Deadpool 29, Giant-Size Spider-Man 1

Deadpool 29
Posehn and Duggan (w) and J. Lucas (a) and Staples (c) and Sabino (l)

Deadpool and Shiklah have been targeted by Dracula and his legion of vampires after Deadpool broke up Drac and Shiklah's one-time affair and ended up marrying Shiklah. Now Dracula's out for vengeance and it's up to Deadpool to deal with the attack while Shiklah tries to handle things through negotiation. Deadpool's plan is to enlist Dazzler, which proves difficult because Dazzler is actually Mystique. So instead, he travels back in time (thanks to some F4 device) to rope in the past Dazzler, disco star. Meanwhile, ORIGINAL SIN rages on behind them and Agents Preston and Adsit discover that Deadpool's daughter had been raised by Butler's brother.

It's the first ORIGINAL SIN tie-in both for this series and, really, for the greater Marvel Universe. Of course, AVENGERS is technically an ORIGINAL SIN tie-in right now but it's not exactly so clear-cut as that. Here, though it's currently the B-plot, we see a different angle of the final scene from ORIGINAL SIN 2 and it leads to the knowledge about Deadpool's daughter Eleanor. Deadpool is still dutifully ignoring the idea of his daughter (though he can't help but ask about it when he runs into Preston and Adsit) and doing what he can to embrace his wife's life. It still feels like there's something darker to Deadpool's new life and his willful ignorance of his possible daughter (because we're told repeatedly there's more there) but we'll put it aside for a story that pits Deadpool and Dazzler against Dracula's vampires. There's maybe a story in here but it feels a teeny bit disjointed, as is sometimes the case with a tie-in issue.

Total Score: 3/5


Giant-Size Spider-Man 1
Caramagna (w) and Koblish, Caracuzzo, Ciregia, Casagrande, and Seeley (a) and Sotocolor (c) and Caramagna (l)

It's a slew of stories from Spider-Man's start from expert letterer Joe Caramagna in this triple-sized issue which tells three stories, including Spider-Man's origin, a run-in with Vulture, with Dr. Octopus, and with Sandman. It ends with Peter, for the sake of his aunt, setting up weekly meetings with the school counselor to work through his issues with Uncle Ben's death.

I always like seeing people who are known for one thing in comics (Caramagna as a letter showing off as writer here, Chris Eliopolous as a letterer drawing phenomenal art for a recent HAWKEYE issue, Javier Rodriguez jumping from colorist to full pencils and inks and colors for DAREDEVIL) do a separate thing and do it pretty well. Caramagna isn't doing anything here that's blowing anyone out of the water (I actually preferred his little catch-up story in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 1 because its fun tone felt more decisive) but it's nice to see. Overall, though, the story is a watered down version of one that Spidey fans have seen about a million times without too much added. It's a whirlwind rush through a few introductions to Spider-Man's villains with really condensed origins for the three of them so maybe it'll work for people looking to dive into his history a little without much knowledge to start. It's not terrible by any stretch but it's not really anything I can point to for a big recommendation. Peek through it if you're not super familiar with the character and would like to be. For those who already have some thoughts on Spidey, it's not really going to change your outlook in anyway and it might be a bit of a slog.

Total Score: 2/5

Amazing Spider-Man 1

Amazing Spider-Man 1
Slott (w) and Ramos (p) and Olazaba (i) and Delgado (c) and Eliopolous (l)

