Spider-Man: The Manga
Marvel Comics (August, 1998)
WRITER/ARTIST: Ryoichi Ikegami
TRANSLATION: Mutsumi Masuda
RETOUCH/PRODUCTION: Dan Nakrosis & Rob Kuzmiak
COVER DESIGN: Jeffrey Huang
EDITOR: Glenn Greenberg
Yu tries out for the kendo team and embarrasses all of them, including the captain. Especially the captain since he’s the one Yu knows for sure is one of the attackers. The plan is to make them slip up by driving them to act out of anger but the villains (of which Araki isn’t one of thankfully–or at least we don’t see them) figure it out and plot to get rid of them. Meanwhile, the brother of the woman attacked, still believing Yu is the sole assailant, grabs him to take him somewhere.
What they got right: I don’t know if Yu’s plan is really a good one, but it seems like a plan he’d come up with. It’s a chance for him to use his spider-powers without being Spider-Man.
What they got wrong: Then again, even if he manages to clear his name and punish the kendo team he’s going to have a lot of explaining to do, like how a bookworm can kick the butts of the entire kendo team, especially the captain.
What I think overall: I’m still not really into this story and I’m starting to understand why this didn’t play better with a Western audience aside from trying to print a Japanese comic in a US format.