The Superior Spider-Man Vol. 6: Goblin Nation
Writers: Dan Slott and Christos Gage
Artists: Gluseppe Camuncoli with Javier Rodrieguez, Philippe Briones, and Will Sliney
To be a hero...
Ranking: 4 stars
From the beginning, Dan Slott’s decision to have Dr. Octopus switch bodies with Spider-Man’s has received polarized responses from fans of Spider-Man. When the status-quo change first occurred in the DYING WISH arc, many were furious when they discovered that Peter Parker was going to be killed off and replaced by one of his long-time enemies, but when Octavius actually took up the mantle in THE SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN series, people began to revaluate their opinions on the situation. While some were still against Octavius’s role as the new Spider-Man, others were open-minded towards the new series, interested to see what road Otto would take in his journey to prove himself a Spider-Man superior to Peter Parker. Like most of the fans, I was against this change when it first occurred in DYING WISH, but when I saw that the follow-up was receiving positive ratings from fans and critics, I decided to look into Otto’s role as Spidey with an open mind and ended up really enjoying it. What intrigued me about THE SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN was the handling of Octavius’s character. Even though he has turned over a new leaf, he is not the same Spider-Man that Peter Parker was. He was arrogant, he did not always put his responsibility as Spider-Man above his personal ambitions, and he still showed mannerisms that he possessed as Dr. Octopus. Despite his flaws, he was still determined to not only continue Peter’s legacy, but improve upon it by accomplishing more than Peter has as Spider-Man. But his goal has led him to abuse that power by going to extremes such as creating spider-bots to monitor every corner of the city, as well as commission a private military to operate as his own personal army. He has yet to learn what it truly means to be a hero, but that all changes here in the final chapter of Octavius’s career as the webslinger… GOBLIN NATION! Since volume one, Octavius has managed halt crime in New York City, but one criminal has slipped under his radar, Norman Osborn, aka the Green Goblin. Having found a way to hack into Octavius’s spider-bots, the Goblin has formed a new criminal empire under the streets of Manhattan, declaring himself the Goblin King. All of his henchman (or anyone wearing a Goblin mask) have been invisible to the spider-bots, allowing them to commit crimes a with Octavius knowing. Now in the final volume, Osborn has made himself known to Otto, causing him realize that control of the city has belonged to the Green Goblin all this time and that all he has done has been for nothing. To make matters worse, the Goblin reveals that he knows about the mind switch, and plans to destroy everything Octavius holds dear, as Norman feels cheated that Octavius was the one to defeat Spider-Man instead of him. With the Goblin targeting all of Peter’s friends and relatives and having taken his girlfriend Anna Maria hostage, as well as having an army of Spider-Slayers sent after him by Mayor Jameson, Otto feels devastated, as he believes that he has failed as Spider-Man. Will Octavius do what is necessary and make the ultimate sacrifice, or will all of New York suffer under the reign of the Green Goblin. While I’ve enjoyed Dan Slott’s work on THE SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN, I personally found GOBLIN NATION to be my favorite as major events go down throughout the story, keeping me excited and invested with every page. But what cements this volume over the previous ones it that Octavius faces the biggest character development in his career as Spidey. As I mentioned earlier, what has made Octavius’s role as the new Spider-Man engaging has been the handling of his character, and I feel that it is here where Otto develops the most as he truly discovers what it means to be a hero. Since volume three, Otto has making more and more controversial decisions as Spider-Man. He has interfered with citizens private lives by monitoring the city, took the law into his own hands by establishing an unlicensed police force to serve as a private army, and has blackmailed Jameson to give him complete authority on combating the criminal underworld. While he has done all of this in his attempts to be a better hero than Peter was, his actions have made him arrogant and overconfident. Once the Goblin makes his presence known, Octavius begins to realize that he let his arrogance get the better of him as the Green Goblin was able to take control of New York without him realizing. This causes him to question the methods he used as Spider-Man, but it’s only when Goblin proceeds to target Peter’s family, as well as kidnap his girlfriend, that he truly acknowledges his failure as Spider-Man, and that Peter has always been the superior Spider-Man. What makes this dilemma engaging to the reader is that we have been following Octavius’s efforts to abandon his former life as a super villain in order to become a hero, and because everything he has accomplished is set back by the Goblin, we can connect to Otto’s entire experience. From the beginning Otto appeared to have been accomplishing more than Peter had in the past, and when it all falls apart, not only does Otto realize that he was wrong, but the reader does as well. We believed that Octavius was the Superior Spider-Man because of what he accomplished, but like Otto, we forgot that being Spider-Man represents more than having the power to fight crime. Because of Octavius’s overconfidence in his intellect, he believed that he could completely eliminate crime in New York if he could weigh in every possible outcome and scenario. But when everything goes downhill, Otto discovers that being Spider-Man means being able to take the right course of action, no matter what the outcome. It is here where Octavius truly discovers what it means to be a hero, transforming him from the standard mad-scientist super villain, to a character with depth and dignity. While GOBLIN NATION ended Octavius’s role as Spider-Man with a bang, I felt that the last two chapters could have been handled a little better, which is why I demoted one star. I’m not going to spoil what happens, but I will say that it may come across as a cop-out to those who have enjoyed Octavius as Spider-Man. Apart from that, THE SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN VOL. 6: GOBLIN NATION, stands as my favorite story of the series overall, as it brought outstanding development to Otto Octavius as a character, and did so while giving this series the explosive climax it deserves. I’m not sure of the direction that Spider-Man will take in the future now that Otto is out of the picture, but I can easily say that THE SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN overall is both a worthwhile read, and is one of the best Spider-Man runs in recent history. What started out as a controversial decision to replace Peter Parker as Spider-Man, ended up as a story of redemption for Otto Octavius as a human being. “True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.” -Arthur Ashe