Peter Parker is back and needs to catch up pretty quickly to the months he's missed. Parker Industries is in some trouble and he has to start getting out of it by severing ties with Spider-Man. Even that may not cut it as their big rollout invention is steeped in nano-tech (Nah Nohtek, shout out to my Croach the Trackers out there) and other cybernetics, a skill of Octavius' and not of Peter's. In addition, the city has turned on him in a much more vocal way than ever before. In the past, he's been seen as maybe a villain but never with the sort of antipathy and fear they have for him now. His first busted crime goes a little awry too as he brings down new villains White Rabbit, Skein, Panda-Mania, and Hippo but only after Skein, who has control over fabrics, disrobes him entirely but for his mask. He returns home to find Anna Maria waiting for him (who had found a wedding ring stashed away in their apartment) with, thanks to the videos that surfaced of a nearly naked Spider-Man stopping crime, accusations about his double life. This special quadruple size issue also includes a plethora of stories from the likes of writers Dan Slott, Chris Gage, Chris Yost, Joe Caramagna (stepping away from lettering to do a quick little writing pass with fellow letterer Chris Eliopolous as his artist), and Peter David and artists Javier Rodriguez, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Will Sliney, David Baldeon, and more that tell stories spanning from a recent attack on another prison that went badly for Electro, check-ins on Spider-Man 2099 and Kaine, the introduction of a new character we'll see in a special AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 1.1, and a look at exactly how Black Cat is doing after her betrayal. The start of the issue gives a very brief recap of his origin and sets things up for the ORIGINAL SIN tie-in that's coming which will have to do a little more with the spider that first bit Peter. Also included in this issue is a special reprint of INHUMANS 1.

Story
Just looking at the main story, Peter is thrown exactly as far under the bus as seems necessary to kick things off. He's startled to find out just how much things have changed in his absence and it forces him instantly back into the reactive sort of Peter Parker we all know and love. Slott puts him up against a small gang of easily defeated adversaries for his first match-up back which gives us enough of an opportunity to see him in action while also knowing that he's not going to lose the fight so we don't have to worry too much about stakes, we can simply see how the world is reacting to Spider-Man these days. It's a smart play and, even amidst the blatant comedy of Spider-Man losing his costume right out of the gate, it helps to set up some of what's coming. There are plenty of irons in the fire as both the main issue and the many little stories indicate and Slott is ready to dive right back into things. 5/5

Character
What can you say? Peter Parker is back. This is most certainly the same Peter Parker we've known for so long and Slott finds himself in the position of having very few character developments and instead letting us watch the character in a world that's developed around him. Peter rarely actually develops as a character in the same way that Steve Rogers rarely develops as a character; neither of them have the moral ups and downs that so often frequent heroes and anti-heroes. They're both set in their moral goodness and righteousness (though occasionally a particular writer will skew that one direction or another with varying results) and so it's the world around them that changes and they constantly need to find their place in said world. Peter's getting his legs back under him and this issue proves effectively that it's going to take some time. 5/5

Writing
I love Spider-Man. I love him as a character (how do you write a Marvel blog and not love Spider-Man?), I love his various titles, I love his stories, etc. I quite like Dan Slott too. And yet, I don't think I'll ever call this the best written series out there. There are people doing better things writing-wise and pulling out better tricks and using less exposition and so on and so forth. Still, Spider-Man gets something of a pass for this, almost like a legacy title, with rules that are grandfathered in. CAPTAIN AMERICA wouldn't have survived only being written one way. THE AVENGERS wouldn't have thrived with just one writing style through all of time. Just about anyone you can think of has seen writing styles change massively over their decades of existence. Not SPIDER-MAN though. SPIDER-MAN abides because this style of writing, this lighter tone (though obviously not always) and this hopefulness (that's really more what it is than a "lighter tone") is what we know and want from Spider-Man. I can't promise that I'll swoon over any writing technique out of this book like something out of HAWKEYE or EAST OF WEST or PRETTY DEADLY (which may as well be poetry) but it's hard to be particularly dissatisfied with it. 5/5

Art
With the return of Peter Parker comes the return of Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba, and Edgar Delgado, three guys so inextricably tied to Dan Slott's Spider-Man that it would have been nearly impossible to see this book kicked off with anyone else's style. It's great to see so many good and effective styles in the stories following the main story but these guys embody this Spider-Man and they immediately return to form. Great way to start things off again. 5/5

