Superior Spider-man #11 Review Or “Pimp hand Stronger”

Previously…

Since January, Dr. Otto Octavius, aka Doc Ock, has run around in Peter Parker's body, sharing his memories and eventually taking over his life. Many fans were irate when this happened because of the emotional attachment and sense of ownership they have regarding the character. Luckily, I'm not one of those fans and I enjoy this book more than I ever did Amazing Spider-man before it. 

 

 

Situation

There is a reason Dan Slott has been the main Spider-Man scribe for as long as he has-- he's good at it and, with Christos Gage along for the ride, the story gets more interesting. This issue kicks off with Doc Ock/Peter Parker sitting in physics class attempting to earn the doctorate that Peter Parker failed to get. The teacher for the class is one of the Doc's old schoolmates who he deems less intelligent and this (as you can imagine) infuriates the good doctor to no end. In the same class, we're privy to a brief conversation between Doc Ock/Peter Parker and his new very probable love interest Anna Maria Marconi, who is a dwarf, before he’s called upon to help oversee the Spider-Slayer's execution.

Story

Slott and Gage continue to endear me to this character, who has shown more growth in 11 issues than Peter has in 700. Doc Ock cites Peter’s own self-hating persona as the reason he was never able to protect those important to him. He also claims he will not have such issues as Superior Spider-man. That being said, Doc Ock's arrogance and inability to talk to people he deems less intelligent than him with respect is going to get him in trouble. There is a great line of dialogue where Doc Ock contradicts himself in reference to the execution, a line, which will probably be a theme throughout the rest of the series. Slott and Gage are doing a great job with this arc and though the ending of the issue wasn't spectacular, I'm definitely going to keep reading.

 Pictures

 

I've loved Giuseppe Camuncoli's work since Daken: Dark Wolverine, and he doesn't disappoint in this issue. He captures expressions perfectly-- from Doc/Peter's reaction to his professor's annoying wake up call to J. Jonah Jameson's conversation with Doc/Peter on the phone, the reactions felt real and resonated with me. The only issue I've ever had with his work is that when people aren't emoting in his illustrations they look like they need sleep. John Dell's inks compliment Camuncoli's pencils well and helps convey raw emotion in the aforementioned J. Jonah scene. Edgar Delgado's colors aren't spectacular but they work well since there's not a lot of flash to the costumes of the particular characters in the issue. 

The Real

I continue to enjoy Superior Spider-man and while I know that the status quo will return at some point, I do hope it's not for some time. I find it funny that Doc has done in months what Parker couldn't do in years, and that is increase his own quality of life. One would think that a person as smart as Peter would have gotten his doctorate instead of taking pictures of himself. Moreover, Doc Ock already has a girl who was ready to give up the panties last issue; this is after meeting her a few issues ago. Looking at how long it took Peter to crack MJ or get Black Cat to sleep with him for that matter, we can see whose pimp hand is stronger. That being said if this is the shape of things to come, I'm all for it.

 Rating 3.5/5

All images credited to Comic book Resources.