Slott, Dan
AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:
3.3 out of 5
(3 books)
TOP PICK:
The Superior Spider-Man: My Own Worst Enemy
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 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 vert 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
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Marvel Comics (here)