It’s 11 issues into Superior Spider-Man – not to mention all the issues of Avenging Spider-Man and all of the other books in which the new Otto Octavius as Spider-Man hybrid character has shown up, and we’re starting to get used to the new wall-crawler. He’s arrogant, much more ruthless in his methodology for crimefighting, both of which he establishes in the set-up to Superior Spider-Man #11, where we see him start to reach the conclusion that the shackles of Peter Parker’s life and circumstances are shackles from which he must break free. However, no matter how accustomed we get to this man, we’ll always be a little taken aback when he does things like tell Ted Shipley, the guy in charge at The Raft, that “you’re a complete and total failure, both as head of security and as a man. Don’t bother me again.”
At the same time, that’s part of what makes having Otto in the driver’s seat here so damn compelling. There’s the built-in tension of delayed discovery of this treachery, and how far he’s going to be able to go before he’s caught, but there’s also just watching him slowly stop trying to pretend to be the real Spider-Man and become the arrogant, unlikable egomaniac he is on the inside – because he’s still Spider-Man, and Spider-Man is never unlikable! All of that is coming back to haunt him now, starting in SSM #11 – which also serves as a good jumping on point. We open with Otto encapsulating events up to this point, while proffering the notion that he’ll be making some changes soon, as he has no interest in being a subordinate to Max Modell at Horizon Labs, nor does he want to endure condescension from a professor he used to tutor just because Parker never got his doctorate. Dr. Octopus always led. He never followed.
Meanwhile, the new Spidey’s best friend J. Jonah Jameson has called him in as added security, because it’s execution day for Alestair Smythe, aka The Spider-Slayer, aka the man who killed Jameson’s wife Marla. It’s at The Raft, and Jameson wastes no time berating Shipley for gross incompetence, given the sheer amount of escapes from his supposed maximum security prison. Sentiments Spidey shares when he arrives to make sure Smythe doesn’t escape, as mentioned before, but for different reasons – seems Shipley’s also pretty abusive towards his prisoners. Not that Spider-Man isn’t abusive towards his victims as well – we see that Vulture has been blinded, Scorpion has had his jaw punched clean off, and Boomerang is still in traction.
When the time finally comes, Smythe even tries to pass off a ‘changed man’ repent story, and Spider-Man has a nasty response derailed midstream at the realization that by dismissing “that old chestnut” he’s crashing headlong into hypocrisy. However, the fact that Otto thinks like a criminal comes in very handy, because of course, Smythe tries to escape – but Otto blocks every possible escape plan. It’s kind of awesome. But Smythe has one more thing up his sleeve – one that’ll bring home the sins of the recent past to roost on Otto’s noggin.
Fine, okay, let’s just say it. I love Superior Spider-Man. I have no idea what’s going to happen each week, but Dan Slott’s writing is so enjoyable that I trust in it implicitly – and it’s usually the first book on my pile every time out. This arc, Slott is getting help from the great Christos Gage, too, which makes this that much more invigorating. I really like Giuseppe Camuncoli’s rendition of OctoSpidey – something about the subtlety of the slightly raised mask lenses so that they look a little more like Ock’s old goggles is just genius. His SSM looks cool and ominous at the same time.
Superior Spider-Man #11 is exciting, tense and, given Jameson’s deeply personal stake, somewhat emotional – and this is just the beginning of the arc.
