Superior Spider-Man 16, Venom 39, Morbius the Living Vampire 8

Superior Spider-Man 16
Slott (w) and H. Ramos and Olazaba (a) and Delgado (c)

Spider-Man has called for the citizens of New York to bring him Phil Urich, which doesn't sit well with Urich nor with the employees of the Daily Bugle, particularly Robbie Robertson. Robertson doesn't like the way Spider-Man took over all communication in the city to persecute a man who hasn't been proven guilty, especially when he's in a crowded office place pretty much ensuring chaos. Chaos, of course, does break out as Spider-Man figures out where Urich is and Urich takes Norah Winters hostage. She breaks free and he tries to sonic scream to distract Spidey with the hurting civilians but the image of his Uncle Ben (Uncle Ben Urich, not Spider-Man's Uncle Ben, which would just be weird) in such pain softens him, allowing Spider-Man to take him down, delivering him to the police. He's eventually broken out of police custody by the Goblin brigade and given new armor and a new position and title; he's now the Goblin Knight for Osborn's (maybe Osborn, that hasn't necessarily been proven) crew. Meanwhile, Spider-Man has more to deal with as Captain America gives him a call to tell him that he's still on probation and they'll have to talk later about everything that's been going on, what with his new army and heavy machinery patrolling New York, and as Carlie Cooper and Yuri Watanabe's Wraith get closer to finding out who's behind Spider-Man's recent behavior.

There are a lot of irons in the fire for this series (as a completely unrelated aside, I really liked the old [adultswim] show Frisky Dingo and I almost always want to write "lotta dogs in the fire" instead of "lot of irons in the fire," which is clearly far worse but I want you to know I have my reasons if it ever slips out and I don't catch it. Look, I love dogs, okay?) and it'll be interesting as they come back. The Goblins, obviously, are the big one, but we also have the increasing role of Spider-Man's hired help, the changing way Spider-Man is viewed in the eyes of the superhero community, Carlie and Wraith's storyline, and now a probably deteriorating relationship between Spider-Man and Robbie Robertson (and the now fired Norah Winters). Whether that matters to Spidey at all (I'm sure it doesn't, but it could if ever Peter returns) is up in the air, just as it may not matter to the series, but it's worth noting anyway. Robertson has always been a supporter and ally of Peter and Spidey but he clearly isn't onboard with these new methods. Interesting ideas and it's particularly interesting as this action-packed resolution to Hobgoblin's story serves as the foreground of the issue but the backdrop of what's going on in the large scale. Pretty cool.

Venom 39
Bunn (w) and Jacinto w/ Henderson (a) and Loughridge (c)

Flash has accidentally created a little sidekick for himself in neighbor and student Andi by sending the symbiote at her to cover her mouth from the poison Jack O'Lantern has released on them and finding that it takes to her entirely and forms a new suit around her. Andi wants vengeance for the death of her father and pretty instantly takes to the symbiote, attacking and moving well. Venom stops her from killing Jack while also discovering that Jack isn't really Jack, per se. With his mask pulled off, Venom doesn't recognize the man underneath and the man, for all intents and purposes still Jack, tells him how Jack booby-trapped a doll in a storage unit the man worked at which wiped out the man's mind, overriding it with Jack's memories, knowledge, and personality. Venom stopping Andi gives Jack a chance to get away and leads them to a handful of other assassins hoping to kill Venom for Lord Ogre. Venom and Andi take them down together pretty easily, including the new Jack who goes into a coma not long after he's caught. The issue ends with Andi moving in with her aunt in another town and fighting crime herself with the part of the symbiote that's attached to her. Flash has questions still about how quickly Andi adapted to the suit and he thinks he'll have to ask the symbiote, who might not be so forthcoming, some questions.

Pretty solid issue as we further explore Venom's new sidekick (I'm assuming she'll return to do more work alongside him, regardless of where she lives now). My biggest complaint is really how quickly the climax came and went. There was a lot of fighting in the apartment (well drawn and beautifully colored) and even a decent amount with the other assassins (though far less fighting there than with Jack directly, which makes some sense because he's the closest Venom has to an arch) but then it pretty abruptly is over without more questions asked or more explanations given. I think Bunn is trying to get us asking questions about Andi and the symbiote and getting us into the idea of Venom having to talk things over with the symbiote, which is definitely working because I know I'm pretty curious about it, but it hurts the issue in the immediate, leaving those questions there with just the promise that they'll be asked eventually. I feel like there were pages cut that had Venom asking her why she was so good with it and her saying she doesn't know and so on, which would have been remarkably slow pages so good call on cutting those. I guess, then, that I don't know what I would have liked to see here but the way it came out felt a little like a let-down. Still a good issue overall and the questions that have been set up are good and interesting ones for when we eventually get there. Glad this book has made it all the way to 39 issues; didn't predict that when it kicked off. Not because it wasn't good, just because it didn't feel like a book that was going to succeed. Venom's a very popular character but this is a largely contained Venom finding himself in a lot of situations that aren't necessarily superhero driven. It's worked well but it didn't sound like it was going to attract readers. Glad it has.

Morbius the Living Vampire 8
Keatinge (w) and Elson (a) and Fabela (c)

Morbius has been attacked in Brownsville by the Rose and his associates and now he has to figure out what comes next. He wants to move the people out first and foremost, especially since he believes this all to be his fault, that his stance of inaction has brought this on the town. He manages to organize the move of everyone to the underground passageway to Monstropolis which is apparently a place Morbius used to live with other monsters like the Mummy and a vampire and maybe a wolfman and not, as I had assumed, some really terrible new invention that was maybe just a really bad joke. Monstropolis. Come on, you guys. Anyway, Morbius then goes after the Rose, secretly followed by Becky, who sees herself as his sidekick. The Rose gives a lot of supervillain speeches before electrocuting Morbius as the issue ends. The series concludes with issue nine, presumably the end of this arc as well.

I said that I was surprised Venom has lasted as long as it has because it didn't seem like a book that had a lot in its favor to start. The biggest things it had going was the popularity of Venom as a character and the fact that Rick Remender was on the book at launch, right around the height of his Uncanny X-Force run, if memory serves. I also don't think Flash is an unpopular character, per se, but the other two factors were bigger. This book had less going for it going in, including a somewhat unproven and unknown writer in Joe Keatinge and a less popular anti-hero in Morbius. I think Morbius' popularity probably weighed more heavily than Keatinge as a writer. Still, I don't think either have particularly paid off. I don't think the story has been interesting enough to sustain relatively uninteresting characters and I think the writing has been odd and clunky at times, never feeling particularly comfortable. I said in my first review of this series that I wasn't sure about it; there were some things to like but there was plenty that left me unenthusiastic, including a weirdly flippant tone set against what they wanted to feel dramatic and an uninspired story with slow moving characters. Guess what, I feel the same about the series now, eight issues in. I'm surprised this book lasted as long as it did but this time it's because it's not very good, not because the idea wasn't strong enough. Well I don't think the idea was strong enough either but it also wasn't played particularly well. I don't know that Morbius will be able to carry a book at any point though, who knows, Hawkeye's never been good at carrying a book and Fraction's done a phenomenal job with it so maybe Morbius just needs the right writer.