But wait, Otto erased his consciousness and gave Peter back control of his own body. How is he back, you ask? Well, a lot happened in between series, but here are the basics. During the "Necessary Evil" story, Ock had been transported to the year 2099 and participated in the events of "Spider-Verse", where he had learned that Peter would eventually return to his body. Ock would then be transported back to his proper place in the timeline with no memory of what happened; prior to that however, Ock created a digital copy of his consciousness and set a timer to activate at some point in the future. Once activated, Ock transferred his mind into the robot body of the Living Brain, biding his time until he could take over Peter's body again. During "The Clone Conspiracy", Ock would transfer his mind into a new clone body and by the end of that storyline, he would transfer again into a new clone body made up of both his and Peter's DNA, allowing him to even have spider-powers. Following that, Otto would head to one of his weapon caches only to find it occupied by HYDRA. With no other choice, Otto joins the organization to use their resources, creating a pretty cool new suit that embodies his time as Doctor Octopus and Spider-Man, dubbing himself the Superior Octopus.
Admittedly, I did find it sad to see Ock go back to villainy even if his mind at that point was still too arrogant to give up control of Peter's body, feeling that Peter's influence must have corrupted his judgment.
Ock would work with HYDRA during the events of "Secret Empire", eventually breaking from them after their defeat. Ock would later be seen in Amazing Spider-Man #800, where he saved Aunt May from a Carnage-possessed Norman Osborn. This act leads to Peter and Otto burying the hatchet, giving his enemy a clean slate. Otto would then move out west to San Francisco and under the new alias Elliot Tolliver gains a job at Horizon University, working alongside his former love interest while he was in Peter's body, Anna Maria Marconi. The Superior Octopus would be San Francisco's new hero, but during the events of "Spider-Geddon" (the sequel to "Spider-Verse"), Ock would once again become the Superior Spider-Man, with the new series picking up after that storyline.
Ock would work with HYDRA during the events of "Secret Empire", eventually breaking from them after their defeat. Ock would later be seen in Amazing Spider-Man #800, where he saved Aunt May from a Carnage-possessed Norman Osborn. This act leads to Peter and Otto burying the hatchet, giving his enemy a clean slate. Otto would then move out west to San Francisco and under the new alias Elliot Tolliver gains a job at Horizon University, working alongside his former love interest while he was in Peter's body, Anna Maria Marconi. The Superior Octopus would be San Francisco's new hero, but during the events of "Spider-Geddon" (the sequel to "Spider-Verse"), Ock would once again become the Superior Spider-Man, with the new series picking up after that storyline.
Original "Superior" writer Dan Slott had stepped down from the Spider-Man books last year, so Christos Gage would take the reigns of the new book, and it's a good fit. Gage has been a long time collaborator with Slott and had written the two annuals and "Age of Ultron" tie-in to the original series. So will the new Superior Spider-Man live up to its predecessor and tread new ground as well? Let's take a look at the first six issues and find out.
Issue one begins with Otto fighting Stilt-Man. The villain calls him out for not being the real Spider-Man, to which Otto clarifies he is the "superior" one. Otto is irritated that this fight is taking so long because he has to give a lecture as Elliot Tolliver at the university, so Otto decides to wrap it up quickly. He webs Stilt-Man's long legs, who boasts that the real Spider-Man knows his webbing won't stick. But Otto's developed much stronger webbing than Peter's, which means it does stick and he is able to knock Stilt-Man off balance, who begins to fall but stops just a few feet off the ground. Otto webs up Stilt-Man as the villain says Otto's stunt could've killed him, to which Otto replies the problem still would have been solved. Otto swings off, still fuming that a criminal would have kept him from his personal commitments, chastising Peter for allowing himself to do that in the past.
