Superior Spider-Man #19 – Review

Dan Slott (Writer), Ryan Stegman, Livesay (Artists), Edgar Delgado (Colorist)

The Story: Otto tries to reverse the current damage to the time stream with the people of Horizon Labs as Miguel O’Hara’s fate is revealed.

The Review: Dan Slott is kind of a tease, isn’t he? With the heavy marketing around this book, it seems that he simply has to make sure people try to guess whatever might happen, through whichever way possible. The ”nothing will ever be the same” is especially strong with this series and this writer, which may grate on the nerves of some people as promises are made. It’s enough for the skeptic in all of us lift an eyebrow when looking at all of this in an objective way.

However, it seems that not only is it working in gaining the interest of readers, but most of the time Slot actually do delivers on changing elements and introducing newer ones. This issue is a good example of this, as not only do the writer play with the various elements prior to this volume and the current one, but he also insert new elements into play that makes this series able to deliver on surprising twists.

Something he does in order to bring those changes in an effective manner is that he consolidate much of the plot threads together for the finale, which helps tremendously. With a focus on a particular scene and with all the players gathered together, it makes this issue less jumbled than the previous ones in this arc. With the issue mostly concentrated on Otto’s point-of-view, though not necessarily on all of his actions, the fallouts, the actions and the reactions ends up being much more satisfying to read and experience.

Superior Spider-Man #17 – Review

Dan Slott (Writer), Ryan Stegman, Livesay (Artists), Edgar Delgado (Colorist)

The Story: Miguel O’Hara needs to go back in time to stop something from happening in 2013, which may be connected to something Spider-Ock might do.

The Review: Sometimes, a writer may throw around an idea that is simply appealing. A concept that is perhaps simple, yet one that does raise the curiosity and interest of readers enough that they really want to see a situation like this occur. It is something that has occurred many times with close to every company, yet it is an efficacious tactic that always help raise the profile of a book when needed.

The latest use of such a stratagem can be seen in this issue as Slott, being playing with the expectations of readers, teased that he might do a Spider-Man 2099 story. What started as perhaps a bit of a jape went on to become a real thing, as this issue tells the story of such an encounter, or at least try to.

I say try, as any story with such a ludicrous concept cannot simply be simply be shown without at least contextualization as to the various explanation of why and how this is happening. Here, Slott builds up his story before letting the magic of his ideas go wild, which has its share of weaknesses and strengths.

The best about this issue would be the parts dealing with Miguel O’Hara himself, the Spider-Man of the future. Here, Slott brings out some of the most memorable aspects of the Peter David run on Spider-Man 2099, with the bizarre slang used, the strange tech, Alchemax and the general personality of its main character. All of those elements are handled well-enough in order to provide both those who knew the characters and those that didn’t enough of a feel to the character to know more about him.

FF #17 – Review

By: Jonathan Hickman (writer), Nick Dragotta (art), Chris Sotomayor (colors), and Clayton Cowles (letters)

The Story:  Can Peter Parker possibly survive the sheer, mind-imploding aggravation of having Johnny Storm for a room-mate?

The Review:  Jonathan Hickman is among my favourite writers, but he wouldn’t exactly be my first choice to write a sitcom, much as I wouldn’t choose, say, Brian Azzarello to write a romantic comedy.  Yet, somehow, Hickman gives us a superhero sitcom with this issue and it is, well, fantastic.  All the jokes are hits and this is a book that is guaranteed to get you smiling.

In both Hickman’s energetic, upbeat script and Nick Dragotta’s cartoony, high-paced artwork, this issue of FF maintains a consistently jocular tone that keeps you in a mood primed for laughter.  Pete’s increasing level of suppressed anger, slowly rising to boiling point, is matched perfectly to Johnny’s complete and total obliviousness.  Hickman plays the dynamic perfectly; he gives us peaks into Peter’s mind, which only make Johnny’s behaviour all the more ridiculous.