The Superior Spider-Man, Vol. 2: Otto-Matic

The Superior Spider-Man (2018)

by Christos Gage, Lan Medina (Illustrator)

Like the rest of America, the West Coast has been overrun with Frost Giants! But Otto Octavius doesn't settle for chaos — he plans to win the War of the Realms single-handedly. Well, maybe not single-handedly. He needs minions. Super-minions! So he recruits…the West Coast Avengers?! Will Otto Octavius and Quentin Quire become BFFs? If they can somehow work together and save San Francisco, Otto will be due a parade — but any celebrations might be short-lived, because someone dangerous is coming. Otto calls himself the Superior Spider-Man? Norman Osborn, the Spider-Man of Earth-44145 you met in SPIDER-GEDDON, begs to differ — and has some very creative ways to prove his true superiority! Norman is out to destroy everything. Does Otto stand a chance of stopping him? Does he even stand a chance at living through this?!

COLLECTING: SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN 7-12

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Spider Man, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Comic Book

136 pages, Paperback

Published December 17, 2019

About the author

Chris N. Gage is a writer for comic books and television.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

The War of the Realms tie-in was fantastic. Otto teams up with the West Coast Avengers and Gage shows just how funny he can be. I found it better than the actual West Coast Avengers book. Gage absolutely nails the voices of the characters and Gwenpool's commentary on big event books had me rolling. Gage does a fantastic job of letting Otto's ego get in the way of his intellect. It's a shame there was an editorial decision to return Otto to the status quo at the end of this. I was absolutely loving this series about a villain trying to redeem himself while often still being a dick even though he tries.

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of Dan Slott's greatest ever creatons Superior-Spider-Man goes out with a whimper of sorts. First we have a top drawer War of the Realms double header where Otto brings his intellect to work with the Avengers, Reed Richards etc. Then a mysteriosu team go after Otoo hard, exposing his secrets to the world. How does he defeat the undefeatble? A very undertstated farewell to a formidale character that has to return. Surely? 6 out of 12

[Molly™☺ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable from start to finish; yes, even the crossover part. Otto makes such a unique Spider-Man that I'm rather sad to see it come to an end. Watching his growth is extremely rewarding and makes the ending that much more impactful. A great, and somewhat emotional, send off to one of the most bizarre and entertaining character arcs.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

As much as I hated the entire concept of the 'Superior' Spider-Man, even I have to admit that this final outing for the character was pretty darned good. Otto finally has face up to who he his, with no excuses possible and the results are not pretty.

I am SO HAPPY to finally have Doctor freakin' Octopus back AT LAST! He's one of my favourite villains and I have missed him dreadfully.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

First up, the War Of The Realms devastates San Francisco, and Otto enlists the reluctant aid of the West Coast Avengers to tackle it. Then, Spiders-Man and the Norman Osborn Spider-Man of Earth-44145 (the annoying one from Spider-Geddon) target Otto for death, but they’re going to destroy his entire life first! Is the Superior Spider-Man up to the task, or is this a job for Doctor Octopus? Mephisto thinks he knows the answers, and where he’s concerned, nothing’s ever simple.

Let’s start with the happy – the West Coast Avengers two-parter is hilarious. Otto’s straight laced humour butts up against the insanity of the WCA perfectly, with Quentin Quire and Gwenpool rubbing him the wrong way and America Chavez and Kate Bishop threatening to hit him on almost every page. The real treat though is the fallout issue, which brings Peter Parker into the action to give Otto a pep talk that I expect he’s needed for a while now; it’s a nice way to get some outside perspective on how Otto’s feeling, and also goes to show how far he’s come as a character as the Superior Spider-Man.

Then there’s the sad. The last three issues of the series bring back some Spider-Geddon villains who are good foils for Otto, especially given that they were pitted against each other over in Spider-Geddon itself (also written by Gage, coincidentally). There’s an effort to make this kind of a mirror to the Goblin Nation arc of the previous Superior Spider-Man series, in that the only way for Otto to win is to make the ultimate sacrifice, and I like that about it. But the ultimate ending, while it does feel well explained and is overall satisfying, definitely feels premature. It’s a shame Marvel didn’t have more faith in this concept, but considering it was only meant to last like 12 issues when Dan Slott initially did it, I’m not surprised. A little disappointed, but not surprised.

On art, Lan Medina steps in for the two War Of The Realms tie-ins, while series artist Mike Hawthorne pencils the remaining four issues. Hawthorne’s made a mark on this series easily; he’s a reliable artist, and it’s nice that we’ve managed to steal him away from the Deadpool office for a little while. Medina’s also solid; there are no complaints on the art front at all here.

All good things come to an end. Superior Spider-Man is an idea that lived far longer than we could ever have expected it to, and while it is a bittersweet ending, Chris Gage manages to stick the landing and sell a conclusion that I expect most comic fans aren’t going to enjoy. It’s disappointing, but this is the nature of comics – nothing lasts, so enjoy it while you can.

