So, anyway. That was, like, 2 days ago. Then yesterday, I picked up the hardcover of 1987's "Kraven's Last Hunt" by JM DeMatteis and Mike Zeck. First time I read this story was in 7th grade when doing one of those "spend-the-night-with-a-friend" things. One where we, mostly, just got to sit around all night and read piles of comics. That was fun. I remember really liking it. And I've since purchased the individual comics and reread it. It was still good... and the art... Man, Zeck was ON. I reckon maybe even non-comic readers might recognize the cover to Web of Spider-Man #31?
Or maybe not. I dunno, but it's awesome.
So far this has all been setup for the actual point of this "story." I read DeMattheis's intro to the book and, while interesting, the basic idea is one that I've heard before in many different ways. What really caught me, however, was this:
But buried in this Marvel Universe entry was one intriguing fact: Kraven was Russian. (To this day I don't know if that was something that was established in continuity or if the writer of that particular entry tossed it in on a whim.)(Thanks to Cyberman on the CBR forums for typing this for me as I forgot to bring my copy with me.)
Russian?
Russian!
Why should that excite me so? One word- Dostoyevsky. When I read Crime and Punishment and the Brothers Karamazov in high school, they seeped in through my brain, wormed their way into my nervous system....and ripped me into shreds. No other novelist has ever explored the staggering duality of existence, illuminated the mystical heights and the despicable depths of the human heart with the brilliance of Dostoyevsky. The Russian soul, as exposed in his novels, was really the Univeral Soul. It was my soul.
And Kraven was Russian.
In an instant, I understood Sergei Kravinoff. In an instant, the entire story changed focus.
It's that "One word-" There's something about seeing someone who has "made it" as it were refer to one of your own... heroes. Can I say that? "Heroes." It all kind of just fell into place. I haven't yet begun Crime and Punishment, but I read the intro. And even reading the intro it was like coming back to something comforting. And while reading the "Kraven" intro, I was just waiting for it. As soon as he said, "Russian" I got all tingly in anticipation of seeing "Dostoevsky" on the written page in front of me. Thereby bringing together two different but very similar interests. It was exciting and thrilling... and really really lame. I think it pretty much officially makes me a, howdoyousay, "loser" for being excited by seeing the name of a long dead author in a reference in the introduction to a hardcover collected edition of a comic book.
Regardless. It did make me happy. And allowed me to read the story in a whole new light. Kraven's character immediately became a thousand times deeper and more interesting. His motivations became so much clearer, and I felt like I could identify with him more as an actual person than a two-dimensional character. Simply by having the connection to Dostoevsky's characters and the amazingly lucid histories associated with them.
Did I ever get to an actual point?
Dostoevsky is still amazing.
Mike Zeck was a wonderful Spider-Man artist.
DeMatteis creates a great story.
All of my verbs are of the wrong tense.
Re-reading this story again through this new filter made it like I was reading it for the first time. Perhaps the best $20 I've dropped in a while.
And here are some pictures I took in Amsterdam.
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They're all of the same thing, but I can't figure out which one I like the best. Timing is everything. Or something like that.
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