Miscellaneous

Few things here. First off, this number one retails for 5.99, which is quite a price to pay for a single issue. Of course, within that single issue, we also get an extra 20-30 pages of tie-in stories and a special reprint of INHUMANS 1. I'm not sure I love the 5.99 price point for the book still; with Marvel's line wide price hike to 3.99 and amidst all the heat their taking from comic stars like Robert Kirkman and Eric Stephenson, I'd love to have seen a show-of-good-faith sort of thing for this launch and giving this much content for the now-regular 3.99 price. I'm not a businessman at Marvel so I can't say if that would have been feasible (though I do think I'm enough of a businessman to speculate that an incredibly profitable company like Marvel, who knows this book is going to sell like crazy particularly if it's all this content for 3.99, could have handled it), but it would have been a solid gesture, as opposed to charging 5.99 for it and still releasing about a hundred variants (also a little bummed because my girlfriend and I went all around checking out local and not-so-local comic book stores to see what variants were in stock and found retailers marking up the incredible Marcos Martin variant to as high as 40 dollars right out of the gate and even seeing the Skottie Young variant up to around $15). Is it worth it for the 5.99? Yeah, probably. If you're a Spidey fan or a regular Spidey reader, definitely. Do I get it if you're not willing to buy this book instead of buying two regular issues of many books (PARTICULARLY in a week when Image released a slew of reprinted number ones for just a dollar)? Absolutely. I do legitimately think that if this issue, in its current state, had been released for 3.99, we'd all be praising the price instead of eyeing it suspiciously.
Second order of business: I really dug myself into a hole here when I made that final issue a post all its own, didn't I? Now I feel compelled to do it for this number one. Hopefully this is the last isolated Spidey post, though, in truth, I clearly talked enough for this to warrant its own post, if only for that last paragraph I just wrote.
Thirdly: that Marcos Martin cover is gorgeous. It's right there, over to the left of that long miscellaneous paragraph.
Fourth: I swear I'll stop praising even the flaws of Spider-Man comics now that this one's done. I've been particularly easy on it as SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN ended and with this kick-off because I do think they were particularly good comics but also because, you know, we're just all happy to have Peter Parker back and at the end of the day I'd rather give out good reviews than bad ones because I'm a happy sort of person.
Fifth: Sorry for this really long section here, I love you all, have a great day.

Total score: 5/5

Superior Spider-Man 31

Superior Spider-Man 31
Slott (s) and Gage (w) and Camuncoli (p) and Dell and Pallot (i) and Fabela (c) and Eliopolous (l)

Peter Parker is back and he's ready to start setting things right. Carlie explains a little of what's happened to him at Parker Labs and he sets off, gaining the trust of Spider-Man 2099 on the way and helping where he can as he moves towards the Green Goblin and Anna Maria. The two spiders fight their way to the Alchemax building and "rescue" Liz Allan and son Normie, as well as Tiberius Stone (all of whom are still, you know, pretty evil, but they pretend they're not). As 2099 leads them out, Peter heads for the roof where Goblin has Anna Maria strapped to a pumpkin bomb. Goblin quickly realizes it's Peter, not Doc Ock, and begins to flee. Peter follows and unmasks him, revealing that it is Norman Osborn but with a completely different face, one that will be less recognizable. Peter's mini-spiderbots flood Norman's face and inject him with the goblin cure just as Anna Maria frees herself from her bonds and flings herself from the roof. Spider-Man catches her and Goblin and brings them back down to the ground, where Goblin still manages to escape with the help of Liz Allan. Goblin is devoid of his strength and stamina but he's also cured of his madness; the next time he goes after Spider-Man, it'll be at full mind power. Spider-Man meets with Anna Maria and learns that she's totally in love with the Peter she knew and he realizes that not everyone gets to win.

