| Title | : | Spider-Man: Spirits of the Earth |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0871356929 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780871356925 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 80 |
| Publication | : | First published March 1, 1990 |
Spider-Man: Spirits of the Earth Reviews
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"So Mary Jane and I are going to take a second honeymoon next week . . . we received a letter from one of [her] relatives . . . she left us her property in Scotland." -- Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider-Man
This was one odd entry in the wall-crawler's collection of graphic novels, with a mystery plot more reminiscent of those 70's-era Hanna-Barbera cartoon series (Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?!, Speed Buggy, Josie & the Pussycats, etc.) which used to populate the Saturday morning airwaves than a 'Marvel'-ous (see what I did there?) super-heroic storyline. Except for the quick opening and closing scenes, the action was largely non-existent and the excessive expositionary dialogue was uninspired and/or very boring. I can appreciate author/artist Charles Vess was attempting something a little different here with Spider-Man stuck in rural Scotland for a week, but it just wasn't for me. -
This is a graphic novel both written and illustrated by Vess, one of the finest fantasy artists of the last century. These days Marvel seems to collect a random handful of comics issues without regard to continuity or provenance and toss them back out on the shelves with a "graphic novel" label on the cover, but Vess's Spider-Man adventure from 1990 is a true and exemplary example of the form. Peter and Mary Jane, happily married as God and Stan always intended, travel to Scotland where they encounter much magic and mayhem. Web-slinging across the moors isn't at all the same as swinging through Manhattan. The appearance of the Hellfire Club seems a little weak, and editor Jim Salicrup should have refrained from his annoying footnotes that translate Scottish into American, but it's a fine story and the book is lovely to leaf through and look at without even needing to read. Pure dead brilliant... excelsior!
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I'm here for Vess's pen line and his watercolors - and at times this book does look great. But most of it is a bit bland. And the story... and the dialogue... it was a chore to get through. Almost worth flipping through to see some of the really well illustrated pages.
The story is so silly. Spider-man is in Scotland. At one point he's surprised this old wise woman knows Spider-man is Peter Parker. But like, he's the only American in town and Spider-man is doing all his typical wise-cracks... so wouldn't everyone know? Hey this American couple is in town from NYC and suddenly also Spider-man. Odd! -
This was a nice Halloween read. I had read it years ago, but I'm glad I re-read it because I didn't remember it very well. This one is set is Scotland, and Charles Vess painted it after (during?) spending a month there. He really seems to have a done a good job at capturing the flavor of the old country. Very gorgeous painted art.
The story isn't bad either as we have tales of goblins and ghosts on the moors. For some reason the appearance of the Hellfire Club just didn't seem to fit for me, so that brought the book down just a tad. In defense of the story, however, he at least did have a logical reason for the Hellfire Club to show up, I just didn't think they fit into the story that well.
Overall, a very good Spider-Man graphic novel. -
Història plena de clixès, tics masclistes i un malvat ridícul. L'art de Vess sembla místic i allunya Spider-man del seu habitual traç urbà (i l'home aranya està molt ben dibuixat), però quan entres en detalls és un desastre horrible, sense cap mena de sentit per les proporcions humanes i ple d'aberracions anatòmiques.
Una curiositat i prou que s'allarga massa. -
Seems I am in agreement with a lot of the reviews here. The writing is weak, the story muddled with an attempt to mix ancient legends of faeries and ghosts, with a modern magic of a giant crystal in an unbelievably massive underground cavern system, and then let's bring in the Hell Fire club for good measure. The result is incoherent and messy, and the mostly pretty artwork is not enough to rescue it. Vess's backgrounds are beautiful, but like with many comic book artists, his people are occasionally grotesque, especially the kid who is quite ugly (3rd page from the end for example). Spiderman on the first page is hilariously dainty looking with his ballet position pointed toes, and also a bit weird with a jutting butt. In fact anyone who talks about the sexualized poses of female characters should have a browse through this book to see the same kind of thing done with Spiderman, not that I think it's intentional, but it is rather amusing. I think I can go ahead and clear this one off my shelf.
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Fun stories, nothing earth-shaking but fun for a Spidey fan!
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Absolutely gorgeous illustrations, but very weak writing.
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Gorgeous watercolors, but the story—and especially the dialogue—is…not great.
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While this is obviously a labour of love for writer/illustrator Vess (the best part of it might be his essay at the end, discussing the origin and inspiration for the book) and the art style is at times, stunning, the actual story feels weirdly incoherent and messy. Seeing Spider-Man completely out of his element, having to walk everywhere because there are no tall buildings in rural Scotland to swing off, is an intriguing idea but the execution is seriously lacking. The locals feel like caricatures, the actual mystery is terribly Scooby Doo-ish (until it greats wildly overblown, at least) and very little actually happens for the first three quarters of the book. An oddity and a disappointment, but a very pretty one, at least.
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Lo primero que me llamó la atención de este libro es lo limpio que es el coloreado. Me recuerda un poco a Longbow Hunters y eso es algo bueno. El escritor maneja bien las personalidades de Mary Jane y Peter Parker y los demás los inventó él. El relato va bastante bien hasta que aparece el villano. El problema no es que es un loco sediento de poder, sino el cómo se conto su origen y motivación. Esa exposición se la dejo a los predecibles villanos de Disney. Pero al final la acción compensa mis problemas con el libro, particularmente por cómo el autor, además de manejar las personalidades de los ya mencionados, también domina la agilidad y gracia del Hombre Araña.
