For those of you that have been living under a rock, you may not have heard about the ending of the Amazing Spider-Man series. Doc Ock worked some magic and switched bodies with Peter Parker. If either of them tries, they can recall memories from the others’ life. The catch is Doc Ock has a very short time to live, hours in fact. During this time Doc Ock’s body dies, and Peter’s consciousness goes to the afterlife. He sees all of his loved ones, most importantly Uncle Ben. Ben explains to Peter how proud he is of him, and that he has fought the good fight.

After resuscitation from the medical staff at Rikers, Peter is motivated and recharged from his talk with Ben. Doc Ock (Peter) escapes from Rikers Island with the help of the Sinister Six. During a final confrontation with Spider-Man (Doc Ock), Peter fails to transfer himself back into his own body. While Octavius’ body is dying, Peter’s life flashes before his eyes. Somehow Otto sees this, only now with himself in place of Peter during the moments that shaped the super hero he became. Because of this Otto vows to use the powers for good. He will not only be Spider-man, but The Superior Spider-Man.

And now for issue number one of The Superior Spider-Man. There isn’t a great way for me to review this without spoiling some of the issue, so… spoiler alert.

Otto Octavius has been living life as Peter Parker to the fullest. He has revamped Spider-Man’s costume (see Avenging Spider-Man 15.1) and has been successfully juggling work, super heroics and Mary Jane. The issue begins with Spider-Man attempting to stop a bank heist being committed by the new Sinister Six. The fact these six c-list bad guys are using the name Sinister six really bothers Otto. Although he can’t stop them, he does manage to get some nano-spider-tracers onto the leader, Boomerang. I mentioned they were c-list, didn’t I?

I don’t want to spoil the entire comic, so let’s just say the meat and potatoes of it is Otto in Peter’s body acting like a real douche bag. This is aimed at his co-workers and MJ. He is such a douche that he spends an entire conversation ignoring what she’s saying and staring at her chest while wearing a bluetooth headset. MJ questions why Peter is wearing the headset during dinner. It turns out those little nano-spider-tracers not only tell Peter where they are, but he can hear everything they are saying. Rather than go after them immediately, something the old Peter Parker would have done, he has decided to set a trap for them where they plan to strike next… Horizon Labs.

This time the Superior Spider-Man is prepared and does virtually everything right. Including lots of dramatic booby traps. He even called the media 30 minutes ahead of time so they could witness the spectacle that he has set into motion. Having taken it very personal that these c-listers were galavanting as the Sinister Six, Otto intends to make an example of them. After a very short battle, just Boomerang is left. Spider-Man gets the best of him and begins to beat him nearly to death. When he pulls back for the death blow, something stops him. A police officer says, “Good work, wall-crawler. We’ve got it from here.” Spider-Man stares down, stunned.

Now for the worst part that completely ruined any excitement I had for this issue:

Obi-wan Kenobi style Peter Parker is standing behind Spider-Man. Obi-Peter had just stopped Spider-Man from killing Boomerang, and states, “You can’t hear me, can you? You don’t even know I’m here. Doesn’t matter. You don’t get to kill. I won’t let you. I don’t know how, but I am still in the fight! I am Peter Parker. And I swear I will find a way back!”

*Audible groan*

I understand this REVIEW has been more of a RECAP thus far, but I did so to help prove my point. At the end of Amazing Spider-Man, Peter is at peace with his demise. He finally gets to go be with Gwen and Uncle Ben. Otto Octavius is now burdened with the guilt and responsibility Peter felt for all of the mistakes he made as Spider-Man. Otto vowed to take on that responsibility and not only to continue Peter’s legacy, but to do it better.

I liked the thought of watching Otto struggle with the morality side of being a super hero, while being very successful with everything Peter wasn’t. The weird feeling of watching Otto eat dinner with MJ gave enough fire in the reader to want Peter Parker back. But not immediately. As the reader, I was hoping for a slow burn that could turn into an amazing climax when Peter finally comes back. More figurative and less literal. Maybe when Otto reached back to kill Boomerang he had some memory flash backs from Peter’s life that stopped him. Rather than Peter Parker’s “ghost” literally stopping him. They couldn’t make it through the entire first issue of this new series without saying, “Oh boy, look everyone, Peter is still in this. We’ll hit the reset button soon enough, winkface”.

Enough about what I thought, what did you think?

This image made me giddy. The idea of Walt Simonson on a Mark Waid book featuring The Hulk AND Mjolnir is a happy place of mine.

