Legends of Baldur's Gate issues 1-4

Greetings, citizens! As I mentioned last week, this whole month is dedicated to looking at things that have been important to me as a person. So, let’s get this thing started.

In 1999, I was watching one of my favorite episodes of Dexter’s Lab, “Monsters and Mazes.” I remarked to my mom that I would love it if such a game existed, at which point she told me about Dungeons and Dragons. A few months later, one of my cousins (who was a tabletop gamer) gifted me with the 3^rd edition Player’s Handbook. I fell in love with the game immediately, even though I didn’t quite understand how to play. The ideas and the artwork had me enthralled, and I spent many a night staying up past my bedtime reading through the book by flashlight. It took another two years for me to actually find a group to play with, but after a few small hitches, I was having a blast with the game. I’ve been playing ever since, keeping up with the changing face and rules of the game. It introduced me to tabletop gaming, has earned me many friends, and has given me a wonderfully creative outlet unlike anything else.

Like many other properties, D&D has even had licensed comics created about it. The most recent installment launched in October of last year, to coincide with the launch of D&D 5^th edition. I had the privilege of meeting the writer, Jim Zub, at Gen Con last year and also received a sneak peek of the comic. The 4 pages or so were enough to entice me into buying the first issue, and I’ve stuck with it. Though for some reason, my comic shop can’t add it to my pull list…

The story is set within the city of Baldur’s Gate, in the world of Faerûn. Faerûn is one of D&D’s oldest and most iconic campaign settings, but it’s not my favorite. It’s sort of the archetypical high fantasy world that was conceived of as the place where any sort of fantasy adventure could happen. I like the idea behind it, but at the same time, it means that the place doesn’t have it’s own unique flavor like Eberron or Dark Sun do. However, there’s lots of rich history and entertaining characters that occupy the world, including such notable names as Wulfgar, Drizzt Do'Urden, and Elminster.

The story begins with a “young” woman being chased down a narrow street by a pair of gargoyles. I say “young” because the woman is an elf (specifically a moon elf) and elves have a tendency to live for hundreds of years. So, she could easily be somewhere between seventy and one-hundred and fifty for all we know, but that’s still young by her people’s standards. The woman, Delina, tries fighting the gargoyles, but their challenge rating is too high, so all she can manage to do is run like hell. She encounters a pair of guards from the city watch, but because this is a narrative as opposed to a video game, the guards are killed really damn quickly. Delina runs to the market square of the city where she finds a statue dedicated to the “beloved ranger” and is cornered. She finally decides to threaten the gargoyles with the power of her wild magic, but they are unimpressed. Wild magic, for those unfamiliar with the term, is a kind of magic that the user doesn’t have full control over. Sometimes the lack of control just causes a spell to end up weaker or stronger than was intended, but other times it can cause some truly bizarre things to happen. This is one of those times.

I have no idea what Delina was trying to do with her spell, but her intentions are kind of moot. The spell creates a neat little display and turns around, striking the statue and bringing it to life. The newly alive statue offers the gargoyles an ultimatum; either surrender, or;

Yes, the statue was of none other than Minsc and his trusty miniature-giant space hamster, Boo! Boo fails to intimidate the gargoyles though, and it falls to Minsc to kick some ass. The gargoyles get an upper-hand pretty quickly, but Minsc turns it around and smashes them. He also seems to have Delina confused with an old friend of his, because he keeps calling her Neera. Anyway, members of the town guard arrive and, not knowing what in the Nine Hells of Baator is going on, demand Minsc and Delina surrender. Delina doesn’t want to do so… for some reason. I mean, it’s not like they’re being accused of anything, the guards just want to figure out what’s going on and how a couple of their comrades died. It seems like it’d be a simple enough matter to clear up. Eh, maybe she’s chaotically aligned. Anyway, she uses a minor spell (which doesn’t go wild) to distract them while her and Minsc run the hell away.

After a brief amount of running, Delina explains to Minsc where he is, and that she needs his help in finding her brother, and he of course agrees to help (still under the impression that she’s his friend Neera). However, the guards catch up with the duo, and while Minsc is happy to oblige the guards with a fight, Delina is less keen. However, the guards are swiftly taken care of by a pair of thieves and that’s how the issue ends.

Issue two opens on a flashback to Delina and her brother, Deniak, as children. At first it seems like they’re playing but eventually her brother pins her and is kind of acting like a dick to her, at which point he gets zapped by lightning. This is done to demonstrate that Delina is a sorceress, someone who has a natural affinity for magic, and her brother is in training to be a wizard.

