Here is today's Guest Review from the guys at Spider-Man Crawlspace for Marvel's Superior Spider-Man #24. I have also added my rating after each review. If you have any questions about my rating or want to discuss anything just leave me a comment.
Superior Spider-Man #24 - Darkest Hours, Part 3 of 4: Complications
DARKEST HOURS Part 3 of 4: "Complications"
The birth of a new Goblin! The return of Cardiac! MJ's greatest fear!
And the one question everyone will be asking: "Who is THE SUPERIOR VENOM?!"
Good luck, Superior Spider-Man! You're gonna need it!
Preview
Superior Venom
It’s not perfect. In fact the first half annoyed me quite a bit. But the second half of this book entertained me in such a way that I’ve never felt when reading a Superior Spider-Man issue before. The scenes with Dark Peterpus yelling at everybody and threatening Mary Jane are some of the most cathartic moments in this entire run. Slott pushes aside pretense and just has Ock go buck WILD with reckless abandon as Superior Venom. He’s on top of his game in the back half of this issue, and the artwork by Ramos, Olazaba and Fabela make the scenes pop off the page. Again, this isn’t an all-time best or flawless issue. But Sweet Merciful Crap did I enjoy this!
Let’s get the negatives out of the way. Part of the reason why I groaned and rolled my eyes when Superior Venom first popped up is that there didn’t seem to be much Slott could do with that plot twist that he hadn’t already pulled with Spock before. A Dark version of our hero is the comic’s entire premise, and that this was just a gloopy sloppier version of Dark Spider-Man left little to the imagination as to what would come down the pike. This is proven with the scenes of Ock claiming he’s a “Lethal Protector” (Gawd) and beating up non-threatening, ordinary people. He wasn’t proving his might, and it wasn’t interesting to read about at all.
Even worse was the scene where Sajani tells Flash he’s got hours to live away from the Symbiote. I know Sajani’s been portrayed as nothing more than a horrible person who has contempt for everybody she works with, but the way in which she informs Flash about his dire situation is so matter-of-factly, so nonplussed that has her come off even worse. From a writing standpoint, I wonder if Slott is trying to write a supporting character that isn’t exactly evil but at the same time is legitimately an awful person. I understand that not every female character who’s a minority has to be a paragon of their ethnic and gender background, so I don’t totally loathe the character. But if someone’s going to be written this way, it’d be nice to have other characters call them on it. Flash had every right to say “What the HELL! Why didn’t you tell me this sooner? How long have you known?” Characters can be as mean as nasty as the writers want, but as long as the story acknowledges that they are that way, we don’t have to hate them more than we should.
Concerning the Goblin/Carlie scene, at first I questioned the plausibility of Carlie resisting torture by Goblin and Menace, but I understood how it had to lead into her getting drugged with the Goblin serum. That’s in interesting turn I didn’t expect. Will she mutate into another monster, or will she just gain super powers and a costume? Before that happened, I was wondering why Norman (if it is Norman, ho ho!) didn’t just use sodium pentothal. It’s what Roderick used on Ned Leeds. Honestly, I really don’t buy the lead up to Carlie getting the Goblin Formula. If they threw that at her from the start, it would make more sense. It’s in their nature to torture her, but having Carlie be so resistant to spilling her guts puts her over in a Carlie-Hammer kind of way. I’m not saying she’s weak willed, I’m saying she’s a normal person. I think Mary Jane would crack after a while as well.
Images Unplugged Rating
Cover & Solicit - 3
Art, Colors & Inking - 4
Layout & Flow - 5
Story - 5
Verdict - 4.4 (9/10) - (Buy Superior Spider-Man) SAVE 10%
+-+Page+1.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment