"The Superior Spider-Man" A Pretty Fun, Fresh Take on Spider-Man

     I've been going down a real rabbit-hole of comic books as of late, so it was only a matter of time before I finally went through The Superior Spider-Man. I remember the beginning of this era of Spider-Man quite well actually, which is actually pretty funny since this lines up quite well with the comics 10thish anniversary which was this year. I suppose even to 13-year old me it felt like a new, fresh, novel idea that was definitely not going to stick around forever, but be a nice change of pace. A new black suit, a new cast of characters, and someone whose a little more loose around the morals. So let's talk about it.

    The first thing I'll say about this little era of Spider-Man is that it lasts shockingly much longer than you'd think. I think the Omnibus I read totaled close to like 800 pages, and they cover practically about pretty much every single topic you could. I'm not saying they beat a dead horse or something, but I feel like if you tried a change like this these days I don't know how long you could realistically hold it together for, especially for a character as popular as Peter Parker. I'll admit, it started to wear a little-thin by the end, but I think that was more to do with the amount of destruction taking place and the story feeling like it had run it's course rather then me disliking the premise.

    Which was fun. I'm no Spider-Man fan, but it must be frustrating watching Marvel editorial refuse to really let Peter Parker grow. I mean he's supposed to be a genius who invents his own little gadgets and tools but is a little aloof, but man him just not having his life together is kind of annoying. I mean the small changes Otto made to Peter's lifestyle was refreshing. I kind of want him to go back to being some tinkerer, having Parker Industries and Horizon Labs be real mainstays where Peter can devise ways to fight his enemies was fun and new.

    Which is what frustrates me so much about the ending. It goes exactly back to status quo. Peter has no cool high-tech job and is basically back to being poor again. Everyone's basically on edge with him once more and relationships are tense and awkward between him and everyone. No one really knows how to feel, and MJ breaks up with him for like the 50th time even though they weren't even together to begin with at the beginning of his arc. Like at least Batman let Alfred stay dead. It's been like 10 years since this run and still nothing has changed, they keep on revealing new lovers for MJ, his child is dead, Aunt May is still alive (though that may change soon hopefully), and well Peter Parker is the same one you've known and loved for quite some time. All he gets is one great panel at the end revealing that he's back but for the most part you just feel really bad for the guy.

    For the character of Dr. Octopus it made me quite sympathetic to him. Frankly I'm afraid to even touch the "Superior Octopus" stuff it feels and looks ridiculous so I won't touch it. But it's kind of nice to see a Peter that feels a little stronger. I will say, I loved the high-tech stuff, but the whole "big-brother" thing and the whole "personal army" thing was so ridiculous. Look, Green Goblin somehow amassing some big army to take over NY and force Peter back into action even with the Avengers chipping in is a bit ridiculous, but everyone being fine with Spider-Man having an army and monitoring everyone? Come on man.

    Even still, it felt like writers were really allowed to flex what they could do with Otto as Spider-Man which is cool but also a bit sad. Him devising these elaborate traps against the Smythe on the prison, him developing Parker industries, and even his suit which I'm quite a bit fan of. I also quite liked the idea of Anna-Marie though I hear she's been sidelined pretty much ever since then and I can only read her last name as Macaroni no matter what I do. I will say I kind of wish Peter didn't disappear halfway through the arc only to return near the end though. Honestly, I would have preferred more of an inner-dialogue/back-and-forth between them throughout the entire run, instead of having him "erase" Peter for the middle of the run.

Final Score: 75/100

    It's a pretty enjoyable run I'd say. Though I also am not a big Spider-Man fan so I can imagine die-hards being pretty annoyed that Peter was replaced with Otto Octavius for quite some time. I will say I kind of wish Otto interacted with more superhero's often. He had his little spats with the avengers, but the parts with Flash Thompson were so brief, and the Spider-Man 2099 part near the end of the story was pretty bizarre too to be honest. I am also a pretty big fan of shakeups to status quo's in general. Like Vandal Savage being mayor of Gotham sounds super dumb and I hope they fix that eventually but at least DC is trying something right? Please someone get Peter Parker his family back.