Reviewer: Tim Byrne
Story Title : N/A
Written by: Zeb Wells
Penciled by: Kaare Andrews
Inked by: Kaare Andrews
Colored by: Jose Villarrubia
Lettered by: Dave Sharpe (Virtual Calligraphy)
Editor: Warren Simons
Publisher: Marvel Comics
This Year One series continues, skating underneath the radar protection of such publicised books as JMS’ Amazing Spider-Man. Actually its quite an interesting read. Doc Ock, along with say Harry and Norman Osborn, certainly provides the healthiest possibility for a psychological study of the origin of a Spidey villian.
In this chapter, after his initial battle with Spidey, Ock wanders the rainy streets of NYC, providing much opportunity for rambling monologues, and sporadic acts of violence.
Although interesting, the premise of the book does undermine what readers know and understand to be the status of Ock in the main titles. When Spidey starts his career and first meets Otto, Otto is an experienced middle-aged scientist, while here, in his first encounter with Spider-Man, Ock is written, and certainly drawn as a man of say thirty, and certainly not a mature adult. This detracts from any sense that we are seeing THE Doc Ock ‘before he was famous’.
Having said that, the rambling of Otto is well-done, and the image of Otto gradually fixing on Spider-Man does give the reader a tingling sense of anticipation.
The art is fine, although the over-sized glasses on Doc Ock are a bit much. The splash of Otto’s thoughts near the end certainly stands out.
Its an interesting story, but one difficult to reconcile with the core titles, and I doubt it will achieve a high status in mainstream continuity.
