Amazing Spider-Man #1

[cyberghostface]

Later, Peter gets into a situation that involves him losing his costume.

Comments

[crimsonmoonmist]

I have to admit, I'm not really hating what I'm seeing here.
I still despise that Peter has to clean up Ock's mess (and then some),
but I nonetheless found myself rather enjoying the pacing of this issue overall.
And poor Anna Maria, I can't imagine that part of Ock's rampage will end well no matter where Slott decides to go with it (And I have an eerie suspicion that Pete'll be outed as the bad guy in some form and feel really shitty about it).

[cyberghostface]

The way I see it, since she now knows he's Spider-Man, there's really no reason why he can't just tell her the truth as he knows it. But we'll see. I imagine they'll probably break up with some variation "I'm not safe with you" or something like that.

[stillanerd]

Yeah, I'm hoping that's where Slott is going with this as well. Because based on Anna Maria finding Otto's engagement ring and her saying how "I just can't imagine a life without [Peter]" comment in Superior Spider-Man #31 and Spidey's reaction to it, there's an alternative scenario:

After Peter confirms to Anna Maria that he is indeed Spider-Man, he's about to tell her the truth about Doc Ock when she interrupts by saying "I know."

"You do?" Peter says.

"Of course I do," says Anna Maria. "And my answer is...yes!" And she puts on SpOck's engagement ring and says "Yes! I'll marry you, Peter Parker!"

And as she hugs him, Peter is flabbergasted and in silent shock. Thus making him even more afraid of breaking Anna Maria's heart than he already was.

[tugrul]

Actually, I'm expecting this to go differently.

I expect that she is going to say she's not ready to commit because they don't know each other well enough. Easiest cop out for sir Slott.

Of course, we will never forget evil the violations he wrote are.

[spidermanwashere]

I like how even when he's going to propose, Ock does it in a villian-esque kind of way.

"Phase One: carriage ride in the park"
"Phase Two: take her by the hand"
"Phase Three: explain"

Phase Four: world domination (oh wait, he tried that already).

[superfangirl1]

But if Anna Maria had accept his marriage proposal. His world domination would of been utilize by the power love!

[joetuss]

This whole body/mind swap thing is so effin creepy. I don't feel sorry for ock in the least

[espanolbot]

Welp, he might not have slept with MJ while pretending to be Peter like people were worried he might, but Otto still managed to commit I believe was rape by deception (though admittedly Anna only ever knew Otto!Peter, not Peter!Peter).

Ew.

Now to see how quickly they backpedal this, like that time the Chameleon spelt with Peter's roommate while impersonating him.

The thing is, I felt bad for Anna before as she wasn't falling in love with the "real" Peter in the first place, meaning there was going to be no clean way to resolve this. Now it's even worse!

[cyberghostface]

Well the official stance from Marvel, and one I'm inclined to agree with, is that Anna Maria only knew him when he was Otto and that's who she fell in love with. It's not like if he were to sleep with someone who Peter had a past relationship I.E. Mary Jane or what happened with Michelle and the Chameleon.

[silverhammerman]

It's sketchy on the Peter side too, since Doc Ock took Peter's body by force and used it to have sex. To keep things strictly in the superhero realm, it's at least as creepy as a mind controlled character being used for sex, ala the Purpleman.

I'd kind of hoped that Slott would remain vague on the whole matter so as to avoid the squickiness and fridge logic that it brings up. As it is I don't think he's likely to deal seriously with the profound violation that the whole situation implies.

[espanolbot]

Considering they had Peter experience sex with Aunt May from the perpective of Otto when he was trapped in his body, I'm not sure if worrying about the fridge logic will apply at all in this case.

Although this Peter wouldn't remember the above incident, as that one died.

[tugrul]

Experiencing sex with his elderly aunt just adds to the whole ordeal. Bah. GTFOSLOTT!

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Technically speaking, if anyone was raped in this scenario, wouldn't it have been Peter?

[tugrul]

It can be both. Doesn't cancel each other out.

[ablackraptor]

I would like to enjoy this, I really would, but I can't get past how Peter doesn't seem to really treat what happened as seriously as he should. The guy STOLE YOUR LIFE Peter, you don't 'owe him one' no matter what good deeds he did with it; fixing your aunt's leg may've been nice, and getting you a doctorate and a company, but that doesn't change how horrible his actions were to get you those things, especially since he didn't get any suitable comeuppance.

[crimsonmoonmist]

On one hand, I'm glad Peter seems to be taking this stuff in stride and just move on,
on the other hand.... yeah, I'm still firmly on the side of those believing that no matter what good Ock did during his time in Peter's body, that doesn't change that him being in that situation in the first place was the result of a horrible crime and murder (y'know, as much as the word mean in comics).

[ablackraptor]

Exactly; I want to read Spider-Man again, but the things Ock did are unforgivable and it really annoys me that they're having Peter almost thanking Ock for what he did; it feels like Slott is trying to push the idea that Ock wasn't that bad, and that just feels wrong.

[sianmink]

I think it's okay to acknowledge that Ock did do Peter some favors (helped aunt may, earned Peter his PHD, Got him his own company, made him re-evaluate some of his methods and tools) in the process of utterly and unforgivingly violating him.