Story
This is it, the big finale of the 31 issue SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN. It's a strong issue, one that wraps up GOBLIN NATION nicely and one that ensures that the right people know Spider-Man is back to being Spider-Man. There are still plenty of hints at new possible stories and a bonus mini-issue at the end (written by Gage with art from Will Sliney and Edgar Delgado) shows where some of the people in his life might end up now (MJ is out of his life but still in the city, Carlie's leaving New York, Jonah Jameson has resigned). It's a story people knew was coming but no one anticipated a 30-issue run and it wraps up neatly here, setting Peter Parker up for a totally fresh start in just two weeks with AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 1. 5/5

Character
Peter Parker is back from the kind-of dead so that's really the big character change to look at. He's instantly back to quipping and helping out non-lethally, returning immediately to "no one dies" mentality. The idea that his personality is so pervasive, that it's so intimately known to everyone, plays a role here as people begin instantly to trust him again, even despite everything that's happened. It's a nice moment when he quips at Goblin and Goblin instantly realizes it's Peter and not Doc Ock and it's a testament to the strength of Peter Parker. There are some things that feel maybe like they're being set right a little too quickly if only because we're expecting him to have a hard road back to being a hero, but it all works here and it's nice to see. 5/5

Writing
Spider-Man books still have a bit of a tendency to over-explain and this issue is no different. Typically I'd have issues with that but somehow Spider-Man feels grandfathered in to over-explanation (I don't always feel this way with Spider-Man but I'm feeling good that Peter's back). Still, I'm not sure I needed shots of what seems like everyone he knows going "well geez, at least he seems to be back to normal!" You can leave some things for us to find out. Also there's a bit too much 2099 talk here and UGH do I hate 2099 talk. Nervous about when the new SPIDER-MAN 2099 series kicks off because I'll have to put that hatred aside. Anyway, certainly on par with SPIDER-MAN writing, maybe a hair better. 4/5

Art
I often confuse (on name alone) Giuseppe Camuncoli with Marco Checchetto, which is totally unfair and often hurts how much I like the art in a book. I tend to be lukewarm on Camuncoli's stuff and I really like Checchetto's. In this issue though, Camuncoli shines. The art is easy to follow, even considering how much ground Spider-Man is covering, how many fights he's entering into, and how many characters look similar to one another. With Peter Parker's return, he has to come face-to-face with a slew of people and Camuncoli does them all justice. Solid work. 5/5

Miscellaneous
What more is there to say? Peter Parker is back.

Total score: 5/5




Sorry guys, got a bit of a busy day today so I'll be back later to review the other books I have scheduled for today but for now, this is just a single-issue review. Figured if any book deserved to have a light shined on it this week, it'd be this one. The blog kicked off with a single-issue review of the death of Peter Parker, seems fitting to dedicate a single-issue review to his rebirth.

Superior Spider-Man 30, Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 11

Superior Spider-Man 30
Slott and Gage (w) and Camuncoli, Dell, and Pallot (a) and Fabela (c)

Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099 are locked in combat with the new wave of Spider-Slayers when Goblin reveals to Spidey that he has Anna Maria and that he'll have to leave 2099 to fight a battle he can't possibly win by himself if he wants to save-oh, he left? Okay, cool, he's going after Anna Maria, leaving 2099 by himself. Spidey doesn't know where to go but he's intercepted by Menace as she flies by, taunting about their new captive. He follows her underground while, inside of Doc Ock's mind, Peter Parker continues to see Doc's memories. He gets to the point of Ock's memories where he manages to swap consciousnesses with Peter and, just as Peter's whole life flashed before his eyes then, it flashes before the ethereal Peter's eyes now. Suddenly, instead of losing himself to Ock's personality, he's regained all of his memories, all of the Spider-Man times and the Peter Parker times and all of his entire history. Fully charged by this, Peter jumps into Otto's mind again just in time to find that he's wavering about saving Amy Chen, the girl Otto saved alongside Cardiac and another captive the Goblins have taken, worrying that he'll injure himself and there will be no one left to save Anna Maria. Peter leaps into action, taking over the body and forcing Otto to swing in and save the girl. Peter, his presence again known to Otto, yells at his enemy and tells him that now isn't the time for plotting and planning, it's the time to act. Otto admits his weakness and the two leave, discussing what's happening. Otto reveals that he has overcompensated and has deemed himself superior only because he didn't really believes himself to be, whereas Peter always played down his intelligence and abilities because he was never so arrogant. Otto concedes that Peter truly is the superior one and rushes back to Parker Industries. He goes into his lab and enters the mindscape, deleting all traces of Otto's villainous history and even of his recent history, making sure to wipe the slate clean and leaving only the consciousness of Peter behind. Back in control at last, Peter dons his original costume and prepares to once more face off against Green Goblin.

