The Superior Spider-Man Vol. 4: Necessary Evil
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| Spider-Man takes hide-and-seek pretty seriously. |
Writer: Dan Slott
Artists: Ryan
Stegman and Guiseppe Camuncoli
Collects: The Superior Spider-Man #17-21
Background
Information:
Doctor Octopus is now Spider-Man (until he isn’t). Get over
it.
Gee, that was quick.
Review:
The first three volumes of Superior were highly entertaining and well-paced. They took time to
really showcase how a super-villain fights crime; killing criminals, unleashing
drones to watch the city and even hiring minions complete with tanks to battle
gangs. With that in mind, it’s sad that Necessary
Evil sees a severe drop in momentum. The worst Superior Spider-Man volume is still better than the best Deadpool volume, but it’s still
disappointing.
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| Yeah, shut up! |
Over in the year 2099, Miguel O’Hara, the Spider-Man of the
future is noticing strange things afoot- Time is going crazy and it’s all
because of something happening in 2013 and because it will somehow result in
his ancestors dying, he needs to go back in time to save them. Meanwhile in the
present, Otto’s workplace, horizon labs, is in a lot of trouble and will likely
go under. It’s up to Otto to try and save his inventions from the company, and
save the company if he has the time.
The first thing you’re going to notice about this book is
the language Dan Slott uses for Spider-Man 2099. His dialogue is full of slang
that, back in the 90s, writers were sure we’d be using in the 21st
century. Word and phrases like “shock” and “son of a glitch” pepper the 2099
Spidey’s quips and threats. It’s true to the character, a 90s creation first
written by Peter David, but that doesn’t mean that these kind of quips have
aged well.
That said, Miguel is a pretty well-written character. He’s
the only one with the gall to call Otto Octavius “low tech”. To a certain
point, his “edgy” anger falls flat when you consider that we have two angry versions of Spider-Man (the
same happened when Superior Spider-Man
Team-Up crossed over with Scarlet
Spider), but thankfully, 2099’s Spidey acts as an effective “voice of
reason” to Otto’s self-interest.
I’m making it sound like this is a terrible book, but it isn’t.
Like I said, it’s still better than the best Deadpool. Slott does a great job of really taking apart Otto’s
self-perception as Peter Parker’s “superior”, as he fails to save the day, and
the possibilities to come out of this volume are worth the price of the book-
Otto’s new start-up company, Miguel stuck in the present, it’s all stuff that I
really want to see play out.
The weakest part of this book, though is the second story
arc, featuring Otto’s old flame, the Stunner. It’s largely uninteresting, and
for new readers, it may as well not exist. There is a great moment where Otto
is accused of plagiarising himself, but I don’t know if it justifies the
existence of the arc.
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| Spider-Man remembers everything in the dated-art medium. |
Art here continues to be solid. I miss Ramos’ art, but it’s
hard for me to hate Stegman’s pencils; it’s what I cut my Marvel teeth on, and it’s
great to see his style still in play- the guy just gets spider-characters.
Necessary Evil is
the official low point of Superior
Spider-Man, but that’s a long shot from saying that it’s a poor book. There’s
some great art here and the story progresses nicely, it’s just not amazing on
the way. It gets a two-and-a-half out of five best Deadpool volumes.
** ½
+ Miguel well-characterised.
+ Art still good.
- Second arc not good.
- Some “shockingly” bad dialogue.
Alternate Option: Superior Spider-Man: No Escape
A great volume to if you find yourself needing a reminder on
why you read this series.
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