Superior Spider-Man Issues #20-21 & Annual Review

Hey, it's your friendly neighborhood Spider -Man

here, and I'm swingin' by the Geekcast Radio

Network. Welcome to The Pullback. Join us as

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back and enjoy this week's Pullback. Found you,

Spider, at last. Hello and welcome to The Pole

Bag. This is episode 56. I am your host TFJU

and Mike. It is a new year as we have no doubtedly

heard in the bat books and other episodes that

have aired here in January 2014. Joining me to

kind of wrap up our Spidey coverage for now until

more trades come out. Maybe, I don't know, oh

no wait, that's wrong, I'm sorry. We're doing

that after issue 25, duh. Of course, is JT from

Saskatoon, hello sir. How you doing? Pretty good,

pretty good. I apparently can't think. Still

getting used to this whole new year thing. Well,

I'm sure the pictures will tell the tale about

New Year's Eve, Mike. Yeah, no. No pictures.

No pictures, no film, no audio, no nothing. No

flash photography! That's right. And we are here

to talk about the next kind of three or the three

issues of Spirit of Spider -Man that came out

a few months ago 2021 and annual number one We

hope everyone enjoyed Back on New Year's Eve

the the pull bag after darks first episode where

we talked about variant covers and i used issue

20's variant cover as a really really good example

of just oh my god the whole marketing for variant

covers by the companies and by the shops themselves

and the online market is just crazy it's nice

but it ain't that nice not for two hundred dollars

i love black cat but not that much and i say

this with the Full knowledge is like I love J

Scott Campbell, but not that much I mean the

man does quality work, but I ain't spending more

than cover price like I said in that issue unless

it's like Something above and beyond That it's

so good. Oh damn. I have to have that Yeah yeah

and let's face it we all majority of us live

life online and i'm sure we can find it online

to just you know have in our little collections

or post a facebook or whatever else yeah uh speaking

of facebook last year i had found this uh cosplayer

mad mel madigan I found her through Ladies of

Marvel in DC's fan page. She was 2013 June Hottie

of the Month. And she does cosplay as Black Cat,

and by far it's the best Black Cat cosplay I've

ever seen. Oh, yeah. Especially because, folks,

seriously, she does justice to that famous Janet

Jackson Rolling Stone cover. so very well oh

yes so very well yeah i'm just looking like you

know what i love spider -man but i hate that

bastard right now sorry sorry i have to speak

blue for a second i apologize but you know it's

it's a very nice image is what i'm saying oh

yes well most cosplay images in general but specifically

that one specifically that one yes um all right

so superior spider -man number 20 the regular

cover is superior spidey with black cat and it

looks like his ock arms are gonna do something

really really wrong to her well he set the scene

you got a couple glasses of bubbly candles the

moon is full the volkswagen in the background

talk about uncomfortable places Yeah, you just

see the way, uh... Uh, who did the cover on this

one again? Uh, I think that was Ca - That wasn't,

uh, Giuseppe Camcali. Yeah, it, um, let's see...

Cover, cover art, Antonio Fabella. Uh, okay.

Oh no, that's the color artist. Uh, letter...

Wow, it doesn't - It gives the variant covers,

but it doesn't give the - regular cover. I assume

it's the pencil or Giuseppe. I really do. Yeah,

it does. Just looking at it, maybe it's just

different inking or something. We'll have to

double check that as we go. I do like when you

go to the Daily Bugle update in the inside, just

that image they pulled from the crossover story

with the Spidey 2099. And how he's like trying

to plumb Peter Parker's memories and he's kind

of in his mind is inserted Otto Octavius into

all these shots you know, like some like there's

like the Like the artist they used to redo these

shots is you know doing some great homages to

like John Romita senior like in the scene where

you see Mary Jane go face a type II hit the jackpot

for the first time to the bottom corner there

which is you know very reminiscent of like the

original Steve Ditko art from like the first

issue of Spider -Man or Amazing Fantasy 15 stuff

like that yeah yeah um yeah I when I read this

when I first read through this I was kind of

disappointed These stories are just this issue

The story in this issue I was kind of disappointed

because the cover leads you to believe so many

things and Yet that scene lasts less than five

minutes Well, that's that in itself is almost

a variant cover because it's a lie Yeah, because

I mean as we get into the story here You know,

it's it's just flashing back to you know Otto's

death months or Peter's death months ago and

you go across town to a different hospital and

It's the same hospital where you know the Julia

carpenter formerly spider -woman now with the

new Madame Webb is waking from a coma And apparently

Norman Osborn's body is going missing from when

he tried to become a super adaptoid in Avengers

and it all went south and this Woman what wakes

up? Asking for Otto Octavius who apparently she's

been in a coma for this while and Well, that

was a past and we go to the future Wait, the

fat guy is the kingpin, right? It's it. It's

a woman No, no, no the page after that where

it is. Oh Wow, yeah It's a woman I Am fat myself

ladies and gentlemen, I'm no way in nears even

saying anything against fat people But at first

when I first saw that the words her chin. Yeah,

and it was the king All fat people are not alike

Low blow Mike But we move on and you know Otto

is Racing across town is spider -man for a date

with his love Anna who like I said before I like

the fact that not only That they're doing something

different the whole you know love interest and

the fact that she's a little person is Just it

doesn't even matter that she's a little person

is this robot. It's almost kind of a fully realized

relationship. You know, they've been seeing each

other for a while, you know, it's gone beyond

the whole tutor thing. And he's honestly enjoys

being with her. It's it's great. And it's for

what eventually is probably going to happen with

Otto, it's going to make it suck even more. But,

you know, he's running a little late for dinner

and he runs across the black cat. And I love

the. Oh, wait a second. We gotta go back there

for a minute because Otto had a had a Takei moment.

Oh my. Yeah, that's uh. Oh boy. You gotta love

George Takei because the guy sells that line

but yeah. So, I love to go to meet up with Black

Cat and then that that full shot of her Coming

out of the skylight and she's like, oh was I

doing a bad thing? You know that that's What

the art says there where she's like pose. He's

like, oh look at spider -man Well time to screw

with him a little bit more and then fist to the

face Yeah, she's like a tooth Like you just I

love the way her eye just pops where she falls

off this little roof into like rose garden and

she's like a tooth you you hit me you know let

me ask because I did outside of 698 to 700 I

had not been a read reading amazing did Felicia

and did black cat and Spidey actually become

lovers at one point well I mean classically at

the time that when around the time black cat

became like almost spider -man's partner in the

comics you know he wasn't he wasn't seeing mary

jane like they had kind of broke up and it got

to the point where you know he took his mask

off and she's like no it like she couldn't handle

being with spider -man and seeing his real face

it's like keep the mask on so the reason why

i ask is because she calls him her lover here

so well for a while they they'd kind of gotten

a thing on like in the past, and it basically

got to this Batman Catwoman thing with them where,

you know, she flirts with him, and he's kind

of like, uh, and then eventually she either gets

webbed up and gets away before the cops get there,

or he just lets her go. So they had a thing in

the past when it was Peter Parker in the webs.

You know, right. She's also crossed paths with

Otto as he says here in the past I've tried to

kill this woman more than once And then I fight

for justice. I do what needs to be done. He you

know webs her up and He's pretty much webs her

up calls Anna back is on his way the black cats

like oh it is so on and The funny thing is as

soon as I read that last line I won't forget

this spider ever. I heard Jennifer Hale's voice

in my head. Oh, yeah You hear Jennifer Hale's

voice is just saying of course you realize this

means war Yeah, you know, yeah, but they go to

you know, Otto and Anna's date and He does it's

a pretty substantial moment there where he's

created this Yeah, he's created this new super

web that he's got to basically sprinkle a dissolving

agent on it and that's when the webs will dissolve.

These are pretty much permanent now. And Anna's

like, uh, is this safe? Yeah. And I love the

whole, he's like, I have a proposal for you.

And she's like, oh really? He's like, wait, wait,

I meant business. I meant business. You know,

and it's basically, you see, he's got his cards

made up. He hasn't gotten his doctorate yet,

but he's, you know, Dr. Peter Parker, Parker

Industries, you know, he's creating his own,

his own future. And there's, I got a theory about

that, that'll speak about when we wrap up what

this could mean for the pause, like possibly

in the future. But I think that's kind of romantic,

suicidally dangerous, but kind of romantic of

what Otto's done here. He's got this awning set

over a street in the city that never sleeps.

