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turret's review against another edition
4.0
Note: The Goodreads star rating is a calculated average of the individual ratings I've given each of the stories in this book. This review covers the Dying Wish story arc (ASM#698-700) and the two back-up stories featured in #700. I'd highly recommend going into the Dying Wish story arc blind instead of reading reviews.
"Dying Wish" (#698-700): +5 I have essentially grown up with this story arc all through high school since 2013, and loved the extravagance of the dramatic finale for The Amazing Spider-Man book. However, reading it now as an adult with a critical eye, the flaws and strengths are now revealing themselves.
Doctor Octopus forcibly swaps bodies with Peter Parker, putting Peter’s mind into the rapidly failing physical body of Doc Ock and vice versa. It’s appreciated that there is prior set-up regarding Doc Ock’s deteriorating body - particularly in ASM#600 - so this story arc’s last-ditch effort by Doc Ock was evidently planned years prior by Dan Slott and Marvel. As a result, the arc has a decent set-up and is an interesting premise for a Spider-Man status quo change, though it is undoubtedly quite apparent - therefore creating a worse story here and for the foreseeable future. Said future for this new character involves taking on the role of Spider-Man in a new retitled ongoing series called The Superior Spider-Man and all other books the character was in at the time. Looking past the storyline’s ramifications and planning, the arc itself is quite inconsistent in dialogue and artwork. Despite the plot telling us Doc Ock had already swapped minds in issue #698, ‘Peter’ talks and narrates very much like the normal Peter does, cracking jokes and enjoying life as both identities.
On top of all this, several times the narration refers to himself (Doc Ock) as having done tasks only the real Peter has done, but since the reader doesn’t know the twist yet, it seems quite standard knowledge. To make it consistent for readers and writers alike, the mind swap should have been shown at the beginning of #698 - or at the end of #697 - but then there would be no twist ending to entice readers to buy concurrent issues. #699 is my favourite issue here - it shows Peter being incredibly adaptive, thoughtful and compassionate, even though he’s been meticulously outsmarted by his greatest arch-enemy. Slott also wrote #700 really well, specifically the dream sequence, which is five pages of death-dream motivation for Peter to make one last push to do what’s right for himself and his legacy. Doc Ock’s arrogance towards Peter was quite frustrating to read (in a good way), and their final moments together seemed incredibly heartfelt and sincere.
The artwork style between Richard Elson’s #698 and Humberto Ramos’s #699-700 was somewhat consistent, but the differences were immediately obvious in some designs and pencils where consistency was not found. An amazing example is the life support box for Doc Ock has two visually distinct designs, and it astounds me that this went to print at all. A storyline should have implicit narrative continuation and consistency with at least the other issues in its arc - at most it should be consistent with the universe the story resides in or a given explanation for why this is not the case. Neither of these are present for Doc Ock’s life support box, which truly doesn't matter very much, but it's a clear sign of little communication between the artists. All of the layouts are really well-done, constantly varied with a mixture of smaller panels and double-page spreads - so it seems like the artists got creative a lot for the benefit of the reader.
Dying Wish really should have been way more consistent in all departments to create a super solid penultimate finale for Peter Parker, and the beginning of a redemption arc for Doctor Octopus, but unfortunately what we’ve got is a middling story leading into endless possibilities for the new Superior Spider-Man.
An epilogue story featuring Otto pondering his was additionally published in Avenging Spider-Man #15.1, which I've also reviewed.
“Spider-Dreams'' (2nd story in ASM#700): +7 Peter Parkers’ code of responsibility as Spider-Man is such an essential part of his character, that it usually is shown through Peter juggling his personal problems and job as Spider-Man, and eventually faltering with one side of his life that ends in disaster.