Along with his lecture as Tolliver that goes over well with those in attendance, these first few scenes do a good job at introducing our protagonist. If this was anyone's first experience with the Superior Spider-Man, they'd be able to pick up right away how different he is than Peter Parker. We even get a quick recap of Ock's life to this point, from his childhood with his abusive father and overbearing mother and the events that lead to him being Doctor Octopus and Spider-Man. We also get a glimpse of Otto's apartment, which can transform into his own personal lab when needed as well as stores his suit. But what's really going to make this new title so different from the original run is that despite living under a new alias, this is pure Otto Octavius. He no longer has to worry about Peter Parker's relationship or keeping face with the other heroes. Otto can make the life he wants without fretting over anyone's past but his own.
We then cut to Otto fighting members of a cult trying resurrect their dead master named Master Pandemonium. Assisting Otto are a group of supernatural mercenaries he's hired called the Night Shift. More members appear later, but the only two helping Otto at the moment are Digger, who has increased durability and no sense of pain to where he's essentially a zombie, and Dansen Macrabe, who uses her hypnotic dancing to control the cultists to turn themselves into the police. Afterwards, Dansen hits on Otto, but Otto rebuffs and leaves in a hurry. Otto's hesitant about relationships considering his last one with Anna Maria was while he was in Peter's body and she outright hates Ock for lying to her.
Speaking of which, Anna Maria confronts Elliot in his lab at the university, telling him she knows he's Doc Ock, commenting that he even looks similar to Peter and a young Otto. There's also the fact that he's swinging around as the Superior Spider-Man again, so that may have been a giveaway.
Anna's a smart cookie; soon after Peter got control of his body back, he got in a fight that was televised that resulted in his whole costume being destroyed, save for his mask, and Anna Maria figured out who he was just based on marks on his body. I feel like if you gave her just enough clues, she could figure out any superperson's secret identity.
Realizing he's made, Otto assures Anna that he know there's no chance their relationship resuming and that he's only trying to make a new life for himself as both Tolliver and Spider-Man. Anna doesn't care about Otto's intentions and plans to turn him in for his past crimes, even summoning a rebuilt Living Brain to assist her. Their argument is interrupted by the school's emergency alarm going off and they turn on the TV to see the cosmic villain Terrax touching down in San Francisco intending to conquer the planet; to emphasize how major this is, Terrax was once a herald for Galactus, so he's on the same level as the Silver Surfer. The issue ends with Anna telling Otto to go, but that their situation isn't over.
Issue two starts with Otto saving an elderly couple from being killed by Terrax by throwing a freaking bus with his robotic spider legs at him while swinging in in a real badass moment. As the two begin their fight, Anna watches on TV while asking the Living Brain to contact Peter, the Avengers, or any other superheroes, but there are no responses. Anna tries to bare with the idea that "the only thing standing between San Francisco and agonizing death is Otto freakin' Octavius."
Otto's Night Shift team arrives, and along with Digger and Dansen are Wax Man, Skein and the Brothers Grimm. When it comes to the Brothers Grimm, is it me, or do they remind anyone else of Watch and Ward from the Venture Bros.? I mean, I'm at least hearing the latter's voices when I read the Brothers' lines.
_from_Official_Handbook_of_the_Marvel_Universe_Vol_2_2_001.jpg)
Anyway, Terrax immediately cuts Digger in half with his axe (he's still alive though and just needs to be stitched back together), which prompts the rest of the Night Shift to run away in a really funny moment. Otto continues to battle Terrax using all he can, including sonic and electric based attacks, but nothing's working. Otto contacts Anna, asking for help in building a device his miniature spider-bots were working on to fight Terrax. Anna reluctantly agrees to finish up the device for him. Otto tries to hold out in the fight until then, but between Terrax's power cosmic and his ability to move the Earth itself, he might not last that long. Otto's near the end of his rope with his costume in tatters when Anna contacts him to let him know the device is ready, so Otto sends the remaining Night Shift members who didn't flat out abandon him, Skein and the Brothers Grimm, to pick it up. They arrive and Anna insists they bring her and the Living Brain along.