Back in the present, we see that the thieves are not in fact trying to cause trouble for Delina and Minsc, but are trying to help them get away from the watch. The thieves, Krydle and Shandie, lead them back to their hideout, and Delina goes into more detail about the predicament she’s in. She and her brother share a mystical bond (as siblings in fantasy settings are wont to do),  and a week ago she felt a great disturbance in the For- I mean, a darkness wash over her brother. She believes he’s in danger and is trying to find him. Krydle and Shandie confer for a moment and agree to help. Step one is going to be getting the two out of the Upper City and into the Lower City where they will have an easier time evading the watch and have a better chance of finding out what they need to.

We cut away to the Watch Citadel, where we see Duke Ravensguard getting briefed on the murder of the watchmen, and the disappearance of the statue. He agrees to give the watch the aid of the Flaming Fist Company in their manhunt, and we also learn about dragon attacks that are going on in the surrounding region.

Back with our heroes, who are meeting with a man named Osgur, attempting to work out a deal to get out of the Upper City undetected. Osgur agrees to help them in exchange for Krydle delivering a message to someone. After our heroes leave, a group of people in really snazzy masks emerge from the shadows and say some ominous things about how they’re also looking for Deniak. After they’re out on the street, our heroes get jumped by a group of men wearing very similar masks. The fight is brief, but well done, and our heroes escape mostly unharmed and head back to Krydle and Shandie’s hideout. Not long after getting there though, Krydle goes off to deliver the message, and it’s here we learn that Krydle is not only a half-elf, but that his father is a noble and an old friend of Minsc’s. The issue ends with Minsc going off after Krydle to go and see his old friend.

Issue three begins with Minsc arriving at the party, much to the doorman’s befuddlement. One of the party-goers decides that the strange man dressed as the beloved ranger is hilarious, and tells the doorman that he’ll vouch for Minsc. Delina and Shandie arrive right behind Minsc and claim that they’re all a group of troubadors. Krydle, meanwhile, has found his father, Coran, and delivers the message. Coran tries talking with Krydle, but Krydle is obstinate about not wanting to be here any longer than he absolutely has to. While the two of them are having a touching father/son moment, the others are bumbling around the party. Delina bumps into a guy, and the unthinkable happens; somebody in a comic is recognized without their mask on!

Inconceivable! It turns out that several of the masked guys who attacked our heroes earlier are at the party. Anyway, a fight breaks out and the masked guys manage to capture Delina. Minsc and the others meanwhile manage to capture one of the masked guys. While the masked guys make their escape, they are ambushed by a spellcaster wearing the same kind of mask as them, as well as a couple of hobgoblins. The masked spellcaster reveals himself to be none other than Deniak, ending the issue on a dramatic reveal!

Issue four begins with another flashback to Delina and Deniak’s childhood. We see them with what looks like their father as Delina shows off her magic. Their father says that he’ll begin looking for a tutor for her, but Deniak objects. He’s jealous that magic is coming so naturally to her when he’s had to study and put in effort to achieve the same effects. Deniak’s anger transfers to Delina however and triggers a wild magic surge. Back in the present, Deniak tells Delina that he plans on using her in a ritual.

Minsc and the others, meanwhile, have interrogated their masked friend and have returned to Osgur. They share what they’ve learned; Deniak was a member of the Dragon Cult (the masked guys) but he decided to create his own splinter group. Of course, you can’t just start a cult with nothing, so he stole some of the cult’s ritual supplies on the way out. Naturally, they’re pissed and want their mystical gewgaws back. Osgur fortunately knows of Deniak’s whereabouts, and sends our heroes off to take care of him.

Back with Deniak, he begins the ritual. A mere moment later though, Minsc busts in followed by Krydle and Shandie. The three fight with Deniak’s hobgoblin goons, who manage to keep the heroes off of Deniak long enough to complete the ritual. Unfortunately, as evil rituals are wont to do, something has gone wrong.

We cut away back to Coran. He’s gone to see Duke Ravensguard about the message that Krydle delivered. It seems that Osgur is trying to blackmail Coran, who is trying to get some help from the duke. The duke agrees to help. But just as he does so a large explosion can be seen from the tower, and the issue ends with the revelation that Deniak has transformed into a dragon.

So, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. Jim Zub’s writing is pretty good. The overall story so far is kinda basic, but it’s got a nice, authentic sort of D&D feel to it. The best part of the writing though is the dialogue. Everything comes out naturally, nothing feels like it’s expository, and everyone’s got their own unique way of talking. Minsc has all the best lines, and I can see why he’s such a beloved character. The artwork is also solid. Max Dunbar’s style is cartoony, but based heavily in realism. The character models are all nice and unique, and there’s a nice amount of detail in the clothing, faces and setting without it feeling too busy. My only complaint is that there are more panels lacking a background than I’d like to see, especially since I like looking at the artwork. Overall, the issues are a fun start to the series, and really capture the spirit and tone of D&D. If you’ve never played D&D before, I cannot recommend enough that you give it a shot. The new edition is very beginner friendly, and a lot of local game stores should be running events.

Next week, we continue to look at things that are important to me, with some a bit older. Something from a long time ago... 

Superior Spider-Man issues 26 & 27

Greetings, citizens! I’m finally getting back on track, so let’s waste no time in looking at the issues today.

Let’s start with the cover. It’s not really a bad cover, but it’s also kind of bland. The Green Goblin looks like he’s shoving the Hobgoblin with his left hand, while Hobgoblin’s got a bomb ready to go in his left hand. Pretty sure he’d be in the blast radius, but if he wants to go out in a blaze of glory, that’s his business. We also see something rather strange for this series; a long list of names of people who worked on it. Most of the previous issues have had 3-4 names; Dan Slott as the writer, the penciler, the inker, and the color artist (almost always Edgar Delgado). The previous story arc had 5 names listed, including a second writer, Christos Gage. The extra hands on these issues really reinforce my theory about Marvel deciding to rush the book’s conclusion. Anyway, for this issue, Dan Slott’s the sole writer, three different pencilers (Ramos, Rodriguez, and Martin), three different inkers (Olazaba, Lopez and Martin again), and three colorists (Delgado, Rodriguez again, and Martin once again). Having this many different artists can be a problem when trying to keep the look and feel of a book consistent, but they’ve addressed that problem in a pretty good way here. The book follows three different stories, each one worked on by a different set of artists. Since each story would have it’s own feel anyway, the widely different styles doesn’t make it a jarring read.

The issue begins with the two main goblins, The Green Goblin (or Goblin King as he likes to be called now) and the Hobgoblin, engaged in all out war with their minions. The King calls for a ceasefire, and he and the Hobgoblin talk for a bit, deciding that instead of sending all their minions to their deaths, the two of them should just have a duel, winner take all. It’s somewhat surprising for an archvillain to actually have the thought of “I’ll do it myself,” let alone two of them to agree to it. Not doing things yourself is the point of having minions! Well, that and to counter enemy minions.

Speaking of minions, our Superior Spider-Man has his own minions preparing to square off with a large group of A.I.M mooks. The big battle is aborted prematurely by the arrival of the Avengers, saying that they’d like to have a word with Spidey. He attempts to blow them off, saying he’s busy, but they just take care of everything in a nifty looking splash page.

I love how all of A.I.M’s forces are divided up among everyone else, but Cap just takes care of all the Spiderlings himself. Cap tells Spidey that his probation is over, but before we can see what he means by that, let’s focus on something we haven’t seen in awhile.

Inside “the shattered psyche of Otto Octavius and Peter Parker,” we see the remaining vestige of Peter staring at the mostly barren landscape. The only things to be seen are some of the more iconic Spider-Man imagery that have been ubiquitous of the character. I’m more than a little surprised we don’t see him trying to save someone from falling off of a bridge. Anyway, ghost-Pete bemoans how he’s barely there and doesn’t think he’ll be able to beat Ock. Psht, and he claims that he’s barely Peter, seems just like normal Petey to me.

Back with the Goblins, the fight between the King and Hobgoblin begins. It’s a pretty brief and not all that satisfying fight. The only real noteworthy thing about it at first is that they both doubt the identity of the other. It interesting because we haven’t actually seen which Green Goblin this is. The one and only time we saw the Green Goblin without his mask on, his face was completely in shadow. Hobgoblin manages to get a cheap shot in by calling Harry Osborn a disappointment.

We cut away from the fight back to the Avengers. They’re confronting Spidey about the fact that he deleted the results from the brain scan that they ran way back in issue 8, and saying that they’re debating kicking him out of the Avengers. Spidey counters that the results could give away his secret identity, but this is just the latest excuse he’s given them, and they’re kind of sick of his BS. They want him to tell them what exactly is going on, but of course he refuses, and decides quitting the Avengers is the only way to get them off his back.

