Sergio Aragones Massacres Marvel (Story 3)

Background

In 1996 Mad and Groo cartoonist Sergio Aragones (along with his scripter Mark Evanier took their turn at decimating the Marvel Universe (Fred Hembeck took a swipe at this nearly a decade earlier in Fred Hembeck Destroys the Marvel Universe) Anyway, like Hembeck's book this one was a series of in-jokes strung together to make a full comic (sort of like many Saturday Night Live sketches have been padded out to form feature-length movies).

This comic was done in a series of chapters spotlighting several of the Marvel heroes. Spidey only appeared in two of the chapters, hence only those chapters are being reviewed here.

Story 'With Great Power there also Comes Great Merchandising!'

Spider-Man is swinging through mid-town Manhattan recalling his origin, bemoaning his pathetic life (the death of his uncle, the death of his aunt, his marriage to that wicked-hot red-head whose name no one can seem to remember), and the hoard of villainous evildoers that come at him every month, when he is accosted by none other than Doc Ock. It seems that Ock has somehow acquired a complete collection of Spider-Mans. That is to say as Spidey is drawn into the clutches of the eight-armed psycho he becomes aware of the fact the room is chock-a-block full of Spider types, including Venom, Scarlet Spider and many others. Just before a fight breaks out, a tidle wave crashes into the room and the mysterious Seagoing Soarer (an Aragones character who has been popping up throughout the book) swims in and snatches Spidey from the clutches of Doc Ock.

General Comments

This is a cute story that is pretty standard for an Aragones/Evanier collaboration. Full of in-jokes and sly references to both Marvel and real-world events. Nothing notable about it, but it is cute

Overall Rating

Sorry for the low rating, but I have long since grown tired of this lame Mad Magazine/Not Brand Echh style of storytelling.

Footnote

Personally, I liked Hembeck's stuff better, but that could just be me, and I'm not quite sure why Marvel would have attempted essentially the same story all over again less than 10 years after the first attempt essentially failed.