed.
Jason Aaron is one amazing writer. I already knew he had a great handle on the character of Wolverine, specifically from his current Wolverine: Weapon X run, but he also has a great handle on Spider-Man, who he writes both witty and intelligent, irreverent and thoughtful and all around excellently throughout this issue. Aaron manages to nail the interaction of the two characters as well making them seem to both really hate each other and yet, somehow, still have a deep friendship. It has some truly great character moments, something I wouldn’t expect out of a book with a planet full of Cro-Magnons, Doom the Living Planets, Phoenix Force powered bullets, and Spider-Man with “Lame” written on his butt. Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #2 manages to be both incredibly well written and absolutely zany all at once. I don’t think I’ve ever seen some many insane ideas in one place and yet they all work within the story and don’t detract from the primary focus on the characters.
The art is nothing to scoff at either here. I doubt many comic fans truly dislike the artwork of any of the Kubert family and Adam Kubert does not disappoint here. If I ever had a vision of what I thought a robot Devil Dinosaur or Ego the Living Planet with Dr. Doom’s consciousness in it looked like, then this is it. Kubert manages to completely nail this setting and make it his own, just as he did with last issues jungle setting. It’s entertaining just to examine a panel and see what little touches he’s added in for flavor. Last issue, it was Peter’s prehistoric inventions; this issue has all the items from around the Marvel Universe stored in Peter’s lab. I found myself pouring over these panels for quite a while just seeing what I could find. This issue was just as fun to look at as it was to read. If I had any problems with this issue, it’s that sometimes Kubert’s Spider-Man looks just a little off; he ranges from tall to very short to kind of stocky to very skinny. It isn’t a big issue, just something I noticed throughout and hope is addressed some in the future.
Overall, this was one exciting book. I had so much fun reading Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine and never knew what to expect next which as a huge part of the fun. This comic could go literally anywhere in the future and I’m excited to travel along for the ride.
Overall: 9.4/10
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