Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 2, Scarlet Spider 20

Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 2
Yost (w) and Checchetto (a) and Rosenberg (c)

What a fortuitous week where we get one crossover event that starts AND finishes in one fell review. That's right, Superior Spider-Man Team-Up gets its very first crossover in its whopping two issues, crossing with Scarlet Spider, who is no stranger to crossovers nor team-ups (kind of weird, for such a lone wolf, that maybe half of his issues have found him teamed up with some other hero. Usually that's not exactly a sign of good sales but I hope that's not the case as I've come to really like that book). Kaine is in New York following his last team-up with Wolverine and decides to pay his twin a visit only to find that Peter is very angry to see his clone. Kaine isn't thrilled by this but he reluctantly gets it, going so far as to recognize that he has plenty of sins to atone for but still confused as to why this is happening now, on the heels of getting Peter's more-or-less approval which kicked off the Scarlet Spider series twenty issues ago. I have a feeling that sentence didn't make a lot of sense but I guess we'll just have to deal with that. Anyway, this is Superior Spider-Man Team-Up, so WE KNOW WHY HE'S SO MAD! Doc Ock's only encounter with Kaine ended with Doc dead (to be resurrected later by the Hand, back in the Clone Saga) and he still has a bone to pick about that. So he's attacking Kaine, Kaine's attacking back, and Jackal, meanwhile, has his own plans that involves capturing both of them, which he's able to do with his spider mutants and clones of Captain and Gwen Stacy, which is a predictably low blow, or would be if Doc Ock had any care for her.

Intriguing idea and putting Scarlet Spider, the clone of Peter Parker, face to face with Doc Ock in Peter's body has been a long awaited and exciting idea. The vitriol Doc feels for Kaine is par for the course while we've been hanging out with his superior Spider-Man but that's a pretty neat thing to get to say in and of itself. I won't stop singing the praises of Christopher Yost any time soon but he's been particularly adept at working with characters who have been established by others and writing them in a near pitch-perfect way. Doc has been no exception in the times he's written him (throughout Avenging Spider-Man's last several issues and now here, in Superior Spider-Man Team-Up) and it's just such a comfort to know you have a writer who isn't going to confuse you about why a character suddenly sounds the way he or she does. Anyway, Kaine is solid as always and the Jackal is exactly the right amount of crazy for his character. What is he planning? When oh when will we find out?

Scarlet Spider 20
Yost and Burnham (w) and I. Lee w/ Oliffe and Bit (a) and I. Lee w/ Loughridge (c)
Epilogue (I and II): Yost and Burnham (w) and Medina and Vlasco (a) and Loughridge (c)

Right now, as it happens! That's...that's when we'll find out. That punchline really requires you read the last review and aw geez I hope you did. If you didn't, read the last two-three sentences of the last review, read the first sentence of this one, then don't read these two, just skip to the next one starting after this period. Jackal wants Spider-Man's DNA (he's willing to take Kaine's too but it's less meaningful as he's just a clone, you know? Hurtful words, Jackal), as he typically does. He has Kaine and Spidey chained up and tells them he's already gotten all the DNA he needs (including inferring that he might have gotten sperm samples from Spider-Man too which is BEYOND ICKY) and also that they can't break out. Of course, at that moment, Kaine is busy breaking out. He knows the fight is too one-sided with Spider-Man still chained and, though he doesn't understand his behavior today, he breaks him free too. Spidey assists in the fight for a bit until he sees his opportunity to kill every bird with one stone, blowing up the machinery next to all the DNA samples which, in turn, blows up pretty much everything around. Spidey gets out unscathed and is awful proud of himself for destroying everything and everyone inside when Kaine busts out, yelling at him. Kaine leaves him saying that he's fully aware he's not a hero but Spider-Man sure is and he should probably act like one. There are two epilogues to end this book which plant us back in Kaine's life to end this issue of Scarlet Spider, where he arrives home in Houston and begins developing symptoms of his degenerative disease again (once thought beaten but now it seems he might be going through it again, #cloneproblems) while epilogue two shows us that Jackal and Carrion (who was the villain of Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 1 and also working for Jackal) survived the blast and Jackal even managed to keep a vial of Kaine DNA.

I don't know when I started drifting back to nearly-full summaries but don't worry, I didn't give everything about this issue away. Well, I gave away most of the plot. But really, did you think that Spider-Man and/or Scarlet Spider were going to die in this kind of unadvertised crossover? Me neither. What I didn't tell you is really the meat of why you should check out this comic. The art is pretty incredible photo-realistic and the fight itself is impressive. There are a lot of telling moments to add depth to both Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider including their thoughts on clones, which is a pretty interesting ethical question. We also get a really great (if rather short) fight between Kaine and Carrion and both issues show a great understanding of this new dynamic between Kaine and notPeter. Don't expect them to be friends after this, as much as some of us might want it (siiiiiigh).