Take It Or Leave It – March 26, 2014

Hawkeye #18

Hawkeye has easily been one of Marvel’s best books since it launched. Not only that, but it has been helping Marvel to realize people will read books that go in a different direction. We have new books now like She Hulk and Black Widow, that probably wouldn’t be the same if Hawkeye hadn’t succeeded so strongly. Even with that in it’s corner, our favorite Archer(s) have had some problems lately. The book has suffered from delays, and rearranging of issues. For those who may have missed it, issue 16 came out before issue 15, and now issue 17-19 have all been rearranged. It honestly makes it a little hard to follow what’s happening in the two stories that are running. Regardless of that, issue 18 is a really solid issue, especially for a Kate focused one. Personally I’ve enjoyed the slightly more lighthearted adventures Kate has been having in LA. Sure she’s had her problems with bad guys, and just life in general, but compared to some of the stuff going on with Clint it’s like a vacation.

Issue 18 feels like it’s really bringing things together, that have been happening since Kate headed out to LA, and that it’s starting to wrap up her time there as well. I’m not going to lie, I’ll miss the adventures on the west coast, perhaps Kate will move back and for the West Coast Young Avengers? Probably not, but really the characters that have been introduced to support her have just been fun. To get such a crazy back story for Harold H. Harold, or as we all know him, the weird guy in the cat food isle, was really cool. And of course, as I mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph, the story is starting to come back together with Clints, so I’m sure we’ll be having a Hawkeye reunion issue soon, probably with car chases and explosions bro.

Verdict: Take It

Score: 8/10

Reviewed By: Chris

Superior Spider-Man #30

I’m warning everyone now, there will be spoilers here, but I’ll clearly label where they start. For now let’s start with the basics before I start dropping spoiler bombs. Issue 30 is the second to last of Goblin Nation, and second to last issue of the series as a whole. Superior Spider-Man has been a lot of things, to a lot of people. Some hated it, but grew to love the craziness of it, others still hate it. But for every hater, there’s someone who has loved this book from the start. I fall in that later category, I was nervous by the outcome of the finale to Amazing Spider-Man, but I trusted Slott and the team to give me an amazing adventure. They didn’t fail either, Superior has been great as a whole, and Goblin Nation started out in the best possible way, without having to build up to it. The story just starts, the city is already over run by the Goblin’s and Spidey is in pretty bad shape.

By the time we get to issue 30, pretty much everything that could go wrong has. Loved ones, and past citizens that Otto saved are being used as bait, and Otto is getting to his breaking point. This is such an emotionally driven issue, more so than any other in the series to date. I found myself wanting to cheer, cry, and even getting chills at things that were happening. And by the time the issue finished I just put it down next to me and stared at nothing for a moment, trying to process. This issue did so much for Otto’s character, he’s been on the line between being a hero, and reverting to his old ways this whole time, and one gust in the wrong direction could have brought everything crashing down. I don’t know what’s in store for issue 31, but it’s going to have a tough time competing with this one.

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

Now don’t say I didn’t warn you, from here on out there’s no holding back. So with everything I said before, I just can’t believe how this all went down. We all knew Pete was coming back, his consciousness has been hiding out in Otto’s memories for the last few issues after all, not to mention the relaunching Amazing. Regardless, there was no way to know how Pete was going to be, as we see in the mind scape, he was losing himself, not knowing if he was Peter Parker or Otto Octavius. So when we finally got to that scene, where he relived his own dying memories through the mind of Otto like back in Amazing Spider-Man 700, and remembered who he was, it was a awesome. But that’s not what made this issue great. Nor was Otto’s struggle to do the right thing, to be the Superior Spider-Man, and save people and stop the Goblins at the same time. It was great to see just how far Otto had fallen, to see him struggling, and angry, and scared to lose someone he loved in Anna Maria. But again, not what made this issue.

The thing that cemented this has an amazing comic book, was the end, the return of Pete, and the truly heroic sacrifice of Otto Octavius. It was unexpected, it was emotional, and it was exciting. Peter revealing himself to Otto, while the later was frozen in contemplation about saving a little girl or chasing down the his enemies was a big moment. I expected a battle of the minds, for Peter to struggle against Otto like before, but to ultimately come out on top. Boy was I wrong, that single moment, where Pete told Otto he was wrong for thinking and not using his instinct to just save that child, was intense. But for Otto to then take them back to his Lab, for Pete to be shocked by Parker Industries, and for Otto to not only admit that he was not Superior, but that Pete was the truly Superior Spider-Man was something that I don’t think anyone could have anticipated.

And it only got better from there, in the few pages left of the book, Otto went from a guy who thought he was the greatest, and could do no wrong to a humble man ready to make the ultimate sacrifice. Reading as Otto erased every memory he ever had, as himself, and as Spider-Man was a powerful moment, and then that moment of lingering and conversation with Pete about Anna Maria, you realize Otto was doing it for her. He knew that Peter was the only one who could save everyone. He knew that he’d be wrong, being the smartest and acting like it didn’t make him Superior.

**END OF SPOILERS**

So that went on long enough I think, but it works since there were only two books this week. In closing, there are a lot of ways this issue could have gone, and this series as a whole, but personally I think this was the perfect way to do it. And on top of everything, I am 100% excited for what’s to come both in the finale of Superior and the relaunch of Amazing. One last thing, while this is all just my opinion, and I’m sure others are going to feel differently about this, there is no denying it was a fantastic way to start the wrap up of a comic book series.

Verdict:Take It

Score: 10/10

Reviewed By: Chris