[silverhammerman]

They don't seem to be showing the other side of it so far though, and I think that's the issue. It'd be one thing to have Peter recognizing that Ock did him favors, but hating Ock for the other stuff and being conflicted and angsty about that, instead all we've seen so far is Peter being weirdly grateful/laudatory about Ock and oddly okay with having been possessed and violated.

Given time I hope it goes in a more balanced direction.

[gamerguy]

It doesn't appear that Peter is really aware of just what happened. And it's probably not the first, second or fifth time he's been possessed or mind controlled or whatever. It's probably not that big a deal to most superheroes with as long a career as Spidey.

[silverhammerman]

I think it's got to be the longest he's ever been mind controlled for, and the first time they actively took over his personal life instead of just using Spider-Man as a minion, which must count for something. I mean, the Chameleon impersonated Peter Parker a couple years ago, but that was a period of days, not months like Ock did.

I am curious how long Slott's gonna have Peter only remembering fragments.

[tugrul]

Yeah, it's not like this was just a passing arc we'd all like to forget.

[halloweenjack]

I wonder how much of that will stick, though, given that much of that is based on Octavius' ideas, and even though Peter is also supposed to be a super-genius, there's no guarantee that he'd be able to work with Otto's technology, unless that's already been directly addressed.

[thehood]

I can understand Peter would be grateful for the positive things Otto. He's the type that would say "at least something positive came out of this nightmare".

[deepspaceartist]

Otto got the only comeuppance really available: admitting that Peter was better than him and then dying. What other punishments could really be inflicted beyond that without making things worse for Peter as well?

[ablackraptor]

Well, for one thing, they could have had one of those 'battle in the centre of their mind' things where Peter and Ock have a mental fight for control, instead of letting Ock 'heroically' return his body and bow out as if it was somehow tragic that he had to give Peter his body back.
My problem, really, is that Peter didn't get to be the one to get his body back, Otto just gave it to him. They should have done more from Peter's side to have him get his body back, and have Otto actually be defeated by Peter to some extent; Peter deserved more retribution for having his body stolen for so long and it just doesn't feel right the way it ended.

[liliaeth]

yeah, but that would mean for Slott to admit that Peter isn't a complete loser who doesn't stand a chance of defeating anyone.

[chrisdv]

Call me when Slott's off the book. At that point I'll care again, since he blatantly can't write a decent Peter Parker.

Yost should've been promoted to the main Spidey book, he did a better job with Slott's own story in the secondary title than Slott did in the main title.

EDIT: And you can rewrite the first paragraph to replace "Slott" with "Ramos" & "write a decent Peter Parker" with "draw people".

[silverhammerman]

His SSM Team-Up was so good, the characterization was especially impressive given that the series was all one-off team-up stories that couldn't show Spidey's civilian life. It was so clearly hamstrung though by essentially being a companion book to SSM, which prevented Yost from having stories progress in a way that would affect the status quo.

I wish Marvel would at least put Yost on "Spectacular" Spider-Man or some other adjective, even if they don't wanna ditch Slott. Marvel never should have busted Spidey down to a single solo title with a single writer, it was better for telling a single story, but it also meant that if someone didn't like Dan Slott's writing, there wasn't a Spidey solo they could read.

And Ramos has just never clicked for me, though I've seen him praised elsewhere. His art falls on a line between being cartoony and realistic that looks unnatural, though I do wonder if more simple coloring/inking would make it look better.

[halloweenjack]

I still suspect that about 90% of the suck on the book was more from editorial dictation than Slott's own ideas, but Slott was so enthusiastic about participating in the fan trolling that I no longer really care.

[chrisdv]

No, the problem is that Slott can't write Peter. I'm staying away until someone who can write the title character is on the book.

[sun_man]

so Ock is a pedophile or something? why was he sleeping with this little kid?

This is a bad look for Spider-Man

[cyberghostface]

Um. She's a little person.

[sun_man]

oh my sincere apologies. what I get for foolishly jumping to conclusions. INSERT FOOT IN MOUTH.

[big_daddy_d]

I admit..naked Peter having to hide his shame with webbing was hilarious.

[bariman]

Johnny Storm hiding his shame with webbing was just as funny. Where moments before he was sitting in a fountain in Central Park, naked, surrounded by children, and yelling "I have no pants!" (I think it was in the "Spider-Man/Human Torch" mini but I don't have it handy to check.)

[writeofway]

Has Peter considered the option of getting to know Anna Maria to see if maybe he can see the qualities that Ock saw in her and perhaps fall in love with her himself? I mean, it'd somewhat mitigate the damage, although her sensing his change in personality might raise an eyebrow, especially as he isn't prone to belting out dumb mad scientist/supervillain schpiels and using words like "dolt" and "imbecile" like they were candy.

[tugrul]

Even if otherwise they were a perfect fit, the way it happened the way it happened, it's not any way to start a relationship or they'd better be writing the relationship so damned well to sell it, but I don't trust the creative team to pull that off.

[writeofway]

Agreed. I know lots of people give Slott credit as a "great writer" but, in my opinion, so far he's only come up with decent concepts. It felt to me he felt bummed he had to end Superior and the whole "Otto giving Peter his body because [Peter]'s the 'Superior' Spider-Man" just felt rushed and disingenuous.