One of the best comic book writers Peter David had a stroke on December 30th. Regular updates on his Blog have indicated that he is doing well and has started to be able to walk again. But as we all know from crazy medical moments such as this the doctor bill will start hurting. So there has been a call to help and the way to do that is to go to his blog:

http://www.peterdavid.net

And there you can find ways to buy some of his comic books. If you don’t have the money or you already own the comic books listed send this link around or tell a friend you know who likes comic books because in situations like this every cent helps.

For those who might not know off hand who Peter David is he’s had his hand in a lot of projects over the years. Probably of most note currently is his involvement writing for the cartoon “Young Justice” on Cartoon Network, which is one of my top ten favorite TV shows of this past year. He also wrote on “Babylon 5” and did a 12 year run of the comic book “The Incredible Hulk.” Oddly I was first introduced to Peter David at a very young age when I bought the Star Trek: The Next Generation book Imzadi. It’s the story which is often referred to on the show of William Riker and Deanna Troy’s love before their time on the Enterprise. It was the second TNG book I read as a teenager and I still have it on my bookshelf right now.

So go to his blog and buy some comics to help this guy out. He’s a great writer and the comics he is featuring are probably going to be just as good as his other stuff so give it a chance. Thanks.

As reported on by Screen Crush Joss Whedon has clarified his involvement in the upcoming S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot for ABC and what he will do if it becomes an actual series. Joss has become a big name since doing The Avengers but many of his loyal fans know him from his days doing television and they long for the day that he comes back to a full series. But with The Avengers 2 and the Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog series on the horizon how involved can he be in a TV series?

Whedon spoke to Entertainment Weekly stating he would be a part of the pilot which is co-written with Maurissa Tanchareon and his brother Jed Whedon. Besides the pilot however he would leave it in the capable hands of his brother, Tanchareon and Jeffrey Bell (executive producer on Angel and Alias) and come into the series, “as my schedule allows.” But he also says he doesn’t want to be in and out:

I have to maintain a fine balance between not hurting The Avengers, which is my number one priority right now, and not be the guy who shows up once a month and undoes everything that’s been done by everyone else.

In case you don’t know Joss’ brother Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tanchareon co-wrote Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog with Joss and wrote most of the episodes of Dollhouse. So this show looks to be in very capable hands. S.H.I.E.L.D. will star Clark Gregg reprising his role as Agent Coulson, Ming-Na Wen (E.R., Eureka) will play the part of Melinda May, Elizabeth Henstridge will play Gemma Simmons, Iain De Caestecker (The Fades) will be Leo Fitz and Brett Dalton will play Grant Ward. Samuel L. Jackson has confirmed that he will also show up from time to time.

And he doesn’t look a day over 75. Seriously though, unless you’re a hermit who has been cut off from society (and if so, how do you know how to use the web?) you should know who Stan Lee is. Regardless of how you feel about the man personally, you can’t deny the world of comics and pop culture would not be the same without his contributions. Of course his frequent collaborators in the early Marvel days cannot be ignored, today is Stan’s day, so give him his due.

Now, we all know that Stan is an accomplished creator. The list of his characters is simply enormous. Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor, The Avengers, The X-Men, Ravage 2099… In fact, when you name iconic Marvel characters, one of the only ones he wasn’t directly involved with creating was Captain America. Still, Cap was Stan’s first big break, as his first Marvel work was a prose piece in Captain America Comics #3 back in the 40’s!

Stan through the years, courtesy of artist Marcos Martin

It wasn’t until the early 60’s however that Stan struck gold. When publisher Martin Goodman enlisted Stan to recreate the success of the Justice League of America, Stan was actually thinking of leaving the comics field altogether.  When his wife convinced him to give the old college try, but to write the book his own way, Fantastic Four #1 hit stands and the rest is history. That’s all well and good, but I’d like to point out a few of Stan’s other big accomplishments. For instance, he’s the only non-superhero to get his own trading card in the Marvel Universe set.

Also, not since Elvis has anyone had such devotees as to impersonation him to such a degree! And never was a man so OK with a guy poking good-natured fun at him in such a way!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYmAbp7_bNs

Best of all though, Stan is quite the accomplished movie and TV actor. I can think of no better way to end this tribute to “The Man” than to showcase his various celluloid adventures. To see what antics the still very active Stan Lee is up to, check out his twitter. Until then, Excelsior!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYSvIAF_NrQ

It’s not often that a comic book comes out that causes such uproar among its passionate fans. Amazing Spider-Man #700 happens to be one of those that has fans of the wall crawler all riled up.  With a hefty price tag of $7.99 we get a hefty amount of content. Almost 100 pages of content are in this book. It is also virtually ad free, save for a couple of in house Marvel ads. Alright, so what’s the big deal? Fair warning, it’s hard to talk about this book without talking about the “controversial” ending so be warned there are spoilers ahead.

