In this issue of Superior Spider-man Otto Octavius/Spider-man offers his old friend the Vulture a deal if he'll quit his life of crime, but when he sees just how disturbed the Vulture really is he goes overboard in order to take him down.
If anyone had wondered if Dan Slott's genius had come to an end at the conclusion of his Amazing Spider-man run, this issue should answer with a resounding "no." The fact of the matter is that Peter Parker is not the only character worthy of development. In a flashback, Slott shows us a scene of mutual respect and friendship between a younger Otto Octavius and the Vulture. Reading the old comics about the first time the Sinister Six came together, I doubt anyone wondered, "What does this look like from the perspective of Doctor Octopus?" No. The actual response was, "Doctor Octopus is heartless."
But it is the heart of Otto Octavius rather than the devious mind that leads him astray in the third installation of this series. It seems that his respect for Vulture and their shared hatred for Spider-man blinded Otto to the true nature of his former friend. After all, the Vulture has been abusing the young in a variety of different ways since he first began using them as batteries in order to keep him from decrepitude. Perhaps for the first time, Slott informs readers that there are limits to how far Otto Octavius will go, and those limits have nothing to do with the memories and conscience of Peter Parker that have been superimposed on Otto.
This issue was mostly disturbing. If the Vulture's child abuse wasn't enough, then the eerie scenes where it is clear that Carly knows the truth about Otto's deception should have sent a shiver down your spine. It is clear to Peter Parker that Carly knows, but it is also clear that she has to play this one carefully. If Otto were to be exposed, there would certainly be a deadly backlash as he uses all of Spider-man's "great power" to protect his secret, to protect his newly found life.
The only bad thing I have to say about Superior Spider-man is that new issues come out so often that it has become difficult to keep up with reviewing them. Fortunately, I am having no problem keeping up with enjoying them. Superior Spider-man remains the best new comic of the year, and I don't think Bendis's Uncanny X-Men or Johns's Justice League of America will be able to dethrone the king.
I've syndicated this review at Examiner. You can read it here. If you click on it a few times, spend some time there, or navigate to a new page, I might get some money. But I'm only asking that of you if you liked reading the article here and want to show your appreciation.
Showing posts with label superior spider-man. Show all posts
Showing posts with label superior spider-man. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Monday, February 4, 2013
Superior Spider-man #2
Otto Octavius/Spider-man continues to prove that he can be a better Spider-man than Peter Parker ever was. In the last issue, he did so by craftily dealing with the newly formed Sinister Six. In this issue, his focus turns to Peter Parker's love life and the inevitable Otto Octavius and Mary Jane Watson coupling.
The issue of Otto romancing Mary Jane while in Pete's body is touchy. If he succeeds in "wooing her" and "sealing the deal," that would be tantamount to rape. After all, it is not Otto Octavius but Peter Parker who she wants and who she believes she is dating. No deception on Otto's part can get around that fact. Slott deals with the issue carefully. With the help of ghost-Peter-Parker, the reader is alerted to the disturbing moral situations of Otto touching Mary Jane, flirting with Sajani, and even of Otto washing his current body in the shower. The moral ground is laid out so well that the reader is disturbed when Otto makes use of Peter's memories to "experience" Mary Jane fully.
Despite failing completely at every attempt to get invited up to Mary Jane's apartment, Octavius is able to gather some important data from his scientific trials concerning his sex life, namely that there is a logical conundrum with dating Mary Jane. Peter Parker cares about Mary Jane and wants to date her, but his presence in her life puts a target on her head, so Octavius concludes that he cannot pursue Mary Jane. At least on the surface, this appears to be yet another way in which Octavius is superior to Peter Parker.
Here's where a little reading between the lines might be able to reveal a prevailing theme in Superior Spider-man. I think that in every individual way, Otto Octavius is going to be able to prove that he is better than Peter Parker at being Spider-man, and yet overall he is going to fail at being Spider-man. What we're going to see is that being better has far less to do with the content and arrangement of ones actions as it does with the motivation behind the actions one commits. Octavius defeated the Sinister Six with ease, but he should have stormed their headquarters and prevented any possible harm that they might have done before they got to his trap. He decided to push away Mary Jane, but a super hero who has no connection to the people of the world will fail at seeing them as anything other than collateral damage in an all-out brawl.
Otto Octavius will fail because being Spider-man is less about intellect than it is about compassion. While Peter Parker has a great head on his shoulders, you put down Spider-man and pick up an issue of Fantastic Four if you want to read about what the smartest people in the world are doing. You pick up a Spider-man book because Peter Parker is all heart, something that Octavius will always fail at.
