Slott, Dan
AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:
3 out of 5
(5 books)
TOP PICK:
The Superior Spider-Man: My Own Worst Enemy
Siege: Mighty Avengers
(Art by Khoi Pham, Neil Edwards, Craig Yeung, Andew Curry, Andrew Hennessy and Dave Meikis)
Book 7 in this iteration of the Mighty Avengers. Hank Pym and his team find themselves tackling the same problem as Norman Osborn and his Dark Avengers when the Absorbing Man gets hold of the Cosmic Cube. Then, as most of the team joins the fighting at the Siege of Asgard, Hank reveals the secrets of the Infinite Mansion and has to thwart Ultron's attempts to take control of it.
This book really highlights why making Hank Pym the main character wasn't exactly the best idea. Here he lords it over everyone with his new title of Scientist Supreme, whilst simultaneously making terrible decision after terrible decision, culminating in him refusing Captain America's call for the Avengers to assemble to fight Osborn.
This book also largely fails as a tie-in to the Siege event storyline, going off on a tangent of its own and playing out an overly-familiar "Oh no! Ultron's back! ...Again." story. It feels like a huge missed opportunity and, in particular, compares badly with 'Siege: New Avengers' (by Brian Michael Bendis), which I read immediately before this and which actually does a tie-in the right way.
2 out of 5
Spider-Man & The Human Torch
(Art by Ty Templeton, Nelson, Tom Palmer, Drew Geraci and Greg Adams)
Originally rivals, then grudging allies and finally fast friends, this book follows the relationship between Spider-Man and the Human Torch as they battle foes as diverse as the Mole Man, Doctor Doom and Paste-Pot Pete, whilst constantly struggling with their envy for one another.
This book is very much a love-letter to a bygone era of Marvel Comics. Its broken up into five sections, with each focusing on a slightly different era of the title characters lives, running from the 60s, to the 80s and on up to the present (when 'the present' was 2009). I'm much more of a Spidey fan than an FF one, so for me it was really interesting and nostalgic to revisit the days of him as a college nerd, his time caught between Gwen and MJ, the dark days immediately after Gwen's death and the period of the black costume (and dating the Black Cat). Slott does a great job of mimicking the style of those old stories, without ever falling into the narrative pitfalls that they themselves often did.
I liked the development of the friendship of the main characters too, with them each providing the other something they were lacking. It was good to see Peter's surprise upon discovering that Johnny Storm, famous and beloved public figure, is envious of not only his relationship with Aunt May but also his success with women. We naturally think of Peter as being unlucky in love a lot of the time but from Johnny's perspective we see that Peter has two hot women practically fighting over him and, eventually, he marries an actress supermodel.
The main downside to this book is that it does rely heavily upon that sense of nostalgia. There's no real overarching plot of its own here and if you're unfamiliar with some of the narrative eras being homaged, then you'd rapidly lose interest. It wasn't a problem for me personally, but I've got to acknowledge that there's not much substance to this book in and of itself.
3 out of 5
The Mighty Avengers: Earth's Mightiest
(Art by Khoi Pham, Allen Martinez, Danny Miki, Rafa Sandoval, Roger Bonet Martinez, Stephen Segovia, Paco Diaz, Harvey Tolibao and Noah Salonga)
Book 5. A soft reboot in the wake of Secret Invasion, this book sees a new team of Avengers come together to fight the chaos magic of Cthon. Hank Pym, calling himself the Wasp in honour of his dead wife, leads Hercules, Stature, Vision, Jarvis, Jocasta, USAgent, Quicksilver and Amadeus Cho, on missions around the world in defiance of Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers.
The most interesting thing about this book is the make-up of the new team of Avengers, consisting of the troubled founding Avenger Hank Pym, a couple of Young Avengers and some B-listers (don't get me wrong, I love Herc and USAgent, but they're on no-one's A-list). Their dynamic is one of need, rather than one of comradeship and that's an engaging exploration of what it means to be an Avenger; to answer the call because you're the one who can, not because you're pally with the other Avengers.
Whilst I liked the concept of the third act of this book, where Pym's Avengers have to launch a raid against the Fantastic Four, too much of it focuses on the battle of minds and wills between Hank Pym and Reed Richards; which boils down to insufferable prick versus insufferable prick. The solution to their conflict was annoying too because we, the readers, are specifically excluded from the secret that Hank uses to win Reed over. I hate Mystery Box storytelling.
3 out of 5
The Superior Spider-Man: A Troubled Mind
(Art by Humberto Ramos, Ryan Stegman, Victor Olazaba and Cam Smith)
Book 2. Otto Octavius continues to live the life of Peter Parker, becoming a more ruthless and dangerous incarnation of Spider-Man. However, he discovers that Parker's consciousness is still active within his brain and dedicates his efforts to erasing his foe for good.
The core premise of this series remains really strong, with the interesting mix of hero and villain that makes up this new Superior Spider-Man. As well as seeing Otto take ruthlessly brutal measures to declare war on crime, we also get to see him taking down bullies and saving the life of a young girl inadvertently endangered due to one of his schemes as Doctor Octopus.
Despite all the good stuff, the reservation which held me back from loving Book 1 felt even stronger here. The simple truth is that I don't want to see Peter Parker beaten and humiliated by a supervillain. I know the core of this series is exploring Otto's character but it's still a massive downer to see Peter so thoroughly crushed. It doesn't help that even the Avengers, who clearly see that there's something wrong, ultimately give Otto a thumbs up.
3 out of 5
The Superior Spider-Man: My Own Worst Enemy
(Art by Ryan Stegman, Guiseppe Camuncoli and John Dell)
Book 1. Otto Octavius has transplanted his mind into Peter Parker's body and Parker is apparently dead. Otto then dedicates himself to living Parker's life better than his old enemy could have done himself. However, Peter's consciousness is clinging to Otto's subconscious and is horrified by the darker version of Spider-Man that Otto has become.
This is a really intriguing set-up for a series, mixing both the body-swap genre and the 'villain pretends to be good long enough that he starts to become good' trope and it's fitting that it is Doctor Octopus that becomes determined to prove his superiority to Peter Parker. I also really liked Otto's redesign of Spider-Man's costume, particularly the goggles, which are very Doc Ock whilst also looking totally appropriate to the Spidey costume. Perhaps the most intriguing element on offer here is that through forward-planning and a certain efficient ruthlessness, Otto actually does become a more effective version of Spider-Man than his predecessor.
There was one thing that held me back from loving this book, however. It's absolutely an important and necessary part of the narrative but as a lifelong Spidey fan I couldn't quite get past it. That one thing is simply how uncomfortable it is to see Peter Parker killed off by one of his enemies and then humiliated by them too. I'm more than used to Peter not having a lot of luck, but this book represents him being totally defeated. It's also not quite comfortable to see Doc Ock so triumphant and victorious and that's before you get to the panels of him staring at MJ's boobs and accessing Peter's memories of them having sex. Ick. (And I'm not someone who uses 'Ick' lightly). Again, I know it's deliberate and thematic but I still didn't like it.
4 out of 5
Collaborations & Anthologies:
Civil War: Marvel Universe (here)
Deadpool & Cable: Ultimate Collection - Book 3 (here)
Guardians Of The Galaxy: Guardians Disassembled (here)
Hank Pym: Ant-Man/Giant Man/Yellowjacket/Wasp - The Man In The Ant Hill/Earth's Mightiest (here)
Original Sin (here)
The Amazing Spider-Man: Brand New Day (here)
The Mighty Avengers: The Unspoken (here)
The Superior Spider-Man: The Superior Venom (here)
Read more...
Marvel Comics (here)