It's just like, I could care less about gravity

at this second. It's just basically setting up

his future with Anna. Yeah, you know maybe and

it's not like the it's not like Peter never did

that before but like you said it always dissolved

But I mean, it's not like he's never done this

before. Yeah, but it's kind of so this kind of

move It's like, you know the third spider -man

film where it's just him and Mary Jane sitting

there for a little bit You know and Mary Jane

isn't well, it's not Kirsten Dunst. I'm just

saying But you go to the next morning back to

the same hospital from earlier and you see you

know, May's and Jay are waiting for May's therapist,

Shoshon, who's Flash Thompson's ex, where they

gave him a surprising amount of character development

back in the day during the Vietnam era, where,

you know, he goes to the Nam and meets this girl

Shoshon, and I think that's how it goes. I haven't

read a lot of the 70s, early 70s era Spider -Man,

but I know the character Shoshon is like... was

introduced around then and kind of became uh

flash thompson's girlfriend for a while and is

actually she showed up uh you know prior to uh

you know you where you got into the comics in

like 698 it was before that she came back in

uh when flash thompson was kind of reintroduced

to the title after he had re -enlisted in the

army went to afghanistan and in a fit of you

know heroism lost both his legs And she came

back and was Flash's physical therapist. See,

I probably need to read a lot of those old comics

that make Flash out to me more than just the

usual high school jerk that he is. Well, once

they got to college, he kind of lightened up

and, you know, Parker, you're all right. And

they even started that, like he was still a bully

for the longest time, but where Peter knocked

him flat in his ass in the early days of Amazing

Spider -Man. Which is around the time that you

know, hey, I don't need to wear my glasses anymore

Because this spider bite strengthened his vision,

but just look up Shashaun in the wiki It's the

easiest way to learn about her and flash but

you know, you see Shashaun is done with this

patient and You know, it's she's like see you

again next week and she's like no back into my

feet I'm ready and there's work to be done bump

bump bump And you got You know maze like ah,

we got to be quick about this, you know, she

May and Jay are you know, basically investing

in Peter's future and you bring back Was it Shani

or it's The my future vice president ready to

share the risk and the rewards Miss Jeffrey.

Yeah she's you know the the uber witch from horizon

yeah yeah and it's you know pure everything like

well Otto's putting everything into it his savings

his apartment you know it's the way it is and

then we go back to you know another fly in the

ointment Carly Cooper and Captain Watanabe where

you know they're going, they're preparing all

this work, like they're gonna burn Spider -Man

the way, you know, kind of the way the feds got

Al Capone for non -payment of parking tickets,

you know. It's all in the details, basically.

I just think when they do resolve this particular

plot point, it's not that Spider -Man's not gonna

get in trouble, but he's stealing from a dead

supervillain. And is that really so bad? You

know, at least that's how I think the argument's

gonna come from Otto. It's like, the guy's dead.

Might as well do something with his money. Yeah,

that's true. But, you know, you got that, and

Carly calls, you know, what'd she call, MJ? And

she doesn't know that, you know, MJ's... Well,

she knows that MJ knows that Peter is Spider

-Man, but she's just trying to warn her off because,

you know, the shit's gonna go... That the fits

gonna hit the Shan Yeah, you know and then you

got MJ where you know, she's going kind of meeting

up with the hot firefighter that rescued her

from the Goblin kids attack on her club, which

the image of Either either children little people

or robots The fact that it's diminutive versions

of the goblin attacking, there was something

both cute and really creepy about that image.

Oh, yeah. But, I mean, we finally get some comedy

in this thing where the wet firehouse dog kind

of attacks Mary Jane. Yeah. We got to talk about

the damn image, because she looks just like Julia

Robertson, pretty woman in that image. Oh, I

just like the fact that Mario has given her a

damn. Yeah Where's Luigi when you really need

him? May you rest in peace Danny Wells. Amen.

But yeah, no, that's That's a nice It just proves

how sad and lonely me and Mike are folks. We're

just looking at this. We're just like damn Yeah,

we got it I'm just saying it's it's only human

though. Yeah, but no, I like that and she's like

here to make like the right first impression

like she's going for face it tiger you hit the

jackpot in fact she half gets that line out of

her mouth before dog attack and the dogs like

kisses kisses kisses and she's like stop it you

know and I like that she's gone from Peter to

Pedro and I'm not saying that as a dog it's just

like you see that she's moving on oh god and

Why is Jonathan Moxon in my head now? Great.

You're the one that watches Chicago Fire. I don't,

so... Oh, no, no, no, no. You said Pedro. Think

of Varsity Blues. Oh, yes, yes. Pedro. Pedro?

Yeah, sorry, I haven't seen that movie in a while.

Oh, such a good show. Rest in peace, Paul Walker.

You know, that's right. He wasn't varsity blue

slants. Yeah, I completely forgot about that

And you know who everyone really loved on that

team. That was tweeter Because Scott on just

tweeter you think you're going to enjoy prison

probably Back to the matter so we get to Lamaze

Lamaze, whatever the hell I swear to God they

either draw his nose or his gut a little bit

bigger every time you see him yeah or if it's

not an actual size they just the art like just

was it kind of Coley makes every effort to make

this guy as physically unlikable as possible

yeah because I know that I know he's not past

these next couple issues we may not see this

guy again but at the same time good friggin riddance

yeah this whole Like it's important that I wish

there was more and it's not just because Black

cats hot as hell. I wish there was more black

cat less Lamaze in this yeah, okay sure the cover

is a total lie It is and we get it that that

that Don or whatever the hell his name is is

going to try to expose Parker for stealing from

a super villain which is what happens you know

the next page is right you know p because well

peter finishes his dissertation and apparently

he talks at length for two hours about this and

uh he has uh then lamaze gets up and it's like

i have one last question blah blah blah and apparently

lamaze hates peter so much that i don't believe

like However, whatever Otto Octavius's past was

before the accident that made him into Dr. Octopus,

maybe he was good friends with Lamaze then or

something, but all of a sudden Lamaze, I think

it's half he was good friends with Otto and half

he hates Peter's guts, that he calls him out

and he accuses Otto of stealing from himself,

basically. And I just love the what the F look

on Otto's face the next page. Yeah, that was

awesome. And he accuses of being a plagiarist.

The comment that he is intimately familiar with

Otto's papers, I kind of want to call bullshit

on that. yeah because i thought like it's clearly

from the way he's smiling he's like he's just

doing this to screw with peter i think it's more

so that he he might have known auto before the

accident maybe well he probably did but i mean

just the the way he's like you're a plagiarist

i know these papers intimately You're done. You're

finished. Forget your doctor and I'll see you

expelled. I'll make you the laughing stock of

the entire scientific community." And I love

the kind of faux painting, you know, image, the

ghostly image of Spider -Man in the background.

How Otto is just like, I am going to wreck your

shit. Yeah. I was like, do not piss off a supervillain,

you asshole. Yes. and then we go to the uh Lara

big lady from you know the beginning of the book

and it's like I said before it's uh it's Stunner

who like I said it's just there's something about

this like the origin was she was this woman who

was uh Carolyn Trainor's assistant, Carolyn Trainor,

for a quick little bit of Spider -Man comics

history was back in the 90s when VR was the next

big thing and they had some really ridiculous

stories involving virtual reality and Spider

-Man, oddly enough during the Clone Saga. And

this woman was the female Doctor Octopus's lab

assistant who gets strapped into this VR Reagan

Basically is like she Hulk without the benefit

of gamma radiation Yeah, and you know then you

know after the female doctor octopus was you

know written out of the books and She fell in

love with Otto Octavius and then Otto died and

she piled around the Marvel universe for a while

then Otto was brought back by a sect of the ninja

hands or the ninja sect the hand you know daredevil

foes and then people just forgot about her and

I guess you know uh with the slot writing he's

he's plumbing the the breadth the what do you

call it the width and the breadth of the spider

-man universe for characters from the past to

use and that's one of his best strengths is how

he incorporates characters who were ultimately

kind of forgettable like I like the idea that

the the idea of using virtual reality to escape

your physical reality. Stuff like that. That's

what I really liked about Stunner. They never

really did anything with that in the story. They

hinted at it, but it's basically, yeah, there's

this Amazonian blonde that's palling around with

all these different super villains, and she's

in Spider -Man's wheelhouse, and that's about

that. Yes, but she's not a princess only in her

mind She's not a princess coming from Themyscira.

Yeah. Oh They got they got Amazons in the Marvel

universe, but they're a lot more Well, they're

more the incredible Hercules than Diana of Themyscira.

So Well, it's good to see that Marvel isn't completely

copying DC There is that Overall I I Enjoyed

reading superior 20, but I Wish there was more

of certain stuff and less of certain stuff like

the story it to quote Portal the cover is a lie

Yes, I just that's just cheap Marvel. That's

just cheap. I wish that like It's a fluid story,

it continues events that we've already had. They

introduce the... God, I don't want to say it's

this, but it kinda is. It's... It's the Spider

-Man 3 of the Superior Spider -Man series, because

you have all this different stuff going on all

at the same time. You have this new villain who...

