10 Comics To Make Haters Love Comics Again

Weirdly, Superior Spider-Man is the perfect way to into the franchise for one completely surreal reason: it isn't really about Spider-Man at all. At least, it's not about Peter Parker - as the series covers a scenario in which Peter Parker's mind is taken over by Otto Octavius, known perhaps better as Doctor Octopus, one of Peter's biggest enemies. As such, the actual Spider-Man is merely a backseat driver in his own mind, as Octavius bumbles his way through pretending to be the web-slinger.

But that's exactly what's great about it. Otto is learning about Peter through the whole series himself, meaning that reading through it fills you in on all of Spider-Man's history in a way that doesn't feel like it's patronising you or holding your hand throughout.

Which isn't to say that the series is merely a potted history of Peter Parker - because that's sort of the job of Spider-Man: Life Story. Instead, the Superior series brings us all the weirdness that would occur were a villain to slowly turn heroic while disguised as a superhero, which provides for a one of the freshest concepts a comic has used in a good while.