The Superior Social-Media-Man!
Superior Spider-Man has been a mixed bag with me, but lately it's been picking up. Last issue, number 15, had Ock hunting Phil Urich, the Hobgoblin, in the aftermath of destroying Shadowland. Last issue ended with (if you didn't read last issue you shouldn't be reading this so this spoiler isn't on me!) Ock revealing the Hobgoblin's identity of Phil Urich to all of New York City. This issue is essentially Ock hunting Phil down and bringing him in. Ock corners Phil inside the Daily Bugle, and there is a brief hostage moment before Ock unleashes some rather ingenious non-lethal (how it is non-lethal I have no idea, internal explosions of any kind would be fatal) tech to take Phil down. It appears as though Ock is going to publicly, on national news, execute Phil when he is interrupted by a call from Captain America and the Avengers. It seems that they have come to a decision of a sorts on Spidey's probation, and I'll be honest it doesn't look good for Ock. The issue, once again, ends with a Green Goblin cliffhanger (which I won't spoil), and I am really looking forward to the Green one's involvement in all this. While all the action with Ock and Phil takes place, we have a few brief, albeit very interesting scenes, with Carlie Cooper and Captain Wantanabe as The Wraith. They are closing their noose around Ock, and I greatly look forward to their deeper look into this new "Superior" Spider-Man.
Ramos's art is great for this series, always has been. His exaggerated facial expressions and body mechanics really fit the feel of Spider-Man, which has always been lighthearted and fun. They are exaggerated, but not overly exaggerated. Enough to make it fun and humorous without distracting and ugly. It's a great balance, and I don't know if his art would work with really any other title.
The only gripe I really have is there was one minor continuity aspect with this book. Aren't the Avengers heading across the universe to deal with the whole "Infinity" crisis? I am not reading Infinity so I don't know how it fits into the current continuity 100% but I know it's kicked off and the Avengers have left Earth. So how does them appearing in Superior make sense? Perhaps this is supposed to be just before they leave, and they never get the chance to talk to him. I'm not sure, and it is not a huge issue to me, but something I realized in my second read through the book.
Overall, Superior gets better and better. Don't get me wrong, I do not like Ock. I do not like what happened to Peter. But the fact that every issue makes me want Peter to return more and more, and despise Ock more, and keeps me engrossed in an interesting, long term story, make it a success in my book. After all, aren't villains supposed to make us hate them and be unlikable? Oh, and if nothing else about this book gets you excited, the last page with the cover of Superior Spider-Man 17 should: Miguel O'Hara makes his return.