Before Terrax delivers the death blow to Otto, the device is dropped around Terrax's neck and Otto uses his remaining strength to get on Terrax's back and turn the handles. This harness allows Otto to siphon off some of Terrax's cosmic energy into himself, allowing him to reform his costume and become "the cosmic-powered Superior Spider-Man!" The issue ends with Anna hoping she "didn't just make a colossal mistake." Yeah, as big of an ego Otto has, the last thing he needs is god-like power.
Issue three sees Otto using Terrax's own power against him, but Terrax still has the upper hand given his longer experience with said abilities. Anna believes there may be something they can do if they had a chance to study Terrax's cosmic energy, so Otto is able to get Terrax's axe, which is an extension of himself, away from him long enough for her to scan. After a brief moment, Otto summons the axe himself and uses it on Terrax. Terrax still has a connection to the Axe and summons it back to him, which is what Otto intended. From my understanding, Otto's use of the axe altered its energy in a way that would counter Terrax's own, creating a blowback that finally takes down villain. Otto ponders on the idea of keeping the power cosmic for himself, but quickly decides to siphon the energy back into the harness, deciding to rely on his natural talents. Well at least we won't have another "Superior Venom" situation. The battle takes its toll though as Otto passes out soon after. He then wakes up in the medical wing at Horizon, being brought there by Anna and the Living Brain with the cover story that Elliot was caught up in the battle. Among his injuries are a concussion and some broken ribs and arm. Otto thanks Anna but is confused by her actions considering what she wanted before. Between seeing no selfish angle to Otto's battle with Terrax and finally being able to get a hold of Peter about the Otto situation, she's decided to give Otto a chance. She'll basically act as the angel on his shoulder, keeping him in line until the moment she thinks he's going bad again. I really like this idea since I'm a fan of superheroes having at least one confidante that helps them in their crusade, and Otto's definitely someone who needs a north star so to speak.
The issue ends with the reveal that Anna's keeping Otto's Cosmic Harness hidden in her own lab, as she plans to use the energy still inside it in case she has to take down Otto herself. I'm really curious how this will play out in the future; Anna could well use it herself, but I see someone else stealing it and this could cause a rift between Otto and Anna about her hypocritically keeping secrets herself.
Issue four deals with the aftermath of the devastating battle between Otto and Terrax, as Anna Maria pretty much forces Otto into suiting up and helping with the clean-up and rescue. Otto thinks he's done enough by stopping Terrax and reminds her of his injuries, but Anna says he needs to get up close and personal with the people he's protecting. She has a point, as being a superhero is helping people even when there aren't any bad guys around involved. Otto's attitude at first shows he still has room to grow, as he continues to correct people who call him simply Spider-Man that he's the "Superior Spider-Man", directing firefighters to high priority spots so they can save the most people instead of all (essentially advocating letting others die), and being rude to a woman he saved and offered to make him kielbasa. Anna's in his ear the whole time, chastising him and making him be nice to others so that he doesn't come off as a complete tool. His demeanor changes though when he finds a child and his mother under some rubble. Unfortunately, the mother is dead and the child seems too young to understand what happened to her. This leaves Otto in the position to tell the terrible news to the child. The following page speaks for itself.
No words were needed to make this scene emotionally powerful. This gives Otto a little more motivation afterwards, as we see him helping as many people as he can, including finding a little girl's puppy to using his webbing to help strap a woman to a stretcher. Otto is worn out as Anna says the police radio says they're pretty sure they've helped everyone they could find.
Upon returning to Horizon, Otto sends his suit back to his lab, which has an artificial intelligence that allows it to walk, as well as avoid any contact with anyone or cameras. More importantly, the suit can walk on its own. I felt I should emphasize that part because it seems pretty creepy, and there's a whole episode of Jimmy Neutron about why you shouldn't bring your clothes to life. Anyway, Otto tells Anna he realizes that even though not everyone is as smart as he is, they all live their lives the best they can and are special in their own ways. Although Otto follows this up with saying that any looters or anyone selling bottled water at huge prices during this crisis are being tased by his spider-bots. Well, I still see this as progress on Otto's part.
