The proliferation of works like Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and its multiversal "Anyone can wear the mask" mantra has ushered in a whole horde of alternate-identity Spider-People. But what if the person who put on the mask, pointedly, was not Spider-Man? That's the concept of Yūsuke Ōsawa's manga Spider-Man: Fake Red, approaching the idea of Spider-Man as a figure and a fixture in a universe where he's also an actual living, breathing guy and how his influence might lead an impressionable teen to try living up to his legacy in a well-intentioned if ill-advised way.

They're ambitions that take a minute to manifest in reading Fake Red, as on the surface, it appears to be a relatively simple side-story about the amazing fantasy of audience stand-in Yu Onomae finding Spider-Man's suit, and it giving him the courage to take some steps out of the slump he finds himself in. Many of the early beats of Yu's issues give off the airs of one of those "sad teenage boy coming-of-age" stories common in manga. And admittedly, Spider-Man as an institution is no stranger to that vibe in some versions of itself. But as regularly as Spider-Man has been an adolescent wish-fulfillment fantasy, simply repeating that with a new character who wasn't Peter Parker might not be enough to make this one stand out.

So if you are a dedicated Spider-Fan who might just be here to see a manga-tinged take on the character's more typical action, be aware that that's not what you're getting here. Stretches of Fake Red that engage with Peter Parker as Spider-Man are easily the least interesting parts. Roughly halfway through, we're treated to a flashback section broken up between a couple of chapters showing the days in Peter's less-than-spectacular spider life that presumably led to him impulsively tossing the suit aside, which all play out as familiar if you've ever taken in any previous Spider-Man comic, movie, cartoon, video game, or fruit pie ad. It rings oddly since so much of the build-up around Yu's engagement with the costume seemed predicated on at least some baseline audience understanding of "regular" Spider-Man. But then this cut-away section explicitly informs audiences of the dramatic irony of Yu's musing that the real Spider-Man never dealt with any troubles when hardship has always been the central selling point of the character. It's more than just uninteresting; it's also unnecessary.

That stock swing through Peter Parker's Crappy Life at least drives home the more distinguishing elements of Yu's story before and after it. As some genuinely surprising swerves in Fake Red's focal material pile up, we get a sense of some of the actual ideas Osawa wants to explore in this premise. There's a definite irony, for one, in how Yu taking up the mantle of Spider-Man for some escapades categorically improves his life and social situations, compared to how Peter always inevitably winds up. Yu's budding relationship with his new friend Emma is another element that starts somewhat stock before throwing a few decently surprising curveballs.

Fittingly, Fake Red uses its approach, a focus on masks and costumes, to dig into the concepts of putting up metaphorical masks or adopting a role or personality that isn't necessarily your own for the sake of self and social betterment. That is, pretending to be something you aren't to find out who you are, how that intersects with others' perceptions of you, and how the resultant expectations can turn into long-term goods for yourself. It's a bit more nuanced and complex than I expected from a teen coming-of-age story, let alone one also conceived as a marketable Spider-Man spin-off. It also makes the direct usages of the character himself feel much more perfunctorily tacked-on, necessary for resolving things with an obligatory big battle against recognizable comic book villains before the end.

If that has to be the case, then those stretches, as well as the more fundamentally focused parts of the book, are carried well by the artwork. The authentic manga spin on things is a big selling point of Fake Red here, and Osawa delivers. He necessarily fills in those dense New York City backgrounds. But generally, it looks like the part for Yu and Peter to swing through. The more personal punch-ups sell the vibe of the story, particularly in all the places where it needs to be communicated how badly trying to replicate Peter's usual antics will wreck Yu's squishy normal-teen body. There's still some suspension of disbelief about the kind of punishment the boy can take. However, it keeps the action engaging and exciting while minding its unique setup.

An amount of baseline love makes it hard to blame Osawa for taking at least a few chances afforded him to write and draw some of that more standard Spider-stuff. But the irony is that the reverence for Spider-Man powering Yu's primary part of this plot would have worked all the better had Peter's portion been much more backgrounded. What we get is still quite strong and an earnestly recommendable read at a surprisingly brisk 300+ pages. But Fake Red might honestly be a better fit for those with only a general pop-culture osmosis understanding of Spider-Man, since the character proper's use in this story feels like a distraction from everything else it does right on its own.