I'm just more worried that the book called Superior Spider-Man ain't gonna have... the Superior Spider-Man... as the main protagonist.
'Cause Spider-Boy having another book to show up in is cool. Him being with Peter is cool. But I ain't reading this for Big Brother and Little Brother Bonding Time! At least, not primarily...
I mean you could theoretically make the case that Otto’s been a digital copy since he got resurrected in ASM #427, since that was the Master Programmer downloaded into a resurrected body (and not resurrected all that well given all the accumulated injuries from before his death still caught up with him - I guess the Hand kind of halfassed the process). It’s really the one issue with the return of Superior - Otto’s characterisation in Web of Death of knowing Peter’s identity but genuinely respecting him, even if they are enemies, doesn’t seem to be allowed to exist. We saw glimpses of it at the end of Superior, right when he gave the body back, and then he was gone, and he (yet again) got reverted to an earlier version of himself, between his backup and then the whole Mephisto deal. And now he’s relearned Peter’s identity on the cusp of returning to Spider-Man. He apparently can know Peter’s identity or he can be Doctor Octopus, but not both. Which is a shame because that would be an interesting dynamic, especially since I don’t think Otto would deliberately target Peter’s family or use it against him unlike Norman or pre-character development Eddie.
Honestly, the whole 'digital copy' stuff doesn't matter 'til it does.
Good points there, especially on how Otto's first death came after he'd effectively reconciled with Peter (and ironically, at the hands of a clone of Peter, Kaine) and admitted to a genuine, heartfelt respect for the man who would otherwise be his archnemesis. Not to mention, given Otto's genuine fondness for Peter's Aunt May, I'd doubt he would break her heart by killing her nephew (and son figure) if he knew said nephew/son figure and Spider-Man were one and the same.
Hmm, yeah.
The spider is always on the hunt.
So I've decided to try this series. My first foray back into the Spideyverse since Beyond left such a sour taste in my mouth. But I really enjoyed Slott's original Superior run, and the Gage series that followed was fun as well.
Really, really enjoyed the Returns one shot. The way it used Ock's memories (or lack thereof) of his time as Spidey to frame the story made it feel like both a classic villain Ock story and a followup to Superior. Issue 1 took me some time before I started vibing with it, however. I haven't read any of the Spider-Boy material (and frankly I have zero interest in the character on it's face) and there was very little Superior to this issue of Spider-man. But the interactions were solid, and once Ock finally does enter the picture towards the end things really kick off. I'm definitely interested enough to continue, but I'm curious if we'll ever actually get Superior Spider-man in this series, or if it's all going to be via flashback. I will be very much disappointed if that's the case, but so far I could also see that approach work. So wait and see.
Really loved this issue. It definitely feels more like Spider-Man #12 than Superior #1 but that's alright. And, I'll be honest, more Spider-Boy didn't hurt at all. Things are looking great for the Spider-Fam and between USM, Spider-Boy, and now this promising Superior book, I couldn't be happier.
Huge thanks to everyone involved !
Dock Ock telling Peter that HE was the "Superior Spider-Man" kind of defeats the purpose of "anyone can be Spider-Man" because not for nothing, but Ock was a flavor of Spider-Man all his own. And there were definitely things he did handle better than Peter, such as here. When 'You must cause "great power comes great responsibility".' stuff doesn't work.
After some time being Spider-Man he did understand what it meant to be Spider-Man, even if he went about it his own way. There's lots of the storylines in Superior I didn't like and some outcomes/fallout that stopped me from reading Spider-Man comics for a while. But it didn't mean that there wasn't some points that showed Ock was just as capable as Peter as Spider-Man, if not more so in some cases. But that also shouldn't be what is important and that should have been the main lesson.
The idea of telling Peter that he is the 'true' Superior Spider-Man is not the lesson, it should be that no Spider-man is "Superior" to the other, as they are all Spider-Man, no matter who they are, and that's all that matters.
Or maybe I just have a soft spot for a "one time" speech reference from Little Giants :3
Last edited by Majesty; 11-24-2023 at 02:27 PM.
But this wasn't a "everyone can wear the mask" type of story any more than Jean-Paul Valley was meant to be a legitimate version of Batman, it was meant to show off an altered and more hardcore version of the title character and how that's wrong so that when the main version came back it was validated.
Slott just became way too into writing Ock as a hero in my opinion.
It wasn't even that Otto so much handled things better he just used his resources to prioritize and focus on other stuff that Peter never would, but also is what defines Peter as Spider-Man.
And yes that Spider-Verse scene is one of my biggest issues because it was just the cap off to how little Peter was actually doing or accomplishing in that storyline up to that point.
FINALLY received my copy of Superior #1! Loved it!
Also like the method used to "move" Spider-boy out the way story-wise to allow a plausible reason how Otto was solo the majority of his time in the Spider-man role.