I mentioned writing about TAC 6 how Marvel’s method of tying into a movie was to just inundate comics store shelves with material featuring its villain. So in addition to Doc Ock figuring into 6 issues of TAC, he’s also the focus of this 5-issue mini. And a Spider-Man/Doc Ock: Year One thing I didn’t buy. And other stuff. So much stuff. Too much stuff. I’ll tell you right off the rip, I didn’t much care for this title and was planning to sell it to McKays someday, for years, but never got ‘round to it, so it was still in my house when I hit it chronologically, so… here we are. To write, we have Brian K. Vaughan, a rising star at this point who is on the cusp of getting too big for comics. He got on most peoples’ radars writing the hit Runaways series at Marvel, drawn by Adrian Alphona and others, about a group of kids who learn their parents are part of a secret supervillain society and run away, learning their legacy gives them various powers and equipment. He also did a miniseries called The Hood with Kyle Hotz, about a sort of anti-Peter Parker named Parker Robbins, a small-time crook who comes into possession of a demonic cloak that gives him powers. As this comes out, he’s already almost 2 years into Y The Last Man with Pia Guerra, an instant sensation that would be adapted into TV decades later, and has either begun or is just about to begin Ex Machina with Tony Harris, about a superhero who winds up mayor of NYC. I think I already mentioned he picks up Ultimate X-Men with Stuart Immonen after Bendis and Finch. He’s done a bunch of great stuff by this point, and has more coming, eventually jumping to TV to work on 3 seasons of TV’s Lost and showrun an adaptation of Stephen King’s Under The Dome, significantly limiting his comics output for awhile. As Neil Gaiman can attest, true success in comics is quitting comics. But Vaughan never fully quit, and in the mid-2010s launched Saga with Fiona Staples, another instant hit. The guy’s got the goods. So why didn’t I like this comic? Let’s find out. Our Penciler is Staz Johnson, last seen in these parts on PPSM 36, inked by Danny Miki, with colors by Avalon Studios, and covers by Vaughan’s Ex Machina partner, Tony Harris.
Young Peter Parker, “not even out of college,” according to Haight’s narration, strolls in and apologizes, saying Phil said the darkroom was free. Peter compliments Jeffrey on the photos hanging up, not noticing they are his own to Haight’s astonishment. Haight wants to know Peter’s secret for capturing the essence of the moment, and Peter demures, saying he’s more of a point-and-click guy, which is not the right answer in this situation.
As Peter rushes off, Jeffery muses that freelancers like him have all-but made staff photogs like himself extinct. But he did a show about the stuff confiscated from supercriminals for which he met an Officer Anna Kefkin, a cop who ran the police lockup and feeds him tips. And wouldn’t you know, as he’s telling us about her, she calls, saying Doctor Octopus is up to something at the new Da Vinci exhibit at the Met. Jeff thinks that Ock’s crazy tentacles photograph beautifully, and he hustles out the door. And here’s one place this book immediately frustrates me (And, I would wager, Staz Johnson):
Despite placing this book sometime before the late 1970s by putting Peter in college, Doc Ock is in his stupid new Dracula costume (Hence the highly unusual credit to Ramos a few pages back). Imagine you’re Staz Johnson and you find out you got a gig doing Spider-Man vs. Doctor Octopus, and then you find out it’s THIS Doctor Octopus. Man. I would be so unhappy. This feels like some of the ever-more-prevalent, extremely detrimental attitude at Marvel that “we don’t want to confuse new readers.” As we go forward, references to past stories is strongly discouraged, references to anything is strongly discouraged, nothing ever happened except the story you’re reading now, and stuff like “put 70s Doc Ock in the 2003 redesign” is an early example. It sucks. Give your readers some credit. The Wasp having 200 costumes between 1963 and 2003 never made anyone give up on the comics medium…
Facing this page is a cynical cash grab related to the then-new Ang Lee Hulk movie hocking some of the terrible 80s TV Hulk movies with the tagline “Nothing beats the original!” Buddy, literally everything beats the original in this case. Anyway, As Peter suits up and places his camera, we get Jeffrey’s narration which accidentally describes the events, like always “bring the right equipment” and “pick your angle,” etc. Then Spider-Man drops down in Ock’s face with the quip “Hiya, Octopussy.” This is not a Spider-Man joke. Maybe a Deadpool one.
That’s at least better quipping. Vaughan writes funny very easily, but Spider-Man isn’t just any kind of funny, and especially after reading the 1730 comics previously posted to this blog, I feel pretty ok making that judgment call.
I mean, only sometimes, Doc. The gag has like a 85% success rate.
You can understand why Jeffrey would think such a thing, but it still don’t come off too well, buddy. Ock gets the better of our man, and gives a speech about the history of the scientific study of spiders as an intro to threatening to pull all Spidey’s limbs off. So, our hero, webs the drawing, which throws Doc off, and then throws it across the room. He’s inverted the classic villain move of “endanger a civilian to escape,” which is pretty fun.
Well, as you can expect, Jeffrey returns to the Bugle thrilled with his good fortune, only to find Peter Parker in the dark room scooping him. Jeffrey demands to know where Peter was. He makes up a story about stopping by the gift shop for Aunt May and hiding behind a sarcophagus, but Jeffrey doesn’t buy it. And now he’s made it his mission to figure out how Parker gets all these photos.
A team-up between Doc Ock and jilted Bugle photog Jeffrey Haight? Could be, I don’t remember. I don’t even really remember not liking this book so much as I remember saying so on the Bendis Board and Vaughan saying he can’t win them all. It was like the Dave Finch thing all over again, made me feel bad. Having access to a bunch of comic creators was cool (Way before Twitter and such), but sometimes, you just wanna be a fan talking about comics. I mean, I really hope nobody I give any grief around here actually sees it. I stand by my opinions, but that’s all they are. I don’t wanna hurt anybody’s feelings, I’m just reacting to this stuff honestly.