The future of Superior Spider-man looks bright. We can look forward to more quirks, like Peter Parker with a robot lab assistant that whirs when it speaks and spider-surveillance drones. Despite the surprising lack of witty dialogue from the vulturettes, Otto's run-in with the Vulture should be pleasing. And who can forget the fact that Carlie Cooper may have figured out that Otto Octavius has inhabited Pete's body. Like I said, future, bright!
I've syndicated this review at Examiner. You can read it here. If you click on it a few times, spend some time there, or navigate to a new page, I might get some money. But I'm only asking that of you if you liked reading the article here and want to show your appreciation.
The issue of Otto romancing Mary Jane while in Pete's body is touchy. If he succeeds in "wooing her" and "sealing the deal," that would be tantamount to rape. After all, it is not Otto Octavius but Peter Parker who she wants and who she believes she is dating. No deception on Otto's part can get around that fact. Slott deals with the issue carefully. With the help of ghost-Peter-Parker, the reader is alerted to the disturbing moral situations of Otto touching Mary Jane, flirting with Sajani, and even of Otto washing his current body in the shower. The moral ground is laid out so well that the reader is disturbed when Otto makes use of Peter's memories to "experience" Mary Jane fully.
Despite failing completely at every attempt to get invited up to Mary Jane's apartment, Octavius is able to gather some important data from his scientific trials concerning his sex life, namely that there is a logical conundrum with dating Mary Jane. Peter Parker cares about Mary Jane and wants to date her, but his presence in her life puts a target on her head, so Octavius concludes that he cannot pursue Mary Jane. At least on the surface, this appears to be yet another way in which Octavius is superior to Peter Parker.
Here's where a little reading between the lines might be able to reveal a prevailing theme in Superior Spider-man. I think that in every individual way, Otto Octavius is going to be able to prove that he is better than Peter Parker at being Spider-man, and yet overall he is going to fail at being Spider-man. What we're going to see is that being better has far less to do with the content and arrangement of ones actions as it does with the motivation behind the actions one commits. Octavius defeated the Sinister Six with ease, but he should have stormed their headquarters and prevented any possible harm that they might have done before they got to his trap. He decided to push away Mary Jane, but a super hero who has no connection to the people of the world will fail at seeing them as anything other than collateral damage in an all-out brawl.
Otto Octavius will fail because being Spider-man is less about intellect than it is about compassion. While Peter Parker has a great head on his shoulders, you put down Spider-man and pick up an issue of Fantastic Four if you want to read about what the smartest people in the world are doing. You pick up a Spider-man book because Peter Parker is all heart, something that Octavius will always fail at.
The future of Superior Spider-man looks bright. We can look forward to more quirks, like Peter Parker with a robot lab assistant that whirs when it speaks and spider-surveillance drones. Despite the surprising lack of witty dialogue from the vulturettes, Otto's run-in with the Vulture should be pleasing. And who can forget the fact that Carlie Cooper may have figured out that Otto Octavius has inhabited Pete's body. Like I said, future, bright!
I've syndicated this review at Examiner. You can read it here. If you click on it a few times, spend some time there, or navigate to a new page, I might get some money. But I'm only asking that of you if you liked reading the article here and want to show your appreciation.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Superior Spider-man #1
Following the events of Amazing Spider-man #700, Superior Spider-man tells the story of Otto Octavius in the body of Peter Parker/Spider-man, a villain whose evil tendencies are curbed by the presence of Peter Parker's memories. Because Octavius is an egotist second only to Doctor Doom, he believes that he is better both at being Peter Parker and Spider-man than his predecessor, hence the title Superior Spider-man. This first issue shows Otto's disgust at the formation of a new Sinister Six, a bush league hodgepodge of b-villains who have the nerve of disgracing a team that Doctor Octopus was once a part of.
If you have read the events leading up to this event, you know that Dan Slott has been planning this transformation for quite some time. As a matter of fact, Peter Parker's switch from photographer to scientist was the perfect predecessor for Otto Octavius's switch from Doctor Octopus to Spider-man. If you've read Amazing Spider-man then you will not be surprised at how great the writing is in this issue. The Sinister Six story-line creates a perfect frame to show how Otto operates as Spider-man, as Peter Parker the scientist, and as Peter Parker the current boyfriend of Mary Jane Watson.
