Review by Karl Verhoven
Over the years Marvel have tinkered with people other than Peter Parker being Spider-Man, most infamously during the laboured comics of the 1990s, but the most audacious replacement was surely Otto Octavius, AKA Doctor Octopus. What might have been tawdry and short term was instead under Dan Slott never less than interesting, and at its best fascinating.
As Octavius died he was able to transfer his mind and intellect into Parker’s body, suppressing Peter’s own personality to a distant occasional echo. Due to reasons credibly conceived by Slott, instead of just being content at occupying a fit young body and exploring the possibilities, Octavius is compelled to prove his superiority by becoming a more effective Spider-Man. The intentions are good, but try as he might, Octavius can’t hide his dismissive and overbearing personality, so there are no motormouth quips as Spider-Man. Instead we have the likes of “How did a slack-jawed lackey like you evade my surveillance til now? Explain!”.
Slott also applies considerable thought to how a career as a crimefighter could be more efficiently carried out, which is largely via improved technology. One innovation is creating masses of little robot spiders enabling him to survey the entirety of New York, their small size enabling access to places normally hidden. Another way to reduce crime is to prevent recurring menaces, so Octavius turns on all his former criminal allies. At first he attempts the complete mimicry of Parker’s social life, attending the job at Horizon labs, dating Mary Jane Watson and interacting with other members of the supporting cast, but Slott gradually pulls him away from that into other relationships. It takes some believing to see Spider-Man and J. Jonah Jameson getting on.
Giuseppe Camuncoli (sample art left), Humberto Ramos (sample art right) and Ryan Stegman draw most of the series, with Ramos standing out for being more stylised. His pages are an acquired taste for taking the idea of Spider-Man always able to twist his body into disturbing new areas. Stegman’s version verges on cartooning, but keeps nearer the action template with some impressive layouts, while Camuncoli’s grittier style is also more traditional storytelling, but he modifies his approach to something nearer Ramos. No other artist draws more than a single chapter, and most supply less than that, but they’re all good.
This isn’t an idea that runs out of steam. The strongest section is in the middle, by which point Christos Gage is scripting Slott’s plots, but this is a series with a logical progression that never outstays its welcome.
Despite initial scepticism, fans soon realised Superior Spider-Man was something special and interesting, and it’s become of the great moments of 21st century Marvel. That being the case there have been numerous reprintings of the material first gathered in paperback staring with My Own Worst Enemy. Prior to this hardback Omnibus the series was reprinted across three hardcovers starting with Vol. 1, and two hefty Complete Collection paperbacks, which also feature associated material. For greater information on individual story arcs, follow the links.
