(writer) Dan Slott
(artists) Humberto Ramos and Victor Olazaba
(colorist) Edgar Delgado
Three issues into Peter Parker's new lease on life, he finds himself tracking down Electro, who was a victim of Spider-Ock's experiments back in the days when he was roaming around town in Peter's body as the "superior" Spider-Man, and whose power is now beyond even his own ability to control. Peter and his team from Parker Industries actually find themselves at a fire that Electro inadvertently started. More importantly, though, Felicia Hardy, a.k.a. the Black Cat, who was imprisoned by Spider-Ock and who managed to break out of jail (courtesy, also, of Electro), finally finds confronts her one-time lover and now mortal enemy, and it ain't pretty.
This, quite frankly is the issue I'd been hoping to see since the relaunch. It's several weeks old as of writing, but an extended trip out of town for work kept me from reading and reviewing comics for quite some time. Still, for me it's worth taking the time to write this review considering that all of those months of seeing Spider-Ock treat people like utter garbage are finally starting to pay off.
The interesting thing about Felicia's lust for vengeance is that putting her away is, ironically enough, one of the few things that Doc Ock did right as Spider-Man; she was a felon, after all. Of course, her shared past with him understandably made Ock's actions feel like a deep form of betrayal by Peter, even though, to Ock, they meant next to nothing. It was utterly gratifying seeing Peter come face-to-face with someone who brushed his now-standard "it was Ock, not me" explanation aside, and even more amusing to see how he dealt with the situation. Truth be told, that was a bit of inspired writing by Slott even as it poked fun at the whole notion of Doctor Octopus being Spider-Man for fifteen whole months. I realize that Slott has a lot lined up for Peter and doesn't intend to give him a moment's rest, but it was nice to finally see some real fallout from Spider-Ock's tenure bite Peter on the butt in a big way. That is truly the embodiment of Parker luck.
Humberto Ramos' art, again, hold steady in this issue, and if nothing else he actually manages to make Ms. Hardy look attractive this time. He tells the story pretty well, even when things start to get frenetic, but his distorted Spidey anatomy is still rather distracting to look at. Considering that my favorite artist working these days, Chris Samnee, can tell stories and depict more or less accurate anatomy, it's a little hard to swallow Ramos' stylized art, but I am willing to cut him some slack.
To my mind, this has been the best issue of the series since Peter's return.
8.5/10
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