Spider-Man: Fever is like a tall glass of iced coffee on a brutal hot summer day, it’s gloriously refreshing. Don’t get me wrong I dig where the regular Spider-Man story has been going these last few months, but Spider-Man: Fever allows us to step out of that and just enjoy a really weird mini-series that also involves Dr. Strange. Seriously, the master of the mystical arts and old web head, does it get any better than that? Yes it does. How, you ask? By creating a story that’s freaked out and bizarre the way Dr. Strange stories should be.
Writer/Artist Brendan McCarthy lets it all hang loose for Spider-Man: Fever and really taps into some of the greatness of the Ditko era Spider-Man and Dr. Strange stuff. You have the Doc getting a booby trapped mystical book, Spider-Man slapping out against the old school Vulture, weird spider demon soul eating freaks, a giant master spider soul eating freak about to feast on Spidey; this book has everything. McCarthy has a better sense of how to write Spider-Man dialog than Dr. Strange but overall the book reads very well. Usually I don’t like weird for weird sake in my comics but I always make exceptions for well-written Dr. Strange material.
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Visually is where Spider-Man: Fever really comes to life. McCarthy throws everything but the kitchen sink into this book, turning it into something between an acid flashback and really good weed. The pencils vary nearly page to page, some of them looking like Mad Magazine or Heavy Metal art, the rest feeling like old sixties and seventies psychedelic work. I loved that Spider-Man was drawn to look just like he did in the original cartoon. That was a nice touch. McCarthy also enlists digital FX and a bizarre color palette to really open up the scope of the comic. The colors and effects are so spot on you manage to forget how hokey the whole spider-demon thing might be.
Every panel in this book is a small work of art; something McCarthy obviously took great pains in making look a certain way. This art, this story, this kind of weirdo drug addled trip is what made Doctor Strange so funky in the seventies and it kicks ass here. Is there a point to the whole thing? Who know and who cares, just lay back and enjoy this whippit of an issue. Trust me, by the end of issue #1 you’ll be amped to read #2.
I’m not sure who okayed this story but I applaud them for letting McCarthy run wild with it. There needs to be more straight out f*cked up stories like this, ones that call back to an age when superheroes could get funky, and weird drug trips made it all the better. I’m glad this series is only three issues as stretching it out any longer might have lessened the impact.
Whatever’s waiting for Spider-Man and Doctor Strange in the next two issues consider me signed up!!
