Two Guys Talking Superior Spider-Man And The Digital Revolution

Features, Reviews, Roundtables, Top Story

Grey Scherl
   You’re not seeing things! This is not a trick! Don’t adjust your screens, flash your routers, or check the date stamps, TWO GUYS ARE BACK!

Pulse Glazer
   Finally! I got an iPad and decided that’s the way to do comics from here on out.

Grey
   I told you digital was the best method for you!

Glazer
   You were utterly correct.  And now I’m back, so what shall we review?

Grey
   Well, there were only a few books this week really worth talking about….so how about we hit the biggest title of the year so far?

Glazer
   Spidey?

superior Spiderman 1 cover

Grey
   Superior Spider-Man by Dan Slott and Ryan Stegman

Glazer
   Numero Uno. Fine, but only if we can be spoileriffic.

Grey
   I wouldn’t have it any other way, after all, the best talking point of the issue are the biggest spoilers.

Glazer
   True there.  Well, the setup is Doc Ock has taken over Spidey’s body and life, but has, in the process, gotten his sense of responsibility.  How do you like the setup?

Grey
   To be honest, I really didn’t like it that much going in. Sure, there are a lot of cool possibilities, but it just seems….like it has the longevity of the Green Lantern relaunch last year with it’s promise of “Hal Jordan isn’t Green Lantern!”. You hear the promise and can’t help but instantly wonder how long that will really last.

Glazer
   Exactly. People freaked Peter was dead, but, really, a movie’s out next year, right?

Grey
   Yup, not to mention that Peter Parker is probably the third most recognizable character in all of comics behind Batman and Superman. Remember how long their deaths lasted?

Glazer
   They died? Did I blink and miss that?  
   Still, this issue has that setup, taken on it’s own terms.  What occurs within?

Grey
   Actually, in the New 52, I’m not sure Batman ever did die, which makes me wonder of Azrael ever happened, or if/when/why Dick would put on the Batsuit. Alright, no, this will be a future Two Guys where we attack our New 52 gripes.

Glazer
   Ugh, I ditched DC besides maybe two books so…

Grey
   Otto is Peter now, and he thinks that he is better at it. Whether it be his awful romancing of MJ or his mauling of the Sinister Six.

Glazer
   He’s a really entertaining Peter, but I have to ask how NO ONE is at all suspicious of the fact that he’s not a bit like Peter at all.

Grey
   I called it out when I wrote up 700, he kept calling Mary Jane “Woman”. How would she not be red flagged by that instantly?

Glazer
   Seriously. I have a bad half hour and my friends get nosey.  No one has the slightest idea that he’s utterly different?  Also, the MJ thing feels a bit too icky for my superhero comics.

SuperiorSpiderMan_1_013 SuperiorSpiderMan_1_014

Grey
   Even better, in that issue he almost killed Scorpion after punching off Gargan’s jaw. Peter would NEVER hit someone hard enough to come close to doing that, even enraged.

Glazer
   Agreed fully.  Though it’s more likely that people expect weird things out of Spidey given all the imposters through the years.  I mean, Kaine is somewhere doing similar stuff with similar powers, too.

Grey
   If I show up in a bad mood I get called on it instantly, whether it be my friends, my family, people I work. You spend time with people, they notice you acting strange. Otto isn’t acting like Peter, he’s acting like Otto. Pete had no desire to change the world for credit, or to really do anything selfish. That’s all Otto has done, take what he feels is deserved due to the identity of Spider-Man.

Glazer
   I absolutely agree.  I love the Spidey parts, but hate the Peter parts.
   Peter/Otto wrecking the Six is awesome.

SuperiorSpiderMan_1_021

Grey
   He really is a Superior Spider-Man, but he’s just awful as Peter Parker.
   The Sinister Six stuff was brilliant

Glazer
   It’s very  Iron Man with Spidey’s powers kind of stuff.

Grey
   The best thing Otto brings to the table is an excuse to have Spider-Man truly take advantage of the more genius methods at the characters disposal. Pete always got sucked a bit too deep into generic superhero stuff outside of his own book (Slott did a great job keeping his intellect as a key feature of the character).

