The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #1

Book of the week

Woo boy! this has been quite a busy week! but i'm still making time for the blog and trying to get the reviews out in a timely manner.

I'm going to prefix this whole review by telling you i love villains. they are the lifeblood of comic books. without them there are no heroes to fight, no morale high ground or low ground, and at the end of the day, no punching or action. And when a book like this comes around that focuses solely on the villains of Spider-Man i can tell you 2 things. 1) its not going to sell well, and 2) its not recomended for children.

The book focuses on the new Sinister Six, Shocker, Speed Demon, Overdrive, The new Beetle, and their fearful leader (and our narrator) Boomerang! Yes, I know that's only five people, but this book does a great job of building up a mystery behind who the sixth member is. something that I think that comics has been missing this last decade.

early on Boomerang get thrown into jail and he has to convince his only two friends, (well, what he has to settle on as friends) speed demon and shocker, to feed his bird. and not even feed the bird, but just deliver bird food inside the apartment. after 3 pages of dialogue that could've been directly from pulp fiction. they decide to do get the bird food.

of course they do this in the only way two z-list criminals with superpowers know how to do. Rob the pet store, steal a puppy from a little girl and of course, the bird seed. Its a issue of mundane activities, but how terrible awful people with powers would handle them.

The only issue i had was when the new Beetle was robbing a store that originally looked like a record store, but ends up being a comic shop. they make a few easy pot shots at the industry but it all comes off as pandering. which is always just tough to read.

all in all. this was a great first issue that makes you root for the villain, but still makes you want to just pound his face in!