Superior Foes of Spider-Man 10, Superior Spider-Man Annual 2

Superior Foes of Spider-Man 10
Asmus (w) and Carmenero, Pallot, Plati, Oum, Larraz, and Mossa (a)

The Sinister Six, now down to three members with the disappearance of both Boomerang and Shocker and already lacking a sixth member, lay low while they try to work out their next score. They drop by a nearly empty bar for drinks and end up tying up the barkeeper and any errant patrons while they're there, deciding to get an impromptu score on the bar's safe. While they wait for the safe's timer to allow them entry, they each talk about their biggest professional victories. Overdrive cites a time that he "defeated" Hercules by confusing him mid-job and simply throwing him off the right course (like so much disguised Bugs Bunny). Beetle talks about defeating Matt Murdock in court as a defense attorney. Speed Demon talks about arranging an STD-ridden "mask-chaser" to sleep with Hercules. No sooner does he finish his story than who but Hercules should walk in looking for a place to drink. Speed Demon books it out while Hercules presumably clobbers the other two.

Not a lot to write home about on this one. James Asmus does a fine job filling in for regular scribe Nick Spencer while a slew of artists, a different one for each story and another set to do the frame story, bring their own unique styles to the book in place of Steve Lieber. It's not a bad book to be sure and the tone isn't too far off from the sort of casual tone that Spencer has brought to the book but there's not a lot of meat. The main joke of the issue seems to be that they're not very good villains, a joke that has not so much run its course as it has been presented in better ways. There's a little bit of personality added to the characters in the course of their casual time together but I would have thought this a perfect opportunity to build on those personalities maybe a little more meaningfully. Spencer and Lieber return for issue twelve so we'll see if the next one adds anything different to spice things up a bit more.

Superior Spider-Man Annual 2
Ben Urich: Gage (w) and J. Rodriguez and A. Lopez (a) and J. Rodriguez (c)
Wraith: Gage (w) and Briones (a) and Gandini (c)

The second SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL is split into two parts with story one about Ben Urich, shaken by the recent revelation that his nephew was a goblin for so long. Ben, angry with himself that he didn't see it after all he's been through and all the reporting he's done in the superhero community, tries to find Peter Parker with an incomplete formula for the goblin serum, pieced together from various interviews and tests he's researched. He goes to Parker Industries and tries to give the notes to Sajani but she explains that they have their own source of a test subject with Carlie Cooper, AKA Monster. She has an experimental formula ready but she's not prepared to test it on Carlie without knowing what it might do to her first. Ben says that he'll be able to use it on his nephew and get them the results they want. He manages to track Phil down and attempts to talk him into the possible cure but Phil refuses, enjoying the person he is now. Ben calls out to the Spider-Bots surrounding the neighborhood for Spider-Man's assistance and he arrives before Phil can hurt Ben, though he's already severely hurt a nearby Robbie Robertson. Spider-Man forces Phil to flee and then rushes Robbie to the hospital, leaving Ben to admit that the nephew he thought he had is dead. It's a really interesting story of an extremely interesting character (I've always liked Ben Urich) in a position I don't know I ever would have considered. As Ben points out, he's the guy that figured out Daredevil's identity and he's gone up against Osborn and Kingpin and Elektra and so many others but here he was with a goblin under his nose and no idea about it. Pretty neat story and it very much captures the Ben Urich character.

The second story is about Wraith, waking up at Parker Industries under the watchful eye of the Living Brain. She beats up a not-resisting Living Brain before tracking down Sajani and accidentally instigating Monster into a fight. Carlie has been trying to hold the Monster personality down but Wraith's anger encourages Monster to take hold, leaving Sajani with no choice but to use the formula she's created without testing it properly first. The cure seems to at least work on the outside, knocking Carlie out but reverting her back to a human again. Wraith realizes for the first time that Monster is Carlie and that she's had her facts somewhat backwards in this whole case. She pops out her malfunctioning eyepieces and goes out to join the fight against the Goblins. It's another story that certainly needed telling and it's interesting to me that these two crucial stories (the Wraith one is a little less interesting to me but far more crucial to the events of SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN) are tucked away in a book called SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL. I was a little on the fence about the release of this book if just because we very recently had SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL 1 and it certainly hadn't been another year since then; it felt like maybe a way to get in another Superior Spider-Man story before April finds AMAZING SPIDER-MAN out on the shelves once more. However, it's certainly a pair of stories worth telling and ones that don't have much to do with the Doc Ock Spidey, instead focusing on other characters in his life and on a story that matters a good deal right now. Certainly worth reading and I would call it unmissable for someone keeping up with the events of GOBLIN NATION.