Hello everybody and welcome to my review of Avenging Spider-Man #18. This issue features a team-up between Doc SpOck & the Mighty Thor. Both of these heroes have huge egos, but will they be able to put them aside in order to combat the return of Electro? I guess we'll find out.
Synopsis:
The Superior Spider-Man observes a small crater in Queens. He determines due to the energy signature that it was caused by Electro. He then correctly figures out that Electro desires revenge against Thor after the thunder god blasted him into space during Ends of the Earth. Meanwhile Electro talks to members of A.I.M via video link. They tell him that they can help him kill Thor.At Avengers Tower, SpOck warns Thor of Electro's return. But Thor laughs at this, saying he has nothing to fear from Electro, which leaves Otto infuriated. Back at Peter Parker's apartment, SpOck stews over Thor's arrogance,. He taps into various weather satellites in order to track Electro's energy signature. Upon discovering his current location (an unknown A.I.M laboratory in New York), he curses the villain.
Meanwhile, several A.I.M scientists run Elector through the procedure, which will hook him up to a quantum field generator, converting his electrons to protons. They warn him that he could kill himself as well as Thor, to which Electro that he doesn't care as long as he takes Thor with him. As they start the procedure, Doc SpOck arrives, effortlessly defeating the A.I.M soldiers. By the time he reaches Electro however, it's too late. Electro has been successfully converted to anti-matter. He leaves to find Thor.
However, SpOck gets there first. Thor once again shrugs off SpOck's attempts to warn him, only to receive a massive shock from Electro. He prepares to attack Electro with lightening, but SpOck prevents him, saying that if Electro were to take a direct hit of electricity in his current state, the protons and electrons could possibly collide, causing, as Thor put it, "annihilation", wiping out New York.
SpOck asks Thor to buy him some time whilst he rigs a field version of A.I.M's Q-Field generator, complaining to himself yet again about Thor. As he works on the generator however, he observes Thor taking more punishment from Electro, noting to himself that Thor's willingness to die if it means saving lives. Minutes later, SpOck finishes the machine, telling Thor to blast Electro now, which he does. At the point of annihilation, the generator redirects the energy, seemingly killing Electro. SpOck helps Thor to his feet, telling him this. Thor acknowledges that he should have heeded "Spider-Man's" warnings, but he also notes Spider-Man's disrespectful attitude towards Electro.
Later, at Doc Ock's underwater lab, he muses on how far he is willing to go to get what he wants. We then see that Electro is indeed alive, SpOck has imprisoned him in his lab alongside Sandman...
Thoughts:
This is the best issue of Avenging to feature the Superior Spider-Man so far. The dynamic between Thor & SpOck is surprisingly entertaining. Christopher Yost captures Thor's voice perfectly, . It's also good to see SpOck gain a form of respect for Thor, given how the last two issues featured characters on which his opinions did not waver. As with #15.1, it's not enough to make him grow substantially as a character, but he definitely comes away from the issue a little contemplative, even while he continues with this mysterious scheme of his. The fact that Thor notes Spider-Man's change in personality also impresses me, I'm really hoping this will tie into the Fired storyline as Thor also features in the teaser image. This is the first issue to feature a prominent Spider-Man foe, Electro is a sensible choice given past events and I enjoyed his battle against Thor. Marco Checchetto takes the reigns as artist this issue. His artwork is just fabulous. I really like the way he draws the Spider-Man suit.
So far it seems as though Ock is gathering his former Sinister Six teammates for some kind of plan. I'm very curious as to his motives with this, and I also wonder how this involves the Jackal?
Right now though, it definitely looks as though Avenging Spider-Man is the "Superior" title. It's actually making Otto bearable as Spider-Man, and given how irritating the character can be, that's a big acheivement...
