Spider-Man: The Darkest Hours

I have been aching to read another Spidey novel since the ones written in late 90s. I am a huge fan, however the last five years until J. Michael Straczynski wrote Amazing. I knew of Butch from Dresden files, underrated show but worried how he'd write Spiderman especially knowing it would be a First-Person narrative! HOWEVER I was most thankfully surprised! He is a true fan and does Parker and the Spiderman universe and characters proudly! I LOVED this book being different, being a first person narrative (don't see that often in ANY books these days) let alone a Marvel Book. But Butcher captures Peter's insatiable wit to the tee and at the same time his genuine humbleness. Many moments I laughed out loud, Butcher REALLY got into the essence of Spidey/Peter's character! The action is heavy, but there is a nice B plot with Peter being a fill in coach, and his relationship with MJ does not disappoint. There IS depth here, it's no Dicken's obviously but it doesn't need to be. The characters are drawn out nicely, have depth and psychological impact. Even the Rhino gets his horns into some sympathetic meat! Butcher deliver's a fun, insightful, caring and engrossing novel here. It DOES have psychological depth and deeper more meanigful and more personal themes than most other Spidey novels I've read. I REALLY hope Butcher will do ANOTHER FIRST PERSON SPIDEY narrative! It was such a treat to read being First Person, I must say. And Butcher (repeating myself =) is so good at it!

Bought this book because I'm a huge Spidey fan. I wasn't disappointed. The book was fantastic! Jim Butcher really captures Spidey's character. The plot is fast moving, and there's lots of action, but there's also many good Peter-MJ moments. What can I say? This books just plain fun to read.

Jim Butcher is an excellent writer who has created a few not-so-ordinary worlds of his own for his characters to frolic in. In one, he has a wizard/detective for hire in Chicago; in another, he created a believable fantasy universe. In both cases, the characters spring to life off the page, wisecracking their way through occasionally implausible adventures with some extra-special abilities. And he makes them seem quite plausible indeed. So I was _really_ curious to see what he'd do with Spider-Man. To my great relief... he did a wonderful job. Spider-Man is a wise-cracking good guy with extra-special abilities too, and Butcher makes him sparkle. Now, I like Spider-Man, but I'm not a card- (or web-)carrying fan. I didn't grow up with a stash of comic books under my bed (little girls didn't *do* that), but I was generally familiar with the story and I liked the movies. I've read a handful of Spider-Man stories since then, primarily by Babylon 5's Straczynski, and I think they're fun mental cotton-candy. The basic story is the stuff of comic books. (Well DUH.) Spider-Man thought he was done with Morlun, a life-sucking entity who feeds on "totemic images," after he wiped the guy out in a previous book. But Morlun has a sister and two brothers, and boy are they _mad_. And also hungry.... It's hard to fathom a book about Spider-Man without images, but Butcher pulls it off. He writes very visually, even (or maybe especially) in the fight scenes. But the "words" let the reader learn more about Peter Parker's internal dialog, which both adds to the character and makes you giggle out loud. You realize how much Peter loves his wife; you watch him figure out how to resolve the "B plot" with the high school basketball player; you get to see him question the "humanity" of someone he thought was evil. It's all lightly done, and you can see Butcher's tongue poking out of his cheek at times... but hey, that's what you came for. If you're a Spider-Man fan, you'll like this book. And if you're a Butcher fan, as I am, you'll enjoy watching him romp through someone *else's* universe for a while.

Some of these Spider-Man novels fall a little flat. This one "gets it." Spidey is smart, and witty. It even has a whole sub-plot involving his students at school. There's a guest shot by Dr. Strange, some comments about him being a team-up junkie, the ex-girlfriend alone with the wife, and all the fun of a typical Spidey mega-event. All this and the author makes Rhino interesting, too. I couldn't put it down. After devouring it, I headed over and checked out the author's Dresden books and I am currently enjoying them as well.

A few years back, Spiderman nearly died in a two day fight with Morlun, an ancient supernatural predator. When his old foe the Rhino appears and starts tearing up the city, Spiderman arrives only to discover that Rhino was just a lure for three of Morlun's kind to trap him. In typical Spiderman fashion, our hero is struggling to take care of his job, his marriage, his Aunt, and the people of New York - all while cracking jokes. Empty of dull moments and surprisingly full of three dimensional characters, this is a book even people who have only seen the movies will enjoy. I have read other works by Jim Butcher, and I definitely rank his books as the most enjoyable fantasy novels available. This book just reinforces that impression.