Ann Nocenti

I don't even remember where I bought this comic, I think it was a freebie but I don't know for sure. In all seriousness, this comic was a freaking mess that made zero sense. She isn't the Jokers daughter, she grew up in a loving home, and just happened to be deranged. The artwork is the reason why I bumped it up to 2 stars and not 1. The villain should have been properly introduced, then maybe the comic wouldn't be so bad, and have the plot holes. I still don't understand why she is called The Joker's Daughter. She seemed like another villain groupie to me.… (més)

This was a nostalgia-fueled ride for me. I remember reading most of these comics in the early 90. as a kid. I've read The Amazing Spider-Man #300 (issued in Poland as 4/91) several times a day for weeks and some panels are imprinted in my brain probably for the rest of my life. However, flipping these pages as an adult... that's a completely different experience.

First of all, #300 is actually the only issue featuring Venom as the main villain in this collection (so the title is at least misleading). It's arguably the only memorable confrontation in this book and, I'm surely biased, but it's also the one with the best art. Other stories are OKish, but there is nothing special about them - they are rather simple, the writing is sometimes really awkward or cringeworthy, and there is no real impact that they make on the character or the world they live in. Revisiting those stories after 30 years breaks their charm a bit and reveals that they didn't stand the test of time.

Todd MacFarlane's art is something that saves this collection IMHO. This is his beginning with Spidey, so it's still very "safe", far from Torment-level stylization or the incredible details of McFarlane's Spider-Man series. This was the style that I grew up with and started to love comics, so I might be adding a star for nostalgia's sake ;) I wish there was better material to illustrate here, tough.

Overall, it's a fine collection to revisit childhood memories but these stories don't make such an impact anymore. My kids were not impressed reading them and I guess new readers won't be satisfied either.… (més)