FYI…this is spoilerific. If you haven’t read Superior Spider-man #9 (and you should) or Amazing Spider-man #700 (and how could you not have by now?!?!?), for all that’s holy, don’t read another word further!!!

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With Superior Spider-man #9 being released last week, I figured it was as good as any time to sit you down and have a talk. Nonono. Not about the birds and the bees. Lord no! That’s what the internets are for. What I meant was that I want to talk a stretch to you about Superior Spider-man #9 being a better all around story than Amazing Spider-man #700.

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Yea. That’s right. I’m saying that Superior #9 is better than that tome of a comic book Amazing Spider-man #700. Now, if that hasn’t already caused you to do a spit take, then surely this will: I actually like that Doc Ock is taking up residence in Peter’s body. Yea, that’s right. I do.

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Otto is such an arrogant jerk

Admittedly, though, I didn’t at first. When I wrote the Discussion about Amazing Spider-man #700 and Avenging Spider-man 15.1, I was not happy how Doc Ock was already backtracking on his promise to Peter as he laying dying in Ock’s body. By the end of Avenging Spider-man 15.1, it seemed that Ock was already starting to renege on his vow to do good. A friend of mine pointed out, though, Ock wasn’t really reneging on his promise to Pete. He was just being Ock.

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from Avenging Spider-man 15.1. Already backpeddling Ock?!?!?

Which brings us to Superior Spider-man #9, probably one of the best issues of Superior to date (then again, I find myself saying that about every issue of Superior. with the exception of Superior #6AU, that is. I don’t care what anyone says. I don’t care how Marvel tries to sell it. the Spider-man/Peter Parker in Age of Ultron IS Peter Parker. it’s not Ock. and try as it may, Superior #6AU isn’t going to convince me otherwise.). Superior #9 features the “final” battle between Ock/Peter, which takes place in some sort of limbo between Ock and Peter’s mind.

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purgatory?!?!

In this “final” battle, the two of them go back and forth, verbally sparing within one another. While spending most of the battle taking on each other’s “crews”. In the end, Ock doesn’t beat Peter with brute force (like punching the last bit of life out of Peter in Amazing #700) but with Peter’s own guilt. That forsaken “power and responsibility” shtick that Peter carries around with him, took him down.

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Peter, Peter, Peter. Gotta let go of the guilt, brother!

And that’s one of the big differences between Superior #9 and Amazing #700. #700 is more of a physical battle. It’s Peter (with the help of the newly improved Sinister Six) and Ock physically fighting it out, in their mind-swapped bodies. Taking shots at one another, until the bitter end when Peter finally falls.

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Let’s talk about that bitter end, shall we? If you think about it for a moment, it’s not like we actually “saw” Peter die in #700. We didn’t see Peter’s body die. We saw Doc Ock’s body die. Yea, Peter was transferred into Ock’s body, but it’s not quite the same thing. In some lines of philosophical thought, your body is as much who you are as your soul. So, it’s not like we saw Peter die in #700. But…maybe we should leave all that philosophizing to the philosophizers.
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yeayeayea. That’s Peter laying there, dead. But…it sure looks like Ock to me

Which brings me to this point: In Superior #9, we finally get to see Ock and Peter face off as themselves. Sure, it’s in a dream world, but there’s no swapped bodies. No Peter struggling in Ock’s dying body. No Ock having the advantage in Pete’s body. It’s the two of them on an even playing field. Mano y mano.

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and in this corner…

In the end (as it were) it’s the “finality” of Superior #9 that makes it better than Amazing #700. Pete’s gone. There’s no hope of him body swapping back into his rightful body. No Hail Mary here that ran through Amazing #700. Pete was defeated at the end of Superior #9. He’s gone.

There’s some excellent artwork in Superior #9. One of the best images being that of Peter, facing Ock in this limbo world, ripping off his face to reveal the Spidey mask underneath. A nice twist on the ol’ pulling off the mask to reveal the secret identity bit.

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love this!!!

Sure, I liked Amazing #700. It was sad to see Pete die in Ock’s old, decrepit body. But, right from the get go, Pete wasn’t really gone. He was still lingering in the back of Ock’s mind, right from issue #1 of Superior. Seeing Pete’s “Force ghost” on the last page of Superior #1, totally diminished the impact of #700.

And, as sad as it was to see Pete die in Ock’s body in #700, this was even sadder to see:

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By your friendly neighborhood jman - Feature Editor

catch more of your friendly neighborhood jman's hijinks over at yfnjman.com