Will justice be served?
The big day has finally come; Mayor J. Jonah Jameson finally gets to see Alistair Smythe aka The Spider Slayer put to death on death row for the murder of his wife Marla. Jonah has a feeling that Smythe won't be going down so easily, therefore he asks Spider-Man (Otto Octavius) to be present at the execution which will be taking place at the Raft, a prison for super-powered beings. -summary
The Superior Spider-Man was my personal favorite comic running at that time, and had been since the release of the first issue. I had grown a strong liking for Otto Octavius aka Dr. Octopus as Spider-Man in Peter Parker's body. In the previous volumes, Peter had still existed in Otto''s consciousness and was able to prevent him from killing villains, most notably Boomerang. Otto discovered Parker in the corner of his mind, and he was able to enter the area Peter was still alive in. The two battled and Otto finally killed Peter once and for all; by doing this, he was no longer restrained by Peter in some ways, plus he lost all of Peter's memories. The Superior Spider-Man Volume 3: No Escape collects issues 11-16, and this book would be near perfect if not for one thing, Humberto Ramos' hideous artwork.
I will never understand the fascination behind Ramos' art. Why does this guy even have a job in comics? It should be a felony to even allow him within a mile of a comic. His character designs are so horribly done; they lack proportion, depth, detail, a pure sense of urgency, they all look rushed by someone with terrible arthritis in their hands. The characters look like drug addicts and they all look the same. Nothing looks cool here in the least not even the action, and that's a shame too because this book contains the final battle between Spider-Man and the latest Hobgoblin being Phil Urich. They deserved something a whole lot better visually, than something a retarded monkey could have scribbled out. I hate this guy's work; his artwork has brought down some good stories. I found myself being somewhat detached from Dan Slott's writing since everything is so ugly. I would rather look at Rob Liefeld's art than this toilet worthy garbage. Thankfully he doesn't draw the whole book; Giuseppe Camuncoli does the first three issues and his work is much better, it's no Ryan Stegman but I can live with a whole book done by him. The characters look quite better; the action scenes feel quite intense with Vulture, Scorpion, and Boomerang dead set for revenge, and the Spider Slayer looks cool as well. The first half of this book is fun to look at.
If not for Dan Slott's superb writing in making Otto's life so interesting in and out of costume, this book would be very weak. He does a great job with balance; Otto definitely walks the line of an anti-hero, but in his mind he is a hero that must draw the line somewhere. He has no intention on fighting the same villains over and over. He wants them down and out. His civilian life is also difficult for him to manage, and he even gives some thought on doing away with it. Slott also manages to keep the side plots interesting as Carlie Cooper along with Wraith seek to unravel the mystery behind Peter's change. This is another part of the story that is so cool. Although people can tell by the voice this is Spider-Man, it is becoming obvious that this is a different guy. Even the Kingpin is afraid of him now, in which he was never worried before about confronting Spider-Man head on.
People were whining about Otto taking Peter's life like this, but this was exactly what Spider-Man needed. It had been awhile since I was this gripped to the character, and the later storylines such as Necessary Evil and Superior Venom are worth catching.
The Superior Spider-Man: No Escape is a very good read and the follow up stories were great as well. It only has one thing I consider a flaw and that's the art for issues 14 - 16. I hate to deduct a star from this gripping book but I really can't tolerate Ramos' art anymore. This book can make a decent jumping on point, but I highly recommend picking up The Superior Spider-Man Volume 1 and skipping Superior Spider-Man Volume 1: My Own Worst Enemy. The difference between the two is that the former contains The Amazing Spider-Man: Dying Wish and Superior Spider-Man 1 - 5 which sets up everything, while the latter only contains issues 1 - 5. So go with choice one if you're unfamiliar.
Pros: Slott's writing, interesting plot and sub plots, future development
Cons: Ramos' artwork