Written by: Christos Gage
Art by: Mike Hawthorne, Wade Von Grawbadger, Jordie Bellaire, and VC’s Clayton Cowles
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: December 26, 2018

With not a ton of books coming out this week, Marvel took the opportunity to drop a couple new #1s with this being one of them. I am not a huge Superior Spider-Man fan, but hey, I thought I’d give it a shot. Was I glad I did? Let’s find out…

If you read the Superior Octopus one-shot in October, you may notice that this issue starts out with a similar vibe…Otto is fighting Stilt-Man and talking trash about how superior he is over the not so superior Peter Parker version. I just wish he was in the awesome green and white suit that made him look like a badass member of the Legion of Boom! Oh well, this is San Fransisco, not Seattle.

The rest of the issue is built around getting readers new and old on the same page as far as Superior Spider-Man goes. We get flashbacks to Otto’s awful childhood and see that he is working with Dansen Macabre and Digger of the Night Shift. We also get to see his alter ego, Elliot Tolliver at work which leads to a major plot point of this first issue.

In a couple of pages, we see that he loves Anna Maria, that he messed it all up with her during his time as Peter, that he now works with her and that she can see right through his guise. Oh yea, she is also pissed off and wants him fired and arrested! The issue ends with them arguing, with Living Brain there as well (which is awesome) until a big threat breaks it all up and Superior Spider-Man is off to save the city…maybe.

Christos Gage uses this #1 to get everyone up to speed and that sort of issue can be a godsend to new readers, but a downer for those who already know what is going on. I am kind of in-between and I liked it. Christos Gage keeps the pace up even in an issue full of exposition and I liked the care he took showing that while Otto is Superior as Spider-Man, his other life is a complete mess. I just hope that we see more of the Night Shift because I love Digger and need more of him…now!

Mike Hawthorne’s art is good here. I liked the care he took on the Superior Spider-Man suit and while he didn’t get a ton of places to shine (with a lot of the book being people standing around talking), I look forward to more scenes like the beginning with Stilt-Man (can I say Hell Yea after his name?) which looked great.

Final Thoughts:

This was a good #1 that gets new readers up to speed and shows you that Otto isn’t always as superior as he’d like to be. Superior vets may not get as much pleasure out of it as I did, but with this beginning under our belts, I’m hoping Christos Gage ramps things up next issue. I will be reading it!

8.5/10