Dan: So listen, I picked up…
Kate: SHUSH!
D: Wha?
K: SPOILERS!
D: Huh? I just wanted to tell you I…
K: I said NO SPOILERS!
D: ::holds up SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #1:: Ok, we need to discuss what the term “spoilers” means. Coming home from the local comic shop and telling you I bought a comic? Not a spoiler. Telling you what the Big Reveal is at the end? That is a spoiler.
K: Fine. Oh, I made dinner reservations at…
D: SPOILERS!
K: Ugh. Not a spoiler. Don’t you don’t want to know where we’re going?
D: NO! ::puts fingers in ears:: LALALALA.
K: Whatever. Give me the comic. It will give me something to do until our 8:00 reservation at…
D: SHHH!!! SPOILERS!!
K: ::rolls eyes::
…
K: What happened to the Bad Dude Squad that helped Doctor Octopus at the end of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #700? I was hoping for more Paste Pot Pete.
D: You know he goes by the name “Trapster” now! He hates being called “Paste Pot.” “Bad dude squad” is a pretty sweet name there, Red. I think I’ll trademark it. ::reaches into pocket:: Here’s $5.00. The Bad Dude Squad got their money for springing Doctor Octopus from the super secret villain prison and they went their separate ways. A good way to get caught by the authorities is to hang around after you commit a crime.
K: You sound like you’re speaking from experience.
D: Well there was that one time with the high-powered space laser and the Federal Reserve…
K: SPOILERS! I don’t wanna know. So here we are in SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN and these second tier villains attacking the university and stealing “science” are pretty WEAK.
D: C’mon! Boomerang, Shocker, Overdrive (driving a kick-ass giant big wheel), the robotic Living Brain, and an all-new Beetle come together as the brand new Sinister Six. It’s clear they have a plan, but Spidey makes short work of the lot of ‘em. In the middle of the super-butt kicking, the Living Brain has the funniest line in the book, when he says…
K: SPOILERS!
D: DAMMIT!
D: SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN is the first appearance of Doc Ock as Spider-Man after he switched minds with Peter Parker and Pete died in Ock’s old body. (Everybody get all that?) As we talked about in our review of AMAZING #700, the Internet denizens were all in a lather about the body switching and the eventual death of Parker. One of the cardinal rules of comic book deaths is this: Did the death occur “on panel?” And secondly, do we actually see the body? Well, AMAZING #700 had both of those.
With no doubt that Doc Ock is in Spidey’s brain and driving the Spider-Man bus, writer Dan Slott and artist Ryan Stegman kick off SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #1 without having to set the status quo. The reader already knows that a semi-reformed villain is the new Spider-Man.
K: The fun part is watching how Ock fights the fights that Spidey would fight. This incarnation of Spidey fights dirty.
D: No doubt. We see this throughout the book as our new “hero” systematically takes down the Six. It gets pretty brutal.
K: Parker doesn’t fight like that.
D: But Doc Ock does. And now that means Parker does, too.
K: Not only is “new” Parker a dirty fighter, but he’s also kind of a creep now, too. He’s bossing around his coworkers at Horizon Labs. Then, on his date with Mary Jane, he has a hard time remembering where her eyes are, if you get my meaning. Why hasn’t anyone noticed this change? Like I said in our review of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #700, his friends and family aren’t very smart. Some one’s going to get wise to this new Parker.
D: The guy at the lab tried to call him on his weird supply orders, but quick-thinking Ock/Parker smoothes over the situation.
K: He did, didn’t he? The steam punk looking lab getup, with the long white buttoned up coat and goggles Pete was wearing? Totally distracted me during that scene. He looks like a comic book version of Dr. Horrible. So help me Odin if he wears a tiny hat!
D: That’s actually one of my favorite parts in the book. Stegman does a heck of a job on the action scenes, but his “scientist Parker” is one of my favorite parts of the book. He just has a super cool evil vibe about him. Almost like he’s a super-villain hiding out in a hero’s body…
D: You can see the old Doc Ock trying to overcome the good intentions and memories of Peter Parker. The Superior Spider-Man fights dirty, like Doc Ock would, and he is a bit of a slime-ball, like Ock. But the Ol’Parker Luck kicks in and…
K: SPOILERS! Let’s go otherwise we’ll be late for dinner at…
D: SPOILERS!
TURNS TO FACE THE MASSIVE WORLDWIDE READING AUDIENCE
Ok, readers. We know we ended this edition of KATE (AND DAN) READ… rather suddenly. But the end of this issue is pretty awesome. We know you could find out the “spoiler” almost anywhere, but we thought it best to not spoil it here.
Thanks for understanding.
