Marvels Snapshots: Spider-Man #1: Review

Oct 2020
Howard Chaykin, Howard Chaykin

Story Name:

Dutch Angles

Review & Comments

Rating:
3.5 stars

Marvels Snapshots: Spider-Man #1 Review by (January 18, 2022)

Review: Not as good as the others in this series largely because no new ground is broken. Yes, ordinary crooks are finding competing with super-powered people is tough going but it’s not enough to sustain an entire issue. Plus, Howard Chaykin’s distinctive art doesn’t seem to fit the series. And thematically something is off: a Dutch angle is a type of movie shot where the camera is tilted to suggest uncertainty or disorientation, with a play on the main character’s nickname. Yet no Dutch angles appear in the story, even though the protagonist is in a quandary over whether or not to give up crime. And I can’t figure out why customizing model kits was given two pages in the story. It’s an okay read, enjoyable even, but a cut below the other entries in this series.

Comments: Everywhere else the title is given as SPIDER-MAN: MARVELS SNAPSHOTS; we’re a bunch of rebels. Issue includes a memorial to the late Chadwick Boseman written by Ta-Nehisi Coates with a portrait by Brian Stelfreeze. Major oddity: Cloak and Dagger are mentioned in the issue solicit but do not appear in the story.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Marvels Snapshots: Spider-Man #1 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Two petty crooks, Victor “Dutch” Hollander and Ronnie Schatz, are walking through the New York subway with an ATM they have stolen, thanks to a pair of power gloves Ronnie has rented from the Tinkerer. They encounter Spider-Man fighting the armored Silvermane. The ATM becomes a casualty of some flying shrapnel and the guys escape, though Ronnie was counting on the cash for the ATM to pay the Tinkerer….

Vic is a lifelong criminal whose only other talent is for customizing plastic model kits. Things are getting bad for petty crooks now that the streets are full of super-heroes and -villains. While they ponder their next move, they go to a bar where Vic meets Ronnie’s sister Vivi, a bartender, and there is an attraction. Soon they are dating and she persuades him to go straight, getting a bartending job at the same place, to Ronnie’s dismay, and they plan to move away from New York to seek a better life out west. Deciding that they need more money to relocate and start over, Vic secretly contacts Ronnie who suggests stealing a super-suit and going into the bigger rackets for themselves. Vivi catches them together and is disappointed in Vic. Over her protestations, Vic joins Ronnie in a heist which turns out to be hijacking a truck carrying Force’s armor, to sell to the highest bidder. But things don’t turn out that way: soon various criminals are looking for Ronnie intending to seize the armor by force. Then Ronnie and Vic are cornered in an alley by Blacklash who demands the suit. Suddenly, Spider-Man appears to fight the villain and the guys run for their lives….

So they guys end up selling the suit for a ridiculously low price to the Tinkerer and while Ronnie doesn’t learn a lesson, Vic joins Vivi on their trek to California, not looking back, not even when Falcon is battling Electro in the street….



Howard Chaykin
Howard Chaykin
Jesus Aburtov
Alex Ross (Cover Penciler)
Alex Ross (Cover Inker)
Alex Ross (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: Ken Bruzenak.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Electro
Electro

(Max Dillon)
Falcon
Falcon

(Sam Wilson)
Spider-Man
Spider-Man

(Peter Parker)

Plus: Blacklash, Silvermane (Silvio Manfredi), Tinkerer.

> Marvels Snapshots: Spider-Man: Book info and issue index

Share This Page


Elektra