For the Fan Presents:
The Superior Spider-Man Annual #001 - Comic Review
Be sure to follow us on Twitter!
@4theFan
@4theFanMovies
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Title: The Superior Spider-Man Annual #001
Price: $4.99
Writer: Christos Gage
Artist: Javier Rodriguez
Blackout is back, and with a vengeance for Spider-Man and everyone close to him. After the half demon takes Peter Parker's beloved Aunt May hostage how will spidey get her back? ... And alive? Thrilling intense annual is definitely a fun read but to keep this introductory short, it was not worth the $4.99 price tag. But was a very intense and crazy issue.
Story Summary (some spoilers)
In this annual edition of The Superior Spider-Man the half demon, Blackout, takes Aunt May hostage and Spider-Ock needs to rescue her before it's too late. The issue starts off with Peter having dinner with Aunt May and her husband Jay Jameson. After dinner, Jay and Peter are talking about how both May, and Jay both think it is in Peter and his family's best interest for him to stop working for Spider-Man have his recent brutal turn. After insisting nothing bad will happen to Aunt May, Peter leaves their apartment and heads home. As Peter travels home, a half demon named Blackout attacks Jay and May's home, just to take May hostage. His motives? To get Peter Parker to mess with Spider-Man's tech and make it malfunction so that he can kill the web head. Peter is able to use his spider-bots to track down Blackout and find out where he is keeping Aunt May hostage. After learning the location he finds himself at an abandoned slaughterhouse and also within an inch of his life. Spidey attempts to ambush Blackout but ends up failing and is beaten to a pulp. Luckily, due to a stun neck brace, the villain is knocked out after attempting to bite Spidey's neck and rip out his throat. Once the villain is down, Spider-Ock frees Aunt May and sends her on her way to get to safety. Once Aunt May leaves, Spidey turns the intensity up a whole new level. He breaks every limb on Blackouts body, and uses butcher hooks to hang him from the roof. After hanging him up, he rips out the demon's teeth, resulting in Blackout begging for mercy. Spidey goes on to tell him to tell everyone he knows to never cross the path or Peter Parker, his family or anyone associated with Spider-Man or else something worse will happen to them. Spider-Ock continues to show his brutality by pointing a high power solar light at Blackout to burn and destroy his skin, since he is ultra sensitive to light. The book ends in the Green Goblin's underground lair with a goblin henchman asking Green Goblin if going after Spider-Man is really worth it after what he did to Blackout, the Goblin replies with something quite great and sadistic in my opinion "yes, it's tradition!"
Review of the Book
Going into the Superior Spider-Man Annual #001 I wan't really sure how much this was going to tie into the current events happening in the main, Superior Spider-Man title, and to be honest, other than the last page of the book, it really didn't have anything to do with the main run. None the less, this book was very well written and really showed Spider-Ock's intense and brutal side like nothing that's been shown in previous Superior Spider-Man books. Though I really enjoyed this book and thought it was an awesome and crazy read, I don't think the $4.99 price tag was necessary at all, especially because the book is normally $3.99, and it comes out twice a month... Not cool Marvel.. Not cool... But anyway, the writing in this book was really well done. My only complaint is that in the beginning of the book, during the dinner scene's with May and Jay, I felt like I was reading Peter Parker again, not Doc Ock as Peter. So to me that felt a bit off but that is honestly the smallest issue and the only one I can think of for the writing of this book. The art in this book was very good, and very dark. I really liked the feel that the artist gave to this book and would honestly love to see him jump in on some of the main Superior Spider-Man title. I feel like his drawing style could bring a great feel to it and would compliment Dan Slott's writing very well!
Pros, Cons, and Rating
Pros: Really dark, Intense, good art, and a great representation of Superior Spider-Man
Cons: Felt a bit under developed, and the price for the book is a bit high
Rating: 9/10. A really awesome and great Superior Spider-Man book