This is the major turning point for the series, no question. Finally the moment we've all waited over a year for has come and we're rewarded by Peter taking control in his ever impressive way. The planner is replaced by the man of action in a time where action is most necessary and Otto's seemingly final act in the body he took such measures to steal is to learn a real lesson about heroism FINALLY. It's a huge moment and, while this is clearly the A-story, it's not the only thing happening. The Avengers continue to fight their fights (all the while reminding us their current feelings on Spider-Man and so on), Spider-Man 2099 continues his fight against the Slayers and Alchemax (all the while reminding us he's from the future), and the city is turning on J. Jonah Jameson thanks, in part, to Alchemax revealing that he commissioned and signed off on the Slayers despite Liz Allan's warnings that he shouldn't. On top of that, Liz is hiding something to do with this whole goblin mess and that will likely come to a head as we reach the conclusion of this storyline. Lots still to come here. Worth picking this book up for the reappearance of the triumphant Peter Parker and the special reprint of BLACK WIDOW 1 that comes tied to the book.

Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 11
Shinick (w) and Checchetto, Frenz, and Buscema (a) and Rosenberg (c)

In the middle of Goblin Nation, we take a quick look at a former relationship between Otto and Norman Osborn as Otto reminisces on a time when the two teamed up after (one of) the death(s) of Norman Osborn. They managed to put aside their differences and got along amicably enough as they built up plans to destroy Spider-Man, building up a friendship in the process. Of course, Norman's a bit crazy for Otto's liking and the craziness rears its head on more than one occasion, finally coming to a head when, after a heartfelt talk about their friendships in the past, Norman tracks down and hospitalizes a woman to whom Otto was once engaged, hoping that the pain in Otto's soul makes him realize what Norman is trying to accomplish with Spider-Man.

I'm not a big fan of this issue simply because I don't really buy it. Sure I can see a tentative team-up between Goblin and Doc Ock happening but I don't believe that either truly would form any sort of bond. Also, there's a sense between both this and SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN right now that they want Goblin built into the Joker of this universe (there were even chases in SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN this week that reminded me a little of the famous Batman story THE KILLING JOKE) and I have some amount of trouble believing this if only because we've seen enough of Osborn's backstory that it's hard to draw those comparisons. We've seen him be human and simply cold without any sort of craziness to him and then, on occasion, we've seen that craziness come back up. This one feels very all or nothing and, in truth, is more all than nothing. I have some trouble buying the conceit of this book and, on top of it, I don't love the writing as a whole. Maybe I just don't care and there's more to be talking about in the middle of Goblin Nation.

Superior Spider-Man 23, Amazing Spider-Man 700.1

Superior Spider-Man 23
Slott and Gage (w) and Ramos and Olazaba (a) and Delgado (c)

Flash manages to just barely escape Spider-Man's attack, wriggling free enough to let the symbiote grab one of Crime-Master's gas grenades and escaping into the crowd. Spider-Man is furious that he got away and dedicates his troops to finding Flash Thompson, on top of finding Goblin (which is already a priority). Goblin, meanwhile, has learned from Carlie that Doc Ock is now Spider-Man but still wants to know whose face is under the mask, something Carlie won't reveal. Yuri Watanabe has discovered that Carlie is missing and checks in with MJ, who Carlie's phone records indicate she had called last before her disappearance. They listen to Carlie's message (which MJ hadn't yet done because she's been busy rebuilding her club) and, though it doesn't say much, it warns MJ to stay away from Peter Parker. Back with Peter, Anna Maria is helping to clean up Peter's apartment and prepare brunch for May and Jay, who will be returning from May's surgery to fix her leg in no time. Who should show up at the door but Flash Thompson, needing a place to stay and hoping to crash with Peter for a little bit. This throws Peter for a loop but of course he accepts. At brunch, Peter tells Flash that they could use the same nano-based technology they used on May to re-grow his legs. Flash is against it but Peter guilts him into it, saying that such a procedure would help all veterans missing limbs if proven successful. They go right away to the labs and Spider-Man shows up to assist should anything go awry in the testing. They use a sonic imager to scan Flash's body, causing the symbiote to go nuts and leave Flash, where Spider-Man traps it and contains it in an old Reed Richards design. Flash warns Spider-Man that the symbiote has grown stronger since then and it quickly breaks free, launching itself at Spider-Man.

