The Superior Spider-Man: Volume One: My Own Worst Enemy


The Superior Spider-Man: Volume One: My Own Worst Enemy
Dan Slott, Ryan Stegman, et. al., 2013

Premise: Otto Octavius has finally defeated Spider-Man. Defeated him, and become him. Now resident in Peter Parker's brain, with access to his memories, what will he make of Peter's quest to balance power and responsibility? Collects Superior Spider-Man #1-5

This is one of those cases where you just have to go with the insane set-up. Don’t worry, Peter doesn’t stay completely dead for even the entire first issue. The tension between the reader’s knowledge of Otto’s internal motivations and everyone else trying to make sense of his behavior is pretty fun, although not the real story. The real story is whether this Spider-Man’s different tactics and priorities will actually do a better job of protecting the city. It’s a classic ruthlessness-vs.-belief-in-redemption story that’s common to a lot of superhero tales, but it’s very well executed here.

Oh, there’s also the side story about whether Otto will sleep with Mary Jane. (Don’t worry, the answer is no, it’s just really creepy for a while.)

Also, why anybody could fail to notice that something was seriously off...

Really, this guy’s a super-villain? Do tell.

With quite a bit of humor leavening the occasionally brutal action, this is a fun title, and I enjoyed it.

4 Stars - A Very Good Book

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