Page 45 Review by Stephen
The first thing you should know is that this wasn't a sideshow spin-off.
This was the main Spider-title replacing AMAZING SPIDER-MAN for approximately three years. The first of two hefty volumes, this repackages AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #698-700 and SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #1-16 previously collected as 'Dying Wish', 'My Own Worst Enemy' (a very clever title under the circumstances, and you shall see), 'Troubled Min' and 'No Escape'.
Amazing Spider-Man: Dying Wish
Oooooh, the final few issues of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN* leading up and including #700!
What's left of mop-topped minger Doc Ock has been knocking on death's door for quite a few years. Now it looks like it's about to open up and swallow him whole, tentacles and all. Yes, Doctor Octopus has mere hours to live, but is determined to have the last laugh over the quipping, thwipping pain in the arse who's been beating his backside for over five decades.
And that's when he discovers Spider-Man is Peter Parker, nephew of that sweet old woman whom he once had the hots for, and to whom he was briefly engaged. Doc Ock and Aunt May made it as far as the altar, I kid you not! Boy, this new knowledge has sure got to rankle!
Ah, but the man has a plan, and it is a cunning one. He's going to swap minds with Spider-Man and leave Peter Parker in his old, ravaged shell to face the funereal music instead.
All sorts of ironies abound in this final tussle, and although I was emotionally ejected from the proceedings by Ramos' plinky plonky artwork, the surprise ending was certainly very different from what anyone could have expected, and set the stage a very new, very different SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN
*The final few issues, that is, until Marvel inevitably relaunches with a fresh AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1 next year, before reinstating the old issue numbers as soon as they approach 750. You mark my words.
[Editor's note: I was three years out, but that prediction otherwise proved 100% accurate. There was indeed another AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1 before Marvel reinstated its old issue numbers. As I type this, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is about to celebrate its 800th issue next week. Then, of course, there will be yet another #1 because Marvel - currently a desperate, clueless, headless chicken - simply cannot help itself.]
Superior Spider-Man: My Own Worst Enemy
"Ahhh! I can't take this anymore! It's - It's crazy-town banana-pants!"
In 'Dying Wish' Doctor Octopus side-stepped certain death by swapping minds with Peter Parker as his own sorry, saggy old carcass expired. Now he inhabits Peter's youthful body and pretty face whilst inheriting his memories, his relatives and acquaintances, including a very confused Mary Jane Watson. Unexpectedly, this fusion has catalysed a reformation of sorts, for Otto Octavius is now determined to fight crime as Spider-Man but with his own, warped set of priorities and a new, more methodical approach which somehow eluded our Peter.
Doctor Octavius has a very different modus operandi
And this is the delight: some of Otto's innovations are genuinely clever and infinitely more practical; some of his quick thinking has already paid dividends which poor Peter never saw; some of his strategies risk ruining Spider-Man's reputation for good; because some of his costume modifications are dangerously diabolical.
Meanwhile, some of the much older man's moves on Peter's young loved ones are positively icky. And all Peter Parker can do is float there in some sort of astral plane and watch…
Oh, he is far from gone, I can assure you! There is enormous comedy potential to be had here and Dan Slott has seized it, revelling in the dramatic irony that is everyone's ignorance except Carlie Cooper's.
Moreover, the longer this goes on, the more it makes sense that it was Dr. Octopus who finally seized control of Peter Parker's life, for they share so much in scientific background and acumen. Otto can take full advantage of Peter's position at Horizon Labs, he's just far less likely to share. He can be convincingly savvy in all of these spheres and, in addition, his arrogance comes across to those not in the know merely as renewed self-confidence: the diffident ditherer is gone, and some women find that attractive.
Pretty much impressed by the art as well which comes across as Eric Larsen inked by Howard Chaykin on Ryan Stegman's part, then with Giuseppe Camuncoli it becomes something more akin to mid-John Romita Jr inked by Eric Larsen.
