In some ways, The Avenging Spider-Man has significantly changed in the wake of the shift from Peter Parker to Otto Octavius. The most obvious difference is that Chris Yost has assumed full control of the series. Another change is that Avenging is now more closely intertwined with the events of Dan Slott's book and generally more centered in current Marvel continuity. But in other ways, this is still the same old Avenging fans know and love. The focus remains on telling standalone stories that pair Spidey with various other Marvel heroes. And it continues to offer a more lighthearted counterpoint to Slott's series, even if "lighthearted" is a very relative term here.
My most significant complaint about Superior Spider-Man #1 last week was that I had a hard time accepting Slott's portrayal of Otto as the new Spider-Man. The character was recently bombarded by the full weight of Peter Parker's tragic memories. That experience is supposed to have a tangible effect on his personality now. Otto shouldn't be written as a selfless hero by any stretch, but nor should he really be the fundamentally rotten person he was in Superior. The biggest thing Avenging has going for it right now is that Yost's Otto is more well-rounded. He's arrogant and rude, yes, but he also reads like a character genuinely trying to live up to his promise to become a better Spider-Man. Never once does Yost suggest that Otto is only performing heroic deeds because the ghost of Peter Parker is literally forcing him to, as Superior #1 suggested.
The series is nowhere near as humorous as it was in the Wells days. That's not really a viable option given the current status quo. Even so, there's a healthy amount of amusement to be had in the interaction between Spidey and the X-Men. Otto is forced to put on his best Peter Parker hat and attempt the witty banter his old nemesis had perfected. Rather than ignore the question of why no one seems to find Spider-Man's sudden personality shift odd, Yost dives right into that dilemma and illustrates the ongoing danger Otto faces in terms of exposure if he doesn't play his cards right. Another commendable quality in this issue is that Yost establishes an overarching conflict despite the largely done-in-one format. Avenging has always been a disjointed book that served whatever function Marvel needed it to in a given month. It's nice to see a greater sense of regularity and purpose now.
Paco Medina's art is solid here, if not especially remarkable. The action is vibrant and the line-work attractive, but Medina's faces tend to be bland and emotionless. It's fortunate that the star character wears a mask the entire time. The coloring highlights Medina's pencils well. The only quibble I have there is that Rachel Grey's costume is blatantly mis-colored, to the point where I couldn't figure out who she was at first.
The one real flaw plaguing this issue is an excessive amount of exposition. Whereas past chapters of Avenging would use the goofy recap pages to establish everything new readers need to know about the main characters (i.e - not much), Yost laboriously uses Otto's monologue to introduce every single X-Man and offer the new Spider-Man's extended thoughts on mutants. Most of it is simply unnecessary information. Hopefully this won't be a recurring problem as Otto continues his tour of the superhero community.
Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.
Source : ign[dot]com
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