Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 7, Marvel Knights Spider-Man 3

Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 7
Yost (w) and Checchetto and Diaz (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Spider-Man's control over the Sinister Six has been removed and now he's indeed improved the Sinister Six by filling them with rage and unifying them against an enemy: him. While Sandman holds Spider-Man, Electro decides to try to use his own powers to power the quantum particle engine, which Spider-Man warns will destroy the city. As he starts to power it up, Sun Girl, thought dead, emerges and rescues her father, who had been thrown off the roof of the Empire State Building by Vulture, before attacking the rest of the Six to free Spider-Man. One-by-one the Six fall but the QPE is still detonating and primed to take the city down with it. Spider-Man can't get close enough to stop it but he is able to tell Sun Girl to destroy the device in time to stop everything. She does and everything is barely saved, but everyone knows this was all Spider-Man's fault.

There's a lot of introspection here for Spider-Man, particularly as he faces a foe he cannot defeat himself. Pinned down by Sandman and suddenly realizing the damage of getting the Sinister Six to unite like this, Ock has the time to think about the way his hubris caused all of this and to evaluate what he's done. Of course, it's not necessarily likely that this will change things for Ock as a person, but it is likely to change the way the world views him even further, given that the next arc is advertised as "The Worst Person in the World." It's nice to see Ock a little deeper here than his normal egotistical and angry self over in SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN. Now he can't help a new wash of emotions, from a mild shame to a mild surprise to a mild regret to what might be disappointment that NOW the Sinister Six are actually doing something with themselves. It's only categorized as "mild" in each point because Ock isn't exactly brimming with emotions at any point but mild means that he's capable of feeling some. Should be interesting going forward as we see the way the world turns on him now.

Marvel Knights Spider-Man 3
Kindt (w) and Rudy (a) and Staples (c)

The plot to pit Spider-Man against 99 of his enemies continues as Spidey falls through the water from the plane to a submarine, where he's brought in and taunted by the Spider-Queen, Ana Soria, which creeps Spidey out more than a little. He makes his way through the sub and passes a number of his villains, including a despondent Scarecrow and Tombstone, neither of whom seem thrilled to be there or particularly willing to fight, with which Spider-Man is satisfied. Of course, that's not the case with Venom and Carnage, who seem more feral than ever. As they tear into him, Spidey notices a subwoofer set in their presence emitting a constant low pulse which is setting them more on edge. He destroys it and they start to control themselves a little bit more, enough for Spidey to move forward to Scarecrow and Tombstone. Once past those two, he enters the last room of the sub, where he finds Nitro strapped up to a bomb. Nitro, like Scarecrow and Tombstone, regrets his involvement and is sadder and more discouraged than ever. He talks a little about his past and his motivations in the past, as well as his seeming inability to die despite his wishes, but also makes it clear that he's not able to stop what comes next, which appears to be Nitro exploding.

Each issue of MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN has brought something new to the forefront including, this time out, Spider-Man's discovery that his villains here aren't necessarily here because they want some sort of vengeance on Spider-Man but rather they're not sure why they're here. Maybe they want to die and maybe they knew this part of the plan could lead to that. Maybe they were crazy and kidnapped just like Spider-Man was tricked into coming. Still, while the plot has enough going on to keep it interesting, the draw continues to be the gorgeous art that really flows through the issue. This is definitely a series to check in on and to acknowledge the art on. There's definitely a chance, as with all art, that it won't appeal to you or that you think it's being too showy or something but it's certainly with going to your LCS and picking up a copy and at least leafing through it. If it's the kind of art that will draw you in, you'll probably know immediately and you'll want all of the issues available, no questions asked. If it's not your thing, the story probably isn't enough to trump the art. Personally, I think it's really interesting and very beautiful but I can see this being one that really divides people into "ehhhh, not for me" and "oh man, this is wonderful."