By BAC
Comics around the holiday’s season tend to be a slow. Depending when the days of Christmas and New Year falls the publishers often don’t push out a lot of titles into the market place; this year we got something exciting in Amazing Spider-Man #700, a milestone for our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and also the ‘end’ of the title.
This is where I would add the snark of nothing last forever in comics and so forth, but been seeing that so often lately I felt like I try to skip it here. Though if you wish you can pop over to a message board and read it there. I don’t mind.
Issue 700 is the climax of stories writer Dan Slott has been building towards, though we only just saw how much so in the recent issue 698. The cliff-notes version of the story is that Doctor Octopus is dying and like many of us the idea of that is scary, the difference between us and Doc Ock is his 'superior' intelligence to put together a plan to have him live on. His plan was to switch his mind into the body of his greatest rival Spider-Man. In doing so, Spider-Man would then die and Ock would live on in a new body full of Spider-Man's powers. And in shocking twist, it works.
This all comes to ahead in the 'finale' issue of Amazing Spider-Man where Peter tries one last attempt to get his mind back into his body, which turns out to be the final thing Peter does. You see like the shocking twist of Doc Ock's plan to switch minds, he seems to win out in the end and stays with in Peter's body as 'Doc Ock' dies. Though Otto was looking to be the hero all along and when getting a sudden flash of Peter's memories he makes a bold claim to be a better, Superior, Spider-Man. And this is where I start to feel conflicted about a lot of this.
Through out the issue there was several things I found out of place mostly with the characters themselves. Now in trying to explain this may be hard I will do my best. Peter (Ock) seems to be rekindling the romance with Mary Jane, but the way he talks to her and at times treats her is harsh. And yet she never calls him out on it. They known each other for so long for Peter to suddenly start calling her 'woman' and being cold was out of place. At one point he even shots her, along with two of other friends, with Spider-Man's impact webbing. Something is off putting about this in this 'new' Spider-Man.
Also the idea that this could lead to redemption of Doc Ock, that he secretly wants to do right and be the hero. That premise seems faulty since they way he wanted to do it was the most literal way of identity thief there is. And then to gloat and boast about this victory in the follow up Avenging Spider-Man issue. It so far doesn't feel like this is someone looking for redemption as it is someone who was just sick of losing and now finding a way to change it, concupiscence be damned.
The end of the issue where Ock (Peter) was dying and forcing his memories on to Spider-Man (Ock) was a force part of the story that for me doesn't work. This new Spider-Man may have the same memories as the old, but he lacks the same experience that Peter went through to get to where he is/was today. There was also a lack of a send off for Peter in his death. He tried to put together this one plan, but when things really didn't work out, he just felt like he gave up.
There is a lot of thoughts I have about this change that I laid out here and so far they aren't the most positive I know. We are only at the start of this Superior Spider-Man, we have to see what may come from all of this and how. The stories haven't been read so who knows what the future holds for this Spider-Man. I will say this though, when first noted by writer Dan Slott that this story may break the internet I had my doubts, but following the reactions to the news, it seems Mr. Slott I was wrong on that end and you were right.
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