Okay, she was in a coma, she's now awakened,

she was the lover of Doctor Octopus, and now

she wants revenge on... superior spider -man

for killing him that's all well and good but

it really feels she she is a character to me

feels like she was Thomas Hayden Church's Sandman

there's not really done a lot done with her and

yes I know we're gonna get to more of her here

in 21 in a minute but like this first issue there

wasn't it's basically the simple explanation

she escapes And she goes back to the virtual

reality. She wanted to become a VR trooper all

over again. Oh, God. Oh, God. No, Mike, don't

go down that road. Well, at least it wasn't big

bad beetle borgs. I'm just trying to decide what's

worse. Grabbing a necklace and shouting we are

VR or a blue Jay Leno ghost. It blew Jay Leno

ghost. Oh, it's close Mike. It's close But yeah,

all right. So yeah I know you're like well, obviously

it's the first part of a two -part story, you

know, we'll get more into Stunner and everything

this next issue, which is at least the cover

for issue 21 isn't lying to us No, it's not but

at the same time it doesn't scream to me. Oh

my god. This is the greatest cover ever Yeah,

I don't know stunner the the cuz We spoil this

shit. Anyway, I mean it's been three or four

or five months since these books have been out.

So Spoiler warning tell no exactly Stunner to

me at least on the cover She looks like she could

be a part of the American gladiators. She's like

a female bodybuilder to like I don't know what

it is. She's basically like at least when you

know mark bagley was drawing her you know back

in the day she she basically looked like a female

little slightly bulkier female fitness model

i mean the best example i could think of is she's

like gina carano with a you know just a little

more buff i'm just waiting for someone to say

We don't want the blue play special because it

looks like something is gonna pop out of her

friggin stomach and eat everything alive On this

cover it look at her. Okay. I'm I'm not trying

to nitpick this Liz and you know what I have

to if you look right there below the the Brazier

where her stomach is sticking out that line right

there It looks like something is gonna come out

of that crack in her abdomen It just does I don't

see it but Doesn't look like that to me, but

I Don't see it I can see Michigan Jay frog popping

out of there. Hello, my baby. Oh Good. All right,

so superior 21 written by slot We're doing the

art on the cover again pencils. Yeah Dell is

the anchor Antonio Fabella is the color art Again,

they don't list I'm I just assume that Giuseppe

is the cover artist because they don't list in

the comic the cover artists Which is weird. They

usually do that. No, it's I think he did like

you definitely did the art enough last issue,

although they there were the the alternate covers

and This one it's it's definitely camacoli Yeah,

I'm doing Doing the art in this one. I like that,

you know Lethal ladies blah blah blah You know

cuz and I'm just reading here is like yeah, I

remember that that you know auto activities kind

of had a hand in creating this virtual technology,

but Carolyn trainer who was a grade a nut job

You know kind of took control of that and not

a whole lot about the last issue aside from the

You know referencing, you know, Peter Parker's

or Otto's demonstration at his first thesis there

you go right into the thing where You know go

to the offices of you know Midtown Manhattan

to the Daily Bugle and Betty Brant is once again

working for the bugle After the whole refusing

to walk out with the rest of the staff when That

that was actually one of the more quote -unquote

powerful moments back when they started, you

know brand new day Yeah, like after the deal

with the devil and all that where Jonah had his

had this heart attack that Peter basically caused

because he called him out. It's like dude he

basically called him an a -hole and you know,

you're a cheap ass and Jonah got so pissed off.

He had a heart attack and Marla Jameson sold

the bugle to Dexter Bennett who is this D bag

with the bowtie who turned the beauty daily bugle

into the DB and for years People in Marvel Comics

had called the Daily Bugle a tabloid, but Dexter

Bennett actually made it a tabloid and a lot

of people Like, Peter worked there for a while,

and he became a paparazzi for a bit, and then

he quit doing that. And not too long after that,

everybody walked out on the Daily Bugle except

Betty Brandt. And there was a lot of bad blood

between her and, you know, Robbie Robertson for

a while. You know, and then she went off, and

she started dating Flash Thompson. Oh, my God.

And they got back together, and this is after

he became Agent Venom. Oh my god, so but you

know, she's back on the job You know, it's a

still a it's a decent news operation, but you

know as you see in the next panel Well, I love

that final pill. Where can I find spider -man

when Stunner burst through the wall and she's

like, okay now it feels like the bugle. Yeah

I'm gonna say I don't know. Maybe it's my love

for the old Spidey 94 series, but Robbie doesn't

seem like he does a lot in this series. Well,

he hasn't I mean They haven't had the daily bugle

In here for a while like even when you know,

we went over the issues where fill your got out

it as the hobgoblin that was always kind of the

background, but the bugle hadn't figured too

prominently because Well as much as you want

to have the bugle in spider -man's life. You

can't use it all the time because he's not He's

not a Shutterbug anymore, you know, even before

Otto took over Peter was a scientist. He was

working in Horizon Labs being an Avenger. It's

just There's not a lot of room in his life anymore

Although I do like where Robbie's like, you know,

we're not in good terms with spider -man. We're

You know, it's like who don't worry if you're

a criminal in this town. He'll find you Well,

yeah, I also like that where she you know stunners

like how do you get spider -man here bring him

here now and Betty in lieu of the audience is

Robbie is like it's Angelina Brancali, you know

stunner used to be Doc Sox girlfriend is basically

in two sentences Robbie fills in Betty well fills

in Betty slash the audience And you can see the

black cat obviously got caught by the cops because

we got the headline from the previous day and

She's got the She's got red on her. Oh, yeah,

it's just like from the from the tooth Yeah,

and I like that he points out the spider bots

and we're doing an expose. It's worse to the

NSA We're doing an expose on it and I just love

the sick criminal smile on Stunner's face Where

she's like, so all you have to do is commit a

crime in front of those things and then Betty's

like, oh crap She's like she just has like I

had to pick today to come back to work And I

love that just chemical is our when he gets like

a decent close -up like that he shines in faces

but Gotta admit when when you do it from a distance

like if you use that top panel, which is probably

like seven feet away I'm gonna guess it's just

the further away it is from the camera The you

know, it's just the it doesn't work. He's better

close up and all that But enough time about that.

We gotta go see how watch autos partial meltdown

on the campus of ESU You know, he should just

carry her around Instead of dragging her everywhere.

Just put her on his shoulders. She's like whoa

whoa whoa calm down Peter calm down Yeah, and

he's just like frowning and like I swear to God

like they just try to make draw Lamaze is the

most unlikable SOB that has ever shown up in

spider -man Yeah, he's sitting there with this

sick. You know crap eating grin no He's you could

almost see him like doing the evil finger pyramid

and going EXCELLENT. And I like how Otto isn't

even hearing Anna. He's like, I need leverage,

ransack his office, intimidate him, no, a retractable

platform, over some piranha or a kraken, no,

a robot, a decommissioned L &D, program it to

be Lamaze and have it recant, yes? and he's serious

about all this ranting and you see Anna's face

she's like yeah robot double that's good I love

the fact that her nickname for Otto is slick

you know that's it's sweet you know and then

she's okay okay realistically what are you where

did he go and you know Otto has pulled a Batman

on Commissioner Gordon to his girlfriend And

I like he's got the voice commands suit compressed

civilian clothes and be quick about it. I don't

It It's too much of a symbiote trick to me what

happened? Okay, sure the clothes don't dissolve

the clothes don't like change, you know It's

not what all Peter was Yeah, he's got his his

his mechanical arms doing it but it's just It

doesn't look like mechanic they look like symbiote

You know cuz it's like liquid metal nanotechnology

it is but like okay if if he was wearing the

symbiote the symbiote would just Change in half

a second you wouldn't even need to use the arms

and that's kind of one of the reasons why I really

don't like it because he's I'm trying to look

on the Almost side of the building here how he's

I mean he's he's pretty much on the side of a

building where other windows could see him Regardless

if he has his spider mask almost all the way

down over his face If someone saw him jump up

there with the clothes Well, it's that's kind

of like in classically Peter Parker, you know

uses You know if he's doing something that's

endangered him like, you know exposing his identity

a spider sense would go off so Yeah, I'm assuming

at this point. I just love how his rant that

began on the ground is continuing in his head

Yeah, you know, it's like you know why should

though think of all the good i've done why should

that suffer all because lamaze wants to meddle

in my affairs and dealing with him well that's

for the common good yes i'd be in the right like

he's just master of self justification here but

i love the when you go to the next page and you

see this establishing shot of spider island and

how he's got the island basically surrounded

by his spider mechs i was like okay great he's

he's calling he thinks of himself as a hero but

at this point he looks like a goddamn super villain

yeah and it's like i love how the you know he

gets a call from his spiderlings and what is

it i'm busy i was like sorry super villain thought

you'd want to know what is it you don't yeah

i i still like that uh he's like that blonde

amazon woman stunner sir angelina Like autos

is a little bit surprised. He's like no no no

leave the mechs at home. I'll deal with this

myself and Again, you see the cops like bullets

are bouncing off of this VR. I love the fact

that stunner is essentially a solid state VR

hologram and Then yeah, it's such a 90s thing

like the costume in and of itself isn't so bad

You know, she's got a full -covered arm over

here. She's got just a long glove on the other

one. Oh, look, there's the leather wrap spikes,

because everyone likes spikes. And leather. Yeah.

