I started reading Amazing Spider-Man again with #583, the comic that grabbed all of the headlines because it featured President Obama on its variant covers. I had stopped reading just before #400, when I quit comics all together. I had never been as satisfied with ASM anyway, after the fantastic storylines of Spidey's black costume, the first appearances of Venom, and Todd McFarlane's art chores. The stories were just kind of so-so.
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| Amazing Spider-Man #698 |
Jump to #583 and beyond. The stories still were just kind of average, but I still kept buying them. I've
put up with Mary Jane and Peter Parker splitting up as if they've never
been married, Spider Island with a bazillion Spider-Man rip-offs running
around NYC, the introduction of the annoying Alpha, and all of the extra "Point One" issues. I even put up with ridiculous three issues per month stint with various writers and artists, making the series so incoherent and inconsistent. Finally, Marvel signed on Dan Slott and went to a twice monthly publication (at a heftier $3.99 price tag), giving the series at least some consistency and regularity. I truly admire Dan Slott for being able to put out so many stories of Spidey every month. It's quite a feat. Unfortunately, to me, the stories, again, have just been so-so (with the exception of the poignant issues, #655 and #657). That is, until issue #698 when it was revealed that -- SPOILER ALERT!! -- Doctor Octopus had mysteriously switched bodies with Spider-Man, leaving our web-headed friend in a dying body. Even the cover is one of the best I've seen since picking up ASM again. At first you think Doc Ock has discovered Spider-Man's secret identity and is calling him out on his deathbed. Only inside do you discover that that's actually Peter saying his own name to try to get people to help him. Now, that's AMAZING.
There are a lot of angry readers out there, disgusted by the thought of a "Superior Spider-Man." I, for one, am actually looking forward to where Slott is going to take us with Doc Ock as the new Spider-Man, since this is one of the best storylines I've seen for Spider-Man in YEARS. I also wonder when Peter Parker will "come back to life" and take back control of his own body. And...will the series still be called Superior Spider-Man? Or will we see the dawn of another Amazing Spider-Man title? Will the sequencing start over again with #1? Or will it return to the 700s?
As mentioned previously, I've been reading The Amazing Spider-Man again. I must say that I'm impressed at the updates to the Spidey Villains. First, I got a peek at the new (and much more deadly) Vulture. Now, with ASM #600, I got to see the "new" Doctor Octopus. Doc Ock has been hit one too many times in the noggin over the years, causing him brain trauma and a terminal condition (which echoes of Natasha Richardson). With nothing to lose, he strikes out at the city (and our webslinging hero) with a deadly force and little robot octo-creatures that remind me of some sci-fi (syfy?) movie I've seen. I'm looking forward to seeing what other villains are updated in the next 600 issues.
p.s. ASM #600 also had a couple of beautifully written backstories. One was Aunt 
May Parker sitting beside her deceased husband's grave, asking his permission to remarry. Another, and the most emotional, was the story of Uncle Ben learning to be a father to a teenage Peter. Kudos on both of these short stories!
