I'll start by saying that there are a million variants out there and for once I am completely on board with the sheer number of them this time. The covers delve into the deep benches of both IPs to come up with some cool concepts! Supermobile and Spider-Buggy?? Black suit Spidey and Black Suit Superman? Spider-Punk and Conner Kent? Peter Porker and Krypto! Too fun. Love the 70s Supergirl and Spider-Woman by Adam Hughes!
But it all comes down to the story. Mark Waid and Jorge Jimenez are on task for the main story, my coverage today and they nail it.
Obviously Waid is going to have a deep understanding of the characters' histories. So seeing some homages to classic Spidey made sense. Seeing Super-supporting characters from the Bronze Age made me smile. But seeing the two heroes so easily interact with each other was the special sauce. I used to read Spidey as a kid (haven't in decades) so there was a page filled with quips that made me honestly laugh out loud.
Jimenez brings the fun too. I like his Clark/Peter pages almost as much as the action stuff. But his take on STAR Labs made me want him to do a whole book with that cast. I might be biased!
It's pricey at $8.99 but I think it is worth it! There are a chunk of other Super/Spider stories after this main one I will cover in a couple of days!
On to the main tale!
"Spider-speed over math. Nyah nyah!"
Tremendous. Just tremendous.
First off, the villain team-up of Doctor Octopus and Brainiac! Too fun.
Doc Ock is angry that no one recognizes his genius. Will Magnus and Bruce Banner get all the accolades! Why can't he?
Brainiac makes a promise to Ock that he can help the Doctor get the respect he deserves!
Waid so seamlessly mixes the worlds this way. And Brainiac teaming up with Octopus leans into his many team-ups with Luthor.
Turns out Peter Parker, as a free lancer, works for the Planet now and then.
Peter and Clark Kent get asked to cover a break-in at STAR Labs, a hole busted into a high floor with something stolen ... Kryptonite. Jenet Klyburn has been working on transmitting data files via radiation waves not broadcast waves, using Kryptonite as the wavelength.
Jenet Klyburn! Swoon!
I miss supporting casts and deep benches in comics these days. I always loved Klyburn when she showed up. And Jimenez captures that classic Garcia-Lopez look!
A Kryptonite powered data-tech theft with Doc Ock claw marks all over the place? It's clear that Doc Ock must be teaming up with Brainiac.
As I said, I love how effortless Waid makes it look for these two heroes to team up. Time for an alley sprint shirt-rip and costume change. These two obviously know each others' secret identities. These feels like one of many team-ups. To pull that off is incredible.
The plot involves major comic book science! Brainiac uploaded a virus into his system and he needs to core dump it somewhere. He can use Klyburn's data tech to push it into human minds (as they can receive it) with Octopus's help. In return, Brainiac will take Doc Ock around the universe where he can receive the glory he wants.
Surely there must be some easier way for Brainiac to remove this but here we are, Bronze Age fun.
And surely ... SURELY ... star A-252 is some quiet reference to Action Comics #252, Supergirl's first appearance. Waid is a huge Kara fan.
The villains set up a cascade from Brainiac's satellite to a broadcast site inside Metropolis.
The tech works on a bunch of levels. It can download into human minds, messing people up. Car crashes, fires, seizures. Metropolis is chaos. But the wavelength being K-waves is weakening Superman. That helps even things up.
It is fun to have several pages of our heroes stopping car crashes, putting out fires, and generally being do-gooders. But the stakes are real. These two don't make it. It has to be stopped and fast.
Superman speeds to Brainiac's satellite thinking the Coluan will be there. Instead it is Doc Ock manning the Kryptonite data web. Moreover, he has synthetic K tentacles. Pretty cool.
But this is all a vanity trip for Octopus. When he hears Superman regards him like Einstein, he softens.
An ego trip seems like a bad reason to kill everyone on your homeworld.
This is such a great flip by Waid to have the heroes fight the other's villains. Classic in comics I know. But I have seen Superman beat up Brainiac a ton. I might never see a weakened Superman punch Doc Ock again.
That means Brainiac is in the broadcast lab in the city. So we get to see Superman fight Brainiac.
This is my favorite page of the whole book. I laughed out loud. So many great quips.
"Spider-speed over math. Nyah nyah!"
"With great power comes great response abilities!"
But my absolute favorite and such a classic Spider-Man way of needling his enemies.
"If you're going to fight, shouldn't you be punching me?"
Tremendous. Just tremendous.
Of course Brainiac is a true bad guy. Rid of the virus, he downloads his consciousness into another body in the galaxy. But first he brings the house down on Spider-Man.
Brainiac also has his satellite on a collision course with Metropolis and Superman is too weak with the K-frequency still ongoing. It is up to Spider-Man to turn off the device so Supes will be strong enough to save the day.
In a moment pulled right out of Amazing Spider-Man #33, Spider-Man rallies himself into pushing off the wreckage to help save the day!
Amazing ... pun intended.
Nothing left but the wrap-up.
In a great scene, once again showing how easy these two would be in each other's company, Clark asks why Peter would stay at the Spidey-hating Bugle instead of going somewhere like the Planet who would appreciate him.
I love Peter's answer.
So this was a ton of fun all the way around.
Brad Metzler has a high water mark to hit in the Marvel release.
Overall grade: A
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