Wacker and Slott talk Superior number 1

[Lars C]

What? I wonder if the digital issue has that. For 3,99 all the AR content should be there, damnit!

[TomSlick]

I'd like to go back and re-read those old PP:SSM books, and I've heard that is a classic story line featuring Dock Ock vs. the Owl vs. Spidey with Felicia caught in the middle but, man oh man.....Al Milgrom mid-80s artwork....shudder.....I think I could draw THAT well.

This was an excellent storyline that started around issue #72 or so (although I think a few in the 60s tied in) and ran until issue #79 with a "final" battle of Ock and Spidey.

Issue # 78 was cool as it was a "last goodbye" story. (Spidey didn't think he was going to live.)

The final battle also is touched on later in a very, very early issue of Web of Spider-Man (maybe # 4 or # 5) as Ock's arms escape and Spidy tries to capture them before they reach Otto. He doesn't succeed and the next battle is . .. . a little different. Heh.

[grahamgg]

It is a great story and well worth hunting down; I am pretty sure the individual issues are not pricey at all once you locate them. PS---there was nothing at all wrong with the artwork; it was standard Romita-inspired standard artwork as I recall. The colors were a bit more vibrant than today but it certainly wasn't bad.

Mycomicshop.com has them all for only a few bucks ea. I might give them a shot.

I particularly enjoy how well done the Spec logos were on some of the issues from that period (mainly by Bob Hannigan). Some were psuedo 3-D style or drawn into the background, overlapped by Spidey's mask, etc. You can really tell they were trying to be different & inventive and stand out from other comics on the newsstands at the time.

But I just can't get into Al Milgrom's bland, boring, pedestrian art style after reading modern comics. Don't get me wrong: Some of the old school artists are still great when re-reading old comics & hold up relatively well today. But the middle-to-lower tier guys like Al Milgrom, Don Heck, late 1980s Marshall Rogers....yeesh, I can't stand to re-read those old books.

It's a great story. I don't remember the artwork being bad in the least. Don't know why this isn't collected yet.

Another missed opportunity with Marvel's collections department. Now would have been the perfect time for a TPB to tie into the current events.

This was an excellent storyline that started around issue #72 or so (although I think a few in the 60s tied in) and ran until issue #79 with a "final" battle of Ock and Spidey. Issue # 78 was cool as it was a "last goodbye" story. (Spidey didn't think he was going to live.) The final battle also is touched on later in a very, very early issue of Web of Spider-Man (maybe # 4 or # 5) as Ock's arms escape and Spidy tries to capture them before they reach Otto. He doesn't succeed and the next battle is . .. . a little different. Heh.

Yeah, Web of Spider-Man #4 & 5. He's afraid of Spidey after the massive beat down from the Spec issues. Then, Ock's next appearance is in ASM 296-297. I seem to recall he was in a psych ward trying to overcome his fear of Spidey or something along those lines. I don't really remember the exact details...it's only been 25 years since I read those issues...LOL.

[BottomsUp]

I keep getting the horrible idea (especially after reading Avenging 15.1) that Ock's gonna try to get back with Aunt May. Same mind, different body. BARF.... blaahhh.... puke... cough... cough... I think I just ruined your mind... sorry for cor-- corr--- blarf-puke... corrupting you.

That's okay. My imagination just shut down midway through that.

[David Walton]

Yeah, Web of Spider-Man #4 & 5. He's afraid of Spidey after the massive beat down from the Spec issues. Then, Ock's next appearance is in ASM 296-297. I seem to recall he was in a psych ward trying to overcome his fear of Spidey or something along those lines. I don't really remember the exact details...it's only been 25 years since I read those issues...LOL.

If memory serves, Ock had NYC in his grasp with a bomb or some other plot that was going to kill a lot of people. And Spidey could only 'win' by losing. He had to convince Ock he was terrified of him, so Ock got over his trauma but didn't kill anyone.

[Majinoaw]

Remember that JMS story with Ock, a while back. You know one of the only ones that JMS did featuring a classic Spidey foe. I remember OCK helping people out who were going to be killed by rubble, but when it came to Spider-Man he said.... they were innocent you are not. Man that was awesome and captures the essence of the character.

I also like when OOck and Stunner helped cure Peter. That was during the leisure suit days.

[TheOther]

Remember that JMS story with Ock, a while back. You know one of the only ones that JMS did featuring a classic Spidey foe. I remember OCK helping people out who were going to be killed by rubble, but when it came to Spider-Man he said.... they were innocent you are not. Man that was awesome and captures the essence of the character.

I also like when OOck and Stunner helped cure Peter. That was during the leisure suit days.

I remember that. I need to dig through my box and reread some of the JMS stories. I really liked 'em.

[Tendrin]

Remember that JMS story with Ock, a while back. You know one of the only ones that JMS did featuring a classic Spidey foe. I remember OCK helping people out who were going to be killed by rubble, but when it came to Spider-Man he said.... they were innocent you are not. Man that was awesome and captures the essence of the character.

I also like when OOck and Stunner helped cure Peter. That was during the leisure suit days.

Since when did Ock care about people being innocent? o.o

[jackolover]

If Parker is going to be Obi Wan Ghost in this book, then it's going to be very hard for Peter to get back into his own body. For one, how did Otto get into Peters body?

I know it is supposed to have happened via an injection from a little spider robot, but it doesn't happen like that... If it did, the Red Skull would be over the moon. There has to be more to it than that. Like the Red Skulls bullets that shot Steve Rogers, it wasn't a normal gun, just a time displacement precursor. So, in Ottos case, the little injection isn't what it appears to be, but a precursor to a switcharoo. We don't actually see when the change happens do we? We just see a flashback showing Superior Spiderman in action in ASM 698. I think the spider robot needle was a sleep drug, Peter collapsed, and robots took his body to a lab. In the lab, Otto uses mind switching technology, after time traveling to a time when he is healthy. Then returns to NOW and displaces with the Superior Spiderman while Peter is stuck in Ottos body. A past Otto knows that in the future he gets sick and dies, but is relieved that he now has a young body to jump into.

For this to have occurred, Peter Parker mind switched into a healthy Otto in the past, didn't he? It means all Ottos history from the healthy switch to NOW has changed. What I expect to have happened is that Parker, in the healthy Otto body in the past, did the time jump at the same time as the Superior Otto, and they both exist in the NOW, only Otto doesn't know it yet. Slott will introduce a healthy Peter Otto later in the arc.

How does Peter get back into his own body again? Peter Otto defeats Superior, and takes the body to the same lab with the mind switching device, and redoes the transfer. Young Otto is healthy again and Peter is his old self.

[Ben Smith]

It is a great story and well worth hunting down; I am pretty sure the individual issues are not pricey at all once you locate them. PS---there was nothing at all wrong with the artwork; it was standard Romita-inspired standard artwork as I recall. The colors were a bit more vibrant than today but it certainly wasn't bad.

if this is bad artwork...then I guess I like bad artwork