Plenty happening here to talk about. This is the kind of Spider-Man issue we've been looking for for a while. At every turn, something is happening, whether it's with Peter, Flash, Carlie, May, Yuri, MJ, Goblin, or even Mayor Jameson (who has hired Alchemax to make new Spider Slayer bots despite his recent history with them and his current "arrangement" with Spider-Man). The result is a comic that doesn't waste any words or any pages (though, again, with the Miguel O'Hara storyline, the Spider-Man team isn't content with hoping that we've all been reading and paying attention as we get a thought-bubble from Miguel to make a time-quip and an editorial footnote saying that Michael O'Mara is REALLY Miguel O'Hara, Spider-Man of 2099. Speaking of, did he need to change his name? Like, that Spider-Man isn't around for almost 90 years, I think we can safely say that very few, if any, people know him in this world. Oh well). Of course, the Venom storyline takes precedence as it mostly directly impacts Spider-Man at current but you can see the wheels turning to take us through a series of these storylines all in a row. Should be a fun time. Still miss the real Peter, though. WAIT A MINUTE, WHAT'S THIS...?

Amazing Spider-Man 700.1
Morrell (w) and Janson (a) and Buccellatto (c)

A look back at our favorite web-slinger as we see Peter Parker, sometime before his fall, patrolling the city once more. He's out on a cold November night with a major storm set to come by any time. Still, Spider-Man watches over the city, not his normal quippy self, but rather someone who knows what he has to do for the city but wishes he wasn't needed. Not so much for himself, but for the city's sake. He saves people, he stops disasters, he beats up muggers, he stops drunk drivers, everything, before going home, knowing that he'll never have done enough. He wakes up with what seems to be a cold and lives his Peter Parker life, going to the Bugle to get yelled at by Jameson about how he's not getting enough pictures of the menace Spider-Man and to be lectured about how Spider-Man is, in fact, a menace. He visits his Aunt May, who comforts and consoles him, letting him know that everyone needs a rest now and then. Peter gets his as he sleeps through the night and most of the next day and waking to a world covered in snow, knowing that he doesn't need to patrol since the lowlifes will be taking it easy too. However, unbeknownst to Peter thanks to blocked communication, his Aunt May is on the brink of freezing as a tree crashes through her window. Spidey's sense starts tingling and he decides to go check in, just in case.

It's nice to see Peter back on the case even if it's a little hard to place the timeline. You a little bit get the sense that someone wanted to write a Peter Parker story but no one had any reason to do it, meaning that they didn't just want to make a special and advertise it as an untold Spider-Man story so, instead, they just numbered it and named it to show us that this is indeed the Amazing Spider-Man and not the Superior Spider-Man. However, the numbering would lead you to believe that this happens right around the time of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 700 (out a year ago this month!) and it pretty clearly doesn't. Peter still works at the Bugle, May seems to live alone, and I don't see a single Octo-bot anywhere, you guys. That puts something of a damper on things but not enough to diminish the bittersweet feeling of seeing Peter back at work and of seeing him having such a hard time of it, just being exhausted and depressed. The writing is good enough at these points, as is the art, to really make you feel how hard it's been of late for Peter and you're really hoping for some form of relief for him, something to make give him a break. But maybe not Doc Ock killing him and taking his body. Maybe not that.

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).

