Superior Spider-Man #22 – Review

by Dan Slott, Christos Gage (Writers), Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba (Artists), Edgar Delgado (Colorist)

The Story: Otto presents and open his company to others, as Flash Thompson tries to bust a new Crime-Master, only to end up meeting Spider-Ock.

The Review: With a new big arc and the return of Christos Gage, Superior Spider-Man returns to big events as both writers mesh up the slow-building situations with the more present situations. The last time both writers were on was the arc in which Otto was in the raft, fighting against Alistair Smythe and other villains, which was an enjoyable ride. However, does both writers continue the life-building and the fun that is generally attached to the concept of Otto Octavius as Peter Parker?

They do in many ways, although this issue is a bit plagued by some smaller problems that do annoy. The way they balance things out and play with many of the tropes of the Spider-Man mythos, with Venom this time being the object of focus, is rather interesting, yet a bit flawed.

What this issue does right is pushing forward some of the developing threads of Otto’s life, with the debut of Parker Industries being the focus of a couple of pages. The way Otto acts as the boss of his own company is rather humorous, with his villain speech near the beginning being a highlight. There are also several other subplots that are either teased or evolving here, with J. Jonah Jameson and Wraith receiving just enough panels to be relevant without eating too much space in the book.

Superior Spider-Man #14 – Review

Dan Slott (Writer), Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba (Artists), Edgar Delgado (Colorist)

The Review: Spider-Ock takes care of Shadowland and Wilson Fisk, not with an eviction notice, but rather with an army and some surprises.

The Story: How does Otto actually differ in the way he does things when compared to Peter Parker? This question, it seemed, was the main point for a long time, as the role of Spider-Man had been taken from our heroic villain (or perhaps villainous hero?), to the ire of many. Dealing with many of the plot points and with some of the characters from the previous Amazing Spider-Man run, the series was entertaining as it showed the position about the super-heroic life both men had taken, yet it seemed always to be a bit restrained by such a vision. In a way, Slott had to take it very slowly, since Peter Parker, a character that is absolutely beloved by many, had been killed in a rather quick and unceremonious way. Ever since that big issue, the series took its time in presenting us with how things would be done from now on as we got to know a bit more about Otto, his methods and his goals.

In this issue, we see just how big the character was thinking, as he does something that perhaps a lot of readers of the Marvel universe were waiting for: the destruction of Shadowland, the big pagoda in the middle of New York that served as the headquarter of Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin. While this was something that seemed terrific on paper, it did not particularly made a lot of sense that none ever dealt with it in a permanent manner, considering the Marvel universe has people like the Avengers to deal with such problems. Not only that, as there are more superheroes in the Big Apple than one can count, which went a bit far in my suspension of disbelief.