By buying this issue, I was essentially making a pact with Dan Slott, agreeing to accept this story on its own terms and not constantly rail against the decision to put Otto Octavius in charge of Peter Parker. I'm not saying that I'm going to give him a free pass, but I'm at least committed to allowing the story unfold and see where we go.
Slott does a decent job, but, in the end, he seems to back off the two main concepts that define this story, that Otto will improve on Peter's tenure as Spider-Man and that he is Peter Parker for all intents and purposes. By hedging his bets, I feel like Slott winds up losing the hand.
First, Otto has pledged to be a better Spider-Man than Peter was. In this issue, we see his initial attempt at doing so as he brings a number of new innovations to his fight with the new Sinister Six. He's developed some sort of remote-control device embedded in the spider emblem on his costume that allows him to activate devices via voice command, such as rendering Speed Demon's speed inoperable thanks to a frictionless surface he pre-arranged at Horizon Labs. (I'm not entirely sure how you "activate" a frictionless surface, but I'm trying not to quibble.) He also uses razor-sharp claws to embed nano-tracers into Boomerang, allowing him not only to track the Sinister Six but to hear their conversations. They're both cool innovations, to be sure. But, the problem is that it seems somewhat redundant. Maybe if "Big Time" hadn't happened, it would've been cool, similar to the time that Emma Frost took over Iceman's body and revealed to him everything that he was capable of doing but wasn't. But, "Big Time" was so successful thanks to Slott allowing Peter to evolve. The devices that we see here are cool, but, honestly, they just seem like devices that Peter himself may have eventually created given the time. After all, the spider-emblem device is reminiscent of Peter's voice-activated Web-Shooters. Slott set the bar so high when it comes to Peter's inventions during "Big Time" that nothing seems new here.
Moreover, we discover that Otto isn't as in control as he thinks he is. He finds himself surprised when he abandons his attempt to flee the Sinister Six to save a cop from one of Boomerang's errant boomerangs and when he suddenly decides to stop pummeling Boomerang despite his obvious intention to beat him into a coma (or worse). The surprise reveal is that Peter is still in there somewhere, although Otto can't "hear" him. In terms of a narrative device, it's a clever move, because it's going to keep Otto from really sullying Spider-Man's name, as we all feared that he'd do. I'm guessing that it's going to be what manages to keep Otto from successfully getting Mary Jane into bed or Spider-Man from killing someone. The problem, though, is that once again it raises the question of how significant of an impact this storyline is going to wind up having. I mean, we all knew that Peter was going to return. But, if he hadn't been able to control Otto's impulses, as we learned now that he can do, then he would've likely returned with a very different reputation. Maybe Otto would've killed someone. Maybe MJ would never be able to get over the violation she would've felt if she slept with Otto. It would've been interesting to see how Peter handled that. But, if Peter is able to stop Otto from committing the gravest transgressions to his good name, then the only real impact of this period is going to be that Peter was something of a dick to Grady.
In other words, I'm disappointed. In a way, I really wanted Slott to go all in. Have Otto beat Boomerang into a coma. Have Spider-Man reveal razored Web-Lines. Instead, we get something in the middle that just makes you feel like this whole storyline has a clock ticking over its head like that terrible Nickleback video, counting down the moments until it's all forgotten.
No comments:
Post a Comment