1 graphic seduction

The tandem Jeph Loeb Tim Sale + became famous for having produced many memorable stories of Batman (eg Catwoman in Rome, even if it is more than Catwoman). After these stories at DC, they come to implement their magic at Marvel. This will give 3 stories: yellow Daredevil (2001), Spider-Man blue (in 2002) and gray Hulk (2003).

Peter Parker is about to confide his thoughts to a cassette recorder. He says he will talk about his relationship with Gwen Stacy, and how it fits into a theme illustrating that in life things have really deteriorate and get worse before they improve. It all starts with a decisive game against Green Goblin (Norman Osborn) who learned the secret identity of Spider-Man. Fortunately, after the battle against his nemesis, he suffered amnesia which makes him forget this crucial information. Peter Parker is still in college and cachetonne for the Daily Bugle who pays weekly. As Peter takes the devil by the tail, he would prefer to be paid when his shots given to J. Jonah Jameson. Peter goes to visit Norman Osborn on his hospital bed where he began to make friends with her son and where he meets a gorgeous blonde Gwen Stacy in the hallways. In the shadow of its one unidentified enemy manages to escape release or to several supercriminels, starting with Rhino (Aleksei Mikhailovich Sytsevich). Ah, yes, there is also a red flamboyant daughter Anna Watson, moving to New York and a friend who joined the army to do something of his life, etc.

While for Hulk and Daredevil, Jeph Loeb returned on the first episodes of their respective series, Peter Parker, it begins a little later. The decisive battle against Green Goblin takes place during the episodes 39 and 40 of the series, published in 1966. Loeb revels to evoke that time the weaver, using all matching features that have become clichés as much over the years. Oddly, he avoids quoting Betty Brant (the previous love of Peter), certainly not to weigh down the narrative.

If you read the original episodes of this period, the nostalgic appearance borders on copying more than homage. Unlike Yellow and Grey, Loeb seems so impressed and respectful of original that can not exceed to give them more meaningful or more emotion, to release a new theme with hindsight. Loeb takes the relationship between Parker and Jameson as is, without develop or deepen. Jonah is just irascible and impatient with the young in need, but nothing more. Peter is again torn between the red and the plug, as Stan Lee wrote, overwhelmed by the situation. The Crusaders enemies have a personality as thick as a cigarette paper sheet. And everything seems just a rehash of the original, with the same fiber slightly irritating naive, a bit childish.

By cons, Tim Sale has outdone. He wrote in the brief endnotes volume that he wanted back the elegance of the line of John Romita senior, while incorporating his own style. And he succeeded perfectly. It captures the graphic style of the 1960s, especially by copying the style of dress. But the characters have gained an extra dimension that comes out of the naive illustrations of the time giving them a dark side suggested. As usual, Tim Sale adopts an airy layout 3 or 4 spaces per page on average, in order to achieve greater drawings. He obviously inserts some full pages or double pages, but in reasonable numbers: Spider-Man swinging at the end of his canvas, Gwen passenger on the motorcycle Peter, Spider-Man taking a knowledge of the Daily Bugle , head down level with the newsstand ... and of course the one that everyone expects, that the first appearance of MJ declaring "Face it, tiger. You've just hit the jackpot." It is absolutely beautiful because it combines the own innocence to comics of the 1960s, with extraordinary presence and torrid sensuality.

Certainly, Tim Sale skillfully evokes the elegance of John Romita senior for scenes in civilian clothes, and captures a little specificity for Steve Ditko Spider-Man scenes in costume. But the real show, the compelling visuals are where Gwen appear or MJ, or 2. You have to see the subtlety with which he directed the enmity of good quality between the two, when they visit together a poor Peter in bed by a bad cold. Tim Sale revives the sophistication of the best romantic comedies of the golden age of American cinema.

From the standpoint of the script, this volume is not the best because Jeph Loeb remains too faithful to the original model. By cons chart perspective, Tim Sale blends styles of the era with its inking some supported for imaging a subtle and beautiful romantic comedy. It transforms a nostalgic scenario to excess in one turn graphically force pest attractiveness.