Back with ghost-Pete, all the staring at iconic moments in his publication history has strengthened his resolve to fight Ock, regardless of how impossible it seems. I’ll admit that Peter’s tenacity was always one of my favorite traits of his, but for some reason these scenes with him doing this just ring kinda hollow. It might be because I’ve seen Peter have these sorts of moments so damn much, or it might be because I was really enjoying this series and Peter’s return was the harbinger of the end. Or, it would have been, if I’d been managing to keep up with the series… Due to a series of unfortunate personal problems, I fell behind on the series and didn’t have an opportunity to read issues 24 – 31 until after 31 had hit the shelves.

Okay, back on track, we get to see the end of the goblin fight. The cheap shot that Hobgoblin had managed to score on Green Goblin destroyed a large chunk of his costume, revealing his chest and… a dent?

I will admit that I’ve never studied medicine, and this is a comic book so there is a large degree of suspension of disbelief in regards to almost any injury a character receives, but what in the hell!? How does his chest have a freaking crater? Is he not a human, but a Realdoll or maybe an action figure? Is he some sort of robot with a clay exterior? Is he, in fact, Norman Osborg? I don’t know whether that was a failing of Dan Slott for how he scripted it, or Humberto Ramos for how he drew it, but that little hiccough is baffling.

Anyway, the crater apparently confirms that it is indeed Norman under the mask and not some pretender. Normy then proceeds to beat the ever-loving crap out of Hobgoblin, and then choke him to death. When Normy and the rest of his underlings go off to celebrate, our old friend Ben Urich the Goblin Knight decides to check under the mask. He sees that it is in fact NOT Kingsley, the real Hobgoblin. We cut away to Kingsley, where we see him brainwashing someone into thinking that they are Kingsley. Apparently he does this so that he can fake his death when he feels like it, which isn’t a bad idea considering how many enemies he has.

We’re back down to a regular sized team with this issue, and we’ve also got Camuncoli as the penciler this time around. This cover works pretty well, with Spidey being heavily shadowed in the foreground representing danger. Behind him is a beat-up American flag sporting the heraldry of the Goblin King. The only problem I really have with the cover is in the upper right corner, where we get the title of our final story-arc in the series; Goblin Nation. First off, it’s a misleading title considering that this is (like oh so many things in the Marvel Universe) contained entirely within New York City. It’s not even the Goblins taking over the entire state, just the city! Second, there’s the giant #1, making it seem like the thing is the first issue of a new ongoing series, as opposed to the 27^th. This was supposed to be keeping in line with a bunch of other Marvel NOW titles, serving as a jumping on point to various series, which would be great… if the series wasn’t going to be ending in like 2 months! If people haven’t bothered to pick up the series yet, and they can already see solicitations for a relaunch of Amazing Spider-Man, why would they bother picking this up? The only reason I can think of is that they’re just trying to trick people into buying something that they wouldn’t normally pick up.

The issue begins a month after the last one. While Spidey narrates about all of his data indicating that organized crime has been eliminated in New York, we see various scenes of the Goblin’s minions causing havoc. He doesn’t understand how this is happening, but he does finally understand who is behind it.

So wait… Osborn spent all this time quietly absorbing all of the elements of organized crime in New York, trying (and succeeding) to keep a low profile the whole time. He’s the undisputed crime lord of the largest city in the country, and even has taken over the Hobgoblin’s villain franchises schtick. So why is he having his men drawing attention to themselves like this? Why is he doing it himself!? If this were some other place, fine, I could accept it. But this is NYC in the Marvel universe! The Avengers and the Fantastic Four both have their base of operations here, not to mention all of the other heroes who live there like Doctor Strange! How is Osborn stupid enough to think that all of this wouldn’t draw the attention of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?

I really hate to belabor this point, but this is YET ANOTHER thing that makes it seem like the series finale got pushed up by several months. Sure, Osborn’s got a bunch of supervillains on his side thanks to absorbing Hobgoblin’s little empire. That might be a reason to think he could make a go of things, except for the fact that all of those guys are D-listers! The Avengers exist almost exclusively to take on A-list threats (when they’re not fighting their colleagues, of course), a horde of D-listers aren’t even going to slow down Thor or Wolverine, let alone them and all of their friends! Osborn could rule the criminal underworld unopposed for a long-ass time, making millions upon millions of dollars, and he blows it in order to… what? Have people know it’s him? Who the fuck cares! None of this makes any damned sense, especially when we learn his supposed motivations later on.

