Spider-Man 2002 Wizard Special
Background
Let nobody say that Wizard is slow off the mark when it comes to cashing in on Comic Book Events. The Spider-Man movies are no exception. Actually, while Wizard definitely takes second place to Overstreet when it comes to usable price guides, you do have to admit that Wizard does make a decent go at this kind of stuff.
Naturally, there are two covers. Wizard and "gouging fanboys" go hand in hand.
Story Details
Spider-Man 2002 Wizard Special
| Publisher: | Wizard |
| Contrib. Editor: | Brian Cunningham |
| Associate Editor: | Adam Patyk, Robert Bricken, Zach Oat |
| Staff Writer: | Casey Seijas, James McDonough, Mike Cotton |
| Contributor: | Andrew Kardon, Andy Serwin, Chris Lawrence, James Busbee, Jennifer Contino, Peter Sanderson |
From the beginning. We get a "Spider-Man 101" newbies' guide to Spider-Man which provides a good intro. Then there's good coverage of Paul Jenkins' Green Goblin story of the time. There are some notes about Tangled Webs (which was new back then), some coverage of Ultimate Spider-Man, four pages of preview Humberto Ramos art (for those that like that kind of thing) and Paul Jenkins story (yum) from Spectacular (Vol. 2) #44.
Then we get into the real meat, with half a dozen movie pages featuring interviews with Sam Raimi, and profiles of Toby and Kirsten in their roles. Then back to comics, with some various Spidey artists giving their takes on Spidey's personality.
Then there's some coverage of the "Quality of Life" CGI comic, with info provided by artist/programmer Scott Sava showing breakdowns of how the art is created. There's a Twisted ToyFare theatre featuring Spidey villains making a movie (hilarious as ever). There're a half dozen pages featuring the top ten Spidey villains ever, then a complete list of Spider-Man TPBs, and finally a compiled Spider-Man price guide featuring every Spider-Man comic and action figure they could get info for. The last page is a breakdown of Spider-Man's budget, showing how it's perfectly reasonable for him to be permanently broke, living on a teacher's salary in NYC.
General Comments
Good stuff. A great compendium of Spider-Man info in one handy place. A perfect start for a wanna-be Spider-Man fan, giving a great intro and some current news. The price guide and TPB lists are excellent resources, although naturally a hardcore collector will easily point out many of the rarer appearances that have been left out.
Overall Rating 
I knocked off half a web from the perfect score just because the alternate cover thing is a bit gratuitous. But four and a half webs is still a great rating.