[Sem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hey, it seems like we have a pretty good thing going with this Superior Spider-Man stuff... Would be a shame if something were to happen to it. Like another dumb Mephisto twist. God damn it.
This was fine until the horrible rushed conclusion that I can only assume was brought on by some Marvel exec going "Hey, we haven't had Doc Ock in the mix for a while, what happened to that guy?" and, upon being explained the long story of the Superior Spider-Man, exclaiming "Screw that, let's revert right back to a 60-year-old status quo!"

Thanks, I hate it.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just when this title is finally starting to develop into something (special?), it gets cancelled. There's a War of the Realms tie-in and then some foes from Spider-Geddon reappear, forcing Otto to make a big decision that may re-set the status quo. The art is a bit variable from the first arc to the second, but not that much. Otherwise, what was developing very nicely is now no more, which is kind of a bummer.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gostei muito desta nova fase de Otto Octacvius, o Doutor Octopus, como Homem-Aranha Superior novamente. Christos N. Gage esteve envolvido com a fase anterior do Homem-Aranha Superior, de longe, mas consegui traduzir todo o senso de aventura e de boa caracterização dos personagens neta trama. Os desenhos, aqui tecidos por Lan Medina e por Mike Hawthorne são ótimos, com o destaque para o trabalho de Hawthorne, que lembra um Mike Wieringo em sua melhor forma. O diferente neste segundo e último encadernado do Homem-Aranha Superior é que encontramos uma mudança no status de Otto Octavius. Ele deixa de "habitar" o corpo do Homem-Aranha Superior e passa a habitar seu velho corpo. E tudo isso acontece após... pasmem!... um encontro com Mefisto para salvar o mundo. Sim, mas desta vez parece que o pacto foi feito da forma certa, pelo menos pensando em termos de roteiro. Outra coisa divertida que esse encadernado proporciona é o tie-in com Guerra dos Reinos que envolve os Vingadores da Costa Oeste, com destaque principalmente para a participação da Gwenpool. Enfim, um ótimo e divertido encadernado. Recomendo este e o primeiro.

[Alex Sarll]

Concluding the somewhat questionable return of the spin-off character who never made total sense as a side-book; by the end, elements of Spider-Geddon have made unwelcome returns and a certain big red deus ex machina of a reset button, who has always served the Spidey books so well in the past, is employed to put all the toys back in the box and return classic Doctor Octopus to play (and could Otto not even have specified a slightly better haircut as part of the deal?). Still, they do manage to wring some genuine pathos out of the collapse of Octavius' attempts at redemption, the sense that even with everything that's happened, it doesn't have to be this way. And before we get to that point, there's a team-up with the West Coast Avengers to fight the War of the Realms which is a lot more fun than it has any right to be, not least for Gwenpool's helpful fourth-wall-breaking exposition of how ancillary event tie-ins work.

[Jaye Berry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not to be harsh but this was awful and I hated it lol.

First its just some War of the Realms crossover event and West Coast Avengers and I gotta say how much I don't care about any of that. Then we have Otto going to Mephisto to make a deal to help him save a kid.

At first this was boring because I didn't care about any of the crossover or the West Coast Avengers and then it straight up pissed me off in how it completely shit on the Superior Spider-man. Like I understand his time was up, his run was good and he was done but to bring him back in this run, give him a new life and then going hmmm nvm was lame. They always gotta be going back to the status quo but I really didn't want him to because come on, we been there done that. Why must we go back to Doc Ock??

Plus the whole deal seemed pretty stupid in the first place like why is this necessary why do you need these extra steps.

Terrible, read the first Superior Spider-man run and then not this.

[A M H · Rating 1 out of 5]

After you read volume 1, you should probably quit while you're ahead, or at least don't read the ending of volume 2!

Awful. It's really a shame since Superior Spider-Man is such a great hero. This volume started out alright, but it was ruined completely and utterly in the last two issues. The ending is a huge disappointment and such a spit in the face to his fans.

We are living the second coming of "One More Day" and it's so depressing.

[Sheldon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This arc sums up everything wrong with the big two, they make unique changes that alters the status quo. They don't allow five minutes to explore new storytelling or possibilities and then they hit the reset button once again to take characters back as they were 50 years ago. They're stuck in a rut and aren't allowed to evolve. Depressing

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok, the first vol. was much better, this one has an obnoxious and boringly predictable Norman Osborne from another reality that no one gives a shit about.

Can we also be done with the way Otto talks like he's the same fucking person from the 60s and there's no development whatsoever?

Oh well..

[Lukas Holmes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yay.....it's something different and interesting annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnddddd...it's over. He's back to portly boring normal. Sigh.

[Bekah Stegner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok... well, that was lame

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collects Superior Spider-Man (2018) issues #7-12

I get that this didn't live up to its potential, but I still really liked it for numerous reasons. First of all, I really like the cast that this series established, and I would have liked to have seen the story continue to develop in Otto's personal life. Secondly, even though I haven't liked previous "War of the Realms" tie-ins, and even though this one also wasn't that good, I did like seeing Otto interacting with Gwenpool, another one of my favorite characters. Next, there was a mini-storyline that acted as a sequel of sorts to a Spider-Event I thought was a lot of fun, "Spider-Geddon." The evil Spider-Man version of Norman Osborn and Spiders-Man are back, and they push Otto to the limit. Finally,...

