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.

Daredevil Dark Nights 5, Marvel Knights Spider-Man 1, Superior Foes of Spider-Man 4

Daredevil Dark Nights 5
Lapham (w and a) and Loughridge (c)

Daredevil has caught up with the ten-inch tall Buggit as he finds Michael dead in the arms of his wife. Buggit takes off again after strapping a bomb to his tiny chest. Daredevil understands why Buggit's mad and what he's trying to do but also knows that Buggit is guilty of stealing the gun and takes off after him. He loses the trail, though, when he overhears cops talking about Shocker attacking a cop, perhaps killing him. Shocker was Daredevil's responsibility and he pauses in his chase of Buggit to stop Shocker from attacking more cops. He manages to take down Shocker and it makes him realize that Buggit isn't suicidal; he's going after mob boss Milo but Daredevil believes he'll try to leave the bomb for Milo, not go down with it. Daredevil shows up to save Milo, though he also insists on protecting Buggit from Milo's men. He manages to succeed and Michael's widow shows up to tell Buggit that Michael went straight to try to protect Buggit, which softens him enough to accept his arrest instead of murdering Milo. As Milo seems poised to walk away free, the monster the Avengers were busy with throughout the whole adventure falls and its arm crushes Milo inside his car.

Plenty to like in this issue with a solid core and very nice characterization for Daredevil (as well as for Spider-Man, who has a brief cameo in Peter Parker form). It certainly gets a little slow in the middle but  the issue more than makes up for it with great art and a nice showing for Daredevil. The art is fairly similar to Samnee's style and the coloring and lettering are very similar, which is simultaneous totally welcome and a little bit of a strange decision. Where Dark Nights is a separate series entirely, it feels almost like it's giving permission (and perhaps even urging this series) to try putting out its own art on the character and its own tone for the book. Again, the ongoing Daredevil series is absolutely phenomenal so making the tone so similar to that book isn't an error in judgment in anyway, it just rings as a little bit strange. Still, pretty good issue as the slightly ridiculous storyline (still hard to get over Buggit) wraps up on a nice note.

Marvel Knights Spider-Man 1
Kindt (w) and Rudy (a) and Staples (c)

The Marvel Knights line launches anew as Matt Kindt, Marco Ruby, and Val Staples give us a pretty crazy Spider-Man story. Spidey (Peter) finds himself facing off, in rapid succession, against a number of enemies who may or may not be hallucinations. Spider-Man gets through a handful of them before Arcade (a little more solidly than the enemies before him) pops up to explain what's going on; a number of villains have gotten together and planted a bomb somewhere innocents will gather and it's up to Spidey to save them, which he must do by taking a pill Arcade presents and sticking to their plan for him. The plan is to pit Spider-Man up against 99 of the toughest villains out there. If he doesn't take the pill or if he deviates after he takes the pill, the bomb will go off. Let the games begin.

Very interesting launch for the new Marvel Knights line (I said in my pre-game that I wasn't sure if it was real or not because I didn't know they were re-launching the Marvel Knights line, although it occurs to me that I definitely read about Marvel Knights X-Men somewhat recently). Marvel Knights, as A+ editor Tom Brennan explains at the end of the issue, was originally meant to be a place for cutting-edge ideas and creators and comics and this is intended to be a return to that. There's a real sense of that here as the fairly gorgeous art is certainly unique to Marvel comics right now. It reminds me a little of David Mack and Joe Quesada's run on Daredevil, though I'd say that one had a little more to it while also looking a tiny bit more cartoony with Quesada's art. That run, Daredevil: Parts of a Hole, remains one of my very favorite complete arcs so any comparison to that is certainly something that won't upset me. It's an exciting ride in this book and I'm definitely looking forward to where it goes next.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man 4
Spencer (w) and Lieber (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Boomerang has sic'd Luke Cage and Iron Fist on his gang now that they've kicked him out of it. Meanwhile, he's promised Chameleon that he'll get him the head of Silvermane in the next day. The next part of his plan, of course, is breaking his former gang out of the prison transit they're waiting in. As soon as he does this, they welcome him back with open arms, preferring his leadership that didn't put them in jail, even if it's a bit terrible, over Beetle's management that almost immediately got them beat up by the Heroes for Hire. Shocker reveals to Boomerang that he saw that the Punisher they faced down was really Chameleon. Boomerang covers for it and reveals to Shocker that, though they might not always have seen eye-to-eye in the past, he's glad they're on the same crew. Of course, that ends up feeling a little less true when we see that, by issue's end, Boomerang is shoving his car into a lake with Shocker trapped in the trunk.

The book really feels like it's found its own voice. I do think it mostly started off with a very similar voice but now that we're a few issues in, it's cemented and it feels unique to this book. The tone of the book is wholly its own and it fits it. It's also hard to say that this book is moving slowly though we still haven't started our heist of Silvermane's head. This one seems paced a little better too; there's still plenty of dialogue and narration, but it slows down where it needs to slow down and speeds back up as it needs to speed up. Pacing isn't all about cutting down words, it's about making sure the words are there when they're needed and gone when they're not. This issue is a really good example of that. Meanwhile, the tone continues to impress and feel proper for the story and the characters. Pretty solid book that's quietly developed into something altogether pretty impressive.