‘Superior Spider-Month’ rolls on by re-introduing the “Marvel Team-Up” brand, which has traditionally always been basically a Spider-Man title. Does Spidey’s “Superior” form capture the same sense of unlikely fun that the “Team-Up” title was known for?
Written by Christopher Yost
Illustrated by David Lopez• SUPERIOR SPIDER-MONTH JUST GOT A WHOLE LOT MORE SUPERIOR
WITH A BRAND NEW ONGOING!
• CHALLENGE THEM, OF COURSE!
Quick with a quip and capable of tackling crimes both street-level and intergalactic, Spider-Man seems like a no-brainer when it comes to throwing together unlikely pairings in the Marvel Universe. Those traits, mixed with his immense popularity, were all reasons why he appeared in nearly every issue of “Marvel Team-Up.” It stands to reason that although this is an entirely different Spider-Man in an entirely different era, a different kind of fun could be culled from pitting him alongside (and butting heads with) all the other heroes (and villains?) of the Marvel Universe again. But in it’s first issue, “Superior Team-Up” doesn’t give you that sense, or any other sort of sense, as to what kind of feel the series will have.
Christopher Yost makes an interesting choice to spend a decent sized chunk of his first issue explaining what’s been going on over in Dan Slott’s main “Superior Spider-Man” title. For a Spidey-nut like me, who’s been following everything that’s been going on with the character, this section doesn’t offer anything new. For the uninitiated, this issue will be pretty helpful as far as bringing them up to speed, but it doesn’t do a great job of integrating this “recap” into the propulsion of the “Team-Up” narrative. In other words, this feels exactly like what a Marvel “Point One” issue should exist for. Then again, the “Point One” issues almost never fit their intended bill either, did they? Jeez, those “Point Ones” still bug the hell out of me.
Anyhow, once the issue gets into the accidental team-up that the title promises, Yost shows a nice grasp on the characters and the issue feels more like what you would expect a “Team-Up” title to be. Spidey runs around in the infancy of the issue, punching out and neutralizing heroes for some unknown reason that will eventually be revealed. Though there’s not a ton of dialogue, the body language and the timing makes this set-up both fitting for the Otto-Spidey character and a comedic affair. Yost and Lopez let these shenanigans go on for a while until Earth’s Mightiest Buzzkills come around to see just what he’s up to. Superior Spidey’s recently been given double-secret probation from his Avengers duties, so this makes for the perfect opportunity for Otto to turn the tables and get some sort of redemption story out of this. But Yost is the one that eventually turns the tables on the idea that “redemption” is even on the radar screen for the Superior Spider-Man in a pretty fun way that also manages to set up what the “Team-Up” is going to look like going forward. It’s not your daddy’s “Marvel Team-Up” and it’s not what you would expect.
It really does warrant mentioning that the beauty of “Marvel Team-Up” was always how quickly the team-up was thrown together and launched into a problem or situation that usually took only one issue to resolve, but it was still really satisfying. This first issue isn’t entirely successful at living up to the “Team-Up” name, but it also doesn’t necessarily have to. It’s just that, at this point, the title is deceiving.
In an action-heavy issue, David Lopez does a lot of fine work without a lot of dialogue. Lopez and Yost seemed to have a tight handle on how they wanted to reveal Otto’s arc in the issue and how to present the action beats in a way that both made sense, but kept the mystery of the issue under wraps. I also don’t want to underplay the aforementioned comedy in the issue – something that Otto’s being inside the Spidey costume has lent to the character in a different way from the quippy, snappy Peter Parker Spidey. David Lopez captures the body language of the character and his willingness to separate himself from the other heroes. His rendering of the Avengers is less successful than his great take on Spidey, which only means that they look and feel something like afterthoughts in an issue whose purpose is to mostly re-establish the Superior Spider-Man. In some ways, Lopez captures the heroes in the bumbling, goofy (read: inferior) way that Otto probably sees them. If you look at the issue with that mindset, everything works together really well.
‘Superior Spider-Month’ has run the gamut from great successes to forgettable moments, but “Team-Up” lands somewhere in the middle with the promise to go to high places from its first, establishing issue. Yost and Lopez are an exciting team if fun and humor is going to be a main course on the menu, so despite a slow start, this series will be one to follow for a while.
Final Verdict: 7.0 – Give this one a chance to grow.
