Let me first preface this by saying I believe Spider-Man is my favorite Marvel title, quite possibly my favorite title overall. I never gave it much thought before as to who my favorite character was or team or book or anything. I just didn’t think about. Then one day I was asked and it made me stop and think for quite some time. Sitting downstairs in the comic room in front of all my boxes of comics it dawned on me. Whenever I went to a Comic Con and talked with an artist and they asked who I wanted a sketch of I couldn’t think of anyone other than Spider-Man which I attributed to being caught on the spot. Time goes on and after multiple cons I now have Spidey sketches or signed pictures from multiple artists which leads me to believe he is the one.
After learning this I began collecting certain Spider-Man covers from a few artists. For the majority of my life I was an X title guy, collecting pretty much every X title out there. Check a previous blog post somewhere in the archive and I discuss that in more detail. I have almost every Uncanny X-Men book starting from 152 so you have to think they are my favorite and might have been for a while. However as time passed and the artists changed and writers moved around I lost interest. Along comes the Spider Island saga and I am reading a new book. Couple that with some kick ass covers I purchased by J. Scott Campbell ( @JScottCampbell ) and now I have a new title that I am trying to put together. Don’t get me wrong, I purchased some Amazing Spider-Man in the past, most notably the Carnage issues and early venom, 350, 365, 375 and some others (Oh yes, I have signed covers for 601, 606 and 607 and my most recent purchase was a signed 500). So in addition to Campbell, I am a big fan of Humberto Ramos ( @Humberto_ramos )and Ryan Stegman ( @RyanStegman ). Those three along with Andy Kubert, Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri and let’s not forget Todd Mcfarlane ( @Todd_McFarlane ) are the only artists I would really like to see doing any Spidey book. If I had to put them in any kind of order I would have problems but for the sake of an argument and factoring in reality I would say Mcfarlane, Campbell, Ramos and Stegman. With that being said I am really happy two of those four are revolving artists on the current Superior Spider-Man title.
Step back to the Ends of the Earth storyline and you have me getting nervous. I haven’t been reading the title regularly for that long and you get the feeling something is going to happen. 
Here it comes, Peter Parker dies…seriously, they kill off Peter. Obviously I understand comic characters don’t really die, they just phase in and out every so often but this seems to be a big deal. Not to mention Doc Ock is now residing in Peter’s body? I mean come on, what the Hell kind of storyline is this anyway. How far out in left field does Slott have to be to make this happen? With me reeling from the loss of a new character I am very fond of I feel the need to read Superior 1 to have some kind of closure and in the back of my mind I think there is no way I can like this title. Well, I was wrong. Yes, I was very much wrong and I can admit it. There is still some trepidation after issue 2 but I am feeling hopeful.
Move on to issue 3 and I now think it could be my favorite title. Some say Slott writes the book for kids more than adults and I can see that but honestly there is some depth to what is happening and there is so much that can be done with the storyline. I like an edgier Spider-Man with more of an attitude that quite frankly comes from a place where the character just feels superior to Peter. Now he has all the memories of Peter along with his memories which make him very conflicted at times how to react to certain situations. Occasionally he does what Peter would do and other times he does was Ock would do. He is keeping everyone guessing, even himself. The inner dialogue with phantom subconscious Peter and himself is entertaining and I really like it. It’s the inner turmoil that many people have with them self when it comes to right and wrong. Aside from cover 1, I absolutely love cover 3. It just feels right.
However, along comes cover 4 and we have a new artist on board for two issues. Nothing against Giuseppe Camuncoli but I just can’t get in to it like I can the others. He is not very different but enough to make me notice it isn’t Stegman. Luckily though Ramos comes in to the picture for issue 6 and I am feeling more at ease. I am behind right now so I can see covers 7 and 8 are Ramos but I have not read them 
yet so I am really looking forward to the interaction with the Avengers in the next book. I’ve seen the cover and I like it, not only does he pencil the cover but the interior which makes me very happy. It’s funny how you can look at a cover and get excited for something only to find out there is another artist doing the interior. It makes me feel like, and this is a stolen quote so if you read this and I heard it from you here is your shout out, it feels like false advertising. Like the promise of a new day only to have it suddenly get overcast and rain. it’s just not right. But then on the flip side you get those shitty covers with awesome interior art and it kind of makes up for things.
To all you haters out there, give it a chance. Read the book for what it is and don’t feel cheated that Peter is gone because he probably isn’t really gone. Hopefully the two consciousnesses will become one and the new character will be new. I like how things are and I really hope both Slott ( @DanSlott ) and either Stegman or Ramos take their time, drag this out for a while and dive in to a good long term storyline with twists, turns and surprises. I don’t need to keep reading 3 issue story arcs with a new artist and writer every other issue. Grow some balls, stand your ground and create some stability and continuity for this new character/story. There really is a lot of potential to take it to different places and honestly you can put the character in to some old situations because it allows for some reflection by both the writer and the reader. We get to see how Doc Ock with a splash of Peter handles things. Old plots can be reused in a different way with different characters and a new path. 
All in all, I really have to give this new book 4 out of 5 and the way to get it up to 4.5 or even 4.75 is to keep up with the writing and don’t swap out artists too often. Don’t think because this book is doing well and FF is doing really bad that you need to take a good artist and/or writer and move them over so that new title, again using FF because I think it sucks, to revive it while this great title suffers. Just let shitty titles die because a good artist can only do so much with a title that was flawed to begin with, unlike a great title that sags because an artist or write leaves. Let me know what you think, I enjoy a good debate/discussion.
ut I was going to hold off on any comments until I actually read the book. I ordered a copy from the service where I get all my comics now (every 3rd Wednesday of the month and I have to order then 2 weeks in advance) as well as two copies of the J. Scott Campbell Midtown Comics variant. All I can say is the variant cover is the best thing about the book. I guess I just don’t like gimmick books where they pawn it off as the women of the atom in their own series. I wouldn’t like it if they had a series of just the men either. All I really want is a good writer and a good artist on a good long run to get some rhythm and continuity going.
Either way I am just about done and unless something changes where I have 5 good books to collect, I am out again. This October I am going to the NYCC again for the 2nd year in a row. I am going because I already bought the tickets and I plan on taking some good covers along to get signed for my collection. Not to mention the exclusives that are pretty awesome.
415 Comics 