MY ‘THE SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #1’ REVIEW

The Superior Spider-Man #1

By Dan Slott (writter) and Ryan Stegman (artist)
+Marvel Entertainment 

 

Now I want to warn all of you upfront that this is not a spoiler free review. It’s the exact opposite. So if you haven’t readThe Superior Spider-Man #1 yet and hate spoiler’s, I suggest you get it, read it, then read this review. Okay, fair warning.

So I know everyone was up in arms about the killing off of Peter Parker but I don’t think all the death threats and hate mail was warranted. I mean I’m the biggest Peter/Spider-Man fan there is and I didn’t loose my shit over it. Because I knew Peter would be back in one way or another and SSM #1 knows it too. I’ll get to that later.

Superior Spider-Man makes it clear right away that this is not The Amazing Spider-Man. Otto Octavius uses his new Spider-Powers as an extension of his supervillain skills. The way he thinks, the way he acts is exactly how he’d act as if he still had four mechanical limbs and a bowl-cut, the only difference is he’s on the other side of the law now. This sort of makes Spider-Man more of an anti-hero than he ever was before.

SSM #1 starts off with Otto accepting what happened in ASM #700. He is now Peter Parker and Spider-Man and seems to be ready for the job. When ever he’s not wearing the Spidey suit he’s got a bluetooth headset on tuned to the police dispatch radio.

He get’s word about a break-in and robbery at Empire State University an jumps into action.

The robbers turn out to be the All-New Sinister Six (I think there’s been like 6 Sinister Six groups by now). This group is made up of Shocker, Living Brain, Boomerang, Speed Demon, Beetle, and Overdrive. It’s an interesting mix of new and old Spider-Man villains, but they’re clearly only there as an obstacle to show off how the new Spider-Man operates.

Here’s where the humor of Otto as Spider-Man comes in. He’s clearly annoyed that this group of hack villains is calling themselves The Sinister Six, a group Otto has a bit of history with. He knows these villains are inferior to the deceased Doc Ock and doesn’t mind letting them know. 

So Otto, as Spider-Man, attempts to take out the All-New Sinister Six. He almost does and at the last minute fucks up and does something Spider-Man doesn’t do, he retreats because he gets annoyed doing super hero work. 

This is an interesting way to take the new Spider-Man. Otto realizes how fucked up you have to be to fight crime 24/7 and was about to just give and go home. Until he see a cop in danger and jumps into action, something compels him to put himself in danger to save another life. But Otto, amazed at how out of character he’s acting, insults the cop he just saved.

The Six get away but not before Otto uses a new Spider-Man tactic, Nano-Spider Tracers in in claws of his gloves (I guess). He scratches Boomerang so he can monitor the group. 

So Otto takes the destroyed Living Brain back to Horizon Labs to study. Back in the lab Otto, having accepted being Spider-Man, now has to accept being Peter Parker. He realizes all his ideas and breakthroughs will be part of Parker’s legacy. This doesn’t sit well at first. 

But then he get’s a call from MJ and suddenly being Peter Parker isn’t so bad. 

This is the only thing about Superior Spider-Man I’m not that into. It was inevitable Otto, as Peter, would be dating Marty Jane but Dan Slott writes Otto as a huge perv. Staring at MJ’s tits and fantasising about banging her with his new found “vigor” is kind of off putting. Especially when you know Otto is (was) an old man and he’s using his guise as Peter to get into MJ’s pants. Our hero, everyone. But I guess once a villain, always a villain. 

Otto get’s a read on the Sinister Six and goes to plant a trap. This part I really enjoyed. It’s where Otto really employs his super villain skills to take out the Six for good. He uses all his knowledge in science to set a trap and takes them out one by one. 

Until it’s just Spidey and Boomerang. Otto is just about to kill a career criminal, something Spider-Man only did in the Zombieverse, but stops. 

 

So there it is, the big surprise ending. Confirming my suspicion that Peter was just on vacation. He was hiding deep in Otto’s subconscious or he’s a ghost, or he’s a guardian angel and what he’s guarding is Spider-Man’s reputation. Either way, Superior-Spider-Man plainly says Peter Parker will be back one way or another. 

 

In conclusion: I liked this first issue. It had everything you’d want in a Spider-Man comic reboot. You get to know this new Spider-Man, how he operates, how he thinks and a taste of things to come. I’m not too fond of Ryan Stegman’s art style. It’s not that it’s no good, just not my favorite look for Spider-Man. Other than that, I think this could be a regular on my pull list twice a month. 

If you’ve read The Superior Spider-Man #1, let me know what you think.