Last week would have been Darwyn Cooke's 56th birthday.

This week, we kick off the Christmas season celebrations.

So let's cover them both with a review of "Spider-Man's Tangled Web" #21. It's "'Twas the Fight Before Christmas," a holiday-themed romp from Cooke and Jay Bone that Marvel first published at the end of 2002.

Because, really, I'll take any excuse to discuss Cooke's work....

Spider-Man's Christmas Tale

Peter Parker finds a bunch of kids who got separated from their class trip in the city and brings them to the Daily Bugle office party to keep them safe during a bad snowstorm.

J. Jonah Jameson sends Peter out to Macy's to pick up a gift for his wife.

As it turns out, a shadowy villain who hates Christmas is in the store with plans to rob it blind and destroy Santa Claus in the process. The Fantastic Four are already on the scene, and things get fun.

Also, J. Jonah Jameson is not a fan of children. No surprise there.

The Writing Style of Cooke

This feels right in Cooke's wheelhouse. It's a bit of a throwback story, which fits his style well. It's not trying to be post-modern or deconstructionist.

He's calling back to lots of the classic tropes -- the ladies of the Fantastic Four are excited to go Christmas shopping, there's a hero who's being mind-controlled, Spider-Man is in trouble because someone did something bad while masquerading as him, etc.

Mixed in with that comes all the classic Christmas tropes, like the kids excited over presents at Christmas, the snowy weather, the last minute shopping craziness, the far-away family member returning at just the right time, and everyone coming together all smiles at the end.

It's all in there. This is the kind of story Stan Lee might have written back in the 60s.

It's a harmless, fun, Christmas story.

The funniest bits are all where J. Jonah Jameson has to deal with the kids in his office, and the fervent glee in his eyes when he thinks he has a chance to destroy Christmas for them. It backfires, naturally, and he learns a lesson. Well, maybe. He's JJJ, so I'm not sure he ever learns anything...

The Art of Christmas

This is Cooke drawing an Archie comic starring Peter Parker. It's a surprisingly natural fit for his writing style. It's cartoony and distinctive. There are just as many obvious nods to Jack Kirby's style as there are to, say, the "Batman Animated" style.

His Spider-Man is super stylized, with a big bobble head and a smaller body next to the other heroes.

Cooke's script has some tricks that he used later in the "Parker" tool bag, such as the opening page prose intermixed with art to get the story started. Even with the extra pages this story has -- there are 38 pages in total -- that opening page prose helps fit the story in. It jumpstarts everything, getting all the exposition out of the way so we can get to the fun stuff. Plus, it's a well-designed page, from the different lettering style to the way the images mix in with the words.

It's a technique Cooke would use later in the "Parker" books to get through some of the novel's plot that was a little too dry to try to dramatize in sequential art.

There's also a nice two page spread near the end that follows all the characters after the events of the main plot of the story. They're drawn into holiday ornaments on a Christmas tree, candy canes and knick knacks included.

Bone helps out at the end of the issue, drawing a final page splash (with Cooke on inks) with the entire cast of the story celebrating Christmas together in classic Christmas Special ending tradition.

It's almost enough to give you the warm fuzzies. Hurrary for the warm and fuzzies.

I Need To Mention the Lettering

The book is hand-lettered! Even in 2002, that was a dying art. By today's standards, it's a sight for sore eyes.

I'm pretty sure this is Cooke's lettering style, as I compare it to some pages from his "Parker" books. It's a great example of how an artist with a good lettering technique can elevate their own art. The style fits in beautifully. The art feels so organic that it would be a shame to sterilize it with a computer font.

Good Times

"Spider-Man's Tangled Web" was a special book, filled with a lot of memorable issues. Who could have imagined that giving strong creators a playground to work in and letting them do whatever story comes to mind could pay off so well?

What a crazy concept, right?

Cooke and Bone did a Valentine's story in issue #11 titled "Open All Night." Maybe I'll come back to that in a couple of months when that day approaches.

In the meantime, if you're looking for a good Christmas story in the next month, don't forget about this one!

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