Welcome to another edition of The Goggler Pull List! This week we check in with everyone’s favourite friendly neighbourhood web-slinger in Non-Stop Spider-Man and take a trip to the fantasy world of the British Isles in Once & Future.
Non-Stop Spider-Man (Joe Kelly, Chris Bachalo)
It’s hard recommending the big superhero books to new readers (you know: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Captain America, X-Men, etc.) because these characters and their stories come with a lot of baggage. It’s hard to get in on the ground floor. Even if it’s an issue #1.
Non-Stop Spider-Man manages to achieve something that’s becoming increasingly elusive in superhero comics: a sense of fun. Now don’t get me wrong, all of the major titles, across all of the major publishers, currently contain some of the best comic writing we’ve ever seen. But so much of it is caught up in years of backstory and mythology that it’s easy for new readers to get lost. Even Nick Spencer’s current run on Amazing Spider-Man, while great, requires you to have an intimate knowledge of Spidey’s history to truly get into the intricacies of everything that’s happening to him in that book.
Non-Stop Spider-Man, however, is an absolute blast. It is, as its title implies, non-stop. We were breathless reading this book. Every panel on every page is crammed full of relentless action. Writer Joe Kelly and artist Chris Bachalo are Spidey veterans and the both of them are working at the height of their creative powers.
Kelly knows how to write the character and his voice here is clear and defined. He is still the same quippy web-slinger you know and love, but there is also a silent rage brewing with regards to a death that hits a little close to home. Despite the series’ action movie sensibilities, Kelly still manages to imbue a real emotional weight to what’s going on.
The art is also fantastic. There is a real kinetic energy to the way the story flows with the panels all but breaking free from the page. We love Bachalo’s style. He somehow manages to balance the frenetic action with the issue’s quieter moments in a way that doesn’t feel jarring or out of place.
In his Editor’s note, Nick Lowe talks about how this comic was inspired by the movie Speed, which feels like an appropriate starting point for an action comic. There is always a ticking clock, and whether it’s Spidey trying to get to someone before they overdose, or figuring out how many seconds he has between jumping out a window and hitting the ground, there is a sense of tension and urgency that doesn’t just suck you in, but keeps you teetering on the edge of your seat. This comic moves!
Non-Stop Spider-Man is a great place to start for anyone looking to jump into reading Spider-Man without having to worry about feeling lost or needing to be familiar with 50 years of canon.
Issue #1 of Non-Stop Spider-Man is out now.
Once & Future (Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora)
Kieron Gillen’s Once & Future comic series is an exciting fantasy series set in modern day England featuring villains from some of the most celebrated characters from myth and legend. Once & Future follows Duncan as he is roped in by a retired monster-hunter to fight an undead king and his merry men, as well as extreme nationalists who want “England back.”
We’re not going to get into it here mostly because there’s such a surprise from finding it all out for yourself, but Duncan’s involvement in this saga is more than just coincidental, as his own personal history and lineage plays a part in everything that’s happening.
Kieron Gillen’s ability to take ancient myths and legends, and weave them into a story that mixes fantasy, adventure, magic, and family drama, without ever having any one of those things overpower the other, showcases an understanding of the ancient stories that truly takes this to the next level. At no point does this feel like it’s being written by someone skimming a Wikipedia page. From questing beasts, to Grendel the giant, Gillen pulls the ancient stories apart and brings them together to enrich his new mythology in Once & Future.
Once & Future‘s protagonist pairing is both unlikely and exciting, and in Duncan and his grandmother, we find a relationship that is both believable and lovable.
Dan Mora’s art is also beautiful and colourful, with many panels of this series leaning heavily into the fantasy element without looking dark or stoic. There’s a kineticism in the panel design and character layouts that constantly drives you forward to the next panel.
There’s something to be said about trying to launch a new comic series in 2020 that’s filled (mostly) with characters from obscure legends and myths. Sure you think you know about King Arthur, and the wizard Merlin, and the noble knight Lancelot. But what about Nimue, or Beowulf, or The Green Knight, or Sir Galahad.
There’s also something to be said about doing all of that, and making them be on the side of racist nationalists.
And yet that’s exactly what Kieron Gillen, illustrator Dan Mora, and publisher BOOM! Studios has given us.
Once & Future is currently on Issue #17. You can get your hands on the trade paperback, collecting the first 6 issues now.
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