In Spider-Dreams, responsibility becomes even more poignant as we see Peter build a family alongside being Spider-Man, and he comes to the realisation mid-life that risking his familys’ lives is not worth being a hero over. Peter also recognises the responsibility of being the only man to be a husband and dad for his wife and kids is his greatest responsibility of all, which exceeds being Spider-Man. The whole story centres around great-grandad Peter telling his life story and exploits as Spider-Man to his nephew Stephen, who represents the disinterested and doubtful young generation who do not care about the Heroic Age - particularly since it sounds quite fictional. Really wish this dynamic between generations had been explored further with a larger page count, as it would have made the plot wholly unique.
Giuseppe Camuncoli and Sal Buscema’s pencils and inks respectively are decent, nothing to complain about but also nothing to praise either. Having said that, the slight to considerable alterations to the visual designs of popular Marvel superheroes and Spider-Man’s classic roster of villains was presented in full page panels, which was really cool to see - and it’s obvious the artists had the freedom to reinterpret those characters however they wanted to.
Altogether, Spider-Dreams deserves a longer page count - or even its own series - to really delve into the concepts that were only really explored surface level here in sixteen pages, but it was enjoyable nonetheless from a plot and art perspective.
“Date Night - Another Black Cat Storybook Adventure!“ (3rd story in ASM#700): +9 What a cute eight page story, through and through!
The plot being centred around date night and featuring several well-known Marvel couples on dates was just adorable to read, and sometimes a little funny in J. Jonah Jamesons’ case. It’s appreciated that Black Cat is the focus here, particularly to help her boyfriend Spider-Man keep the police away while he fights a giant robot - and so they can get back to their own date night as soon as possible.
The art by Stephanie Buscema is my favourite thing about it all though, it’s got this cute and cartoony artstyle that I absolutely love and wish to see more of in the future. However, I do wish the story was longer so I could marvel at the great dialogue and art more. Sometimes it’s better to keep it short and sweet though so novelties don’t wear out their welcome. Definitive recommendation!
[Read this book several times throughout 2013-2015, read and reviewed in July 2023]
"Dying Wish" (#698-700): +5 I have essentially grown up with this story arc all through high school since 2013, and loved the extravagance of the dramatic finale for The Amazing Spider-Man book. However, reading it now as an adult with a critical eye, the flaws and strengths are now revealing themselves.
Doctor Octopus forcibly swaps bodies with Peter Parker, putting Peter’s mind into the rapidly failing physical body of Doc Ock and vice versa. It’s appreciated that there is prior set-up regarding Doc Ock’s deteriorating body - particularly in ASM#600 - so this story arc’s last-ditch effort by Doc Ock was evidently planned years prior by Dan Slott and Marvel. As a result, the arc has a decent set-up and is an interesting premise for a Spider-Man status quo change, though it is undoubtedly quite apparent
Spoiler
Peter will come back to reclaim his bodyOn top of all this, several times the narration refers to himself (Doc Ock) as having done tasks only the real Peter has done, but since the reader doesn’t know the twist yet, it seems quite standard knowledge. To make it consistent for readers and writers alike, the mind swap should have been shown at the beginning of #698 - or at the end of #697 - but then there would be no twist ending to entice readers to buy concurrent issues. #699 is my favourite issue here - it shows Peter being incredibly adaptive, thoughtful and compassionate, even though he’s been meticulously outsmarted by his greatest arch-enemy. Slott also wrote #700 really well, specifically the dream sequence, which is five pages of death-dream motivation for Peter to make one last push to do what’s right for himself and his legacy. Doc Ock’s arrogance towards Peter was quite frustrating to read (in a good way), and their final moments together seemed incredibly heartfelt and sincere.
The artwork style between Richard Elson’s #698 and Humberto Ramos’s #699-700 was somewhat consistent, but the differences were immediately obvious in some designs and pencils where consistency was not found. An amazing example is the life support box for Doc Ock has two visually distinct designs, and it astounds me that this went to print at all. A storyline should have implicit narrative continuation and consistency with at least the other issues in its arc - at most it should be consistent with the universe the story resides in or a given explanation for why this is not the case. Neither of these are present for Doc Ock’s life support box, which truly doesn't matter very much, but it's a clear sign of little communication between the artists. All of the layouts are really well-done, constantly varied with a mixture of smaller panels and double-page spreads - so it seems like the artists got creative a lot for the benefit of the reader.
