Well played, Nick Spencer, well played. How do you get a heist book to sell in today’s superhero and zombie obsessed market? You cleverly disguise it as a Spider-Man comic, and before your sometimes-way-too-insular fan base realizes what hit them, you engage them in a hilarious, sharply-paced, character driven story about five unrepentant scumbags, and before your readers know they are not actually reading a superhero comic, they're hooked!
Superior Foes of Spider-Man #1 is a character study of some of Spidey’s less-celebrated opponents; Boomerang, Speed Demon, Overdrive, the Beetle, and the Shocker. The book is firmly entrenched in the modern Marvel universe where Otto Octavius is swinging around in Peter Parker’s body, but this is a Spider-Man story unlike any fans may have read. It’s not even really a Spidey tale at all, but it's about some of Spidey's, shall we say, minor foes, and what their lives are really like.
The protagonist of the story is Boomerang, and Spencer gives us a slice of life tale that fleshes out a character who has always been, despite some shining moments in Thunderbolts, pretty one-dimensional. No one in this book is one dimensional. Readers will learn what drives these thugs, what they do when they are not putting on gaudy costumes and throwing down with superheroes.
Somehow, Spencer does the impossible, the five main characters (yes, five, the sixth is revealed later in the story and I won’t spoil it here) are flat out, grade-A dicks. They are not misunderstood, they are not victims of a tragic past, they are just scumbag criminals who feed off society. But, lord above, are they fun. The main thrust of the story is that Speed Demon and Shocker need to buy birdseed for the imprisoned Boomerang and leave it at his apartment so Boomer’s neighbor can feed his bird while Boomerang is in prison. Simple, right? Well, not for these foes, as the Demon and Shocker decide they need to rob the pet store and steal a puppy from a little girl who thinks they are “stupid.” That’s it. It's so ridiculously simple, that it's utter genius.
Other sublime moments of pure ridiculousness include the new, female Beetle robbing a comic book store and the clerk asking if she wants bags and boards, Speed Demon forgetting Boomerang’s keys after the robbery and having to run back to Brooklyn, and, for the first time ever, Hammerhead taking a dump. Yeah, it’s that kind of book. But with all the hand-wringing angst filling other titles, a little farce goes a long way in making Superior Foes something very special.
The classic, clean art of Steve Lieber humanizes the proceedings giving everything a matter of fact, real world quality. Lieber’s art has great comedic pacing, and breaks down the more humorous scenes into multi-panel grids to perfectly catch the timing of the jokes. These Foes have never been this entertaining and this unexpected crime book is a must read. It would be a crime to dismiss it.
Story: 9/10
Art: 9/10
Overall: 9/10
The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #1
Writer: Nick Spencer
Artist: Steve Lieber
Color Art: Rachelle Rosenberg