There will be plenty of titles bearing the “Superior” label, and in this particular review we look at The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #1. It’s a new series that, as the title suggests, focuses on the bad guys of the Spider-Man world. Is that really necessary? Probably not, but then neither are comic books. Is it entertaining? Well, yeah, it kind of is, but that presents a problem.
Actually, my first problem is I don’t if it’s just that the Hawkeye series left such an impression on me or if other books really are trying to imitate that tone, but it feels like Superior Foes really is trying to imitate the tone of the Hawkeye solo series. It has a down-on-their-luck central character, a sort of off-beat, wacky sense of humor, and overall more of that casual, “this isn’t really a super hero book” vibe going on. Not that that’s a bad thing, it actually works quite well here. However, it does have a couple of downsides. One, it leaves one kind of wondering why any of these characters would ever be considered a “superior” foe of Spider-Man. Two, why is it we’re trying to find the bad guys likable. I mean, more than anything else, this book makes the bad guys of Spider-Man sort of likable. Granted, great villains help make great stories and great heroes. Would the original Star Wars trilogy have been so much fun with the fascinating character of Darth Vader? Would The Dark Knight have been quite so masterful without the truly malicious Joker? Even sympathetic characters villains can help make great stories; much like Mr. Freeze. However, do we really need to find the bad guys likable?
There’s an emerging problem with the Superior Spider-Man series; it has no hero. Oh, I know it has Spider-Man still, but it’s Doc Ock in Spider-Man’s body. Yes, he’s trying to be a hero…sort of. But his brand of justice leaves one wondering just how heroic and “good” it actually is. These aren’t the heroics of someone with selfless ideals, they’re the heroics of a pragmatist trying to get the job done the best way he knows how to leave more time for himself and to help sustain his own sense of accomplishment. So Spider-Man is blurring the lines of a hero, and then there’s the “Superior Foes”. Granted, they aren’t pretending to be heroes, but this book does make them seem like ordinary people just trying to get buy and do their job. Sure their job may be trying to take over the world, but a job’s a job and being a super villain is a gig like any other. Underneath it all, these are just ordinary though misunderstood, likable people. They’re really not so bad. Again, that line between good and bad is being blurred, and that’s a problem.
You know what happens when we start having trouble distinguishing between good and bad? Trouble. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (Isaiah 5:20) You know what that “woe” means? It means big trouble. You see when we can’t tell the difference between good and bad, or don’t think that definition really matters any more, things start to veer way off course; and that can only lead to disaster, or if we’re lucky, a radical course correction. Either way, the result isn’t pleasant. When we start making it look like it doesn’t matter if our heroes are villains or that our villains really should be likable people that we don’t judge too harshly, well, that makes God out to be a liar because he says those things matter; and the matter quite a bit. Between you and me, I don’t want to make God out to be a liar, which is why it seems to me that blurring the line between the good guys and the bad guys, between the heroes and the villains, between good and evil is big problem.
All of that aside, I have to admit that I chuckled at times reading Superior Foes #1, despite my discomfort with finding the bad guys sort of likable. I like the narrative that talks directly to the reader; it pulls you in and makes it feel like an old friend is telling you story, and it sounds an awful like someone who just wants people to get to know them better. In truth, like many introductions, there’s not much in the way of plot here, and whether or not this cast can really carry their own title remains to be seen. Still, and I hate to say it, they’re likable enough to do so.
A BIG thanks to Astro-Zombies for providing the material for this review. Learn more about them at astrozombies.com.