Sigh. I suppose I should get back on track. Deep within his mind, we see Ghost-Pete once again looking at the fragments that make up his existence. It seems that there is in fact the iconic bridge scene in there, but we just didn’t see it last time. We’re looking at it now, and so are Ghost-Pete and Ock, since Normy decided to use that particular bridge to send his message, which makes sense. Ghost-Pete looks around to try and find a place to hide from Ock, and he decides to try hiding in Ock’s memories, and to also try and find a weakness within them. Unfortunately, Pete doesn’t get to root around like he did before, probably because he’s a lot less “solid” this time around. Instead he gets swept into the memory of Ock being born. Hope he gets to skip the spanking part.

Back with Ock-Pete, we see him fiddling around with one of his Spider-bots, trying to find out how Osborn and his men have escaped notice for this long. There’s also something else I missed before;

Yeah, Ock-Pete’s planning on asking Anna Maria to marry him. Unfortunately, we don’t get to linger on that for too long because there are superhero shenanigans afoot. He discovers that the flaw is not in any of his programming (of course not) but instead is in Uatu Jackson’s facial recognition program that he’s been using since the whole Massacre incident. He tries to call Uatu, but just gets hung up on. We cut away briefly to Mayor Jameson, who’s checking on the progress of his little Spider Slayer project, which is all done but for the testing. Back with Ock-Pete, he’s confronting Uatu in his Spidey garb, and the two of them actually manage to use the hack in the software to trace it back to where Osborn’s hiding out.

We once again have another one page cutaway, this time to Captain Watanabe. She’s at Parker Industries looking for Peter, since he’s still considered a person of interest in Carlie’s disappearance. Wait, this is taking place a month later. How is Captain Watanabe still looking for Peter? He’s hidden from the cops for a month, and nobody finds that suspicious? There aren’t any cops watching his apartment? Anna Maria hasn’t been questioned about where he is? What has the NYPD been doing this whole time!? Ugh, yeah, so Captain Watanabe is still looking for Pete, Sajani is also wondering where the hell he’s been. While I’m glad the whole plot thread hadn’t been forgotten, I really think that this cutaway would’ve worked better right after the Jameson one, instead of going back to Peter for a page.

Back to Peter, and thankfully there are no more cutaways for the rest of the issue. He’s following the signal to the Goblin Underground, marveling at how Osborn managed to run all of this so discretely. Speaking of Osborn, he and a group of his D-lister minions have apparently been waiting for Peter. Before Ock-Pete can formulate a plan to deal with all the thugs, Osborn sends them away and invites Spidey to sit down for a chat. Osborn reveals that he knows exactly who “Spidey” really is, and of course makes the whole “join me and we can rule the galaxy” offer. To be fair, this is one of the situations where the offer is most likely to be accepted, and it almost seems like Ock might go for it. That is, until Osborn says that Ock would be his second, at which point he flips out. The Star Wars parallels continue, as Osborn zaps Spidey with lightning. But of course it turns out that Spidey is just a Force-ghost- I mean, he’s using the hard-light hologram-projecting thing from issue #21. Which was a good idea, not going into the proverbial lion’s den like an idiot. Of course, the plan would be better if Spidey’s lair wasn’t public knowledge. The issue ends with the Goblin Knight, Menace, Monster and a bunch of nameless mooks bombing Spider Island.

I had intended to look at issue #28 in this review as well, but I’ve gone on for long enough. These issues aren’t terrible, but they do have their problems. They all seem to stem from the overall rushed feeling that the series suddenly has. It’s frustrating, because I would love to see exactly what how Osborn’s master plan would’ve reached fruition. Unless this was the intention from the outset, in which case I’m really disappointed. I was really enjoying Dan Slott’s writing, and it all seemed to be going great. Osborn was pulling off an excellent long con, and could’ve kept on going with it until he had amassed enough power to actually challenge the combined might of the various superhero factions. Instead, this all feels very forced and moronic. It’s also disappointing that we have other plot threads that aren’t amounting to much. Sure, the NYPD is looking for Peter, but it’s not causing any sort of problems in his life (or the lives of his loved ones). He’s planning on marrying Anna Maria, but with Ghost-Pete’s return, that means we’re just going to have another frustratingly disappointing romance for “Peter.” I enjoyed the issues at the time, but after looking at them again, the faults are really showing.

