SPIDER-MAN: THE MANGA

— by Charles McCarter

Peter Parker is not Spider-Man? Oh no, not again. But wait; this isn't some half-baked clone storyline. Some years ago, Marvel licensed out some of its more popular characters to Japanese companies to develop their own versions of the popular heroes. Now, Marvel has begun to bring these manga out in the United States.
Marvel's signature character, Spidey, was handed off to Ikegami Ryouichi, who would go on to become famous for SANCTUARY and MAI THE PSYCHIC GIRL. He was entrusted to come up with his own version of the story.
Protagonist Peter Parker (say that three times fast!) has been replaced by Komori Yu, who, instead of a nerdy American science student, is a nerdy Japanese science student. Like Peter, Yu gets bit by a radioactive spider and, surprise surprise, gets strange spider-like powers. And, much like Peter Parker, he spends several subsequent days developing his web fluid and sewing himself a costume The story progresses until something is about to happen, and then the issue ends.

So far, the story that makes Peter become Spider-Man the super hero hasn't occurred. Instead, Yu's pen pal from Hokkaido, Rumi, asks him to help her find her brother who has disappeared from his job in Tokyo. Since Yu is her only friend in Tokyo, she asks for his help. Obviously smitten with Rumi, he agrees.
This scene coincides with the arrival of Electro (the guy with the starfish-shaped head and power over electricity, not Elektra the female ninja assassin). This will be his first confrontation in the next issue.
The story seems to be relatively simple and reads like a condensed, watered-down version of the classic original story. In fact, although we see plenty of Aunt May doing typical Aunt May things, like telling Peter to go to bed and worrying about him, no mention of Uncle Ben is ever made. And the death of Uncle Ben is the catalyst that sets Peter Parker down the path of righteousness and justice. It will be interesting to see how Ikegami does the same with Komori Yu without such an event to motivate the protagonist.

The art is a bit of a disappointment. In his other works, Ikegami displays an eye for realism and detail, but this detail isn't present in SPIDER-MAN. In fact, it looks like he drew this book on his lunch break. Lines are sketchy and heavy, with little of his trademark complex style. Spidey's alter ego is so non-unique as to be nearly unrecognizable and difficult to tell apart from other characters. The drawings of Spidey , although better than the rest of the book, also seem somewhat tired and uninspired. But perhaps that's just me being jaded.
SPIDER-MAN: THE MANGA will be of interest to fans of Spider-Man who want to see what his Japanese incarnation is like, but that's about it. Fans of Ikegami may find some historical interest in this early work of his, but then again, they may be disappointed. I plan on getting issue #2 to see what happens with Electro, but if the story and art don't solidify, I'll drop it faster than Marvel's sales dropped after the whole Ben Reilly debacle.