| Print |

Written by Byron Kerman Thursday, 05 April 2007 16:00

Have you ever wanted to spin a web (any size) or catch thieves just like flies? Look out, because this handy how-to gives anyone and everyone the tips and tricks to be just like everyone's favorite friendly neighborhood wallcrawler.

175 pgs. some color; $15.95 SC

(W: Seth Grahame-Smith; A: Carlo Barberi)

What do you do when you're surrounded by a gang of vicious henchmen determined to turn you into worm food? How do you rescue a dozen kids trapped aboard a school bus teetering on the edge of a bridge? What do you do when Mary Jane throws a hissy fit and yells "Guess who's sleeping on the couch tonight, Tiger?"

The answers are simple, really. (Find the biggest guy in the room and hit him in the nose, tell the children to hold hands in a chain and move to the back of the bus, and walk respectfully but manfully to the couch. Tiger.)

The Spider-Man Handbook is the latest of many rip-offs of the Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook franchise. It offers humor and a dash of practicality to guide you through the sorts of crisis situations that Spidey handles every day. It advises us commoners on how to swing through an urban environment on web-vines, how to maintain a secret identity, and "how to tell the clone from the original" (snicker). It's fun for serious Spider-Man fans, and features excellent illustration work by Carlo Barberi (Robotech, Teen Titans, New Mutants, Thundercats, Impulse, Spyboy, Superman, Harley Quinn, and many more). He draws Spidey's mask with a big, black "raccoon mask" look that's tight.

A brief bit about the "Spider-Mobile," Spidey's short-lived dune buggy with web-shooters mounted to the hood, brings back laughs, too. | Byron Kerman