As close as we are to finishing the series, we’re going to be taking a break from it. March is the month of my birth, and as such, I feel like celebrating. So, instead of any of the stuff that I had scheduled, I’m going to be looking at a bunch of stuff that is important to me. What are these things? Well, you’ll just have to check back in the coming weeks and find out. Until then, citizens!

Superior Spider-Man, 24 and 25

Greetings, citizens! My deepest and most sincere apologies for the lack of updates these past few weeks. I’ve been in a bit of a writing slump as of late, and it’s not helped by being at a loss for what to say in regards to today’s subject.

I’ve made it pretty clear that I really enjoyed Superior Spider-Man. However, that doesn’t mean that the series is without faults, and issues 24 and 25 are certainly full of them. I’m going to approach this a bit differently than I’ve done with other reviews. I’m just going to give a (very) brief recap of the events of the issues, and then get into what my issues with these… issues are.

Superior Venom decides to prove he’s in control of the symbiote and starts cracking down on crime even more than he already has. The Avengers get notified, and they fight Venom. Eventually, the symbiote shows that it’s in control and Peter has to get the thing off of him, only doing so with the help of Ghost-Pete. Yeah, that’s the big thing in these issues, the beginning of the end of Ock-Peter. Although, we actually do see Ghost-Pete emerging from the rubble of his deep subconscious in issue #19, while Ock-Peter is desperately digging through his memories. It’s a neat bit of foreshadowing, in hindsight.

Oh, and while all that’s going on, Carlie gets dosed with some Goblin serum and assumes the name of Monster. She does some perfunctory task in order to prove to the Green Goblin that she’s a true goblin.

Let’s start with the story. The pacing in these issues (and to an extent, issue 23) is terrible. They’re constantly jumping from one scene to the next, giving the reader almost no time to absorb what’s going on before changing gears completely. It gives the whole thing a sense of being rushed. To me, it seems like the stuff with Peter was advancing at the proper speed, but the stuff going on with the Goblins was way behind where it should be. Because the stuff with the Goblins is the endgame of the series, it almost makes me wonder if right before writing these issues, Dan Slot was told that they had to wrap up Superior Spidey several months before they planned on it.

The artwork is… not that good either. I will give props to Humberto Ramos for how he draws Venom. Superior Venom is very different than any version I’ve seen before. The body is so alien, elongated and with lanky limbs. I’d say that it’s reminiscent of a spider, but to me it just comes off as too alien and disturbing to be likened to something of this world. But other than Venom, everything else just has weirdly distorted proportions, or is just not drawn terribly well. It might just be my stylistic preferences, but even ignoring that, there are still problems. One, which a friend of mine pointed out to me, was this panel:

First off, Thor looks like he’s missing his body. I get that it’s supposed to be behind Cap there, but come on, Thor’s huge, there’s no way his massive, Asgardian body could be concealed behind Cap. And what the hell is Wolverine doing there? I get that he’s supposed to be cutting through the tentacle, but that’s got to be the least efficient way he could possibly be doing that. It really looks more like he’s jazzercising or something. Venom seems to also be missing a leg, and his left arm is enormous compared to his right.

So that’s issues 24 and 25. Short entry this time, as I’m still somewhat at a loss for what to really say, and also just because I’m sick of having these issues hanging over my head. I will endeavor to have the next review up on time this Thursday. Until next time!

Superior Spider-Man, issues #22 and 23

Greetings and Happy New Year, citizens! What better way to celebrate this auspicious occasion than by looking at a series we’ve already looked at numerous times, and that most people don’t care about?

....

Okay, so there are probably better ways. However, we’re nearing the end of Superior Spider-Man, and I’m sure some people feel like I’ve drawn it out long enough already. However, I have my reasons for continuing to look at the series, not the least of which being that it is a new take on someone who was formerly one of my absolute favorite comic characters. So, let’s get right into Superior Spider-Man issues 22 and 23.

We’re back to Humberto Ramos doing the pencils for these issues, so the cover is also his work. I’m kind of at a loss for what to say about it, including whether or not it’s good. It is certainly eye-catching, being almost entirely black, and there’s a good balance to the whole thing. Spidey looking up at the title to this story arc is kind of a weird meta touch, and I don’t know how I feel about it. Speaking of the title, this is actually the first story arc we’ve had that’s not three parts, this one is instead a four-parter. Why are we only looking at the first half instead of the entire thing? Because doing three issues in a single review is difficult enough to keep a decent length. I think if I tried doing four, I’d lose just about all my readers by the end of the second issue anyway.

