Superior Spider-Man Vol. 2: A Troubled MInd
by Dan Slott, Humberto Ramos and Ryan Stegman
Collects Superior Spider-Man #'s 6-10Dan Slott returns to his character, Screwball, and revitalizes an old one, Jester, in a dynamic duo that creates "viewtube" prank videos. This clashes with the take-no-prisoners approach of the Superior Spider-Man. The whole thing would be hilarious... if it weren't so disturbing! Slott does a great job at maintaining this dichotomy, bringing out the smallest details like the way Otto-as-Spidey laughs.
What I love about Spider-Man is the parallel lives that Spider-Man and Peter Parker live. Bullying is the theme for an issue, when students at ESU insult his crush, Anna Maria Marconi, a fellow student with dwarfism. It frustrates Otto-as-Spidey so much that his only release is to use his alter-ego and web-swing across town -- and use his Spider-powers to maybe mess up the bully's car. It's a story that could just as easily be told with the real Peter Parker as the victim of bullying, but with Otto-as-Peter, they take it to the next level. This Peter-life is comparable to a further scene where Screwball and Jester prank Spider-Man with silly string and a kick to the groin! Otto's frustration takes over, and he resorts to a disturbing amount of violence, which leads to the Avengers calling for an identity-check on Spider-Man.
It leads to Otto noticing an irregular brain pattern in his brain waves, and he correctly posits that there's a rogue mind in his brain -- that of Peter's! It results in a The Matrix-esque fight in the mind of Spider-Man!
Just dig this cover. It tells you everything you need about the issue, which is a home run brawl between Otto and Peter.
The plot flows so smoothly from scene to scene. You could follow it like a winding river. Dan Slott has a superb handle on the character of Otto Octavius, and at times he makes the perfect situation where we want to root with him, even when we feel like we shouldn't! Otto is as human as any of us, and Dan just gets it. It's hard to maintain this level of quality so consistently, but Slott makes it seem so easy. Catch us next time for volume 3!
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