And if you live in San Francisco, but that's

besides the point. Okay. But yeah, it's like,

I thought you were in a coma. I was, but I got

better. And it's like... yeah it's all thanks

to you spider -man well what did i do you murdered

my beloved and she just prepares to go ape house

on her or on him sorry i love the fact auto's

middle name is gunther yeah that's the best thing

about this exchange is just you know somebody

in the background is like gunther who names their

kids gunther Yeah, that is very true. So then

we get to Potter's field. Hey, that was a 12

stones album Which is a prison graveyard well,

it's not like they're really gonna spare some

expense and give you know, Dr. Octopus a proper

gravestone and all that In fact that that's how

well this I mean it did well, I mean they got

you know, auto Octavius, you know, like that,

that, that to that, that, that, but that's it.

It's, yeah, it's, they probably didn't even,

they stuck them in a pint, like literally a pine

box. It wasn't even close to being a coffin,

you know? And this is where, uh, I mean, hell,

there's nothing there. Yeah. Well, the whole

idea that, uh, you know, Carly kind of has this

little mini breakdown cause now she believes.

For all intents and purposes Peter Parker is

dead Because you know she's like realizes like

wouldn't Peter and ox body tried to tell her

and she didn't believe him and She's like, oh

god. I was a fool and then the carpet is pulled

out from under her Quite literally. Yeah, and

it's like there's no what the hell happened this

something in a raggedy ass cape and Green skin

grabs her with a maniacal laugh and well, the

best is yet to come and we get back to the fight

and It's just it's a classic superhero on supervillain

smackdown sort of fights. It's You know, I like

it it's just the the emotionally driven part

of the fight in stunner is Like she literally

doesn't care Who she hurts or anything at this

point? She's just trying to wreck spider -man

shit so you know and I do like the image where

You see like the multiple spider -man's, you

know, it's autos zipping around her at spider

speed and webbing her up and Yeah, that is pretty

cool and he's like basically uses his tech, his

enhanced vision to like track down, you know,

the where Angelina's virtual reality rig is.

And she's like, like, oh, Spider -Man, she has

no idea, you know, really what's going on, but

she's like, oh, Spider -Man, so cocky. And she

momentarily turns the VR off and then on again.

So Stunner basically walks through the webs.

yeah and he's like I love the cops reactions

like shit how'd she do that and he's like basically

Otto he couldn't care less about Stunner he's

heading back to the university to you know enact

his revenge and he sees Anna pleading Peter's

case and she basically she's basically calling

Lamaze on his shit pardon my French but You see

there, like the look on Lamaze's face is like,

where Ana says, there's something overlooking

and he's got this, I could really care less,

but keep on talking, child. Look, and she's like,

you've seen him work, you know, why would a man

with any, an intellect like that need to steal?

Which I'm surprised some of the other, like,

professors didn't call Lamaze on that. It was

like, really? He's plagiarizing. You know, I

mean granted they got to investigate an accusation

like that so And you almost see the eyebrows

raise on autos mask where he's like you understand

me like no one else ever. Oh crap Yeah, what

now? Oh good bust to the head a Bust to the head

at 50 miles an hour if it goes below that it

blows up. Yeah you know, where's Dennis Hopper

when you need him and You see she comes in first

she's with no small amount of effort has pitched

a full city bus at spider -man Then she flings

a full dumpster at him almost takes him out rips

off his arms and Well, this just proves how much

of a D bag Lamaze is because he basically out

of my way and he literally shoves Anna Even further

underneath this web that Otto was spun to catch

the bus Yeah, Lamaze is such a douche. Mega douche.

Yup. And it's uh, I love she's like sitting there,

that's it, beg for mercy, beg for forgiveness,

and spider bots to the rescue. Where you see

a bunch of them come in, they, you know, are

hacking into the VR rig, and she's about to deliver

the coupe to Gracie, and... All of a sudden,

it was deresed. Which is exactly, I love the

fact that they're the, I don't know if it's inspired

by Tron, but I love the way that the stunner

crumbles like a deresed program in Tron. It's,

and it's really - It's definitely, I would say,

I mean obviously we would have to ask the artist

or ask Dan Slott himself as far as how that was

supposed to come up in the script, but it does

look like - She got de -res'd, yeah. Yeah. And

you see that, you know, how Angelina, like, she's

right before the stunner goes down, she's crying.

You just see rivers of tears streaming out from

under the mask. And she truly did love Dr. Octopus.

She's just like, for the beautiful light you

extinguished from this world. And I was like,

yeah, it's okay, you know. I was in love with

the mad scientist and you know I'd probably lose

my crap too so but she did that and it goes back

to uh you know finally Anna gets out and he just

boom drops the bus and he's like uh how did you

know my name oh Peter talks about you all the

time and I like the fact they have like that

one dude say thanks Spider -man I really thought

that was cool yeah yeah that was pretty awesome

and then we see the return of doctor octopus

the real one this time yeah and that's honestly

my favorite you know quote unquote costume of

doctor octopus is arguably the uh orange and

green jumpsuit that he had like throughout the

70s and the 80s but the uh you know the the classy

suit that doctor octopus wore in the 80s and

90s like that was probably second favorite. I

love how he shows up like that and It's he's

basically he's Peter has or Otto has taken the

VR rig and installed it in spider island. He's

using it to you know drop some knowledge on Angelina

and kind of says like look you got to let me

go and You know, it's just I don't love you like

that anymore and it's You don't see a super villain

romantic breakup like that. Yeah, no, you don't.

And just honestly, it's a little, I wouldn't

say tear -jerking, but you do feel kind of sad

and a little bit of pity for Angelina. Just that

scene where Otto walks out of the room and she's

just hunched over crying like that. Like she

just basically lost her reason for living. You

know, what the hell is she going to do now? And

then we go to the schnoz It's interesting though,

yeah, it's very interesting just like I like

the What the dilly look on schnoz's face when

he opens the door Yeah, and then he's like I

rescind my previous objections. I take it all

back. Sorry my bad and then he's talking to quote

unquote, Peter. And honestly, that's kind of

a cop out on Otto's part. You couldn't think

up of a better explanation. Okay, you were his

assistant. You're a child prodigy. That works.

You came up with all the ideas like that's I

gotta say and on slots. So that that's, that's

not the best that slot can do. I think he could

have come up with a better reason than Dr. Octopus

is Because of you You know Yeah, it's it's it's

cheap is what I'm saying, but I love the absolutely

Evil look that kamikoli put on Peter's face there.

Oh, I wouldn't spread it around. You know how

Otto can be Yeah, you know what his ego is like.

Yeah, and you literally see you literally hear

the brown noise from from the schnoz there You

know, and it's and then it goes I'd say oh farewell

mr. Parker. Oh, should I say dr. Parker, you

know? Yeah, and I still like that as see slick

no piranhas no cracking everything turned out

all right And I was like, oh but the cracking

would have been so good Yeah, and we go to I

love this final page like this. This is like

Kind of like the last two minutes of the old

Adam West Batman show in a way You know just

it's such a good cliffhanger with the Green Goblin

and menace and they've got Carly Cooper and they've

got her journal which apparently Has all the

information that you know, it's a detailed account

of what she's done in her investigation Yeah

And I love the fact where menace says goblin

my lord i've brought you a present a very special

visitor from up above and i think that might

be a telling line is this the goblin underground

underneath this cemetery could be like that's

i just love the fact they've got this underground

super villain hq so and the absolute like just

that look on the green goblin's face i love it

yeah you know so i don't know like what did you

think of this two -parter i liked it i still

wish 20 was more black cat less other stuff uh

i like the overall story i thought it was great

i like all the parts with um parker and and anna

maria i thought that i thought i think that's

a really interesting even though it's technically

creepy since it is an old man in peter's body

but It's a very different way of portraying Peter

Parker. Yeah, the real Peter Parker. Like, I

mean, overall, for me, I like the story. I like

the story. You know, it's a decent story. Like

I said, Stunner, like I've got nothing but love

for the 90s. Like, yeah, there was a lot of crap.

A lot of crap. But there is a lot of stuff, too.

And like I said, I like the character Stunner

and the idea that, you know, it's the matrix,

you know, you your realized self image and obviously,

you know, Angelina was unhappy with, you know,

the fact that she was large and in charge and,

you know, more, it's like role playing on an

epic scale for the center. But yeah, like you

said, like we said that that cover, it's just

marketing like, hey, check this out. Black Cat,

huh, huh. And talking you know just like Carly

we got the carpet pulled out from under us Yeah,

it's like pretty much three pages and a punch

to the face and autos on with his day You know

I do hope That she does come back though. Oh,

yeah Well, we'll see what happens. I mean I don't

think I know slots a pretty smart writer and

it wasn't the strongest issues that he's written

but he I know the guys got an over like an overarching

game plan and I Don't think he would bring that

character back like this Just to fix the whole

Spider -man or Peter Parker's stealing from a

dead super villain For his thesis, you know,

I think they're there. She'll probably show up

again. We'll see and I mean black cat Oh Okay.