Glazer
   For most of my youth writers forgot he was a genius.

Grey
   There were brief moments in the Clone Saga where he was smart, and then the Mackie/Byrne relaunch put him at a job that was, essentially, Horizon, but then it all went away really quick. JMS and PAD tried to put him over as a science teacher, but Marvel seemed to love the idea of him working deadbeat part time barely pay the rent jobs.
   I mean, part time non-staff photographer for a major newspaper is an awesome job if you’re in high school, or still living in a college dorm. Once you get past the age of 21? That job is your doom.

Glazer
   Agreed fully.  So, we’re in agreement so far.  Want to spoil the end?

Grey
   Otto’s main deal with the Sinister Six is his ego. How dare these worthless D listers, one of whom is driving the BIG WHEEL, use the name of his villain team? This is personal to him, so he wants to humiliate them and then completely dismantle them.

Glazer
   Which he easily does.  Good choice of team members he can cripple, too.  Since when does Spidey have claws?

Grey
   The week 700 came out there was also an issue of Avenging that showed all the changes Otto was making to the costume, like the ninja toes, and the claws were another bit. He saw ways of increasing his offense and took them.

Glazer
   That might want to be in a main title!

Grey
   They only released two books that week, Marvel considered it a main title.

Glazer
   They were wrong. I should be able to follow something major like this in one book.  
   That’s how you lose new readers. Trust me, I’m a new Spidey reader.

Grey
   You are a new Spidey reader, I spent months trying to get you to read Spider-Island.
   That issue was really just focused on the redesign and trying to establish the status quo between 700 and 1.

Glazer
   Well, I was finally curious enough. And I’m telling you, this is part of the reason I’m so hesitant to get into Spidey. It becomes an investment.
   See, the status quo should BE #1.

Grey
   Not really a must read book, but it had stuff worth knowing, I’ll set you up with my digital copy.

Glazer
   Slott just got mad at us.

Grey
   What? I paid for it on my Comixology account, and I am going to let you have my login and password so that you can go read it as well. As far as I’m concerned, that’s no different then me going to your apartment and giving you a hard copy…only more logical since you’re in New York and I’m in Missouri.

Glazer
   That makes sense to me. I like Slott on FB even if I disagree with him a good deal.

Grey
   Now, two or three years ago, that would have been me offering you some illegal bootleg. I wouldn’t do that in an actual feature for the site, it would just needlessly stir up the pot. Plus, bootlegging comics to read them? I’m too old for that shit!

Glazer
   Fair enough. I do remember that.

Grey
   And besides, it’s the future, there are such things as legitimate digital copies now, and they are AWESOME!

ComiXology-Logo-Dark-Grey

Glazer
   That is fully true. I love that panel by panel view.

Grey
   I love the issues for a dollar.

Glazer
   Me too.  $3.99 is too much for digital, though.

Grey
   I bought Superior in hardcopy and kept the digital code, and while I forgot to buy Cable and X-Force, I REFUSE to buy it digitally and will go buy a hardcopy. The only $3.99 book I pay for digitally is Sword of Sorcery, and it’s because they give me enough extra content with the backup story to warrant the extra buck. Not like Marvel who charges you a dollar for the digital code, or just screws you out of it if you buy it digitally and don’t get the ‘freebie’.

Glazer
   I will not buy Cable and X-Force.
   I have no idea why that is an expensive title.

Grey
   Any book with a digital code is expensive and it’s lame.

Glazer
   Sigh. Boo Marvel.  DC at least bumps it down a month later.  That’s why I’m reading Tec.

Grey
   Half of those books (Hulk, Iron Man, Cable) I’d much rather just buy for a buck less on digital.

Glazer
   Agreed. Hulk and Iron Man are good books. Avengers is a great book.

Grey
   Marvel likes to wait for a few arcs to be done so they can do a Tuesday ‘sale’ where they bump the prices of a dozen or so books down to $1.99 and act like it’s them doing us a favor. A favor DC, IDW, and Image do three weeks after a books release.
   Iron Man is my first Marvel NOW! cut. Not due to quality, the book is awesome, but four bucks an issue when the book drops five issues in eight weeks is ridiculous.

