Posted in: Comics | Tagged: amazing spider-man, Comics, dan slott, doctor octopus, future, marvel

Future Proofing The Amazing Spider-Man #682

Published Wed, 21 Mar 2012 09:00:02 -0500

Last updated Wed, 21 Mar 2012 09:06:28 -0500

On Monday's Bleeding Cool, Lee Barnett was critical of the inability of superhero comic books to follow through the technological impact of their abilities on the world around them, as if they were arresting the future.

As if on cue, today's Amazing Spider-Man sees Dan Slott addressing that head on. Seeing Spider-Man's scientific solutions for fighting super villains spread out into every day use, for the medical, safety and technological communities. It's a brave, entertaining device – even if he points to the question why this doesn't happen more often, especially with, say, The Fantastic Four.

But the actions that Peter Parker has had on the world doesn't stand in isolation, it's a clever counterpoint to the actions of Doctor Octopus in this issue. The comic begins with Spider-Man fighting someone who, as he points out, has been both a hero and a villain. It continues with Jonah Jameson again expressing his opinion of Spider-Man's miscreancy, and painting altruistic Max Modell as a bad guy, who is a threat to humanity. And then we see Doctor Octopus and his plan.

It's been observed that the best bad guys are those who believe they are the good guys. Doctor Octopus is dying (and beautifully portrayed in that respect, you can feel every millimetre of his face as it is falling off his skull.) And Spider-Man doesn't believe a word he says. And its time to bring all that technology to bear.

New costume. A new moral balance in the book. This, right here, is the Golden Age Of Spider-Man. And it's as good a jumping on point as any.

Amazing Spider-Man #682 is published today. Comics courtesy of Orbital Comics of London. David Hine will be signing The Darkness #101 there today at 5pm, with Darkness II game giveaways.