Evilguy here.
So, heard any good stories lately?
No, seriously, spoilers freaking abound from this point forward.
Yes, Dan Slott has done it and delivered – as promised, and reiterated for the last 100+ issues of Amazing Spider-man – a finale that hasn’t simply broken the Internet in half, but tore down its walls and let the roof collapse on the huddled masses within. Doctor Otto Gunther Octavius, better known to the masses as Doctor Octopus, has finally and undeniably defeated Spider-man.
That’s right, folks. Doc Ock’s middle name is Gunther. You Adventure Time fans out there may revel in your moment of narrative parity and justice.
For the rest of the non-Adventure Time fans, the impact is slightly more accentuated upon the multistage twists and turns that issue 700 has taken us through, as at each turn Spidey and Doc Ock play a game of one upmanship. Each of them has access to the other’s memories and resources, each of them laying down moves and counters at an alarming rate, until finally one is left standing.
And this time, people, the bad guy has won. As he should have. But at a terrible price – he is now so burdened with thousands of issues of continuity that he… er, that is, he is now understanding the full weight of what drove Peter Parker to be Spider-man that he, himself, has succumbed to the urge not only to be Spider-man himself, but to be a smarter, improved, and yes, Superior Spider-man.
Look for it in a couple of weeks at your local comic shop, fans.
For those that can’t wait for a taste of what the future holds, Avenging Spider-man 15.1 does a nice job of setting up the new status quo for our protagonist antagonist main character. It is clear to we the readers that this is Doctor Octopus fully in charge of Peter’s body, powers, professional life, and (most alarmingly) his personal life. It is obvious at this early point that even as the Doc’s ego clouds his judgement that even if he were inclined to try to be exactly like Peter Parker he couldn’t do it – his voice, his needs, his priorities are still completely Otto Octavius. He still needs the goggles. He is most comfortable in the lab. His feelings for Aunt May are very strong, but for totally different reasons.
Things are going to get interesting from here for the duration of this part of the ride. How long will this go on? How long will we go without Peter Parker as Spider-man?
Well, let me turn my own intellect to that question.
The conventional wisdom seems to be that with the sequel to the (horrid) Amazing Spider-man film already in the works that Peter Parker will be back in time for that film’s release. After all, we’ve got to have the comic match up to the expectations set by the new movie, right? … right? Or have we seen this kind of thing go wrong before?
Heh. I can feel the shudders from those of our readers who are well versed in their comics history. It. Is. Tasty.
For those less steeped in comics lore, may I present The Life of Reilly in all of its 35 part glory. Or, if you prefer, we can call it The Clone Saga.
Yes, Peter Parker has been replaced before, and anyone who was reading it in the 90s can tell you that WOW did it go off the rails. And as it left the rails it jumped a school of sharks. And then it train wrecked. And then I ran out of abused cliches about narratives that went tremendously poorly. And then it kept going after that. For two years, across every Spider-man related title.
Why did it go so far off course, and last so much longer than intended? The Life of Reilly tells it better, and I’m sure our friend Arlen Schumer could get hours of really entertaining material out of it, but it comes down to Marvel’s marketing department begging for it to be stretched out because sales were so high.
And we all know history has a way of repeating itself.
Either way I find this all vastly entertaining, both as a reader and as a blogger. Will Ock-as-Spidey gain a following that merits a continuance of this take on the character? Will it crash and burn, forcing Marvel to return Peter Parker prematurely? That, folks, is likely more interesting than anything that will end up on the page, even with Dan Slott at the top of his game.
Ben “the EvilGuy” West
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Oh you can just tell that Evil Guy is just gushing with pride that the bad guy seems to have finally won one. Even though at the conclusion, Ock has his “Grinch” moment when “his heart grew three sizes that day.”
Last night I went out of my way to hit my LCS to grab issue 700. The store was out of Avenging Spider-Man, as I’m sure everyone else is by now too. Looks like EVERYONE short-ordered that one because (1) Marvel marketed it as a retrospect on Doc Ock’s history with Spider-Man and retrospects sell poorly, (2) Marvel did NOT mention in its solicitation that this would be a slight crossover and feature one of the first ‘appearances’ of Superior Spider-Man and (3) the book has not been selling well so shops had been scaling back anyway. So Marvel, Diamond, the local shops and the fans all lose (except for the shops that actually got copies, predicted correctly and put it out on the shelves for 4 to 5 times the cover price. Can’t blame them, market demands, let them make money where they can).
