Author’s Note: This review is a bit late in releasing because I was quite sick. My apologies to the authors and becker&mayer! books for the delay.
Yup, we’re back with some more comic book fun! It’s not often we get a chance to take a look at some of the neat geek coffee table books coming out, but today it’s time to look at Spider-Man: A History & Celebration of the Web-Slinger, Decade By Decade written by Peter A. David and Robert Greenberger, updated by Matthew K. Manning, and published by becker&mayer! books! That’s one long title…but it gives you a pretty clear idea what you’re getting into here!
Spider-Man is easily one of the most iconic heroes every to have been created since comics began. And who better to help revisit the web-slinger’s history than one of the people who made it, Peter David! You may be familiar with Mr. David from such things as, oh, The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man. He’s a prolific writer that has done stints on a number of major comic titles as well as numerous TV shows including Babylon 5 and Young Justice. Robert Greenberger has also spent plenty of time in comics working at Marvel and DC over the years. Finally, Matthew Manning has had an excellent career as an author and comic creator working for DC and IDW and creating indie comics. These are guys that know their stuff!
Just for ease of use, we’ll call the book ‘Spider-Man’ and the character Spidey for the purposes of this review. Spider-Man does exactly what you’d expect a book like this to; cover the history of the character and comics from 1962 almost all the way into the present with the advent of the Spider-Verse and even into the King in Black storylines of 2021. That’s a heck of a lot of Spider lore! But this isn’t a long book either. Weighing in at only 208 pages, there’s simply no way to give a full and complete synopsis of over 800 issues of The Amazing Spider-Man plus Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, Spider-Man, and all the other titles that have come out across 60 years.
Instead, Spider-Man is more of a greatest hits spin through the history and creation of Spidey himself, the early years and key formative events in the character’s history, and a skim through some of the supporting cast. There’s also a fair bit of information on the re-imagining of Spidey for the Marvel movie franchises, the creation of Miles Morales, and even some of the many animated series that have starred everyone’s favorite web-slinger.
The whole book feels like a personal intimate discussion of the character, mostly told through the voice of Peter David himself. It’s hard to tell where David’s voice ends and Greenburg and Manning’s begin and that’s probably an intentional design. If you’re a hardcore Spidey fan, you’ll probably know a fair bit of the material in this volume, especially the events that took place in the comics. But it’s also the little industry nods that make Spider-Man more than the sum of its parts and make it an interesting read. Sure, you’re not getting every little tidbit of backstory, but you get a feel for the evolution of the character, the Spidey franchise, and the way Marvel has changed over the years and that’s simply fascinating.
There’s a fair bit of history that seems to fall by the wayside here as well. After coverage of the key areas of Spidey up through the ‘90s, there’s more of a short synopsis of each major event and the writing behind it, a summary of some of the spin-off books like Web of Spider-Man, Marvel Team-Up, and Ultimate Spider-Man and then a shift back to the main series when major writers like J. Michael Straczynski and Dan Slott took over Amazing Spider-Man. That’s not to say that there isn’t content in between though. If you can think of a mini-series or major spin-off character, there’s probably a sentence or two about it in Spider-Man!
In addition to this wealth of data presented in a very organic and fluid way (no, not web fluid), there are a lot of extras in Spider-Man. Many of these take the form of pictures of old merchandising, in-progress art, and a variety of key panels from various comics. This isn’t simply a history text, but more of a coffee table book that has something interesting on almost every single page. Naturally, for a book about super-heroes, the presentation of the book itself has a comic book flair all its own, pleasing the eye as you read through each bit of history and color coding the chapters for easy reference.
It’s clear a lot of thought went into Spider-Man’s design and assembly. David and Greenburg dug deep into the Marvel archives for some of this content and even long-time fans (like yours truly) might be surprised by some of the images which accompany the behind-the-scenes stories and detailed information.
It’s no surprise that this is a complex book that weaves back and forth through characters, different comic runs, and even movies and TV. Spidey has always been a complex character, first in the initial writing and then as the demand for the character grew, complex in a different way. With multiple comics coming out at almost breakneck speed and a variety of movies and shows accompanying them, it’s hard to even keep track of what is canon in Peter Parker’s life and what’s happened if you stopped reading for a bit.
In fact, if we wanted to be realistic, Peter should be pushing 80 by now and the sheer number of fights, events, and adventures he’s been in would have had every second of his entire life completely consumed with being Spidey. It’s simply too much to reconcile for any fan so having a guidepost like Spider-Man really grounds the character in an important way, showing us what the important events are, where we should be focused for the best feel for the character, and eliminating the chaff.
By the time you reach the end of the volume, newcomers to the character will have a solid grasp of the trials and tribulations of the character and old fans will have a bit more insight into things they may have missed and the background creative process as well. If you’re a huge Spidey fan like some of us, you might be longing for a more detailed overview of the history of the Amazing Spider-Man series (yes please!) but this is not only going to satisfy most readers but will also make an excellent coffee table book that is sure to pull in a few new fans if they have a chance to flip through it!
Spider-Man: : A History & Celebration of the Web-Slinger, Decade By Decade is not only a solid volume, but it’s a fun light read with good design elements, an approachable prose style and a ton of great information. The physical book is squarebound with a bold colorful cover, high-quality glossy pages, and exceptional color transfers. In short, it’s worth the $40 you’ll spend on it and will be a great part of any fan’s collection, new or old!
This review was based on a physical copy of Spider-Man: A History & Celebration of the Web-Slinger, Decade By Decade provided by the publisher. This book is available at fine bookstores across North America.