The last entry in Marvel's initial wave of Season One original graphic novels is here, and to the surprise of nobody paying attention to this year's superhero movie schedule, it's the story of your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man's early days.

I've probably said it in my other Season One reviews, but I have committed myself to buying, reading and reviewing all of these, even if I'm not too familiar with the characters involved. I think it's a good, and very clever, move by Marvel; something that the average, non-comic book reader can pick up. Spider-Man is one of those characters I'm not familiar with myself, but I do vehemently believe that his is the greatest origin story of all superheroes. How could this go wrong?

I don't know, but it did.

I'm a big fan of writer Cullen Bunn's work on The Sixth Gun from Oni Press, but Spider-Man: Season One displays none of the imagination, wit, or depth of that series. Like the preceding OGNs, this follows a simple formula; retelling the original stories by Stan Lee, and while, yes, there is a heart beating beneath this narrative, there is sadly no brain, no creativity.

Events are presented listlessly, shambling into one another without any connection. Our unlikely hero, shy nerd Peter Parker, seems to wander aimlessly from scene to scene, with almost no impact made in any. If you weren't familiar with him beforehand, you still won't be after reading this.

Bunn does make the bold move to use old-fashioned thought balloons instead of modern text boxes, but they are always over rather dull moments that could have been used instead to convey Peter's mood and thoughts via something more clever.

Everyone in the cast is well represented, probably because our hero is made so dull. Flash Thompson is a typical high school bully, J. Jonah Jameson is amusingly angry, Aunt May is lovable, and Uncle Ben is charming. Not much more is done with these base descriptions however.

Oddly, considering movie hype, a love interest is omitted here. Also, and in contrast to the other Season Ones, a potential gauntlet of villains is compressed into just one: The Vulture. But, again, there's nothing new or original here. Why not Green Goblin, or Doctor Octopus, or y'know, The Lizard!? That's just a fanboy quibble though.

Now Neil Edwards, the artist, is the guy I considered to be a "fill-in" on Fantastic Four, despite illustrating seven issues. His work here is no more memorable. Wonky angles, bland facial expressions, and generic action shots round out a generally weary comic book experience, even nullifying the "it's for kids" excuse by making it completely unengaging.

All the Season One OGNs come with an additional issues from a current run on the character(s) in question, and here we get Avenging Spider-Man #1 from Zeb Wells and Joe Madureira. Spidey teams up with Red Hulk to fight off an invasion of underground Moloids, in a very funny, exceptionally drawn story that really shows up Season One. Those seeking to get into the wall-crawler should seek it out over this graphic novel any day.

Rating: 1/5

Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Neil Edwards
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Collects: Original graphic novel