David Liss is fast becoming one of the best writers in the Dynamite stable at the moment.  His work on The Mystery Men at Marvel was great and packed a solid punch and The Shadow Now, the new series at Dynamite that displaces the Shadow into modern times is excellent stuff.  Today, having just finished reading The Spider Volume 2, Liss is starting to become a favourite as his take on the character is captivating and exciting.

Book two collects issues seven through twelve of the ongoing series and features Ivan Rodriguez on art taking over for Colton Worley who has moved onto the Shadow Now series with Liss.  The story sees Richard Wentworth dealing with both personal and professional problems as well as the criminal kind as his masked alter-ego, The Spider.  Wentworth has been in love with his best friend’s wife Nita for a long time and when it seems that her husband has been killed by a serial killer, the two of them spend a night together using grief as the catalyst when in reality it is all the two of them ever wanted.  His company is trying to come to grips with his leadership as well as coming under attack by forces without.  There is a cop who is gunning for the Spider which is putting tension on Wentworth as he tries to go about his duties as a vigilante as well as numerous psychos and serial killers who seem hell-bent on making life miserable for the city.  And to make matters worse while investigating some of the murders, Richard realizes that the district attorney Stanley Kirk, his best friend, is still alive and Nita wants nothing to do with him though reluctantly she cannot pull away.

Dynamite has been taking a lot of pulp properties from the past and making them fresh and relevant for today’s audience.  This book takes place in present day which is a nice change and in Liss’ hands is one of the best comics that are being published by the company at the moment.  The Spider is a great character as he was and is a pre-cursor to the Punisher.  He is practical and a pragmatist.  The Spider realizes that when dealing with criminals, it is most likely that should he let the cops put them in jail, or he somehow lets them get away, they will just reoffend and keep committing crimes.  So, being the logical hero that he is, The Spider has no compunction about killing them.  It is something that has been done before with other characters, namely the Punisher and the Shadow.  Sometimes the means justify the ends as they say, and when he kills a serial murderer or a rapist, he makes a judgement call which those around him see as wrong, but in the readers’ eyes is right.  Who could say what would happen if it happened in real life, but there would probably not be a lot of arguments, most especially the victims and their families.

Liss does a great job of setting the character apart from others of his ilk.  The love triangle is a nice touch that is not examined or used very often with many characters, and the exploration of the consequences as well as the heartache that comes along with it seems genuine when observed through Nita and David.  Also enjoyable is Wentworth coming to grips with having to take the reigns of his father’s business, being the reluctant millionaire instead of the playboy.  The fact that he also cares more for saving the lives of innocent people is more important to him than protecting his identity is also a really interesting character trait.

As Dynamite continues on growing and expanding their stable of properties, both through pulp heroes and other books, hopefully they realize what a great talent they have in Liss and give him some more books to work on.  His work is engaging and while not straight up kill-all-the-villains like the Punisher might be, it does have a nice balance between the civilian and vigilante personas creating a good, dramatic modern pulp tale.

4 out of 5