But the best part about having Dan Slott at the writing helm is the dialogue. When Otto attacks the "archaic" Living Brain, the robot mixes emotion with logic by screaming, "Query: Why was unit programmed with pain receptors? Whyyyy?" Subsequently, Grady Scraps refers to the Living Brain as, "the Super Nintendo of robots." And finally, how can you beat the fact that Octavius's laundry list of the pros of being Peter Parker ends with a drawing of Mary Jane in a sexy dress from the neck down and the line, "Yes. Peter Parker's life will suit me just fine. And the best part about it? The view."
I actually met the artist Ryan Stegman at the Cherry Capital Con in Traverse City, Michigan in May of 2012. At the time he had just announced that he would be drawing for Fantastic Four soon, a project that we all soon realized would be short-lived because Hickman was giving Fantastic Four and FF over to a new creative team shortly after Avengers vs. X-Men concluded. I got Stegman to autograph a comic for me and we got into a conversation about comic book art. I told him that if I were an artist I'd be one of those big muscle, big boobs kind of artists. His response: "I guess you could say that's my style." In a panel, he said that he has always loved drawing Spider-man, so I wasn't surprised to see him on this book. His art is fantastic, and I hope they keep him on for a while.
There was a certain Jedi ghost appearance at the end of this issue that has people very unhappy. I am riding the fence on this issue. Without spoiling too much, I will say that I knew something like this was going to happen, especially because a certain octobot wasn't destroyed. But the way it has come about seems a little weird, and I'm not sure I like the depiction of the aforementioned Jedi ghost.
Superior Spider-man is well on its way to being the best new comic of 2013, and the best comic book of 2013. When you start adding adjectives to the titles of your super hero, you write a check that will some day need to be cashed. This comic is already living up to the name Superior. May it continue to do so.
I've syndicated this review at Examiner. You can read it here. If you click on it a few times, spend some time there, or navigate to a new page, I might get some money. But I'm only asking that of you if you liked reading the article here and want to show your appreciation.
If you have read the events leading up to this event, you know that Dan Slott has been planning this transformation for quite some time. As a matter of fact, Peter Parker's switch from photographer to scientist was the perfect predecessor for Otto Octavius's switch from Doctor Octopus to Spider-man. If you've read Amazing Spider-man then you will not be surprised at how great the writing is in this issue. The Sinister Six story-line creates a perfect frame to show how Otto operates as Spider-man, as Peter Parker the scientist, and as Peter Parker the current boyfriend of Mary Jane Watson.
But the best part about having Dan Slott at the writing helm is the dialogue. When Otto attacks the "archaic" Living Brain, the robot mixes emotion with logic by screaming, "Query: Why was unit programmed with pain receptors? Whyyyy?" Subsequently, Grady Scraps refers to the Living Brain as, "the Super Nintendo of robots." And finally, how can you beat the fact that Octavius's laundry list of the pros of being Peter Parker ends with a drawing of Mary Jane in a sexy dress from the neck down and the line, "Yes. Peter Parker's life will suit me just fine. And the best part about it? The view."
I actually met the artist Ryan Stegman at the Cherry Capital Con in Traverse City, Michigan in May of 2012. At the time he had just announced that he would be drawing for Fantastic Four soon, a project that we all soon realized would be short-lived because Hickman was giving Fantastic Four and FF over to a new creative team shortly after Avengers vs. X-Men concluded. I got Stegman to autograph a comic for me and we got into a conversation about comic book art. I told him that if I were an artist I'd be one of those big muscle, big boobs kind of artists. His response: "I guess you could say that's my style." In a panel, he said that he has always loved drawing Spider-man, so I wasn't surprised to see him on this book. His art is fantastic, and I hope they keep him on for a while.
There was a certain Jedi ghost appearance at the end of this issue that has people very unhappy. I am riding the fence on this issue. Without spoiling too much, I will say that I knew something like this was going to happen, especially because a certain octobot wasn't destroyed. But the way it has come about seems a little weird, and I'm not sure I like the depiction of the aforementioned Jedi ghost.
Superior Spider-man is well on its way to being the best new comic of 2013, and the best comic book of 2013. When you start adding adjectives to the titles of your super hero, you write a check that will some day need to be cashed. This comic is already living up to the name Superior. May it continue to do so.
I've syndicated this review at Examiner. You can read it here. If you click on it a few times, spend some time there, or navigate to a new page, I might get some money. But I'm only asking that of you if you liked reading the article here and want to show your appreciation.
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