Superior Spider-Man #20 – Review

by Dan Slott (Writer), Giuseppe Camuncoli, John Dell (Artists), Antonio Fabela (Colorist)

The Story: Spider-Ock has an encounter with Black Cat, then goes on to make some progress on some of his current projects.

The Review: Dan Slott has put himself in a nice spot right now with this series in terms of plot progression. Currently playing with the Spider-Man mythos in new ways, there is a pattern of smaller arcs with a bunch of two to three issues that serves as larger pieces to the ongoing narrative, followed by smaller issues where Slott either introduce newer elements or fiddle around with those already in place. It allows him to be a bit more playful with expectations while maintaining a certain momentum in his series, yet things must happen in order to maintain a certain interest in everything that is going on. Does Slott use this issue to its full advantage after the big three-parter with Spider-Man 2099?

The writer does allow this issue to work, for the most part, as he develops multiple situations and plot points at once, delivering on unexpected jokes and hooks that may feed this title new threads for its future. Never letting most of his elements in his narrative gets stale or at least unattended, Slott spins a lot of plates in this issue, which let his characters and situations evolve in bold or at the very least fun ways.

The focus on Otto himself work as always, as his arrogance, his methods and his actions all serve a certain purpose, be it to entertain, give exposition or to simply propel things forward. Not all of what is shown here is as exciting, yet the fact that Otto’s trying to build a company or just how he deals with Black Cat are interesting, setting newer possible interactions and a new direction for the series that could work in the long term. Otto, as always, provide a lot of fun with how Slott manage to introduce a good lot of chaos with the Spider-Man mythology with the ambiguity that is Spider-Ock.

Amazing Spider-Man #666 – Review

by Dan Slott (writer), Stefano Caselli (art), Marte Gracia (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: Life is good, and very busy, for Peter Parker, but unbeknownst to him, more and more people in New York City are gaining spider-powers.

What’s Good: Apparently, Dan Slott and the rest of the crew in the Spider-office take that $3.99 price-tag really seriously.  This is a lot of comic book.  It’s 30 pages of dense storytelling, packed with characterful dialogue and narration that’s entertaining, regardless of the exposition.  It’s also amazing quite how many bases Slott touches upon in these 30 pages.  Not only does Slott set the stage for Spider-Island in ever conceivable way, he also gives us an update on more or less every nook and cranny of Peter Parker’s world.  As a result, the number of characters in this book is pretty damned massive, but because Slott keeps it, for the most part, tightly focused on Peter, Spider-readers won’t get lost.

What’s even more remarkable is what a firm grasp Slott has on this immense cast.  Obviously, his Peter Parker is great, but everyone elses’ dialogue is fun and energetic and every character has his or her own distinct voice.  With so many characters on hand, here, that’s pretty impressive.

All in all, this is just a really big, well-rounded package.  It sets up the state for Spider-Island quite well and will leave you ready and willing to dive in, but more than that, you get a little taste of literally everything and everyone relevant to Slott’s run on ASM thus far.  No stone is left unturned, and as a result, you get a Spidey comic that really feels like a Spidey comic.  With so much in this book, this is a pretty immersive experience, one that really brings you into Peter’s world.

Of course, Caselli’s art doesn’t hurt.  It’s as lively and energetic as ever and while Caselli often puts a lot on the page, in both content and panels, it’s never confused or claustrophobic.  Whether it’s a dialogue scene or an action scene, Caselli’s work always feels fast-paced.