Dying Wish really should have been way more consistent in all departments to create a super solid penultimate finale for Peter Parker, and the beginning of a redemption arc for Doctor Octopus, but unfortunately what we’ve got is a middling story leading into endless possibilities for the new Superior Spider-Man.
An epilogue story featuring Otto pondering his
Spoiler
first days as Spider-Man“Spider-Dreams'' (2nd story in ASM#700): +7 Peter Parkers’ code of responsibility as Spider-Man is such an essential part of his character, that it usually is shown through Peter juggling his personal problems and job as Spider-Man, and eventually faltering with one side of his life that ends in disaster.
In Spider-Dreams, responsibility becomes even more poignant as we see Peter build a family alongside being Spider-Man, and he comes to the realisation mid-life that risking his familys’ lives is not worth being a hero over. Peter also recognises the responsibility of being the only man to be a husband and dad for his wife and kids is his greatest responsibility of all, which exceeds being Spider-Man. The whole story centres around great-grandad Peter telling his life story and exploits as Spider-Man to his nephew Stephen, who represents the disinterested and doubtful young generation who do not care about the Heroic Age - particularly since it sounds quite fictional. Really wish this dynamic between generations had been explored further with a larger page count, as it would have made the plot wholly unique.
Giuseppe Camuncoli and Sal Buscema’s pencils and inks respectively are decent, nothing to complain about but also nothing to praise either. Having said that, the slight to considerable alterations to the visual designs of popular Marvel superheroes and Spider-Man’s classic roster of villains was presented in full page panels, which was really cool to see - and it’s obvious the artists had the freedom to reinterpret those characters however they wanted to.
Altogether, Spider-Dreams deserves a longer page count - or even its own series - to really delve into the concepts that were only really explored surface level here in sixteen pages, but it was enjoyable nonetheless from a plot and art perspective.
“Date Night - Another Black Cat Storybook Adventure!“ (3rd story in ASM#700): +9 What a cute eight page story, through and through!
The plot being centred around date night and featuring several well-known Marvel couples on dates was just adorable to read, and sometimes a little funny in J. Jonah Jamesons’ case. It’s appreciated that Black Cat is the focus here, particularly to help her boyfriend Spider-Man keep the police away while he fights a giant robot - and so they can get back to their own date night as soon as possible.
The art by Stephanie Buscema is my favourite thing about it all though, it’s got this cute and cartoony artstyle that I absolutely love and wish to see more of in the future. However, I do wish the story was longer so I could marvel at the great dialogue and art more. Sometimes it’s better to keep it short and sweet though so novelties don’t wear out their welcome. Definitive recommendation!
[Read this book several times throughout 2013-2015, read and reviewed in July 2023]
karliclover's review against another edition
4.0
The only problem with this was that there were only 3 issues. Why would they do that? 3 issues? In a hardcover? For $25???? That's a rip-off. I'm just glad I borrowed this from my cousin and didn't pay for it myself. But this was awesome, I liked it a lot. I'm super excited to start reading Superior.
helpfulsnowman's review against another edition
5.0
What a great example of comic book plotting.
The impossible happens. Something that I DON'T want to happen happens. And the story works. It's great. Tension, action. It's all there.
And at the same time, it plays with comic book tropes in a big way. The whole time, you figure Doctor Octopus is just hatching another dopey scheme that will never work. He even makes a big mistake early on that you, as a comic reader, look at and say, "Well, now he's screwed. He should have just gotten on that flight! THIS IS HIS UNDOING!"
And because you've read comic books, you figure that, like always, Spidey will figure a way out.
Dan Slott's run with Spider-Man will go down in comics history as one of the best runs of all time, mark my words. This stuff belongs in there with Frank Miller's Daredevil, Chris Claremont's X-Men, and probably some other classic run written by a guy who has been working really hard to tarnish his own legacy.
