Snapshot! Deadly Neighbourhood Spider-Man #3

Writer: Taboo & B. Earl

Artist: Juan Ferreyra

Depth of Field: Peter and his friends take a road trip to Joshua Tree but on the way Spider-Man is called into the dream world.

Focal Point: I’m honestly not sure 100% sure what’s going on here.

However this is not like previous mini-series where the plot was at best an after thought. There’s a supernatural mystery in play, so I’m willing to give the story some space to explain itself. I’m still excited to see where this is going, and the book is engaging.

The story starts as Peter stares in the mirror at the magic stone that has grafted itself to his chest. While in a trance Peter uses Crystal’s lipstick to draw an image on the mirror. I really enjoyed this scene. Peter is in the middle of a trippy fantasy, but still approaches it as a scientist. He examines the mystically symbol and instead finds circuits and nodes.

Peter and Crystal briefly discuss the legends her Grandfather told her as a child, about mythical Spider-men and powerful rocks. They share a vision of a murder of crows, though before they can explore this, Randy and Janice arrive to take them on a road trip. I like the interactions between Peter and Crystal, and it’s a shame she’ll likely never be seen again after this series.

During the journey Peter’s friends fall into a trance. He pulls on his mask, and follows the murder of crows back into the dream land to confront the Demon Bear.

The art this issue is of once again phenomenal. Other series would use two artists to show the difference better real and dream, Ferreyra is able to masterfully move the scene between the two worlds.

Photobombed: There’s not a visual photobomb in this issue, but while in the car Peter, Crystal, Randy and Janice all start to sing “I gotta feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas. At first I found this to be a bit of a shameless plug by the writer of the issue. However, as the scene went on I found that it actually served the story well. As they sing Peter realises his friends have fallen into a trace and are repeating the song over and over. Had this been an older public domain song, or an original song made up for this issue, the effect may have been lost. Instead as it is a recognisable song, we share Peter’s concern with his friend’s situation.

Grade: C: the difficult middle issue. The story has moved forward, but next issue I will be hoping for some answers to what is going on.

Zoom In: Are you reading Deadly Neighbourhood Spider-Man? Let me know in the comments below.

* This article was originally published here