Glazer
   I can see the problem, yes.

Grey
   I made myself choose between that and All-New X-Men. X-Men won.

Glazer
   I have no interest in X-Men. I’ve read enough Bendis to know it’ll collapse.

Grey
   Though to be fair, all it takes to keep Iron Man going for me is a soft week.
   X-Men is the best thing I’ve read out of Bendis since Mark Bagley was drawing Ultimate Spider-Man.

Glazer
   Hulk > Iron Man > Fantastic Four > FF.  But Avengers is best of All.

Grey
   X-Men > F4 > Avengers > FF > Thor > Cap > Iron Man
   Hulk I’m dropping because I just don’t care, nothing agains the quality, I just don’t care about Hulk.

Glazer
   No way F4 is better than Avengers.  This week was so boring!
   In Waid I trust.

Grey
   Avengers has an epic feel to it, but it hasn’t been epic yet. I reserve the right to sling shot it to the top the second shit hits the fan.

Glazer
   Bendis builds to crap.  Hickman builds to awesome.

Grey
   I’m not going to argue that, I’m just judging off the current books and trying to keep an open mind ;)
   SPIDER-MAN

Glazer
   Right – so at the end, why doesn’t Ock kill the Six?

Grey
   Because the rumors of Peter Parker’s death have been only slightly exaggerated, and while Otto doesn’t even realize it, Peter is right there with him the entire time. He doesn’t let him kill Boomerang, and I also assume he forced Ock to save the cop earlier on.

SuperiorSpiderMan_1_022

Glazer
   They let Peter be away for less than one whole issue!

Grey
   It really is Green Lantern!

Glazer
   It’s so disappointing.

Grey
   I understand that you need this reveal early to satisfy the angry fans who are just buying this book so they can have actual proof that Slott screwed it up….which, let’s be honest, it did. I am far from the only formerly enraged Spider-Fan to cool their jets after reading the book.
   The problem is that it puts an egg timer on the story.

Glazer
   It de-sold me on the concept.

Grey
   It didn’t de-sell me on the book, but the concept, yeah. Sure, we all knew it wasn’t going to be permanent, but the illusion that it could be is going to drive books just as hard as Pete coming back.

Glazer
   true
   But I wanted time for the status quo. I wanted to enjoy Otto.

Grey
   It would have been like doing the Death of Superman, having his funeral, and ending the funeral with him in the process of being revived from the dead.

Glazer
   Exactly. Tell the story you set up.

Grey
   As a big reveal, it was cool, I just would have preferred it at the end of the first arc. Not the first issue.

Glazer
   so true
   And a decent villain so he really has motivation to kill would be grand.

Grey
   Yeah, killing Boomerang because he made a Sinister Six?

Glazer
   It’s just not strong enough for someone with Peter’s morals.

Grey
   Who hasn’t made a Sinister Six?

sinistersevenspdrmn1

Glazer
   Really, like Otto usually cares.

Grey
   I could see The Wizard caring about a jobber filled Frightful Four, but this? Nah.

Glazer
   agreed very much

Grey
   Ready to call it?

Glazer
   Yep, rating?

Grey
   As a first issue I want to give it an 8, the ending was a let down, but it was quite solid for what it was. Had it just been Amazing 701 I’d probably have gone with a 6.5 just due to the deflating ending.

Glazer
   I’m going with a 6.  The ending and Peter kept it to solid.

Grey
   It was too safe.

Glazer
   Agreed. They could have had a classic.

Grey
   700 was classic until the moment Peter lost, and this issue was classic until the moment Peter wasn’t dead.

Glazer
   Fair. Be braver, Slott!

Grey
   A little balls never hurt anybody!

A lifelong reader and self proclaimed continuity guru, Grey is the Editor in Chief of Comics Nexus. Known for his love of Booster Gold, Spider-Girl (the real one), Stephanie Brown, and The Boys. Don't miss The Gold Standard.