Superior Spider-Man 11, Iron Man 11

Superior Spider-Man 11
Slott and Gage (w) and Camuncoli and Dell (a) and Delgado (c)

Spider-Man has been asked by Mayor Jameson to attend the execution of Alistair Smythe, the Spider-Slayer and the man who killed Jameson's wife. Jameson fears that Smythe will attempt a getaway during the execution and recognizes that, despite their checkered past, Spider-Man is the best hope in keeping him contained. Before heading there, Doc Ock has a few encounters that leave him annoyed with Peter's life, the life he's inherited. There's some more talk about how he's the superior Spider-Man and he shouldn't have the same limitations Peter had as removing those limitations have made him a better crime-fighter. When he does finally arrive at the Raft, where only a few prisoners with Jameson shutting the prison down, he sets up a few extra precautions around the place. In the midst of this, though, he also wanders back to his old cell, the cell where Doc Ock could have died had he not switched bodies with Peter. He leaves to attend the execution, where he again finds himself surprised to realize that he's a bit of a changed man (he berates Smythe for pretending he's changed and saved by God because murderers never really change before stopping to realize the irony of that thought). He doesn't have long to ruminate on it though as Smythe does put a plan into effect. First his mini-Slayers (like the Spider-Bots) infiltrate the room, which Spider-Man defeats by using his own bots to take them down. Then, with the mini-Slayers forming new armor around Smythe, he tries to punch through the walls of the execution chamber but Spider-Man has prepared for that as well and the walls don't give. Each vent he tries to escape through presents new challenges in the form of lasers or fire. Finally, he turns on Spider-Man, hoping to kill him to give a chance to escape. He's not alone in this, as his Slayers have also found their way to Spider-Man's most recent badly injured foes Scorpion, Vulture, and Boomerang and have created armor for them as well, healing their injuries (at least for the time being) and strengthening them again. Smythe commands them to come kill Spider-Man and they can all go free.

I don't know yet where this story is going but it's clearly setting up some big ideas. We've already seen Doc Ock annoyed with the life Peter's built for himself but this feels a bit different. He's less annoyed with the limitations on Peter's life and more retrospective on what he had done with his own life. I wouldn't say it's remorse, exactly, but there's definitely a hint of introspection there. It might not hurt, too, that he's attracted to Anna Maria, his tutor for the physics class he needs to get his doctorate ("tutor" is a bit of a misnomer; that's how she was introduced as Doc had missed most of the class, but it's quite clear he doesn't need one), and it could be making him think about other things in life. Just a bit of speculation. I was going to complain about how heavy-handed the issue is in telling us again how he views himself as the superior Spider-Man and justifying himself, but having reached the end of the issue I think it's mostly necessary. It depends where Slott and Gage want to go with this story and where Slott wants to go with the character in general, but you want to really understand his feelings on this thing and it may well turn out that he is trying to justify his takeover of Peter to himself, which is an interesting concept and would leave himself open to repeating it again and again. Solid issue. Good action coming up, no doubt, with some intriguing character development primed and ready to roll.

Iron Man 11
Gillen (w) and Eaglesham (a) and Guru eFX (c)

Wow. I picked this book in my pregame this week more because I felt I hadn't given it enough love so far and less because I was thinking this book was going to be a huge game-changer. When I was looking at the titles this week, I thought to myself "gee, I'm really enjoying Iron Man. I'm not sure where it's going but I like Gillen enough that I'm sure it's going somewhere good and I feel I haven't given it much credit because I keep fawning over all the Avengers titles too much, among other things." So I picked it. Then I read it. I'm apparently GREAT at this. This book was so crazy. In a good way. It redraws almost the entire history of the Marvel Universe without so much as batting an eyelash. Or whatever it is a comic book would do to seem unperturbed. Usually, especially these days, revelations like this can only come as part of a huge event but here, in Iron Man 11, Kieron Gillen has said "wait, who is Tony Stark anyway?" and then EXPERTLY answered it and, after seventy years of Marvel comics, somehow changed the entire universe just a bit. Let's get into it. Tony is still with 451 and still not quite trusting of his story (quick note: if this story ends up being a lie to just manipulate Tony, I'm going to be SO depressed). We learn a bit more of it as 451 explains his diagnosis to Howard and Maria. 451 can save the unborn baby and make sure he lives, but it will come at a cost. They both have to agree to terms on the baby. Not some weird "when he's 12, I get him" or something like that. The problem, 451 says, is that Earth is hurtling towards the nuclear age and mutants and superpowers have started emerging rapidly. Any one of these events would have triggered further investigation from the cosmic powers that be but all three definitely make Earth a bit of a liability. 451 fears that the imperial powers would destroy the Earth in about thirty years, if the Earth isn't prepared. The rate the world is going, it will not be prepared in thirty years without a hand from the outside. 451 can't simply begin to help because his interference will only speed up the imperial powers' decision to attack Earth. Instead, he plans to enhance Tony to be a builder and a genius. The conceit, as would have come naturally, is that Howard was a rich genius so Tony had good genes and a curious mind and all sorts of resources at his disposal to become an even richer, even smarter genius than his father. Instead, according to 451, Tony had that and alien enhancements built right into his DNA that made him more inquisitive and more practical and more intelligent and more dedicated to arming Earth and everything else that makes him Tony. Tony still doesn't believe 451's story but 451 makes a couple good points. Tony, in a world full of geniuses, is the one who isn't focused on peace (like Reed Richards or Hank Pym or T'Challa) and who has the ability to change the entire world in the way he operates (unlike AIM or Doom or HYDRA or anything else). Without Tony's weapons, Earth would never have sustained attacks from the Skrulls and the Krees and everyone else they've come into contact with. Even as Tony is skeptical, he admits that, if he were in 451's shoes, he would have built someone like Tony.

And just like that, the whole Marvel Universe has a new frame around it. I'm not saying that Tony is the new centerpiece of the Marvel Universe (though boy, for an egotist already this is sure to go to his head a bit), just that he's quite probably the most important person to ever live on Earth. Okay, maybe I was saying that? I don't know. Anyway, it's definitely a weighty stance but it's one that shakes the 616 to its core without actually upsetting anything. Instead, it shifts everything without needing to recast anything. It just means that everything Tony has done and every attack the Earth has weathered now has a secondary background to it; Tony saved the world because he was born to do it. Brilliant stuff. This issue is pretty remarkable, guys. Great writing and ideas, the art is solid throughout (particularly a scene where Howard and Maria discuss the options with 451 (with great coloring too) and the ensuing ultrasound of Tony and explanation of his enhancements. Very good issue.