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Hay buenas razones para que las cuatro novelas de este compendio no sean mencionadas con frecuencia, en realidad, nunca, se puede vivir muy bien sin este material, es más, es mejor no conocerlas, la primera "hooky" , es, como el resto, muy de su tiempo, junto a Spirits of the earth, en la que se nota algo de afecto, lo único rescatable de este tomo.
Fear Itself es lo peor que te puede pasar. -
Eesh. Did not age well. The first of the four graphic novels has really pretty art, but the story is... It's probably better to just read the newer redone versions of Spider-man. These are just a little weak. Classics in a way, but more like a classic you admire from a distance, respecting the way it paved while appreciated the path that came afterwords.
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It was fine but this should had been a shorter back issue of Amazing Spider-Man or whatever series he had at the moment because the story is not anything spectacular aside from having Charles Vess, who doesn't really shine much here aside from a couple of stand out sequences.
I guess it's fine if you find this cheap or are a hardcore Spidey collector, but there's better stuff out there. -
Beautiful artwork, but weak story.
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Very boring story, too bad because the art is great and was ahead of it's time.
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This book is lovely. Gorgeous painted art, a fun Scooby Doo plot, and so much romance between Pete and MJ.
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Eh,koleksiyonda bi Charles Vess olsun diye tutacağım ama bir daha okumam
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I didn't know who Charles Vess was but after reading this album, both written and illustrated by him, I now know what he should be: an illustrator, and nothing else. Actually, I'll limit that even further, he should illustrate environments, and nothing else. The landscapes are beautiful, he has a real sense for the dramatic and also for small details, but the characters look extremely stiff, the heads are often misshapen and the facial expressions are all but nonexistent. He does manage to do a great job depicting Spider-Man in costume though, with all that flailing of limbs and weird positions that has become almost mandatory ever since Todd McFarlane, and I must praise him for that. But where at least some aspects of his illustrations have depth and come alive, the story is just as flat and yawn-inspiring as the the faces of Peter, Mary Jane, and all the other seeming puppets. There just is no drama, no build up, no excitement in the story at all. One would think that the dark brooding, inspiring landscapes would help the reader get drawn into the story, but sadly, I felt completely uninterested in how it would all end, I just kept turning page after page and wondering who these people claiming to be Peter and Mary-Jane Parker really were, what they had done to the originals, and why I should care about their fate in this utterly boring story. Sad to say, this one is a Spider-Man story that you should not bother with, as opposed to the vast majority of albums featuring my favorite hero in tights.
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This collection of the 'graphic novels' starring Spider-Man perfectly depict why Marvel never really 'got it' in the 90s: they just couldn't grow up. While DC and the indies were willing to do mature, interesting stories with their characters and others, Marvel thought they just needed to do thicker books and hire new artists. There are four books in here ('Hooky,' 'Parallel Lives,' 'Spirits of the Earth' and 'Fear Itself'), and they're all basically longer versions of typical Spidey stories, albeit with better art in a couple cases. And that's fine, since I checked this out of the library for my recently Spidey-addicted 5-year-old daughter. She enjoyed it, and that about fits.
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I wanted to give it 3 1/2 stars. The story was pretty good, the artwork was great in some spots but only okay in others (sometimes the faces look weird). The landscapes are spectacular, and it's wild to see Spidey in such an unusual setting. This is definitely a lost treasure from the days when superhero graphic novels were not as big a deal as they are now. You can still get it cheap on Ebay, too! I got mine for 5 bucks!
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Charles Vess is a great artist, Charles Vess can also be a very good writer (see his Balads sagas).
In the case of this book, the art is pretty much awesome as awesome can be.
Sadly, the story falls short. The story seems to want to pander to the regular Marvel Universe Zombie that requires the division between the really good guy and the really bad ones.
Oh well, I've read it once... the following times where I took this book off the shelf, I settled for just looking at the incredible art. -
Charles Vess is a great artist, Charles Vess can also be a very good writer (see his Balads sagas).
In the case of this book, the art is pretty much awesome as awesome can be.
Sadly, the story falls short. The story seems to want to pander to the regular Marvel Universe Zombie that requires the division between the really good guy and the really bad ones.
Oh well, I've read it once... the following times where I took this book off the shelf, I settled for just looking at the incredible art -
La storia non è un granché, in fondo. L'Uomo Ragno in Scozia, non rende. Ma i disegni, signori, che disegnatore che è Vess. Ci sono alcune tavole che da sole valgono l'intero prezzo della Graphic Novel.
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a case of where overwhelming gorgeous artwork adds an extra star to the review
:) -
More fun, and more awesome, than I remembered.
I especially liked the afterward of travel memoir by the author. I would read a paper bag if Charles Vess drew on it.
Recommended. -
The pictures are awful pretty.
The plot, well, Scooby-Doo comes to mind... -
It was a fun, beautifully illustrated Spider-man story. Nice story vibe and interesting characterization.