Well, no, yeah black cats definitely gonna come

back but Sheen. Yeah black cat. We need to see

more black cat Maybe after the darkest hours

four -part story that's coming up and I know

you mentioned Jennifer Hale before but my favorite

voice is Trisha Helfer from spectacular She can't

teach their own mic, teach their own - No, it's

not the voice actress, it's the animation on

Spectacular, I just... I don't know. That's an

argument for another day. Yes, yes it is. We're

gonna take a quick break and then we're gonna

get into annual number one for Superior Spider

-Man. Oh boy. Spider! Goodness, you're only stunned.

Blast! He got away! Because of you! What were

you thinking? You risked both our lives for this?

I couldn't let an innocent creature be destroyed.

Don't you care about anybody anymore? That's

just the problem. I don't think I do. Wait! I

don't know why you want to be a crime fighter,

but take my advice. In the end, you'll regret

it big time! I wish I could tell him why I want

to be a crime fighter. it's not just for me all

right finally up today we're going to be talking

about the superior spider -man annual number

one why is he looking at that guy's crotch bad

perspective i know it's uh the the annual i'm

just going to say right now this is probably

one of my favorite stories in uh superior spider

-man history History, there's only been 20 something

issues so far. I'm just saying I Like, you know,

but I mean to get in it right away the cover

done by JG Jones and Laura Martin it's uh, I

Like that the kind of almost painted style of

the art in the coloring You know, it's it's this

it's a very marked contrast between Giuseppe

come and Collie's art in the regular series.

Yeah. And the interior art is done by Javier

Rodriguez. I hope I said that right. And his

art style is looking at is very reminiscent of

Marcos Martin, who's got this very minimalist,

almost Steve Ditko -esque style. And so does,

you know, Rodriguez here. I love that they just

have the quick catch up, you know, Otto Octavius

is Spider -Man, you know, he's got, uh... Well,

we don't even have the quick catch up because

it starts with... Well, no, I mean, like, on

the... where it's, like, Superior Spider -Man,

you got, like, that three -block blurb of just...

Yeah. ...catching the readers up and all that,

and, uh... Well, that... but the first page,

though, before we even get to that is... the

the mobster with the clink clink clink and at

first before i turn the page to get to where

you're talking about when i first saw regrettably

i find myself unemployed as well hard times for

us all i for one second thought it was michael

morbius because of the coloring oh yeah and morbius

is still out there but this is blackout now quick

little and i will make this quick he is a One

of the primary if not the primary villain of

the Danny catch ghostwriter series from the 90s

where initially he was this albino hitman with

a penchant for Because he's got these fake fangs

that he had, you know custom made he would like

rip out people's necks he killed the Danny catches

sister and Later on the series. He found out

that he was the one of the last descendants of

the Demon Queen Lilith who there was this huge

crossover between Ghost Rider and all the other

Marvel horror heroes of the 90s like Morbius

and the Night Stalkers and all that and so now

he's got like half demon powers where he can

like regenerate and his actual superpower which

he had before he even became a demon was he literally

sucks all the light out in a room like he makes

you know he just causes lights to go out and

you know computers to just turn off and it's

just something happens that this is he just has

this ability it was never really explained but

you know obviously it helps him because he's

like this vampiric hitman yeah and he hasn't

been seen since we're talking off air there about

uh He was last seen in the Ghost Rider Heavens

on Fire miniseries trying to invade heaven with

Kid Blackheart and got his tail whooped but good

by Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch and honestly

folks just pick up the trade and read the wiki

and it will save you some time. I mean I will

say about the like like what did you think of

the opening? Well I like the opening but the

whole point of I don't know for me like Unless

annuals are which most of the time they are outside

of what's currently going on or most of the time

When I see an annual it's It usually deals in

a lot of flashbacks a lot of this a lot of that

and I'm perfectly fine with that But the fact

that this isn't even written by slot don't get

me wrong. Christos Gage is an amazing writer

He is I like some of his stuff, but I just Like

the story, but I don't know when I first heard

this was coming out. I'm like really an annual

already well technically the Superior Spider

-Man has been running for Close to a year and

the thing is annuals It's not like back and even

in the 90s when annuals would come out once a

year You know and usually they had a big story

that would Sometimes tie into the ongoing story

sometimes wouldn't or would tie into like the

ongoing crossover at the moment But I do remember

reading an article with slot where he they were

asking him about the up cunning Upcoming, you

know the superior annual and he said it does

matter You know, oh no, it does matter. I'm not

saying it doesn't matter. I'm just I'm one of

those people that I like Alright take Batgirl

for example the current ongoing for Batgirl Yeah,

there are two issues where Gail Simone was not

writer on the book because of the whole fiasco

of DC firing her and It wasn't because that they

fired her that I really don't care for Batgirl

18 and 19 or not It's either 17 and 18 or 18

and 19. I forget which ones I think it's 17 and

18 But I could be wrong. There's two issues where

Ray Fox does it. And it's one of those things

where the letterings, the bubbles have changed,

the monologue letter type face stuff changes,

and the whole writing style isn't what I had

already been reading with Gail Simone as the

writer. And that's one of the reasons why I'm

not a fan of, like, Slott is the superior Spider

-Man writer. That's what he is to me. I'm not

saying this isn't a good issue. I'm not saying

that I don't like this issue I just have a hard

time adjusting to New creative teams when it

comes to the writers when they change So frequently

and that that's really my issue with this was

that the writing in it is good It's not it's

not bad. I really do like all the stuff with

without May and Uncle Jay and all this and all

that and everything else I I think that's great.

I think it's nice that they took the time to

explore Peter's home life with Aunt May. I thought,

you know, because we haven't had a lot of chance

to do that in the main body of the series. No,

that is true. But I absolutely love the next

page, you know, moving the story forward here,

where who are you and what have you done with

my nephew? Yeah. And I love the almost, I don't

want to say animated style, but there is a certain

flow to Rodriguez's art. You know, it's got this

sense of, you know, it's not hard, like camacolis.

So it's got this almost animated feel to it,

just like the soft colors and everything. I just,

I love this art. just the whole thing is like,

you haven't eaten weak cakes like this since

you were a child. And he's like, they're delicious

at me, I could eat another stack right now. And

I love the kind of passing reference to Dr. Octopus,

where Jay says, keep eating like that, you'll

end up a chubby middle aged man. You know, stuff

like that. And and I love the fact that in the

characterization of auto as Peter Parker, Spider

-Man, is that he's more attentive to every aspect

of his life than Peter ever was. Yeah, like,

you know, and Aunt May was. But but that's kind

of like it's it's the polar opposite of Peter.

Well, Peter still loved Aunt May and he was kind

of attentive. That seemed more real a relationship

because of the times you were, oh, I'm sorry,

Aunt May. you know, ran late traffic, you know,

and you see Aunt May is just, that's okay, Peter.

And just reading stuff like that, that sounds

like some, like, just I see a conversation between

me and my mom that we've had a million times

over in my life in an exchange like that. But

I mean, I love Otto's still thing here, you know,

I've neglected things before, like regular exercise

and being around for the people who mean the

most to me. And she's like, well, go make some

more weak cakes before I start crying. You know,

and it's I do love the little man to man talk

that Jay has with Otto here. And, you know, he's

just kind of like trying to warn him off of associating

with Spider -Man because of how Spider -Man's

been getting hardcore with criminals and all

that. And it's. you know, and then he's just

like, look, it's like, I'm doing what I can.

And, you know, it's the right thing to do. And

besides, I'm not exactly in a good place with

money right now. And, you know, Jay's like, I

understand that I just, I love this exchange,

how it's a very adult conversation and it's not

a conversation Peter Parker would have. Like

he would, he would have this conversation, but

It wouldn't be nearly as mature, like there'd

be a lot of back -paneling and a lot of um -gee

-oo -ah. And that, I mean, that's Peter. That's

how Peter would talk, deal with this. And it's

not that he isn't mature and responsible, but

you know, he, it's not, he's not Otto Octavius.

So it's just, I love that sort of story. Yeah,

and then we get blackout blacking out everything

on the page after that I do have to point out

I don't know if it's the art or Because I assume

this is all happening in Conjunction with what

has already happened in the ongoing, right? Well,

yeah, it's I like the time where he is the scene

where he's jumping across the roof like Michael

Jordan He doesn't have again. I don't know if

this is the artist or whatever else He doesn't

have the the the mechanic. Oh wait He wouldn't

have the mechanical arms would he since she ripped

them off last issue Well, he doesn't walk around

with them out all the time like they're collapsed

into his spider backpack But but that's my point

here the the image where curse you robots showing

me something other than darkness um I do like

that's right out. It's Well, that scene where

he's in the Michael Jordan pose when he's jumping

across the roof, it doesn't look like there's

a backpack on his back. It looks like the spider

is a part of his costume. It's not like other

artists have done it where it protrudes out,

is what I'm saying. Yeah. Well, yeah, it's not

as prominent as, you know, like Kamakoli's art.

