Overall, this was just an okay story. At the end of the book, you get a bit of background from Vess as to why and how this story came about (spoiler alert: it's because he fell in love with that area of Scotland).

And while that's lovely and all, and it allows Vess to write all those lovely Scottish lines of dialogue, and draw all those lovely settings, the secret to Spider-Man is having a kickass story that drives the entire thing. And that's not here.

There's some vague comments toward the titular Spirits of the Earth, but they're soon dismissed. And while it's fun to see the web-slinger stuck in a place where he can't exactly swing all that well, so it's essentially a standard fish out of water story (or as Vess puts it, the City Mouse and the Country Mouse, but in reverse), some more lead up, and some more exposition was definitely required to help this mess make a bit of sense.

Instead, we get a standard baddie, with a bolted-on history that is provided in the standard stilted dialogue of all villains just before they think they're going to win, but they always lose.

So, yeah, that's the story. But what about the art?

Well, the setting stuff is lovely, but Vess should try and stay away from humans. MJ in particular, the super-model of the book, ends up with her eyes drawn so far apart at times, she appears fishlike.

Now, gimme a Lovecraftian story with MJ and the townsfolk turning into H.P.'s fish people, and Spidey trying to fight that? Good enough. But this story? This art?

Nah. ( )