It's school clothes shopping day - at least according to Aunt May - and she wants to take her nephew Peter Parker to the new Mega-Mart discount store having its grand opening in Queens. Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man) dreads shopping with his aunt because her poor taste in clothes for a teen boy will only be exacerbated by Mega-Mart's anti-style choices for those on a low budget. In fact, Peter's high school nemesis Flash Thompson is also at the store ridiculing Peter's new duds. Flash, however, is nothing compared to The Sandman on a rampage, so it's Spider-Man to the rescue on aisle seven.
Frankly, I can't afford to chase multi-issue storylines of all my favorite characters, so the fact that Marvel Adventures titles are self-contained, single-issue stories is nice. When they're as good as Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #23, I'm in comic book nerd heaven. "Marvel Age," Marvel Comics' attempt at "all ages" comics from several years ago featured bland retellings of Marvel Comics stories originally published in the 1960's. "Marvel Adventures" is a re-launch of Marvel's kid-friendly line, but featuring new stories told outside the regular Marvel Universe, and what's most important is that they're good stories.
With "Dust-Up in Aisle Seven!" writer Fred Van Lente creates a tale that captures a sense of youthful imagination. As a child, I daydreamed of Spider-Man suddenly appearing wherever I was (stores, school, hospitals, etc.), and this story has that quality of excitement of what it might be like if a superhero appeared out of nowhere.
Under a visually striking cover by Patrick Scherberger, the team of artist Cory Hamscher and colorists Guru eFX recall Mark Bagley's Spider-Man art, and this comic art crackles with energy. Although I find the cover price a bit much, I think this single-issue story format and the quality story inside make for excellent kids' comics and a fine choice for introducing children to superhero comic books
8/10