Superior Spider-Man 6, Ultimate Spider-Man 21

Superior Spider-Man 6
Slott (w) and Ramos and Olazaba (a) and Delgado (c)

As the Avengers discuss how to handle Spider-Man's recent attitude change and his even more recent murder of Massacre, Spider-Man himself is hired by J. Jonah Jameson to track down and teach a lesson to prankster villains Screwball and Jester. The two are tech-based and have an internet following for their prank videos that feature the pair tormenting normal people. Their biggest target was Jameson and, being the sensible guy he is, he immediately dispatches new friend Spider-Man on them. Peter, hunting around in Doc's memories, is suddenly dragged to a memory of Ock being bullied as a child, giving us Doc's motivation for the rest of the issue. While at a meeting with his new professor (as he tries to get Peter a doctorate) and his new love interest (Anna Maria Marconi), his spidey-bots track the pranksters down and Spidey makes his move. Meanwhile, the Avengers meet to consider revoking Spider-Man's Avenger status. They agree, on Wolverine's demand, to give Spidey a little more time while they watch his actions. Right on cue, Spider-Man is put live on Screwball and Jester's website absolutely destroying the pair while screaming about the cost of bullying. Next issue we'll see the Avengers approach Spidey and possibly kick him out.

This is more the inciting incident that should lead to the climax of our story than it is the climax of our story. Yes there are important things happening plot-wise (Peter is still looking for a way to regain control of his body, Doc is getting more and more brutal, a pair of internet villains have been introduced and also shut down, etc.), but this really was a stepping stone to get us into this new arc as the Avengers approach Spidey and have to start asking questions of this new behavior. The Avengers are no stranger to villains taking over a hero's body (I've mentioned it before, but Red Skull once switched bodies with Cap thanks to the Cosmic Cube and used the whole situation to walk around as Cap, signing autographs but also being kind of a jerk to people. THAT'S a supervillain, am I right?) and they must have something in place where they can recognize this change. If I was an Avenger in the 616, I'd have seen Spider-Man do one thing that was slightly off-kilter and I'd be asking myself who he really was. Skrull? Supervillain? Possessed? All kinds of answers. The Avengers have got to have those questions or else I'm losing some credulity.

Ultimate Spider-Man 21
Bendis (w) and Pichelli (a) and Ponsor (c)

Venom is still on the warpath in Ultimate Spider-Man as he tears a new path through the sewers to the hospital where Jefferson Morales is being treated. Meanwhile, Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson have taken it upon themselves to teach Miles about Venom and symbiotes and lots of other things that people who have read Spider-Man or Ultimate Spider-Man before Miles took over already knew about. I sometimes forget that there are readers like that and this issue was maybe more for them. I'm still not sure it takes a full issue of two teenage girls cutting each other off left and right to teach the reader about the newest threat. I'm sure the reader could learn about it as we go. Or maybe could get a couple quick lines about what a symbiote is and be pretty well caught up. Then Maria Hill shows up because this is a Brian Michael Bendis book and she seems to know that Miles is Spider-Man because Gwen and MJ warned him about talking in the street in front of police about vaguely worded Spider-Man kind of things but didn't seem to think it would be suspicious when two people intimately connected with the original Spider-Man show up to this kid's house. And that's it. That's what happens.

I've mentioned before that I'm sick of unnecessarily long ideas taking up full issues of comics and loading the beginning and ending of arcs with action and letting the middle issues stew. This is another in that line of comics. I think some important things happened but I think that, by and large, they were things that could have happened over maybe three to five pages. I'm not sure you need to reintroduce MJ and Gwen to Miles' universe. So what you end up needing, depending on where the series is going, is for Maria Hill to deduce that Miles is Spidey, for Venom to attack Jefferson again, for a short explanation of symbiotes and Venom, and for Miles to struggle a bit with what just happened. Five to ten pages, instead of the twenty this issue took. That means you're loading up half the issue with filler and stuff that doesn't matter. It's a great formula for upsetting the fans who paid for this issue. Or, in the very least, for upsetting me, which seems to be a constant.