by Brian LeTendre
After the mega-controversial ending of Amazing Spider-Man #700, some longtime Spidey fans were boycotting future books featuring the wall-crawler, while others were threatening to swear off Marvel books forever. Superior Spider-Man #1 proved once again however, that Dan Slott knows what he's doing.
For those not up to speed, the final arc of ASM had Doc Ock pulling a mindswap on Peter Parker. While Peter seemingly died in the broken body of Octavius, Otto finds himself the new owner of Peter's body, his spider-abilities, his life and his legacy.
This first issue of Superior does a nice job of touching on all of the aspects of Peter's life that Otto has to now deal with. When it comes to the science side of things and his job at Horizon labs, Otto excels. And he certainly has designs on being a better Spider-Man that Peter ever was. But the whole "responsibility" thing isn't really his forte, and he's less interested in saving people and catching crooks than he is making himself look good. He's also not opposed to taking lives either, and when he's about to beat a c-list villain to death, we get the biggest twist of the issue--which I won't spoil for you if you haven't read it yet.
Needless to say, Dan Slott has proven time and again that he understands exactly what makes for a great Spider-Man story. Ryan Stegman's art, whcih I loved on Scarlet Spider, is a perfect fit for this book, and the way he draws the Octavius versions of both Peter and Spidey are a great contrast to the Pete we know and love.
4 out of 5 Not-So Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Mans
After the mega-controversial ending of Amazing Spider-Man #700, some longtime Spidey fans were boycotting future books featuring the wall-crawler, while others were threatening to swear off Marvel books forever. Superior Spider-Man #1 proved once again however, that Dan Slott knows what he's doing.
For those not up to speed, the final arc of ASM had Doc Ock pulling a mindswap on Peter Parker. While Peter seemingly died in the broken body of Octavius, Otto finds himself the new owner of Peter's body, his spider-abilities, his life and his legacy.
This first issue of Superior does a nice job of touching on all of the aspects of Peter's life that Otto has to now deal with. When it comes to the science side of things and his job at Horizon labs, Otto excels. And he certainly has designs on being a better Spider-Man that Peter ever was. But the whole "responsibility" thing isn't really his forte, and he's less interested in saving people and catching crooks than he is making himself look good. He's also not opposed to taking lives either, and when he's about to beat a c-list villain to death, we get the biggest twist of the issue--which I won't spoil for you if you haven't read it yet.
Needless to say, Dan Slott has proven time and again that he understands exactly what makes for a great Spider-Man story. Ryan Stegman's art, whcih I loved on Scarlet Spider, is a perfect fit for this book, and the way he draws the Octavius versions of both Peter and Spidey are a great contrast to the Pete we know and love.
4 out of 5 Not-So Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Mans
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