Amazing Spider-man: Family Business
Eric S Brown
Family Business was released as a hardcover in 2014 and it isn’t a collection of reprinted Spidey tales but rather an original, 112 page graphic novel, written by Mark Waid and illustrated by Gabriele Dell’otto. The story is a fun but simple tale that features the Kingpin scheming to get his hands on a lost Nazi treasure and Peter Parker getting drawn into stopping him. What makes Family Business special is that it introduces Teresa “Parker” Durand, a special agent who the Kingpin has manipulated into believing she is Peter’s sister. The Kingpin uses the low level psychic and telepath Mentallo to accomplish this after forcing the villain into his service and basically holding him hostage until his plan is completed.
The fun parts of this graphic novel are the interactions between Peter and Teresa, who each view their parents wildly differently. Teresa hates them for putting their jobs as S.H.I.E.L.D agents ahead of their children and abandoning them while Peter really isn’t sure how he feels. He was raised by Aunt May and Uncle Ben were the best parents anyone could ask for to him as child so Peter doesn’t feel the trauma that Teresa does in regards to their past.
Teresa has grown up to be a S.H.I.E.L.D agent herself and it doesn’t take her long to figure out that Peter Parker is Spider-man which adds even more fun to her interactions with Peter. The two of them manage to work together, stopping the Kingpin from destroying a city and claiming his prize of Nazi gold.
Marvel has just re-introduced Teresa in the current run of Spider-man comics so checking out a copy of Family Business will make the current storylines that much more enjoyable. Family Business is a well written read with great artwork that is more than worth its cover price.
