Why You Should Be Reading Superior Spider-Man

superior spider-man If you€™ve been avoiding Superior Spider-Man because of its premise, you€™re doing yourself a disservice. Let€™s face it. Spider-Man has been boring for years. The most interesting thing to happen to the character in recent memory is the dissolution of his marriage to Mary Jane Watson. Plenty of people prefer a single Peter Parker to a married one, but tied down or not€”Marvel has been struggling to tell interesting Spider-Man stories for twenty years. The 90s gave us the much maligned Clone Saga, which Marvel has tried very hard to forget completely (especially MJ€™s miscarriage). Moving into the 2000s, not counting the excellent Ultimate Spider-Man series, Spidey was bogged down by faux mythology and Civil War tie-ins. When Peter Parker unmasked before the world, it was one of the most interesting things to happen in his entire history, opening up a ton of new possibilities for storylines. We all know how that turned out. Marvel, despite claiming that the public identity was not a gimmick, quickly recruited Mephisto to eradicate it and the marriage in one of the laziest retcons in the history of comics. Brand New Day gave hope to some, but things soon returned to lukewarm. Spider Island was interesting, but definitely too wacky to sustain ongoing change for the character. When Amazing Spider-Man #700 came out, writer Dan Slott received death threats from fans who would rather kill than accept change. Whatever€”those are the nutjobs, but even non-homicidal fans questioned the decision. Doc Ock as Spider-Man? Blasphemy! But no one can deny that the decision is not only interesting but unpredictable. Even if it€™s only morbid curiosity, if you don€™t think this move is intriguing I wonder why you even want to read comics in the first place. Let€™s face it, we really couldn€™t keep going on with a Peter Parker who can€™t quite get his life together for another 50 years. Clearly the character needed something new. Every time I pick up a new issue of Superior, I don€™t have any idea what€™s coming next. These past few months have been a roller coaster ride. Whether you agree with Slott€™s choices (and come on: everyone knows this change won€™t be permanent), this is a book that will cause your blood pressure to rise either through rage or excitement. Spider-Man hasn€™t been this fascinating in a long time. If you€™ve read an issue and don€™t like it, that€™s fine. Nobody is saying you should spend money on something you hate. But if all you read were spoilers for ASM#700 and decided not to approach the new book with a twenty foot pole, just give it a shot. No matter what, this storyline is a big deal and history is being made. You just might think Superior is amazing.
Contributor

Trevor Gentry-Birnbaum spends most of his time sitting around and thinking about things that don't matter.