Fuck me, I really hope it doesn't turn out that Dan Slott is some kind of evil bastard. That would be just about perfect. These guys really have a way of writing a great run, then doing something crazy that makes it hard to like them anymore.
Dan Slott, if you can hear me, please don't blow this for me. I know you have to live your life, and if that life involves racist screeds online or bizarre sexual appetites, that's totally cool. Just keep it a secret FROM ME. Please, please, please.
The impossible happens. Something that I DON'T want to happen happens. And the story works. It's great. Tension, action. It's all there.
And at the same time, it plays with comic book tropes in a big way. The whole time, you figure Doctor Octopus is just hatching another dopey scheme that will never work. He even makes a big mistake early on that you, as a comic reader, look at and say, "Well, now he's screwed. He should have just gotten on that flight! THIS IS HIS UNDOING!"
And because you've read comic books, you figure that, like always, Spidey will figure a way out.
Dan Slott's run with Spider-Man will go down in comics history as one of the best runs of all time, mark my words. This stuff belongs in there with Frank Miller's Daredevil, Chris Claremont's X-Men, and probably some other classic run written by a guy who has been working really hard to tarnish his own legacy.
Fuck me, I really hope it doesn't turn out that Dan Slott is some kind of evil bastard. That would be just about perfect. These guys really have a way of writing a great run, then doing something crazy that makes it hard to like them anymore.
Dan Slott, if you can hear me, please don't blow this for me. I know you have to live your life, and if that life involves racist screeds online or bizarre sexual appetites, that's totally cool. Just keep it a secret FROM ME. Please, please, please.
stewreads's review against another edition
4.0
Wow, this was a lot of fun. Very comic-booky, but uses it to its advantage. Absolutely loved the dark humor in this one, though, and can't wait to start Superior Spider-Man. If this was an issue or two longer, it might have even made its way to 5 stars.
hazim_ahmed_a's review against another edition
4.0
An extremely strong story which sets up the Superior Spiderman series in a brilliant manner.
adelaidemetzger_robotprophet's review against another edition
4.0
I'm so new to this.
I'm very selective of what comic books I decide to try out--and I haven't touched a Spiderman comic since Bendis was still writing Ultimate Spiderman.
This one was pretty good. Not amazing-blow-me-ouf-of-the-water-my-mind-is-reeling good. But it gave me a reason to enjoy a Spiderman comic again and I really felt for the characters. I'll admit it (without spoiling anything), what this comic is doing to change Spiderman as we know it is very uncomfortable. Like, when it's revealed what's going on near the beginning of this volume I was pretty conflicted about whether I wanted to see the end result of this feud between Peter and Octavius. But I don't believe in DNFing and I book-swapped this with my sister, so I had to finish it.
For hardos who hate change, I would not recommend reading this book. But for those who can accept that the Spiderverse is made of multiple timelines with different Spiders, and for someone who is hungry for a new take on "Peter gets bitten and obtains powers," I would say this one is worth a read.
Continuing on with this series will determine if I find it worth actually purchasing, but I am willing to continue with Superior Spiderman--especially with how this one ended.
I'm very selective of what comic books I decide to try out--and I haven't touched a Spiderman comic since Bendis was still writing Ultimate Spiderman.
This one was pretty good. Not amazing-blow-me-ouf-of-the-water-my-mind-is-reeling good. But it gave me a reason to enjoy a Spiderman comic again and I really felt for the characters. I'll admit it (without spoiling anything), what this comic is doing to change Spiderman as we know it is very uncomfortable. Like, when it's revealed what's going on near the beginning of this volume I was pretty conflicted about whether I wanted to see the end result of this feud between Peter and Octavius. But I don't believe in DNFing and I book-swapped this with my sister, so I had to finish it.
For hardos who hate change, I would not recommend reading this book. But for those who can accept that the Spiderverse is made of multiple timelines with different Spiders, and for someone who is hungry for a new take on "Peter gets bitten and obtains powers," I would say this one is worth a read.
Continuing on with this series will determine if I find it worth actually purchasing, but I am willing to continue with Superior Spiderman--especially with how this one ended.