Superior Spider-Man Team-Up #2 – Review

Christopher Yost (Writer), Marco Checchetto (Artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: Kaine goes to visit his friend Peter, only to discover that he has turned into a colossal jerk. Cue Spider-Ock and his arrogant shenanigans.

The Review: Crossovers aren’t always handled quite well. Sometimes, they are simply single issues where another character or team guest-star in another title, showing just who they are in order to boost their appearances. Other times, they are handled in multiple issues where both writers and titles share their characters in a multiple-part story. Both can be done right, yet they each have their weaknesses and strengths.

This issue is part of the latter and unfortunately show very well one of the main weakness of this type of crossover: the fact that it is not a complete story. Of course, most issues these days are part of a whole considering how many writers are writing for the trade paperbacks these days, yet this one does not accomplish much on its own.

The story here is that Kaine visits Peter, being unaware of the switch-up that made Superior Spider-Man a controversial series to begin with, as Otto reacts very violently to his presence and the fact that Kaine is a clone of the body he inhabits. The confrontation itself is precipitated perhaps a bit too fast, as Otto goes on and tries to kill Kaine almost as soon as he shows up, getting to the action scene rapidly after the introduction to Otto and his life.

This prompt the issue to go toward territory that aren’t particularly pleasant, as a lot of the characters become unlikeable and the plot make way for a lot of action without giving the readers much to latch onto in order to enjoy it. The reasons for Otto’s reaction are believable, yet they are not delved very far as we get some text, a panel and that’s it. It is a bit fast in terms of contextualisation for readers to invest themselves in the conflict show here.