Hey everyone, JT here, the quicker, better talking, better blogging, better LOOKING, all around just better blogger. And, now that my grand introduction is out of the way, let's get to the reviewing shall we? Today's review is the third to last issue of Amazing Spider-Man (thanks to 699.1) and after the huge revelations of #698, let's see how things worked out for... Doc Ock in this issue.
Summary: We start things off with Peter dying in Dock Ock's body, but luckily the doctor's on the raft save him due to their Hippocratic oath, but make it known they aren't happy about doing so. From there, Peter frantically thinks of a way he can get his body back, but not before thinking of all the evil that Otto can do as him, not only as Spidey but as Peter Parker as well. He then realizes that since Otto has his memories, he may be able to get Otto's memories as well. Turns out he's right, and after living through a backhand Otto took from his dad as a child, and a horrible memory that involved Otto, Aunt May, and pre-wedding...festivities, Peter finds what he's looking for, how Doc Ock got into his mind. Turns out when Peter used he helmet that Doc Ock used to control his Ock-Bots, most recently in Ends of the Earth, he was giving Doc access to his mind, and he used the last bits of his time to make a Gold Ockbot (which we'd seen, and which Madame Web warned Peter about a few issues ago) to inject Spidey for the switch, which it did after the Hobgoblin fight, when Pete's Spider-Sense was still on the fritz. Peter uses Doc Ock's mind to get the Gold Ockbot moving again and manages to get it to a computer where he basically offers six million dollars to people who can help him break out of the Raft, a risky idea but the only way Peter can escape. While he does this, the Lizard tells Doctor Octopus, since he's supposed to die soon anyway, that he's actually found a cure, and he's Curt Conners in the Lizard's body, fulfilling his penance, but he needed to tell someone, so who better than the dying man? Peter's gambit pays off when Hydro-Man, Scorpion and The Trapster (Formerly known as Paste-Pot Pete) show up and break Doctor Octopus out, hooking him up to a portable life support machine that The Trapster made. They then ask Ock who's next, as the plan is to break out two more people, thus making a new Sinister Six. Alistair Smythe and Morbius plead to be released by Peter (as Ock) says no one else is broken out, but he offers the Lizard a chance, who of course turns him down, now that Connors is in control. The...um... Fearful Four I guess, escape from the Raft via a portal and the issue ends as Doctor Octopus says they need to catch Spider-Man, and they need him alive.
Thoughts: Slott does it again! The last issue of Spidey was genius, we got a full issue of Otto as Peter, now we got to see Peter as Otto and how he dealt with the situation. The thing I love most is that there's a time limit now, Peter doesn't have long to try to get his body back, and that's the interesting thing. The fact he had to rely on villains to break him out shows how bad things have gotten for Peter, hell, even Paste Pot Pete was there! Also, I loved that Slott mentioned their meeting, which took place in the excellent Human Torch/Amazing Spider-Man mini-series he wrote. Another interesting thing about this issue, the whole Connors/Lizard thing... I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Superior Spider-Man has claws for scaling walls... maybe there's a relation there with The Lizard controlled Connors? Once again Slott gave us an issue where he answered questions and made us ask even more, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.It was as good as the last issue, but it was damn close.
Score: 9/10
Doc Ock (Peter): Dear lord, my life in the hands of Paste-Pot Pete. How does this get any worse?
Thanks buddy.
ReplyDeleteOK, I was SO much happier after this issue. I mean, I have some technical issues with the way Slott wants us to believe that Otto switched their minds. But, emotionally, I was a happy camper. Only Slott could turn ASM into a work of existential philosophy!
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