SPOILERS:

...this collection brings a definitive end to the Superior Spider-Man story that has been being told for over 5 years now. In a heroic, and emotional, sacrifice, Otto willingly allows himself to be transformed back into the original Doctor Octopus, and more than that, he works with Mephisto (messing with Spider-Man since "One More Day") to make it happen. The end of the series sets Otto up to move back into his villainous role in the Marvel Universe, with seemingly no memory of Spider-Man's true identity. I'm hoping that we will see Doctor Octopus as a hero again the future, but my guess is that he will return to the status quo for now.

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Christos Gage takes one more swing at the Superior Spider-Man with the second and final volume of the former Doctor Octopus. The War of the Realms has hit San Francisco, and Otto has done everything he can to protect his city. Running across video feed of the new West Coast Avengers - and their teleporter America Chavez - gives Octavius the chance to take the fight to the Frost Giants themselves. Finally beginning to understand how this “hero” things works, Superior Spider-Man is thrown for a loop when he is targeted by an alternate Norman Osborn. Faced with his past and a terrible decision, Otto bids goodbye to the webs and once again embraces the Doctor Octopus moniker. Gage does write a darn good Otto Octavius, pitting the former archcriminal against his own mistakes while tackling an uncertain destiny. Sadly, the powers that be wanted Ock to return for their future stories, swiftly ending any chance of seeing this redemption story play out. The community of artists helmed by Lan Medina and Mike Hawthorne do a fine job, capturing everything from Asgardian threats to humans made of spiders with aplomb. Superior Spider-Man: Otto-Matic closes the door too early on a unique storyline in search of a return to times past.

[Memphis Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read the entire run of Superior Spider-Man twice now. I think it's arguably the best story arc in Spider-Man since he was created by Stan and Steve back in 1962.

With this concluding book I laughed and even cried a little. I'm bummed it had to end so soon.

The way they handled the War of the Realms event tie-in was the best possible way: to have Gwenpool meta-explaining in detail what was happening and have everyone think she was insane. Perfect!

I miss Gwenpool's own book and now I'll miss The Superior Spider-Man. At least there's still Squirrel Girl!

What's that? They ended that one too, just like most of the fun, interesting solo series not beholden to a movie series or major tie in events? Noooooooo!

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the end of the Superior Spider-Man. By the end, Otto is back in his own body, without pain or mental disease. His bridges burned, relationships over, and suit given away. He even no longer remembers the identity of Spider-Man. How can this happen? One word: Mephisto.
Adding in a team-up with the West Coast Avengers AND part of the Avengers, all during the tie-in to War of the Realms, and a battle with Spiders-Man and the 6-armed Norman Osborn Spider-Man, which is what leads to calling Mephisto in the first place.
It was a great run overall Norman... but we definitely missed Doc Ock.

Recommend.

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looks like someone got the wrap up signal!

I'm not sure I would have done all this work just to return to the status quo, but I liked the rest of it.

[Kris Ritchie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sigh.

R.I.P. Otto's good will

Also, Fuck Mephisto

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Otto's adventures in San Francisco ends and its on a down note. The series gets tied to The War Of The Realms (an event I liked) but the story is mid although Gwenpool is hilarious. Then another multiversal villain is in play and its anticlimactic and tedious. The good about the series is all about the emotional toll everything takes on Otto. Its very good. I knew what happened had to happen but I wished this series got some more chances. Lan Medina and Mike Hawthorne did some really nice work. Overall, an okay read that felt forced.

[Cassie · Rating 1 out of 5]

BOOOOOO. It’s a comic book so everything has to be reset to 0. Doc Ock is back in his old body and isn’t a superhero anymore. The second to last issue literally has Mephisto show up and wipe away the entire Superior Spider-Man storyline. Remember how One More Day is one of the most hated Spider-Man stories? What if we did that again, but worse?

[Norman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m so sad about this ending of Superior Spider-Man. This particular volume is very emotional and obviously mirrors pre-Brand New Day ending. I really loved Gwenpool’s character in these “tie-in” issues, and the fourth wall breaking really adult-izes some of these superhero action moments.

[Paxton Holley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was really good. It started off with an excellent tie-in to War of the Realms and a team up with the West Coast Avengers. I love this incarnation of the WCA.
And Otto gets cosmic powers! So cool and a lot of fun.

Great tie ins. Lots of fun.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75.

Lots of guilt and doubt and jumping into a big event, thank you Gwenpool.

It is a little bit of a trudge at times.

[Silver · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Doc Ock as a spider-man but man i wish this ended differently

[Naik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very bizarre Otto Octavius storyline.

[Ashton · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was really good. Interesting concept that I think was executed really well.

[Doctor Doom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as volume 1 but readable.