Superior Foes of Spider-Man #11 – Review

By: Elliott Kalan & Tom Peyer (writers); Steve Lieber, Carmen Carnero, Terry Pallot, & Nuno Plati (artists); Chris Sotomayor & John Rauch (colors)

The Story: The first step is acknowledging that you have a problem…and that the problem is not Spiderman…

The Review: The Superior Foes of Spider-Man has carved out a fun little niche for itself, examining the hopes and aspirations of a very different class of supervillain, those just looking for the next big score or an ounce of respect. It’s a fascinating corner of the superhero genre that few books have really examined.

While Boomerang has served as our focal point, last issue gave us a look at the other four members of the Sinister Six. Now, with our roster ‘exhausted’, we turn to an even lower tier of crook, the recovering villains that Mach VII introduced Boomerang to way back when. The issue is split into two stories, the first about the Grizzly and the second about the Looter.
The Grizzly story is a pretty funny tale. The former wrestler is down on his luck, reduced to luring drunks into ambushes, but rather than simply mug them he takes just what he needs and splits a pizza with them. It’s a cute concept and one that brings a couple of resonant moments to the issue.

The strongest element of “A Grizzly Situation” is the way that all the parts work together. There are a couple distinct ideas at play in Grizzly’s character but, in the end, it all comes back to nostalgia and self-loathing. It makes sense why Maxwell ended up in a twelve step program.

Amazing Spider-Man #692 – Review

Alpha, Part I by: Dan Slott (writer), Humberto Ramos (pencils), Victor Olazaba (inks), Edgar Delgado (colors), Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

Spider-Man for a Night by: Dean Haspiel (writer/artist), Giulia Brusco (colors)

Just Right by: Joshua Hale Fialkov (writer), Nuno Plati (artist)

The Story: Spider-Man gets a new sidekick, but will he be more than Spidey can handle?

A few things (with minor SPOILERS): 1). Predictable, but let’s be open-minded… – So, Peter inadvertently creates another super-powered being and is then assigned to babysit this super-powerful and possibly out-of-control kid.  It seems like there are some very predictable places that such a story can go, right?  I really don’t want a story that shows how Peter became a good Spider-Man, didn’t abuse his powers and stuff because PETER is a good person, whereas some other person might get superpowers and behave badly because they are not as good of a person as PETER.  We’ve seen those stories before.  Let’s just have faith that Dan Slott is too fastidious of a writer to give us a recycled story….but my antennas are up.

Amazing Spider-Man #657 – Review

By: Dan Slott (writer), Marcos Martin, Ty Templeton, Nuno Plati & Stefano Caselli (art), Muntsa Vicente, Javier Rodriguez, Plati & Marte Gracia (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Ellie Pyle (assistant editor) & Stephen Wacker (editor)

The Story: Spidey and the FF give the Human Torch a proper send off by recalling a lot of the good times.

What’s good: How about that?  Given how good Fantastic Four #588 was in its send off of the Human Torch, it is pretty amazing that an issue of Amazing Spider-Man would be an even better send-off, but that is exactly what happens in this issue.

The premise of the issue is pretty simple: Spidey swings by the Baxter Building to apologize for missing Torch’s funeral service.  What ensues is a recollection of some of the great times that Spidey and Torch have had over the years.  Of course, there is some legitimate villain-busting in the stories, but most of the fun comes from the fun moments where Spidey & Torch are camping and playing tricks on each other, or where Spidey is pulling Torch’s pants down in front of teenage admirers or where the Spidey & Torch inspire Sue Storm to embrace her juvenile side (who knew she had such a side?) and take down villains in a very creative way that ends with Sue having some trouble with the law.

There really isn’t much more to say about the story, because it isn’t complicated, but it is incredibly well executed and you’ll laugh-out-loud 5-6 times in this issue.  Slott and company really captured the FUN side of Human Torch in a way that Hickman & Dragotta didn’t in their very strong FF #588.