And I do love The fact that you know Otto Octavius

is a really intelligent guy. There's no denying

this But it's like that spider -man meme the

spider on my back only has six legs. I'm living

a lie You know, I love that but if you skip back

a couple pages just after Otto leaves May and

Jay's apartment I love the shout -out to one

of the Classic what the eff moments of spider

-man history from the 1970s where Aunt May almost

married Dr. Octopus. Because at the time, Aunt

May somehow inherited a small island off the

coast of New York that contained a nuclear reactor.

And Otto Octavius had gotten out of prison. And

this is for a very long time through the late

70s and into the 80s. Aunt May ran her house

in the Cree as a halfway house for, you know,

for whatever. Like they have this guy, I can't

remember his name, but he was kind of like an

80s version of Uncle Ben, where he was in a wheelchair

and he was kind of sweet on Aunt May and he became

like the kind of the de facto father figure in

Peter's life. And this is like years after where,

you know, Otto kind of moved in for a while and

he started romancing Aunt May and Peter Parker.

Oh, God, that's just wrong. Yeah, and as the

art goes you see blackout following him and or

or he sees blackout Kind of following him that

he goes, you know takes at me. We get the Michael

Jordan pose Although I do love the one image

of as blackout I don't know if that's a manifestation

of his powers or what because I remember reading

and goes right that he just basically walks into

room and the lights go out but he's got like

this mist or whatever coming behind him and I

just love that image like it's done very well

with the art like it's it looks suitably creepy

for this vampire with uh you know ponytails and

a cowboy hat and how he just casually boo and

bends the fire poker that jay was defending him

and may with and it's uh i i just love that but

yeah i p auto races to the scene and it's I can't

believe, I love the look on Otto's face where

he's like, this is good, he wants something from

me. You know, I was like, dude, somebody just

jacked your aunt, I think he should be pissed

off. Like that whole exchange between him and

Jay, where Jay's losing his crap and everything.

Yeah, yeah, that, yeah, that's crazy. And then

I love that, where he has like that action. He

movie moments like by any means necessary and

i'm that's the one nitpick I have about that.

That's a great line to have it in a situation

like this but rodriguez's art he It doesn't work

because peter like auto just has this baby face

So it just kind of sounds ridiculous Yeah, and

I love the fact that clearly uh knock blackout

hasn't moved beyond the 1990s because he leaves

a cell phone for Peter to deal with that is straight

out of the 1990s. No, this isn't even a throwback

to the 90s. This is a throwback to the John Cena

film, 12 Rounds, that came out a couple of years

ago because he's like, I will get you a new disposable

cell phone every time I call, blah, blah, blah.

And I swear, when I read this part of the story,

I'm like, Wow, when's when's John Cena gonna

pop up somewhere? Yeah, and then and I love the

blackouts whole blackmail scheme here. See what

I did there Yeah, uh like he's captured at me

and he wants Peter man to you know Ruin spider

-man's day, you know web fluid that clogs gobbles

that go dark those robots catch a virus You know

and it's basically He wants to use this to The

ultimate goal of blackout in this is that he

wants to re up his rep because he's been out

of the game for so long yeah, and I mean, okay,

it's he's well he's in the comics he has been

a very vicious and Sociopathic villain he's never

and he's certainly intelligent. The boy is a

little bit dim because Name me one supervillain

that hasn't tried this sort of ploy over the

years. Oh Yeah You know, I do like the fact that

Ghost Rider does actually show up in this that's

kind of cool Yeah, or where he calls Danny Ketch

Yeah, and again, it's kind of like that two -sentence

info dump that Robbie gave us about Stunner in

the last issue. I Just to go back once again.

I love that You know, it's like you've not you're

not dealing with Parker or spider -man. You've

made it enemy of the superior spider -man and

then you have no idea what I'm capable of and

I love when he says that you get that wide shot

of like holograms and spider -bots and He's basically

gone high -tech CSI on his ass Yeah, you know

and then he calls Danny Ketch and he gives him

the the rundown of what Blackout is. And honestly

that was one of the better villains in that Ghost

Rider series. But other than that, I like his

advice where he doesn't know who he's talking

to. Like he knows it's Spider -Man, he doesn't

know it's Doctor Octopus. And he's like, if you

have to fight him, kill him. And Spider -Man's

like, really? Like doing the chin stroke there.

Yeah, he kinda was. And I do like how he goes

by Dr. Strange's places like, should I consult

with this man? Nah, he might read my mind. The

Dr. Strange thing, all I can envision when we

see him on that page, the characterization from

Superhero Squad show. Oh yeah. That or he's listening

to some Sabbath, you know, because he's throwing

up the horns like that. Talk about having an

Iron Man appearance. Yeah. And I should point

over the page after Spider -Man talks to Danny

Ketch. And just like how you see here his inner

monologue here, how he's talking about, you know,

The truly intelligent man knows when he is outside

his field of experience and he's you know kind

of weighing the pros of cons of getting help

from dr. Strange and Ultimately is like I like

the thing is like I've taken on the Herculean

task of correcting Peter Parker's mistakes and

You know, I am the superior superior in every

way and I will prove it You know, I kind of like

that. Just you get that little bit of not necessarily

character development, but just kind of that

reaffirmation of what Otto's motivation is. Yeah.

And I got to confess in this next page where,

you know, he finds Blackout's hideout in this

meat packing plant, coincidentally enough, called

Abattoir, which I thought was kind of cool and

cheesy at the same time, where Blackout opens

the door and there's this carpet of spider bots.

The first thing I thought of is that scene in

the animated G .I. Joe movie where, you know,

Serpentor come back to Cobra, la, la, la, la,

and this living carpet of crabs, you know, just

marches out. That's what that looks like right

there. Yeah, it does. Was almost hoping that

this this villain hideout Would have been a reference

to spider -man to have it over the water. Yeah

It's I doubt blackout smart enough to build something

that'll generate a mini black hole, but yeah

No, I could see the I could see that this is

the spider -man too. I just love that that first

panel it's like a Kind of a double page spread

where it's boot to the face Yup. And the spider

bots are helping at me, and... I like that it's

like, I warned you, she's dead! And then, what

the hell? Yeah. What the hell? And the spider

shield is back. Yeah, see, I like him using this.

I think that's cool. I think it's interesting.

I think it's a way to keep his... his Victims

is the wrong word but To keep certain people

of you know to keep the certain people that he's

trying to keep safe keep them safe. Yeah No,

I get that, you know, it's it's you know, he

used it before god back in The Daily Bugle I

think yeah, you know he used it then I think

it's interesting that that he continues to use

it at least every once in a while no i i do like

the fact is a lot of times in the past with peter

parker like before brand new day whatever you

would come up with like a cool piece of tech

he usually only used it for that story and it's

never seen again like there's some like cool

things and they're usually just one -offs that

he would never need again but it's just Peter

Perk was a smart guy and he did come up with

stuff before but it's He never hang on to this

technology and it's I again like you I love the

fact that he brought the force field back Like

this, it's you know proves that he is a lot of

a little bit smarter where he's hey I got a good

thing here. I should use this Yeah, I got a good

thing here. I should use this. Oh, and I'm gonna

add another thing To the orange bubble or to

I'm gonna add another thing on top of the orange

bubble that that basically Peter Parker himself

would have never ever thought of oh Man yeah,

and I love that you like axe handle to the face

and You know it's like I like that save nothing

could save you know save me you're the one who

dies today, and I was like That is a great, like

that full page spread like that. That's some

beautiful art, but so dude, you don't know who

you're messing with. Yeah. And then, yeah. Blood,

you know, blackout blacks the room out. And I

love like it's, I love how auto suckers blackout

in like this. Yeah, it's pretty ingenious like

how he's the tea he not only protected his neck

he booby -trapped it with a taser field you know

and He I I love the fact that he rips a piece

of the railing off the stairs makes a crutch

for Aunt May There is a police officers at a

diner one block away from here a couple blocks

away They'll see that you receive medical attention.

I'm sure this has all been a shock And it just

has that devious, I'll finish up here. Look over

his shoulder like this, just like, oh, shit's

about to get real. Yeah, it is. And it does.

And it does because we then go to traditions.

Yeah. And it's I love the fact that the beating

and the epic beating that auto delivers onto

blackout is half Half like the I am messing you

up because you try to re -up your rep using me

Yeah, and it's also because you know Otto does

legit care about at me Yeah, and then oh classy

blackout spits in his face You know, it's He

basically the the villain cliche of like you

haven't beaten me You have no idea who you're

dealing with it, you know Spidey's just standing

right there glaring at black out getting spit

and blood spat upon him and I just love the image

of like this little spider bot crawling up over

his shoulder holding a pair of dentist pliers

Yeah, that's creepy as all hell oh god like this

this last thing is like You know, hardcore is

almost too tame a phrase to describe what Otto

does here, but he... Well, first of all, we should

mention that he's thrown Blackout onto these

meat hooks surrounding the thing, so it's like

something out of Hellraiser. He's just handing

there, he's pinned like a butterfly on a board,

and he pulls out Blackout's fangs. Yeah, pretty

much. And he's also going to take these as like

fascinating. Your claws seem to be made out of

keratin like normal fingernails, but they're

much stronger. I shall have like he's pulled

out his fangs. He pulls out his like, you know,

terrorist torture people should learn from Dr.

