The scenic Carroll Street Bridge, over the even more scenic Gowanus Canal, is a setting in one the latest Web of Spider-Man comic.

I feel the need to begin this post by saying that, contrary to what I assumed when I first glanced at this story on my neighborhood blog, Gowanus Your Face Off, the Brooklyn Avengers are NOT an off-brand parody of the popular superheroes. They are, it seems, a legitimate part of the Marvel comics universe. Take a moment to let that soak in.

Independent Brooklyn TV spoke with the writer & artist for Web of Spider-Man, Stuart Moore and Damien Scott at the excellent Root Hill Café on 4th Avenue, and the former explained that for Spider-Man’s fiftieth anniversary, they’re taking him back to an embarrassing part of his past: his brief association with the hapless Brooklyn Avengers, whose members include Mints, and old woman who turns candy into weapons, mesmer/hypnotist Hypst’r, and Boilermaker, the super of the Brooklyn Avengers’ building with incredible mechanical skills and a drinking problem. If this doesn’t sound like a team that would give the classic Avengers a run for their money, that’s kind of the idea. “I liked the idea that these scruffy, outer-borough heroes had taken their cue and even their name—without permission—from the majestic Avengers, who are based in Manhattan,” Moore explained to the Brooklyn Paper last month.

Moore also calls the story “a love letter to Brooklyn…in that it’s really all about this borough and the kind of people who live in it…and some of the challenges they’re facing.” He praises Scott’s ability to capture architecture and a sense of place in his drawing, a crucial part of this endeavor, since as he puts it, “Brooklyn is as much a character in this as any of the heroes.” To that end, the new book offers a glimpse of several neighborhoods, taking place primarily in Brownsville (where our antiheroes are being kicked out of the brownstone where they all live), with a pivotal scene at the Carroll Street Bridge in Gowanus—incidentally a frequent sight during my commute.

Check out the Brooklyn Independent Television interview here: