Read this BEFORE AGE OF ULTRON #3

The Good

How could Superior Spider-Man be of use against Ultron in this event? This issue of SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN takes the reader on a journey of how a more tech-saavy Spider-Man would adapt to this cold and brutal landscape, written by Christos Gage with art by Dexter Soy.

As soon as I noticed this was a tie-in, I was bummed out. When I saw it was a completely different creative team on the book, I was super-bummed out. After I read it, I had a big, dumb smile on my face because the issue was a ton of fun. SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #6AU is a fantastic "Day in the life" story. What would Peter do in this dystopian wasteland in order to save his own species?

This was the most engaging book I've read this week. It's a very solid and well put together "Heroes Journey" story. The things Peter can and does do in this issue, with his technological ability, are totally awesome. You'll find yourself really cheering on Peter here as he makes his way closer and closer to Ultron.

I have never heard of Dexter Soy before this issue, which outs me as someone who isn't reading CAPTAIN MARVEL. This guy is awesome. This is going to be an artist you'll want to keep your eyes on. His work is a bit reminiscent of Japanese anime; however, it's his color work that really makes him stand out. It's eye popping work. His page layouts are fantastic, and his work has a great sense of flow as well of a sense of movement.

The Bad

My biggest problem with this issue is that there is no flow, at all, between this version of Peter Parker and the one in the main AGE OF ULTRON book. Here, we see Superior Spider-Man: Dock Ock inside of Peter's body in his new outfit using all his cool tools, speaking like a pompous jerk, just like SSM. In Age of Ultron, we see Peter Parker, in the old outfit, talking just like Peter Parker normally would. It's obvious that the AU Peter is not SSM. I loved this issue, but it doesn't work with everything that's happening in AGE OF ULTRON.

I'm also really not keen on the fact this tie-in has to force its way into the regular series. This story, which I'm really enjoying so far, doesn't take place within continuity, so why force it upon the other books? Why can't they just be one shot tie-ins? Why does this have to be SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN 6AU? This is a great issue that suffers greatly because of continuity errors made on the part of the company.

I found it very weird that Dan Slott was not writing this.

The Verdict

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #6AU wasn't what I was expecting. It was a lot better. While I still feel like the Peter in this issue and the Peter in AGE OF ULTRON #3 (which also came out today) are completely different people, this issue, on its own, was fantastic. The writing and art were great, and it's a wonderful journey from start to finish. Christos Gage puts together a compelling tie-in story with the help from Dexter Soy's brilliant artwork. Normally, I hate tie-ins to event books, mainly because the majority of the time, they miss their mark.

Overall, I highly recommend this issue.

So... it's Superior Spider Man but it isn't in the main title? Brian Michael Bendis everyone!

The art is freaking gorgeous.

Dexter Soy's artwork is stellar. The man needs to be doing a Spidey on-going. His work on Captain Marvel is dope, but you can tell what character he wants to be drawing over at Marvel.

@inferiorego

How come you want this Issue to be read before Age of Ultron #1? Wouldn't that spoil everything that happens in #1? I think this issue could be read either before or maybe even after reading Age of Ultron #3 although before is probably better.

I just figured in the main AU Spidy Ock was just putting up a very convincing portrayal of being Peter as the other heroes see fit. Also in the main AU we're not in the driver's seat like we are in SSM AU to where we're seeing things in Spidy Ock perspective. If the other heroes caught on that Ock has taken over spidy, they might just boot him out or something more insidious.

I'm not reading Age of Ultron, so I wasn't expecting to like this issue too much, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was really entertaining, and the art is awesome.

The art...damn!!!!

wasnt paying attention to age of ultron at all but i picked up this book anyway

it was extremely disappointing and a bad change of pace from the previous ssm issue

Age of Ultron doesn't take place within continuity? I thought that was the whole gimmick.

Jacobin_Wisdom is in the right ball park. Clearly the Spider-Man in the main AU series is Ock. At the beginning of this new issue, he clearly mentions sleeping through the beginning of the event, which references the second issue of the main series. And then towards the end of the issue, Stark states that they're hoping that Luke Cage's plan works, which directly ties into issue # 3. Ock is just that good of an actor. As for the difference of costume, that's simple. Age of Ultron was planned and penciled BEFORE Dan Slott and Ryan Stegman created the Superior Spider-Man design. So it's safe to say that Bryan Hitch, when he penciled issue #1, didn't have the sketches from Stegman to go off of for reference. So now, at least I feel, this explains what we've all been asking. AU Spider-Man is still Doc Ock.

before 3. i screwed up. sorry.

This was better than the first three AOU issues.

@cyberchop979: it's meant to be read just before AU 3.

@tommythehitman: not his fault. this story was completed over a year ago, and written longer then that.

I actually for once wouldn't mind a few tie-ins with this event. Panther, Taskmaster and Red Hulk would have been cool to read and see how the 3 of those particular charaters came together. Anytime you can get Taskmaster as one of the "heroes" of the story it's pretty cool. Moon Knight and Black Widow. Same thing.

This issue had some pretty big character development for our boy Ockto Parker, I always thought Tie Ins where very Vanilla because obviously not everyone is reading them so you don't want anything to really happen, which at the end, your back to square one, but I was a nice trip !

No worries, duder. I thought I missed some strange plot point.

It still looks interesting, might pick this up

This

everyone from Marvel has said that AoU takes place in the 616....in the Fantastic Four tie in it shows the FF coming back to earth to help fight Ultron but he attacked and won so quickly that it was pointless for them to come and help and all but Sue were dead within minutes of arriving on earth....we also know that some sort of reality altering event will take place later in the series that will most likely set everything right again

So, did anybody notice Spider-Ock saying that it was hard to act like Peter for so long? I took that as the author's trying to make up for the delay in the AoU story and Bendis originally writing Peter in the main series as Peter Parker Spider-Man. It's not too bad of an excuse, I mean, if anybody knows Peter, it's one of his greatest enemies, right?

loved the art and the story was amazing.