Spider-Man: Wanted Dead or Alive (Hardcover)

by Craig Shaw Gardner (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Attempting to stop a bank robbery on a crowded New York street, the amazing Spider-Man finds himself blamed for the accidental shooting of an innocent bystander. The newspapers--especially The Daily Bugle and its publisher, J. Jonah Jameson--have a field day with the incident, which makes the web-slinger the perfect target for mayoral candidate Brian Timilty. However, Timilty is secretly the pawn of Tyler Stewart, a wealthy businessman seeking to take over New York's crime syndicates. With Timilty in office and the mob under his control, Stewart will become the undisputed king of New York. To ensure his success, Stewart executes a plan guaranteed to keep the wall-crawling superhero from interfering with his grand designs: He frames Spider-Man for a grisly murder! Wanted by the police and forced into hiding, Spider-Man must find a way to clear his name. And that's when Electro and the Rhino--two of his deadliest foes--arrive on the scene to complicate matters.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 295 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult (May 18, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399143858
• ISBN-13: 978-0399143854
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,393,375 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dont bother, May 30, 2002

By	Hispanic "hispanicteen" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spider-Man: Wanted: Dead or Alive (Mass Market Paperback)

I picked up this book with very high hopes. Since almost every other Spider-Man novel i've read were great, my expectations were to high for Wanted Dead or Alive. The plot is pretty lame at times, even darn right confusing. The Rhino shouldnt have even been brought into the story at all, since he served almost no pourpose to keep the action going, well, whatever little action you actually get to read. This is a poor excuse for a Spider-Man novel, it's collecting dust in my closet right now.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Craig Shaw Gardner -- Greatest Writer Of All Time?, July 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Spider-Man: Wanted: Dead or Alive (Mass Market Paperback)

Call it a personal foible, but I have a strong preference for novels -- especially media novels -- written by authors with three names, or at least two names and an initial. Thus, I'm more likely to purchase a STAR WARS novel by Roger MacBride Allen than by Timothy Zahn, and I steer clear of Marvel novels by folks like Diane Duane and Peter David, and direct my dollars instead to books by authors such as Dean Wesley Smith and Adam-Troy Castro. Three names just has more class! (Collaborations between two-name and three-name writers -- such as CARNAGE IN NEW YORK -- drive me crazy!) At any rate, Craig Shaw Gardner's WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE easily meets my first criterion (three names!) and also delivers a whole bunch of pages of good reading!

Fans of Spider-Man supporting characters J. Jonah Jameson (two names and an initial!) and Mary-Jane Watson-Parker (four!) will be pleased to know that both get plenty of screen time in this taut crime thriller, as a Donald Trumpish development mogul tries to manipulate public opinion against Spider-Man and in support of his political candidate confederate! Naturally, J. Jonah Jameson signs on for the program, having forgotten his disastrous support of Winston Cherryh (back in the Frank Miller Daredevil)! Mary-Jane doesn't, though, because she knows that she's married to Spider-Man! Pretty soon, a complex web of intrigue has sprung up, and it takes master super hero Spidey to untangle it!

One question: What's with this John Garcia guy? His name has popped up in several Marvel novels, but he's always a different character! Are they running out of names or something?

But don't let that minor point sway you -- this is one fine book! I bought both editions -- the paperback to lend and the hardback for my personal, permanent library.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read for hardcore AND beginner Spidey fans., July 25, 2002

By	Nicole L. Jennings (Virginia Beach, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spider-Man: Wanted: Dead or Alive (Mass Market Paperback)

My sister picked this book up for me about a week back, and I was interested to check into it, it being my first Spider-man novel. And boy, I was pleasently surprised. There is only so much one can do, with taking a comic-book character, and bringing it into a 300 page book. But Gardner really did a nice job of taking the usual characteristics of Spider-man, and adding some interesting new ideas.

This book has a solid plot, revolving around a mayoral candidate's tie-ins with a big crime-boss. When the mayoral candidate's infamous campaign manager Michael Luce is violently sleign in a dark alley in the company of Spider-man, Spider-man is quickly thrown into the hat of suspects for his murder. Meanwhile, the man behind it all has also hired Spider-man foes Electro and Rhino to add some extra trouble to the mix.

All-in-all, the book has it's minor flaws. Namely Rhino's entire spot in the book. He is kind of just 'there.' He never really ends up having any relevence, or even a big part, in the book. But the book evolves the plot from cover to cover, and offers a very nice ending.

Any hardcore Spidey fans will enjoy this interesting tale of Spidey on the run from some underground wrong-doings, and any 'beginner' fans are sure to enjoy it as well.