The internet has indeed been grinding ferociously. For example, Dan Slott has received death threats for killing a fictitious character. Fans are SCREAMING and crying. Fanboys, take your meds. Chill. Slott has delivered a spectacularly fitting finish to an Amazing series. He’s been knocking it out of the park since his run began on Big Time. He’s a HUGE Spider-Man fan. He means us no harm. This was a good call, and I’m expecting a a great ride with a conflicted Ock in the tights.
I hate, HATE, that this is being compared to the abysmal Spider-Clone series. That was BAD. It didn’t have to be. The delivery was piss-poor. The art was sub-par. Overall execution was a textbook example of horrible. The purpose was not to tell a good story so much as it was to ‘correct’ things from an editorial standpoint – they wanted a single Spider-Man again, not married to Mary Jane. This was, of course, the same motivation behind “One Last Day.” But the clone saga dragged on. Nobody bought the idea that the clone was the REAL Parker. The fans KNEW they were being had and would not accept it. And though we still also look at “One Last Day” with disdain, at least they ripped the band-aid off in four merciful issues, and hey, let’s be honest, Spider-Man HAS been a better book since.
This chapter in the life of Peter Parker is just that – another chapter, a nightmare, and one that will make for some intriguing conflict at the hands of Dan Slott. Ock has to interact with the Avengers and the Fantastic Four and NOT spill the beans. Ock has to see opportunity for personal power and gain and weigh it against ‘doing the right thing.’ When you consider the brain power and the knowledge he now has, Superior Spider-Man is now one of the most powerful, dangerous men alive. What will happen WHEN (not if) he decides to run with this?
And I don’t think it’s snarky of me to believe, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the old Peter Parker will regain control. How, you ask? Slott already went out of his way to hint at it in issue 699. Keep your eyes squarely fixed on another important member of Spidey’s rogues gallery – Doc Connors. You heard it here first.
Goodguy
Take heart in the fact that I’m one of the few out there that are drawing parallels between Superior Spider-man and The Clone Saga. Even in that case I am speaking more in terms of the potential for excess rather than one of quality. I imagine that Dan Slott, fan/writer hybrid that he is, will not intentionally let this situation spiral out of control. The specter of The Clone Saga, for me, looms larger in the idea that we have another “extreme” version of Spidey – perhaps the MOST extreme version to date (sorry Scarlet Spider fans) – and he is out there getting major press attention and big sales. If that continues, it is almost the Marvel Evil Marketing Department of Evil’s (EMDoE) job to try to extend his appearances. That was no less than half the problem with The Clone Saga as documented in The Life of Reilly blog, with the other half being rotating editors and generally too many cooks in the kitchen.
I have every confidence that Slott will deliver on the stories, and has a plan to eventually return the one true Spider-man to the masses, and that he will execute the heck out of it. Will EMDoE interfere? Will a shakeup in editorial occur that brings a change in the goals? Will other writers contribute awkward subplots that do not align with the payoff? Grab your popcorn, folks, because that is the interesting part. We all know sausage is tasty when done right, but when you can see how it is made you can see all of the potential for errors to be made. In this day and age of comic gossip sites, Twitter, leaks, and creator blogs we can see a lot more of that process as it unfolds like never before.
And if you missed Avenging Spider-man 15.1, you missed out on the foreshadowing of some of the creepier stuff that is coming up. The scenes with Mary Jane were making me cringe something fierce.
Doc Ock won big time, and what that means to Parker’s life when he inevitably does return will shape Spider-man for years to come, don’t doubt it. You heard THAT here first.
Ben “the EvilGuy” West
The haters are always quick to compare what they hate with the “big two” train wrecks in Spider history – One More Day and the Spider-Clone saga. But few will actually pick that apart and present a real argument about it. It’s just simpleton thinking. Spider-clone was selected from an obscure loose end pulled out of the butt of spider-history to later expand upon. But I get the impression that Slott had issue 700 in mind right from the start of his run, and many signs point to it. Knowing that now, it makes the whole run, starting with Big Time, that much more significant.
I have clearly missed Avenging Spider-Man – got to the shop just a little too late. The second market scoundrels are already E-baying it for as high as $20 while the iron is hot.