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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
So all the Big Time leads to this. Does it pay off? I fucking THINK SO!
Okay this doesn't forgive the weakness Big Time had but this my friends is how you wrap up a run and get excited for the next.
The opening issue has Peter really happy and upbeat. He even tells MJ they need to get back together. Then he gets a notice from the Avengers that Otto is asking for him. So he goes to visit him at prison and you find out...PETER AND OTTO MIND IS SWITCHED!!! So you expect the cliche Peter figuring out a way to get back into his own body but nope...as you know superior spider-man is all about otto becoming spider-man but with a twist...he has all the feelings, emotions, and memories of Peter Parker!
Good: Villains are Dan's strengths and damn it, Otto is scary here. Smart as Peter, they go head to head on planning and trying to outsmart each other. The ending is both touching, emotional, and heartbreaking yet gets you hyped for what's next. The art is very solid as well with some great action moments. The stakes feel high at all times and it's a exciting 3 issues (last one being 90+ pages)
Bad: MJ not thinking something is wrong is odd...also the villains helping Otto was kind of out of nowhere. I mean I know why, but it's like those guys broke Otto (well Peter in Otto body) should have been stopped by Avengers right away. Just way to odd.
Overall this was a great volume. Really just non-stop action and a nice farewell to a character we've known years. Now I can finally jump into superior and I'm so f'ing ready!
Okay this doesn't forgive the weakness Big Time had but this my friends is how you wrap up a run and get excited for the next.
The opening issue has Peter really happy and upbeat. He even tells MJ they need to get back together. Then he gets a notice from the Avengers that Otto is asking for him. So he goes to visit him at prison and you find out...PETER AND OTTO MIND IS SWITCHED!!! So you expect the cliche Peter figuring out a way to get back into his own body but nope...as you know superior spider-man is all about otto becoming spider-man but with a twist...he has all the feelings, emotions, and memories of Peter Parker!
Good: Villains are Dan's strengths and damn it, Otto is scary here. Smart as Peter, they go head to head on planning and trying to outsmart each other. The ending is both touching, emotional, and heartbreaking yet gets you hyped for what's next. The art is very solid as well with some great action moments. The stakes feel high at all times and it's a exciting 3 issues (last one being 90+ pages)
Bad: MJ not thinking something is wrong is odd...also the villains helping Otto was kind of out of nowhere. I mean I know why, but it's like those guys broke Otto (well Peter in Otto body) should have been stopped by Avengers right away. Just way to odd.
Overall this was a great volume. Really just non-stop action and a nice farewell to a character we've known years. Now I can finally jump into superior and I'm so f'ing ready!
I picked this up mainly as a backdrop for starting Superior Spider-Man. It's a decent end to the series and I think it would've meant more to me if I was a long time reader.
The story feels a little forced and I don't totally get the big plot twist. Like I understand it, but if everything is still there, how does the new person keep control? So the back and forth was a little odd.
What was great was watching both of them sort of fall into their new roles despite their best efforts.
The highlight by far is the end. Watching Peter relive certain times of his life and then forcing memories onto SpOck to make sure he's a hero. It's a pretty touching sequence to end with.
There's also a really cool backup story that's a nice tribute.
The art is a little flat for me, but I like the style overall.
The story feels a little forced and I don't totally get the big plot twist. Like I understand it, but if everything is still there, how does the new person keep control? So the back and forth was a little odd.
What was great was watching both of them sort of fall into their new roles despite their best efforts.
The highlight by far is the end. Watching Peter relive certain times of his life and then forcing memories onto SpOck to make sure he's a hero. It's a pretty touching sequence to end with.
There's also a really cool backup story that's a nice tribute.
The art is a little flat for me, but I like the style overall.
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I haven't read new stuff from Spiderman for a long time, and I didn't knew what this was about. Turns out that this is the prequel for Superior Spiderman, were Doc Oc is the new hero in Peter Parker's body. I still don't know what to think of this, but really want to read the next numbers.
Reading the recent run on Superior Spider-Man made me want to go to Dan Slott's original run on the character. This starts with the dying Doc Ock switching brains with Spider-Man. It's a really nice sendoff and celebration of Peter Parker.
Slott could've written it as a classsic campy body switch trope but he found a way to do it to make it interesting. Doc Ock starts using Spidey's powers as you would expect Doc Ock would. Spidey and Doc Ock come to realize what Spider-Man means and it's bigger than either of them.
Doc Ock won't be a villain as Spider-Man. He will be a Superior Spider-Man, his own version of what it means to be Spider-Man.
Can't wait to see what Superior Spider-Man brings!
Slott could've written it as a classsic campy body switch trope but he found a way to do it to make it interesting. Doc Ock starts using Spidey's powers as you would expect Doc Ock would. Spidey and Doc Ock come to realize what Spider-Man means and it's bigger than either of them.
Doc Ock won't be a villain as Spider-Man. He will be a Superior Spider-Man, his own version of what it means to be Spider-Man.
Can't wait to see what Superior Spider-Man brings!
Alright so... I watched Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse last night and it was amazing. I was so swept up in it I thought I should read some of the comics and here I am binge reading different arcs to get more story. After looking at way too many different reading orders I started here. Which... I think was maybe not the best place because I thought it was mid. Not bad, not great. Just some standard webslinging fun with a rather strange premise and conclusion in my mind. I think my enjoyment of these issues will rely on how much I like what comes next. If this gets too creepy I could see myself DNFing the Superior Spider-Man arc.
And so it comes to an end. I have to say, this may need re-reading before I determine my final rating as it flew by and I'm still processing it. Slott and his team have really been playing a hard game over the last 100 issues and it finally pays off.
The shock has long worn off (I mean, Pete is back now) but it's a powerful and audacious story and even more so when you consider how long they ran with Superior and that Amazing SM 2 came out during that time.
Faced with an almighty predicament, Pete really works hard to figure a way out while Ock has a ball, finally with the upper hand. I wasn't expecting this dynamic to be there from the first issue and the lack of preamble threw me (though on reflection it works well).
There are some great scenes (the Aunt May marriage gag was hilarious), the return of Hydro-man, some lovely (and heartbreaking) moments with MJ and Ramos kills it with the art yet again. Ultimately it's a heartbreaking story and the final interchange between them was handled nicely, setting up the new dynamic
The backup stories are pretty pointless, completely unrelated and robbing the main story of some of the power. Should have been left out.
Still, an interesting end to a fantastic era of Amazing SM.
The shock has long worn off (I mean, Pete is back now) but it's a powerful and audacious story and even more so when you consider how long they ran with Superior and that Amazing SM 2 came out during that time.
Faced with an almighty predicament, Pete really works hard to figure a way out while Ock has a ball, finally with the upper hand. I wasn't expecting this dynamic to be there from the first issue and the lack of preamble threw me (though on reflection it works well).
There are some great scenes (the Aunt May marriage gag was hilarious), the return of Hydro-man, some lovely (and heartbreaking) moments with MJ and Ramos kills it with the art yet again. Ultimately it's a heartbreaking story and the final interchange between them was handled nicely, setting up the new dynamic
The backup stories are pretty pointless, completely unrelated and robbing the main story of some of the power. Should have been left out.
Still, an interesting end to a fantastic era of Amazing SM.
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
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]