Octopus. You know, and then he brings a UV lamp,

you know, to like blackout is crying at this

point like he's like please don't do anything

more and then you know basically auto uses this

to his advantage where he's like you tell everyone

peter parker's off limits you know family friends

the guy that brings him a pizza you know he basically

says if anybody touches peter parker from here

on out i will pardon my french i will beep your

shit up and then he turns the lights on and he

leaves them on and well uh aunt may sees everything

yeah she's kind of horrified at this point which

kind of brings it back around like how she used

to say oh that dreadful spider -man you know

back in the day it's kind of slots kind of brought

that whole relationship full circle because And

I'd have to go back and read I'm pretty sure

at this point Aunt May doesn't know that Peter

Parker is Spider -Man anymore because pre the

DC style reboot that they did where he made the

deal with Mephisto Aunt May knew and was kind

of okay with Spider -Man or Peter Parker being

Spider -Man So but I think from one more day

on she doesn't know anymore So in terms of storytelling

like it's kind of brought it or back around to

her, you know, Peter You should stay away from

spider -man. He's bad news And and I love the

next day thing that's Just wow, like if that's

24 hours later Blackout got the word out pretty

damn quick Yeah, where the guy, you know the

pickpocket steals Otto's wallet and he's like

And let's see here, credit cards, credit card,

oh crap. And you see the guy literally sweating

buckets when he returns, for the love of God,

I've got kids. And of course, as always, with

almost every issue, because it's leading up to

Goblin Nation, we end with Traditions and the

Green Goblin. And that's, and I love Rodriguez's

Goblin here, that's... Classic green goblin,

you know, that's almost 90s TAS Goblin a little

bit. Well, yeah, this is I mean, that's the classic

thing with like the chain mail scales on the

arms, you know big ears, you know sock for a

cap and Stuff like that. He's got some minion

who I don't think it's hobgob like hobgoblin

or What's the menace which is the female? green

goblin Seriously, just look that one up on the

spider -man wiki because even I can't explain

that easily But yeah, it's just you know, it's

it's all this bump bump bum kind of buildup.

It's like Hopefully after the next storyline

darkest hours The like I I hope gob like goblin

nation is just gonna be like the superior spider

-man story for for all this buildup and it's

been some pretty good buildup, but I mean after

the hobgoblin story and Yeah, problem nation

needs to be epic it does it really really does

because even though majority of Darkest hours

has has kind of come out already by the time

people will hear this episode We haven't even

gotten to cover that yet. Yeah Which we will

and then Goblin Nation is the next thing and

we're just gonna wait for the trade on Goblin

Nation I I mean, I'll read it. I Think I am gonna

wait for the trade on that one I am gonna stop

the ongoing the single issue gets because I just

I Got a cut back somewhere. Oh, no, that's buying

a trade of it is is so much Easier than having

to get the single issues overall the annual i

like the story it's just not so much that i dislike

the writing and all the writing was damn good

the art was great it's just when i pick up a

book and i see a writer's name on there that

i don't associate with that book you know what

i mean like um you know like you're used to the

writer of the ongoing series but in this case

Right exactly and and like I said before I've

read I've read different things of Christos gauge

that that he's done And I like him as a writer,

so the annual I enjoyed it That's an interesting

story, it's a interesting way to have the Marvel

universe kind of Do a few more crossovers because

you've got spider -man and and and Ghost Rider

in this well. Yeah, you get that cross pollination

going on Yeah, you know, it's just I can't wait

for the inevitable fall of you know, dr. Octopus

it because I just love any time he runs into

the Avengers, you know, it's Captain America's

and remember spider -man you're on probation

and odd is just like oh you So yeah, so he is

running to the Avengers recently like he's still

technically an Avenger, but he's part of the

mighty Avengers now Okay, which is like the second

time that well, it's just because they have this

new Avengers title start up in the wake of the

Marvel crossover infinity where majority of like

the main Avengers team goes off into space to

fight Thanos and These guys called the builders

who are like these uber -powerful aliens and

there's not a lot of there's no not a lot of

Avengers left on Earth so Luke Cage kind of Fight

you know the the first story is basically the

Avenger these disparate group of heroes coming

together to fight a Villain that no single hero

can withstand so it's kind of hearkens back to

the origin of the classic Avengers team So so

Otto is a part of that Avengers right now Oh

boy. Yeah. All right. Well, we're gonna take

a quick break. We're gonna come back with final

thoughts and ratings and all that good stuff

after this. Hey, Keycast listeners, do you ever

listen to Punisher Body Count and think to yourself,

this show would be awesome if it had less toilet

humor and was not about the Punisher? If so,

join me, Emily Williams, as I class up the Punisher

guys on Dane and Jake at Classy. We're like the

Oprah Book Club of comics. You'll hear us discuss

famous works like The Dark Knight Returns and

The Grove, along with graphic novels no one else

is talking about, like Blue Monday and Blankets.

You can find us at daneandjakeatclassy .wordpress

.com or on iTunes. Just great. Don't worry spider.

I'll help you find I don't need your help I need

you to stay out of my way out of my life. What's

with him? I don't know. He seems to be going

through some personal struggle right now Unfortunately,

it's giving in tunnel vision. I mean there's

more involved here than what spider thinks. All

right, so we are back and final ratings for these

issues Number 20 I have to give I Don't know

four out of five stars. I Like the story. I just

think there are too many stories. I mean it's

a natural Evolution in the book, but I just think

that there's too much in here And then like I

said earlier in the episode there's not enough

of certain things and there's too much of other

things Yeah, do we really like right now in this?

Technically part one of Stunner's story. Do we

need the wrap -up with Carly and and Watanabe?

Do we really need that panel? I think it was

Necessary to move that subplot along Okay, you

know, that's why it was there. It's I mean to

the it doesn't Me to the when I say main story.

I mean just that this to issue story It doesn't

really try for us, but it moves this subplot

of long that Carly You know, there's knows there's

something not kosher about spider -man and she's

teamed up with the Wraith, you know to Find out

the truth, you know, they're moving toward like

this is all building toward their subplot is

Laying the groundwork for a goblin nation Yeah,

so I mean it's necessary. But again just that

for like I said with that for issue 20 I give

it a Four I had three and a half a four Just

it's a decent story. But again, I like you. I

feel cheated. We get this cover promising the

black cat and we get her for all of 30 seconds

or less. Well, yeah. And that's pretty much the

probably the not even a full minute, the length

of the confrontation between, you know, Otto

and Felicia, where it's like, oh, hi, spider,

ready to chase me. Fist to the face, webs. Have

a good night. Yeah, you know and that was the

fastest quickie I've ever seen Man not even the

flash the flash is that quick. Yeah, really,

but yeah No, it's like I give it like that three

and a half of four and I it's somewhere three

point seven five You know, it's just yeah. Yeah

You know, yeah, like I said bringing stunner

back, you know having this thing and it's a very

auto Centric story in a lot of ways not just

with her not just with her but with you know

him trying to get his doctorate and all that

or peter getting his doctorate and then you move

to the second half of the story which is more

kind of classic spider -man in a lot of ways

with you know the super villain fight and i'm

back for revenge because you killed the man that

i love and You know, it has like a decent wrap

up. Like I said, you see that last image of Angelina's

auto is walking out of the room and you can't

help but feel a little bit sad for it because

I mean, what is she going to do now? You know,

she's been in a coma for like probably two or

three years comic book time. And it's like 20

years real time. Yeah, pretty much. You know,

I wouldn't. ever trying to figure out you know

reality the comic book time scale you know it's

you know tony stark used to get the blown up

in asia now he gets blown up in afghanistan and

then becomes iron man and that was even before

the movie so but yeah no i i like that story

the i'm gonna give a solid five for the annual

Like for 21, I'm gonna give it a for further

inclusion to To the stunner story for issue 21.

I'm gonna give that a 4 .5, which is almost perfect

I I don't know what it was like maybe I'm maybe

I have too much high Expectations because I want

to see some of the other characters like I want

to see stuff with Robbie I want to I know I know

you said the bugles kind of not It's kind of

a non -entity a little bit. Yeah, and it's in

really I mean you need the mayor at the bugle

to be the bugle really So maybe I hate maybe

by issue 40 JJ's run as the mayor will be done

Go back to running the bugle. Well, we'll see

cuz I I would kind of argue it It's not that

it has to be it's not the bugle without Jonah

But I think what they've done the various writers

that have done with the the bugle over the year

the last few years, you know from it being leveled

during the early days of one more day and then

kind of They they've always kind of had the bugle

before Jonah and Marla sold it to Robbie and

Ben Urick with frontline Like they've built it

up to they can stand on its own without Jonah.