Above all, this is far from assembly-line fisticuffs. It is very well thought-through. The condition which could so easily have been treated as a mere gimmick has instead been thoroughly seized by the horns and ridden as a rodeo, and an opportunity to surprise.
It is bananas, for sure, but it is far from pants. It is instead, crazy-town banana-pants.
And I think that is where we came in.
Superior Spider-Man: Troubled Mind
Above all else, what Doc Ock has brought with him is a lifetime of resentment which began with being bullied at school and which was exacerbated each time he decided to twist tentacles with the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. The end result is a decidedly less friendly Spider-Man whose temper is triggered during almost every confrontation, resulting in the death of one villain so far. The Avengers - initially merely baffled by the sudden mood shift from merry rejoinders to snide superciliousness - have finally taken note that something's a little off and call him in for a brain scan.
Meanwhile, Peter is beginning to make tiny steps to reassert his own identity: small note-book doodles when the doctor is distracted, and he's desperately hoping that the brain scan will secure the Avengers' help. And the brain scan does reveal an anomaly, but who's best qualified to judge what it is?
There are significant developments here, but not necessarily those you'll be expecting. The irony of any secret identity is dramatic enough, but it's substantially heightened by this double deception, and Dan Slott milks this for all that it's worth. Better still is the gradual reformation, in certain areas at least, of the bitter old whinger; something which I pray isn't dropped when this has all sorted itself out (which it will the very second another film looms onto the horizon).
I'd also like to single out Edgar Delgado's colouring which in places is far from obvious. I stared at the second page of issue #9 for quite some time, particularly the bottom right panel where instead of enhancing the curves of the Ryan Stegman's beautifully drawn nose, Delgado opts to emphasise the shadow of the helmet over Peter's cheeks. I like what he chose for the flesh tones there as well. In fact a round of applause for Ryan Stegman generally who melds all the melodrama of Humberto Ramos with a softer, gentler humanity. At dinner with Aunt May, for example, you can see a genuinely appreciative if slightly smug Otto Octavius shine through Peter's fresh-faced puppy-dom. These little things are important.
Superior Spider-Man: No Escape
The premise for SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN is relatively simple but its execution has proved surprisingly thorough: in 'Dying Wish' one of Spider-Man's oldest, ugliest foes, Otto Octavious (PhD and at death's door), finally won the day by switching his consciousness with Peter Parker's just before his own body expired.
For a while Peter's own memories lingered on as did his spirit, ever so slightly alarmed about what Dr Octopus was doing with his body, to his friends and even his vilest villains. This niggling nuisance was swiftly purged but not before Peter's psyche had imprinted itself on Otto's to the extent that, along with the power, he was indeed going to accept the responsibility of fighting on the other side of the law while ignoring even more of its letters. The villains weren't just banged up, they were banged about first: the vulture was [redacted], the Scorpion lost his [excised] and J. Jonah Jameson was most impressed. To him this is indeed a far superior Spider-Man. Smug and disdainful as well, I might add, and although some have accepted this as maybe a mid-life crisis, others have since grown suspicious.
Here we return to The Raft (maximum security penitentiary for less than penitent supervillains) which in the process of being decommissioned, but not before the Spider-Slayer, sentenced to death, has been executed.
"Spider-Man. Come to supervise the slaying of the Spider-Slayer, eh? I'm sure you're thoroughly enjoying the irony of that."
He's actually more preoccupied with his own past there, when once locked up as a criminal.
These are the sorts of things this series has dealt with: Octavius's fresh-found perspective on those he once allied himself with, and the irony of J. Jonah Jameson finally coming round to Spider-Man's cause based on the actions of someone who isn't even Peter. Do you think he's going to regret that?
Now, I'm merely thinking aloud here, but if there was one individual above all who would begin to take counter-measures given Spider-Man's increasing superior success, it would be a certain brillo-bonced psychopath for whom every day of the year is a lime-green and purple opportunity to trick, never treat.