Before getting into the issue itself, I thought I’d bring up something that I’ve noticed with both Superior Spider-Man, and the re-launched Amazing Spider-Man. It’s become something of a cliché to start off a Spider-Man story with him swinging around New York. It’s a lazy and unimaginative way to begin a Spider-Man story, especially since we’ve seen it a dozen times, and we’re likely to see him doing more of that during the rest of the issue. Dan Slott has avoided this cliché with every issue of his that I’ve read, I think. Hell, most of the issues don’t even begin with Spidey or Peter, instead giving us the setup for the issue, and then showing us how Spidey/Pete gets involved. It’s a good way of playing around with members of the Spider-Man supporting cast.

The above is true with this issue’s opening, giving us Venom. Venom is one of my all-time favorite Spider-Man villains, which is impressive considering all the ways they’ve fiddled with him over the years. Currently, the symbiote is joined with Flash Thompson and is a hero. I was actually reading the Venom series when it first came out, but fell out of it after moving away to college where I couldn’t find a comic shop. It wasn’t a bad series, and I liked the struggle of Flash trying to maintain control of the symbiote, so I was pleased to see him here. He’s come to town because he’s heard that the Crime Master is doing business again, and Venom’s got some beef with the guy. Also, he’s supposed to be dead, so that’s mildly concerning. He takes the place of one of Crime Master’s men, having the symbiote disguise him. Ramos may not be my favorite artist, but he does an excellent job at drawing the symbiote. He makes it look like more than just goo, giving it a good sense of motion and life, so kudos to him on that.

We cut away to Peter, giving a speech to the newly hired employees of Parker Industries. It’s a little on the supervillain side of things, but it certainly gets across the kind of business he’s planning on running. After the speech, Sajani tells Peter that Jay and Aunt May are there, and he rushes off to greet his two investors, who are currently being given a tour by Dr. Wirtham. You guys remember Dr. Wirtham right? He was the “villain” Cardiac in issues 7 and 8. He’s going to be serving as a consultant to Parker Industries, which is kinda neat to me. Once Peter catches up with them, Aunt May insists on having brunch with him and Anna Maria in order to meet her. Peter accepts, and also informs May that his nanotech limb thingy is ready to be used, and insists that she be the first person to receive it.

Meanwhile, at the apartment of Carlie Cooper, we see Captain Watanabe going to check in on Carlie, but finds that she’s not there and her computer is missing. Kind of odd for a thief to only steal the computer, so she assumes that it’s connected with the Spider-Man investigation.

Back with Peter, we get a tender moment between him and Anna Maria in Anna’s lab. She’s been experimenting with bioluminescent light sources, so the lighting really sets the mood for the inevitable sex. I’m not joking, they start going at it right there in the lab. This is their first time together, too. It’s oddly fitting, actually.

But we don’t get to see any of this. Instead, we see that at Spider Island, the Spiderlings (as I have dubbed them) have learned of the situation with Venom and Crime Master, and decide that this is worthy of Spidey’s notice. He is annoyed at first, given what they interrupted, but tells them that they made the right call. He has them deliver a couple of special bracers and goes to the confrontation. Venom and Crime Master’s men are engaged in a firefight, except it’s not much of a fight, because Venom is Venom. Once Spidey shows up, Crime Master decides that he’s had enough of this and surrenders. He also unmasks himself and says that he’s not the real Crime Master, he just bought the costume and name from Kingsley. This makes yet another costumed villain that’s just leasing the name and such. Kingsley’s got quite the racket going on, if so many people are paying him obscene amounts of money for the privilege of being foiled by superheroes.

Anyway, with Crime Master’s surrender, Venom thanks Spidey for his help, and Spidey promptly shoots a jet of flame at him.

Huh, so that’s why this Spider-Man hasn’t really done any team-ups. Except for that one time with Deadpool, but that’s neither here nor there. The two fight for a few moments until Spidey manages to gain the upper hand. He also does enough damage to the symbiote that it can’t maintain the mask over Flash’s face, revealing his identity. Flash tries to talk to Spidey, but Spidey doesn’t recognize, what with not having any of the old Peter’s memories left. The issue ends with Spidey standing over Venom, about to execute him.

The cover for issue #23 is pretty good. It shows the Venom symbiote abandoning Flash, who’s reaching out for it with a pleading look in his eyes. Once again, I really enjoy how Ramos draws the symbiote, he’s got a great knack for it.

