Secret Avengers 36 and Superior Spider-Man 1

Secret Avengers 36
Remender (w) and Scalera (a)

I intimated in yesterday's post that I was excited for Secret Avengers this week because I thought it was the final Secret Avengers issue of Remender's run and the run that started with Brubaker and had a touch of Warren Ellis in the middle, also known as a damn near perfectly constructed book. Turns out I should maybe put any amount of research into posts like that but whatever, we were being casual, it was free-flowing, fun and friendly times. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that this is not the final issue. That'll be next time (probably).

That makes this issue the penultimate issue of the series and of this arc. Remender sure knows how to go out with a bang. X-Force proved that well enough for me. There is a sense with some of the Avengers titles that the Avengers only get together for the biggest of the big problems and therefore every one of their adventures has to be huge and all-universe encompassing. While I think there's certainly an argument to be made for that case, it does wear when, for the third arc in a row, the world is at stake and only one team can stop it. It makes it, don't make fun of me for saying this, less believable. Okay, comics aren't wholly believable all the time, but I mean it makes it harder to believe within the parameters of the Universe we're discussing. Secret Avengers has certainly benefitted from the "secret" designation because there's something inherent in there about "it probably won't doom the world, and even if it does then it would have been a behind-the-scenes doom anyhow so no one had to notice." In books that have to go to the world-shattering arc every time, a finale doesn't really feel special. Secret Avengers, though, feels like there's something much bigger than anything experienced before in the title. We really are dealing with a huge problem that feels huge and, more importantly, feels bigger than anything else we've dealt with in this book. It's like a long-game that's been played between three writers that's finally paid off and it feels good. It's also a great culmination of some of the things Remender's started in X-Force and in Venom that I think a lot of books don't really get to play around with. We're fortunate to have these awesome pseudo-tie-ins that don't REQUIRE the previous readings (or the later readings, if you read about the Descendants and Father in X-Force) to understand, but they definitely give a wider scope.

This issue focuses on the two separate entities in Secret Avengers that we've seen over the last two issues or so; the Hawkeye, Captain Britain, Beast team that had gone to World 666 to obtain the Orb of Necromancy to defeat the Descendants meet up with Spider-Man (Peter Parker Spidey. Had a bit of a gut-wrenching moment when I realized that) when they return to 616 and find themselves in the middle of a full robot uprising, and the Black Widow, Venom, Valkyrie team protecting Parvez at the Core, robotkind's capital city with Black Ant coming to fight them. There are some great character bits in here (Beast remarks that "I prepared for this exact eventuality the very day I learned you would be part of this team, Pym. 'Hank Pym is joining?' I thought. Well I'd better have an E.M.P. disruptor prepared in case of a robot invasion." It's one of the best things I've ever read) and Flash allowing Venom to take full control to attack Black Ant, who he had risked his life for on the last mission, has a true weight to it. Comics being what they are, you have a pretty good feeling that the world will be okay after the finale of this series, but there are definite ramifications that can come through so I'm more excited than ever to read it. I think it says a lot about a series that you can anticipate some sort of ending but you still can't wait to see how it happens.

Superior Spider-Man 1
Slott (w) and Stegman (a)

This is it. The new era of Spider-Man begins with Superior Spider-Man 1. It's definitely a new era, that's clear from the costume, from the tone, from the art, everything. However, we're still in the loving and capable hands of Dan Slott. This is why, in my very first post, I expressed sadness but also confidence. Dan Slott knows what he's doing, he knows his characters, and he knows his comics. Otto Octavius inhabiting the body of Peter Parker, even with Peter's memories and responsibilities, is still Otto Octavius inhabiting the body of Peter Parker. He's colder, he's more of a strategist (not that Peter didn't often strategize, he just didn't typically work steps in advance), and he's more used to relying on his brain than his body. That's a great aspect of their differences that I don't think I would have noticed had it not been for this new Spider-Man twist. Peter's brain was always in play, like anyone's is, but he wouldn't solve a problem with his brain until his great power had been exhausted. He worked more on instinct and on the idea of "hey, I'm a superhero and being a superhero has these perks," exactly the way a person who had become a superhero as a teenager would. Otto Octavius, on the other hand, was brilliant and manufactured his powers later. His brain was at play first and foremost, powers afterwards. It's something I wouldn't have even latched on to consciously before reading this issue. I might have eventually worked my way to it but I truly don't think I would have thought about it. That's why Dan Slott is to be trusted. I care tremendously about characters and prefer to think/write for characters AND I have a pretty good sense of Spider-Man as a character and I wouldn't have come up with what Slott did effortlessly.

Some variants are too great to ignore
Skottie Young is a national treasure

This book must have been a fun one for Slott for another reason. Like Remender being able to tie his work of the past couple years in with some well-placed arcs and characters peppered in along the way, Slott can dig out the characters he's invented or popularized or used in the past to create his own starting point for his new creation, Superior Spider-Man. Otto's first mission puts him up against a new Sinister Six consisting of the Living Brain, Overdrive, Shocker, the Beetle, Boomerang, and Speed Demon, at least half of which Slott has invented or re-popularized. They're also a true threat, but not so much of one that you wouldn't believe a new Spider-Man could handle. There were times where I laughed audibly (something I don't really do unless truly caught by surprise) because Otto worked the way he absolutely should have worked. He runs off from his first fight because it wasn't worth it. I was so taken aback that Spider-Man would run away, but then not at all taken aback that Otto would.

This is a different Spider-Man with the same face in every way. It's a bit jarring but not as much as I would have expected, something Slott should be very proud of. Is he more violent than Peter? Absolutely. Is he less heroic than Peter? Yeah, because I'm not sure anyone's more heroic than Peter. Is he smarter than Peter? Well he definitely uses his logical brain more, sure. Were the personal life bits the most uncomfortable I've been reading comics in a long while? You bet. Is this a Spider-Man book with all those parts changed? Definitely. It still reads like Spider-Man, it still looks like Spider-Man, it still is Spider-Man. Not in a cheesy or hokey "nothing has changed after that big change" way, but in a "this is working" kind of way. And there's a twist here that maybe shouldn't be seen as a twist because who isn't expecting this to happen eventually, but it'll be fun to watch it play out, as was the case with Secret Avengers. Good day to read comics.

If the rest of the week brings me comics like today, I'll be a happy blogger. See you tomorrow.