Following this, Otto (as Elliot) is met by a colleague named Emma Hernandez, who asks him out to dinner. The two have been shown to be getting close and somewhat flirtatious in this issue and previously in issue one. Emma is significantly older and worries about the age difference since Otto's new body is much younger, but Elliot assures her he's attracted to women for their minds. The two set a date for the night after tomorrow, as Otto as Spider-Man takes part in a large kielbasa dinner for the city's rescue workers made by the old lady he saved earlier.
Issue four ends with two clean-up workers in what remains of the building the cultists from issue one were, who are then killed by miniature demons who pop out of a puddle of blood on the ground. Out of the blood rises Master Pandemonium, who plans "to bring about hell on Earth."
Issue five begins with Elliot and Emma's date, but we have a flashback to Anna telling Otto she thinks it's a bad idea of him pursuing romance given what happened between the two of them. Anna relents but advises that if things are leading somewhere between them that Otto should tell her the truth. Cut back to the date, the two of them have a splendid time that ends in a kiss, and then Elliot flat out tells her everything. And I mean EVERYTHING, from him being Otto, to the body jumping, and that he's Spider-Man; there's even a handy caption box saying it takes him fifteen minutes to do so. Emma is understandably freaked out and leaves after saying she's going to use the restroom. This is probably the worst bomb I've seen dropped on a first date since Ted told Robin he was in love with her in the first episode of "How I Met Your Mother". Seriously, this is like one of those moments from the original Superior run where Ock made pride himself on his intelligence but still does really stupid things that lack common sense.
Otto suits up as Spider-Man and catches Emma outside before she can reach some police officers. Otto is unsuccessful at calming her down, attracting the nearby officers. As it turns out though, the officers are possessed by demons, one of whom flings another demon into Emma's mouth, and then she herself is possessed. Otto takes down the two officers and webs up Emma, carrying her back to his apartment and leaving her on the couch. Believing there could be more demons, Otto re-calibrates his lenses to find any more hiding, and it turns out the city is infested with them.
Realizing he needs help, Otto contacts Dr. Strange, despite his disdain for magic. Before Otto can explain the situation, Strange teleports to his location, stating his magic knows he's Otto Octavius and the two begin fighting. First off, I just realized that when Ock took over Peter's body the first time, he must not have encountered Strange, otherwise he might have seen through him. Secondly, there has to be an unwritten rule that heroes always have to fight before they team up, because this seems to happen every time.
The two calm down once Strange finally sees the demons. Otto believes Master Pandemonium is behind this, and for those new with said character (like myself), this issue explains he was an actor named Martin Preston who "made a deal with a demonic entity to regain lost body parts" which "were replaced with demons". He also has a hole in his chest that's a gateway to hell. Strange is able to trace Pandemonium to the Palace of Fine Arts where the possessed citizens seem to be gathering. As Pandemonium said in the previous issue, he plans to make a "hell on Earth", which he intends to rule over and the more souls he has possessed, the more powerful he becomes. Issue five ends with the revelation that Pandemonium isn't using these people as batteries or shields, but that they're becoming part of his body as they conglomerate on him, making him giant.
Issue six begins with two flashbacks between Strange and Otto before they developed their super abilities. The first is before Strange's accident, where she blows off Otto about a business opportunity. The second is after Strange's accident but before he learns magic as he's passed out on the street and not looking so well. He's passed by Otto on the street, and while he takes some joy in seeing Strange fall due to his arrogance, he still drops a twenty dollar bill on him. It's interesting to see these two in a way where their stories intertwined and how far they've come now compared to then.
