For the last issue, Harris sort of draws Ock in the new look, but only sort of. Good timing. Well, here we go. Jeff is waiting around for Doc Ock, who then appears, and Jeff looks shocked and scared even though he was just waiting for him, I don’t know. Also, Ock’s wardrobe has changed from Gene Colan Dracula to Humberto Ramos Dracula between issues.
No idea what’s going on in panel 3. Thumbs up, arms!
Spider-Man has arrived, and after Avalon Studios’ Matt Yackey actually allows the reader to see another Spidey-in-motion panel without blurring it, Ock grabs the severely wounded wallcrawler with ease and slams him into a nearby statue. Spider-Man makes a crack about how Ock’s new look is even worse than his old one (I am SO tired), and that really makes him mad.
Suddenly, Doc Ock is a Class A idiot, right on schedule to help end this series. Spider-Man tells Jeff to run for it, but he refuses, saying the front page is his today. Spider-Man says whatever, and uses a beam broken off in their fight to slash one of Ock’s arms off while making headline jokes.
Oh my gosh, what a shocking twist.
“I mean, I’ve been nothing but horrible for 4 and a half issues, but when the chips are down, aka when the guy I helped kill a bunch of people is probably gonna kill me, I can be a hero.” Spider-Man uses the opening to KO Doc Ock, and Haight gets the shot.
Blaaaaah. We cut to Haight in the Tombs, presumably awaiting trial. Anna comes in and asks if he really helped Doc Ock, but she has the Bugle with her for some reason, and all he wants to do is see that. She says he’s too sick to hate (Incorrect!), drops the paper (Ugh), and leaves, so he can reach out through the bars and pick it up.
They had a perfect shot of Spider-Man knocking out Doc Ock and they ran a close up of him yelling instead? Was Robbie on vacation?
Yeah, man, no regrets for my 2004 comment, even if it did hurt Brian K. Vaughan’s feelings. I wasted over $15 on this series, that hurts my feelings. I guess I was the one stupid enough to buy the other 4 when the first issue set me up for disappointment, though, I guess that’s on me. Well, it’s over now, and it can find its way to McKay’s, where some other sap can lose money on it (But probably significantly less). The circle of life. In addition to the TAC story and this, 2004 also saw release of the 5-issue Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Out Of Reach, which appears to be set in the present, and the 5-issue Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One, which found Zeb Wells heaping the suffering on Ock’s backstory and dramatically rewriting he and Spider-Man’s first encounter while Kaare Andrews did typically annoying Kaare Andrews things, like drawing most of Spider-Man’s suit with no webbing on it like the 60s cartoon. The editorial freedom of this era is a blessing and curse. But, anyway, that’s 20 issues of Spider-Man and Doc Ock in 2004, four conveniently-5-issue minis ready to be collected into trades and in bookstores by the time the movie is out. That was the methodology of the time. For the aforementioned Ang Lee Hulk movie, which sort-of-kind-of featured the Absorbing Man as a villain, you better believe all manner of Hulk product was pumped out pitting him against him. It felt kind of desperate, really. But, whatever, we’re past it, and now it’s time to close this block with a book I am very eager to revisit.