I mean Classically, yes. The best version of

the bugle has this Ed Asner slash J .H .K. Simmons

sounding voice, because if you could mix those

two together, that would be the ultimate J. Jonah

Jameson voice. Oh, yeah. You know, for me, like

you, the bugle has to have Jonah's bellowing

in the background and the stench of cigar smoke

and... Peter begging for a paycheck, you know,

that's that's the bugle for me But what they've

done with it over the last few years is they've

really built up This element of the spider verse

that it can stand on its own without the flat

-top Hitler You know, so yeah, but it's just

not the same like I get that but it's God you

mentioned JK Simmons and all's I can see is I

think it's the second movie That she keeps Betty

keeps pressing the buzzer when he's going Yeah

You're right and Asner as the animated version

of JJ And and JK Simmons is the live -action

version, but JK Simmons even did him He's doing

him in like the current in ultimate Well, he's

doing it across Ultimate, Agents of Smash, and

Avengers Assemble, so. Yeah, and it's like, you

know, no offense or no disrespect to the love

of 90s Ed Asner Jonah, but J .K. is, he will

and always will, forever will be J. Jonah Jameson.

As Kevin Conroy is to the Dark Knight, J .K.

Simmons is to J. Jonah Jameson. I do like the

nod. to the 90s era Jonah in the cartoon in the

fact that, you know, any time Jonah shows up

in these shows, he's J Jonah Jameson for Daily

Bugle Communications, you know, it's that's a

nod back to Ed Asner's Jonah J3 community. Yeah,

it's like the one the one complaint I had at

the 90s series is that Jonah wasn't completely

Jonah. Like Ed Asner is a very good Jonah. Don't

get me wrong. I love it, but is really is subdued

You know you you want Jonah flying off the handle

screaming at everybody You know like even like

a spectacular spider -man I forget the name of

the man that voiced Jonah there, but they had

you know the the screaming barking J Jonah Jameson

yeah, and it's like Again, I think it's No, it

is the first movie with this one where he's not

barking, but he's talking really fast. He's like,

take page five, moving to page 11, take page

six, move it to page seven. Yeah, you need...

You got to have this tempestuous blowhard. Yeah,

you do. but you really really do yeah and for

like i said like i don't think the annual uh

well for 21 i i give it a five as well and we've

certainly discussed already what we like and

don't like about it but yeah like i said with

the annual i give it a five uh rodriguez's art

is a highlight for me i mean there's a couple

instances like where you get that close of of

auto's face and he's by any means necessary which

it just looked and sounded in my mind completely

ridiculous. I love the... I love the fight between

Spider -Man and Blackout in the abattoir meat

plant, you know. It's... it's creepy in a way,

not just because of how the art is laid down,

but also because of that almost... that kind

of softer, almost animated style of the art,

as I mentioned, because it's... you know, it's...

both scary and not scary at the same time it's

just it just it creeps me out a little bit just

because this is like a cartoon but dude the man

just had his fingernails ripped out like jesus

yeah you know and i like the fact that you know

chris does gauge a guy like you said the guy

does some really good work and i like how he

very seamlessly inserted blackout and danny ketch

into kind of the larger narrative of superior

spider -man like it's we may not see them again

but it was very organic the way that uh they're

brought into the story you know as as blackout

being this kind of has been uh sis like serial

killer hitman and you see it's months removed

from the events of like, you know ghostwriter

heavens on fire and Danny catches a lot better

and Because at the end of that series it was

in a bad place Yeah, and everything and you know,

like I said It brought the whole aunt May on

spider -man kind of full circle that she's come

back to that that dreadful spider -man Peter

stay away from him You know stuff like that.

I mean like what did you like about the annual?

I like the annual for the story that that it

told with the family. Yeah with may Jay and Peter,

you know, like we said Otto is way more attentive

than Peter ever was. Oh, yeah, just that whole

man -to -man that Jay has with them, you know,

yeah, it's not It's just yeah, it was just a

great piece of I do like the The comeback of

the bubble, and I do like the introduction to

the electroshock shoulder, or neck, I should

say. I thought that was really good. Which goes

back to the arm, you know, kind of like an upgrade

to the armored neck brace that Otto built into

his costume, like, pre -Superior Spider -Man,

where Peter tried to reverse the whammy and all

that. And yeah, no, it's, uh, it's, it's overall,

it was a great annual and it's honestly, lately

the last couple of years, a lot of annuals on

both sides of the fence of the big two are pretty

easily forgettable. I mean, I've read a few of

the, uh, DC annuals in the last couple of years

and there wasn't a lot of them that mattered

in the long run. Well, not not not all of them,

but I mean, there's right. But I will say that

one recently. Yeah. Well, one one recently and

one that's coming up. I believe it releases January

29th. Or it would have released January 29th

Nightwing annual number one, which is Nightwing

and Batgirl and then Batman. I think it's Batman

and Robin. Annual two where it's origin not not

an origin but How's that stupid solicitation

say? it's basically a Kind of a year one adventure

with Dick Grayson as Robin again So I know that's

I know that's coming or might have already been

released. I'm not sure but yeah, I'm I'm not

too I don't know. Unless the annual ties directly

to what's going on, I'm not really that thrilled

with, yeah. No, no, no. This annual is fine,

but... The graders, like the ongoing story is

what I think we need. Oh, okay. You take... Take

Transformers More Than Meets the Eye. They had

an annual last year. but the annual continued

like it it was almost like instead of saying

this is more than meets the eye number 11 and

then number 12 is going to be the next part of

the story it was like okay well annual you know

twenty thirteen annual twenty twenty twelve annual

for the meets the eye it's going to continue

the story and then we'll do something else in

the next issue you know we'll continue past that

in the next issue i don't know yes this annual

does tie in of course it does but it just i don't

know when i see annuals it's like unless i know

what the annual is You know, unless I know not

the entire story, but that the story will tie

in majorly into an ongoing. It's like, okay,

annual. All right. Yeah. Like I said, the annual

it's just one of those things that it's there

for me. Yeah. No, like I said, annuals have kind

of become ineffectual. Like they, I mean, honestly

for like Marvel. For years like from like like

say from 2000 on I think it was after about 2003

or four Marvel pretty much stopped doing annuals

Yeah for whatever reason and DC from like the

late 90s up until I Think for maybe a couple

of years prior new 52 had done away with annuals

as well and at least in the early aughts they

published secret files and origin specials like

once a year or every so often and those kind

of took the place of annuals in a lot of ways,

but yeah, it's Like I said like this annual it

matters in the long run because you know It does

move certain elements of the story forward It

does and I'm not saying it doesn't I'm not trying

to be negative about it I don't want the listeners

to think I'm being negative on it. It's just

I don't know, I guess for me it's numbering scheme

for me more so than anything else. It's like

20, 21, annual, 22, 23. It just, it's weird for

me, but I did really enjoy the story. And like

I said before, I do give the annual a five out

of five. You know, a five out of five stars.

I think if you are reading Superior Spider -Man,

you should at least check this annual out. Anything

else you want to bring up really quick? Well,

that's like I said Earlier in the show. I do

have a theory about and I'm gonna put it out

here I think with the Carly sterling goblin nation

if it doesn't start the downfall of Otto It's

the downfall of spider -man. My theory is because

now that he has this He's starting this Parker

Industries, you know, he's kind of going Tony

Stark in a way Yeah, when they take out like

when Carly drops his bomb these spider -man is

stealing from You know from doctor octopus and

it'll wipe out. You know, they'll wipe out spider

island Spider -man will believe to have been

dead and I think maybe Otto might just be arrogant

enough to crib the whole This is the new spider

-man. He's my corporate spokesman and personal

bodyguard So you think that they're going to

do an Iron Man schtick with Superior Spider -Man?

I think that could happen. Again, it's all conjecture

at this point. I'm just saying that's one way

that Otto could get out in front of the whole

Spider -Man stealing from Doctor Octopus. As

of this recording, I have not read the first

couple of chapters of... The four -part storyline

darkest hours, which is where venom comes back

venom and umberto ramos is One of the my favorite

spider -man artists, but yeah, or these ones

if What if we get the superior venom? distinct

possibility because It'd be interesting to see

what happens when the symbiote Comes up against

dr. Octopus like this so you know Alright, well,

we will, JT and I will be back next week for

episode 57 of The Pull Bag, which is Superior

Carnage, the mini -series 1 -5 from 2013. That's

going to be interesting. Where can the people

interact with you online, sir? Pretty much just

find me on Twitter. That's at JT from Saskatoon.

Alright, and of course you can find me at tfjohnmike.

You can also follow at geekcastradio. Visit geekcastradio

.com for all your other geeky podcasts and writing

blog needs. And that's gonna do it for this episode

of The Pull Bag. Make your great... Damn it.

Fuck. Take two. 1839. Thank you for joining us

here on The Pull Bag. Make your great escape

into comics and we will catch you next time.

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