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ARTICLE
Book Review: Spider-Man: Drowned in Thunder
by R.J. Carter Published: February 6, 2008
Publication Date: December 26, 2007 Publisher: Pocket Star Author: · Christopher L. Bennett Grade: A
The problem that often arises when attempting a prose novel starring a comic book character is that the character is already so comfortable -- in the readers' minds -- as a four-color action character. The writer is challenged to describe action scenes and poses that the comic book team can communicate in a single panel. And because of that, a great many superhero novels tend toward being either wordy and boring, or shallow and unflattering.
Author Christopher L. Bennett, however, has found that elusive balance, with Spider-Man: Drowned in Thunder, accurately capturing both the flippant and the pensive aspects of everyone's favorite web-headed wall-crawler, as well as pinning down the personalities of Spidey's supporting cast members.
Drowned in Thunder finds Peter Parker, high school science teacher, pitted against a mysterious villain who attacks the city with a variety of robots. When Spider-Man first encounters the automatons, it appears that he's merely foiling a diamond heist, headed up by that master of all things electrical, Electro. In keeping with the tradition of always giving Stan Lee a cameo, Bennett gives Stan the Man a scene as Spider-Man arrives to help:
The cops turned to register his arrival. "Stay out of this, wall-crawler," said one of them, a burly young brown-skinned man.
"Hey, wait a minute," said his partner, an older man with a salt-and-pepper moustache and big square glasses. "We aren't having much luck with these things. I've been around this town a long time, and I've seen Spider-Man tackle worse menaces than this."
"We're supposed to protect civilians, not let them fight for us."
Spidey waved. "Hello, crouching right here! For the record, I prefer the term 'talented amateur.' And for the record, I'm going in there whether you ask me to or not. I'd just appreciate it if you avoided firing bullets at the area I'm about to be in. Okay?"
The older cop smiled. "You got it. Now face front!"
The battle goes horrifically wrong for Peter, however, when the robots begin to go their own ways, causing havoc and destruction throughout the city, resulting in some of his own students being injured while on a field trip to the New York Public Library. Blaming himself (as Peter usually does), Peter resolves to find out who was behind the attacks -- especially when robots continue to attack after Electro's imprisonment, robots that seem specifically geared to track and counter Spider-Man.
When Spider-Man's longtime nemesis, J. Jonah Jameson, takes his editorial comments too far in his online blog -- including publishing names and pictures of Peter's students who were injured and laying the blame for them at Spider-Man's feet -- an already-distraught Peter decides he's finally had enough of Jameson's antics.
"Too bad you don't still work for him," she said. "You could quit."
"That's exactly what I'm going to do," he said. "I quit. All of it."
Her eyes widened. "All of what?"
"What I do every time something goes wrong in my life. For years, Jameson's been beating up on me. The cops have been after me. My professors and bosses have lectured me about how lazy and irresponsible I was because I was busy out saving the damn city from psychotic killers. Everyone keeps blaming me for everything that goes wrong in my life -- and I've been right there leading the blame squad. I've been playing Jameson's game along with everyone else. Torturing myself with guilt, just like he wants. Well, I'm not gonna do that any longer.
As Spidey takes the battle to Jameson, both men become further convinced that the other is behind the robot attacks on the city. For Jameson's part, he's certainly hired robotics experts in the past to develop Spider-Man hunting machines. And when Jameson starts to trigger Spider-Man's spider-sense, the wallcrawler is dead certain that Jameson is the villain behind it all. But then, how can he explain his danger sense being set off by his wife, Mary Jane, and his doting Aunt May?
Bennett demonstrates that he has a strong grasp on Spidey canon, delivering a compelling action tale that's also an engrossing character study. To give the long-time comics readers an anchor, there is also some foreshadowing of the Civil War event, as Jameson (of all people) plants seeds in Spidey's mind about power and responsibility.
If you're a fan of the classic Spider-Man, Drowned in Thunder is definitely something you want on your bookshelf.