Back in the present, Pandemonium is growing more powerful and Otto and Strange aren't getting along well, both on their own preferences of magic or science and whether they should hurt the possessed civilians attacking them or becoming part of Pandemonium's body. When they get a chance to talk strategy, Otto's scans show that Pandemonium's true body is located where the brain would be in the large conglomerate body and devise a plan. The two attack Pandemonium, only now Strange is using Otto's robotic spider legs and Otto has the cloak of levitation. Strange is able to use the legs to get through Pandemonium's forehead and fights his way through the demons inside to get to his true body. On the outside, Otto keeps distracting Pandemonium by insulting his work as an actor. I guess if Otto learned anything from Peter in their past fights, it's how to attack one's ego. Otto holds him off long enough for Strange to break Pandemonium's hold on everyone he has possessed. Pandemonium brags he still has the power to crush them thanks to his chest gateway, but then Strange uses a spell that changes which hell dimension his gateway leads as a familiar red hand comes out of his chest and grabs Pandemonium by the head. Off panel, we can pretty much assume Pandemonium got his whole body pulled through his own chest in a fashion Otto deems "painfully impossible."
Afterwards, Strange casts a calming spell on all of Pandemonium's victims, sending them home safely. Otto then asks a favor of Strange to make everyone forget that Elliot Tolliver and the Superior Spider-Man are Doctor Octopus, referring to what Strange did for Peter after "Civil War" in the story "One Moment in Time" (which was the re-written history created by "One More Day"). Strange says he would need help with such a spell, but that he wouldn't do it for Otto anyway, saying he needs to make up for his past rather than run from it. As Strange teleports away, he tells Otto that if he has a problem, he shouldn't be afraid to ask for help.
Afterwards, Otto brings Anna Maria back to his apartment, who chastises Otto for telling Emma his true identity on their FIRST DATE. Emma is no longer possessed, but still webbed up on Otto's couch, and luckily for Otto, she remembers the demon cops and being taken over herself. Anna is able to talk Emma into not calling the cops on him just yet, and that he's trying to do some good, such as dealing with Terrax and Pandemonium. Emma agrees, saying that she'll see them at work and "never speak of this again." If anything, this story shows why it's not always a good idea to date co-worker. Sometimes they reveal they're a reformed supervillain. Sometimes you get possessed by a demon. These things happen.
The issue ends revealing Mephisto being the one who dragged Pandemonium back to hell, who find it amusing to have Pandemonium "home", as well as finding out Otto Octavius is trying to be good man. And I'm only just now realizing this issue makes references to both "One More Day" and "One Moment in Time", stories that rewrote and ultimately wrecked Spider-Man's history. Still, if there's more to come from Mephisto in this series, this will make Otto the third Spider-Man the demon has messed around with, the second being Ben Reilly. It makes me wonder what Mephisto's interest in people with Peter Parker's DNA is, but at the same time, it kind of comes off as writers trying to make Mephisto's involvement in Spider-Man's history mean something more than an editorial mandate; it made sense with Ben, but doing it with Otto may be pushing it.
Overall, these comics are great. Putting Otto in a new city under a new identity helps do something new with the concept, and using cosmic and supernatural villains elevates threat levels we haven't seen him face as Spider-Man before. There's good character development for Otto, as he's not only trying to be a better hero than Peter, but also better than himself in the original run, which I think is a real possibility depending how long the series lasts. I also really enjoyed the team-up with Dr. Strange, not only because of it putting polar opposites together, but because it was always entertaining seeing Ock as Spider-Man work with other heroes and see how they play off of each other. I like the artwork by Mike Hawthorne, particularly how he's able to make a good composite of Peter's and Otto's facial features for Elliot Tolliver. If I had one complaint though, it's that I miss Ock's black lenses he originally he had; it really helped his Spider-Man look stand out.
If you were a fan of the original Superior Spider-Man run, you'll likely enjoy the return of the title. Considering a timeclock won't be involved for Peter's eventual return, there's no telling how long Otto's tenure as the Superior Spider-Man will last this time, but here's hoping it's a good while.
No comments:
Post a Comment