Superior Spider-Man, issue #...32?!

Back in May I was still lamenting the fact that Dan Slott’s Superior Spider-Man had ended after only 31 issues. It had been a truly awesome run, with an ending in which Doc Ock hands the webslinger’s spandex back to Peter Parker – facilitating a smooth transition into the new Amazing Spider-Man series. And although Slott’s continuing on as the new series’ creator guaranteed quality writing, I still missed Doc Ock’s very unique interpretation of superheroism and how to control the evil elements in his city.

From: Superior Spider-Man #8 – Otto can fix this!

As it turns out, this month is my lucky month and Marvel seems to have read my previous blog post (which they would, of course). For there it was, amidst the new comics issues of Wednesday, August 6th: Superior Spider-Man #32!

I had no idea how this would be possible, since the rebooted Amazing Spider-Man left no room whatsoever for Doc Ock to take over once again. I dreaded a scenario where Octavius would perhaps take another body and be a second Spider-Man. Nevertheless, since Dan Slott was still its creator, I decided to take the risk and dive in.

And boy did this comic exceed my expectations – again!:-)
Slott very niftily found a little time slot (no pun intended) in Superior Spider-Man #19 that could be transformed into a multiverse story, creating room for an entire set of new web slinging adventures by Doc Ock. For although it’s only been one issue as of yet, it’s very clear from the plot that as long as Octavius travels these parallel universes and different dimensions, there’s really no limit to the number of stories. Hence, Superior Spider-Man does not have to end after all! Which makes my smile so big it hardly fits my face anymore.

Story (incl. some mild spoilers)

During the explosion in #19 Superior Spidey is warped to another timeline, and he finds himself in the year 2099. The same year the future Spider-Man he had encountered before is from and who is now trapped in our time.

Doc Ock of course starts bossing everyone around again pretty much immediately after arriving in the future, focussing on building a time machine to return to his own time as soon as possible. He succeeds in building the device fairly quickly (antagonizing approximately every major person or company in town while doing it – ah, Superior Spidey, I’m soooo glad you’re back!), giving it an interface that looks like his beloved Anna Maria, and he starts a series of time jumps in hopes of finding his own dimension.

Although finding the right time line seems harder than he had anticipated, he does take notice of his surroundings. He discovers that several of his multiverse counterparts have been killed by what seems to be one and the same foe. Octavius concludes that this enemy must therefore be traveling the multiverse as well, and it doesn’t take long before he decides to gather an army (of course he would) of “parallel” Spider-Men. With their help – and under his leadership – he wants to battle and defeat this multi-dimensional enemy that threatens their entire existence.

Buy/Borrow/Skip

Can there be any other conclusion? BUY of course!

Once again Slott seems to be entirely in his element now that he’s back in the saddle writing this refreshingly original character of his. It’s obvious he’s enjoying himself, and that translates to the pages. The plot is exciting, the dialogues sharp and snarky, and his true love for Anna Maria is once again moving even though she isn’t even really there. Surely this new storyline promises a wealth of juicy Superior Spider-Man adventures! Or, as Marvel has dubbed it:

The road to Spider-Verse starts here.

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to traveling that road right along with them :-)

I give Superior Spider-Man #32 a Quality score of 9/10 and a Relevance score of 6/10.

Let me know whether you are as happy as I am with Superior Spidey's return in the comment section below, or check out my blog Comics and Gadgets and share your thoughts there!