The issue opens where the last one ended, with Spidey about to kill Flash. Flash manages to do some quick thinking, surrendering in order to buy himself some time to escape. While he keeps Spidey distracted with talk, the symbiote sets off some smoke grenades, allowing Flash to fight his way free. The Symbiote’s weak though, so instead of throwing down, he escapes, disguising himself as an EMT. Spidey unfortunately has to leave in order to start getting preparations for brunch ready.

But enough about the struggle between good and… ostensibly good, let’s check in with some real villains. Beneath the city in the Goblin Underground, we see the Green Goblin, Menace and the Goblin Knight interrogating Carlie Cooper. Gobby is intrigued by Carlie’s findings, especially with who’s really in Spidey’s body, but he wants to know whose body that really is. Apparently all of Carlie’s notes omit Peter’s identity. Gobby decides to leave Carlie in Menace’s hands, while he goes out and pretends to be the Hobgoblin some more.

Back with Peter, we see him and Anna Maria arriving at his apartment to start preparing for brunch. Anna Maria is shocked to see that Peter’s place is cluttered with all kinds of equipment for Spider-Man. She’s not surprised by the equipment itself, just at how cluttered the place is. She insists on getting the place cleaned up, and Peter agrees, after mild resistance because some of the stuff is at “a critical stage.”

Over to Flash, who sneaks into a supply closet at the hospital and steals a bunch of stuff to help the symbiote recover. He finds a wheelchair and teels the symbiote it can relax, only having it provide him with clothes instead of also having to be his legs. Oh yeah, probably should have mentioned that for those not familiar with this Venom. Flash lost his legs while deployed overseas. He actually volunteered to be the host for Venom because the symbiote allowed him to continue serving his country. I don’t believe he’s working for the government anymore though. Last I heard he was with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Uh, anyway, Flash overhears a cop and a firefighter talking about MJ’s newly renovated club, which gives Flash the idea to lay low with an old friend.

And speaking of MJ, we get to see the re-opening of her club. While there, she gets a visit from Captain Watanabe. She tells MJ that the last call Carlie made before disappearing was to MJ. The two listen to the message, and Captain Watanabe develops suspicions about Peter, marking him as a person of interest.

Back to Peter and Anna Maria. Man, this issue jumps around a lot. Pete and Anna are continuing with the preparations when Flash shows up. Peter realizes this is a golden opportunity, providing he can figure out a way to get the symbiote away from Flash.

More jumping, this time to Aunt May. We see that her surgery went well, and she can walk just fine without her cane. Jay is kind of annoyed that neither Peter nor his son were able to be there though.

And speaking of his son, let’s see what Mayor Jameson is up to! He’s paying a visit to Alchemax, bringing them a big, fat government contract. What does he want them to do? He wants his own squad of Spider Slayers, and even wants them to use the research from the Smythe family to build them. This idea can’t possibly go awry.

Back to Peter! Brunch is more than a little awkward, with Anna Maria making wheat cakes better than Aunt May’s, and Aunt May is concerned about Peter dating a little person. Flash attempts to leave, in order to escape the awkwardness, but Peter insists he stays. He tells Flash that after how successful Aunt May’s surgery went, he’s ready to proceed to phase 2 of his nanocybernetics; full artificial limbs. He manages to pressure Flash into doing the procedure, because it will help other veterans who’ve lost their limbs.

So back at Parker Industries, we see Dr. Wirtham prepping Flash for the procedure, while Peter does some mysterious stuff. Flash is hesitant, but doesn’t change go back on his word. Just before everything starts, Peter comes back as Spidey, which surprises Wirtham. But because they’ve worked together before, he allows Spidey to do what he wants, which is to activate a sonic pulse. The pulse drives the symbiote off of Flash and into a containment tube. Flash demands to know what the hell is going on, and Spidey says that there’s nothing to worry about. The containment device was based on the designs that Reed Richards created. However, the symbiote has grown in power and breaks free from the containment unit, flying straight at Spidey. The issue ends with… well, I’ll just let the final panel speak for itself.

These two issues are not bad. My only real complaint is that the second one bounces around so freaking much. Most scenes are only a page long, and it breaks up the flow of the story. But the dialogue is, as always, good and the overall plot is also solid. The artwork is for the most part good, but there are a couple of weak spots. However, I think the excellent artwork on Venom makes up for any shortcomings.

Next week we’ll take a look at the second half of this story arc, which will bring us into the final plotline of Superior Spider-Man. We’re in the home stretch now! So join me next week! Until then, citizens!