Dan Slott has been crafting this story, dropping hints here and there over the last 100 issues. Doctor Octopus is slowly dying after receiving repeated blows to the head over the years, and has one last bit of revenge to act out against Spider-Man. Two issues ago it was revealed that Ock had switched bodies with Pete leaving our hero in the dying body of one of his greatest villains. How did Ock do this? By using an Octabot that implanted Ock’s consciousness in Pete’s body. Pete, in Ock’s body, breaks out of The Raft while forming his own “Sinister Six.” Finding the Octabot, Pete devises a plan to switch bodies.  Pete tries to use the Octabot after confronting Ock, but discovers that Ock has put metal plating in his suit to block the connection. While gloating Ock starts getting flooded with Pete’s memories. And he starts to replace Pete in those memories. He starts to get overwhelmed after realizing how good of a person Pete was and changes his mind. He doesn’t want the memories, however Ock’s change of heart is too late. Pete is too fargone and is dying in Ock’s body. He tells Ock that he is Spider-Man now and passes on after telling him that “With great power, comes great responsibility.” Ock vows that he will protect those that Pete loved and proclaims himself the “Superior Spider-Man.

That’s right folks, Peter Parker is dead and Doctor Octopus is Spider-Man! Controversial??? I think not. Interesting??? I think so!  It’s because of this ending that Dan Slott has been getting death threats. Let me say that one more time. Dan Slott has received death threats because of a COMIC BOOK! That’s kind of ridiculous. This won’t last forever, Pete will be back. However, in the meantime it will  make for an interesting story. This is no different than Captain America or Batman dying when Bucky and Dick Grayson took over for them. When those characters switched we got some really good stories out of their books. And I’m willing to give Spider-Man the benefit of the doubt because of that.  I guess I just don’t understand the outrage. Not liking a story is one thing, but people are being ridiculous.

As far as my thoughts on the book itself go, I really enjoyed it. There are some really good moments in this book, such as Pete having a near death experience and having a heart to heart with the likes of Uncle Ben and  Gwen and Captain StacyI think Ock as Spider-Man will be interesting for a little while. And that’s how long it will really last, just a little while. I can’t wait to see where Dan Slott takes us in the Superior Spider-Man. The words being used to describe the book are “Dark and weird.” And where  the art is concerned I think Humberto Ramos knocked this one out of the park. There are also two fun back up stories in this issue, one by JM Dematteis and Giuseppe Camuncoli, and the other by Jen Van Meter and Stephanie Buscema. You also get a cover gallery of all 700 issues of ASM and a letters page with the letters answered by Stan Lee followed by Spider-Man memories by different people in the comics industry. There is a bunch of stuff packed in this book!

Whether you get your books digitally, or from your local comic shop, you are also going to want to seek out Avenging Spider-Man 15.1 which is also out this week.  It also serves as both an epilogue to ASM #700 and a prologue to Superior Spider-Man #1. From writer Chris Yost and artist Paco Medina, this issue takes a look at Doc Ock’s first week in Pete’s body as Spider-Man. We get some good moments out of this issues like Ock’s revelation as to why he never beat Spider-Man, or his thoughts on Pete’s relationship with Mary Jane. If you finish ASM #700 and/or Avenging Spider-Man 15.1 and you feel like you want to continue with this story don’t forget to check out Superior Spider-Man #1 which is on sale January 9^th.

Dark Horse has held the Star Wars franchise for a long, long time. They’ve done very good things with it and nurtured it into something that they should absolutely be proud of. When the Disney/Lucasfilm merger happened, one of the first question marks was put on Dark Horse’s license of the property. Disney owns the largest comics publisher in the world in Marvel, it would make sense they’d want to keep those comics in-house.

Blue Sky Disney is reporting that after the current licensing agreement with Dark Horse is up though, the House of Ideas is taking Star Wars back into the fold in 2014, right where it started in the first place.

The Suits in the know have determined that no new contracts will be given to Dark Horse after the current ones expire. So all new projects after 2013 will be handled internally by Marvel.

But what will this mean for us?

Dark Horse has created over the years, during the renaissance of the Star Wars Expanded Universe some of the stories that are near and dear to our hearts (and some less so.) They’ve also worked hand in hand with Del Rey in the most recent years to tie the fiction universe into the comics universe, creating a bound continuity that can’t be totally ignored. Will Marvel proceed with the editorial direction laid out by Dark Horse (which doesn’t seem too likely) or will they start fresh in the new Expanded Universe created in the wake of Episode VII? I think that’s a more likely scenario.

But what will happen with the backlog of Dark Horse material we already know and love? Will Dark Horse retain reprint rights? Will Marvel pay Dark Horse to reprint them on their own? Will Dark Horse continue reprinting all the Star Wars backlog, even the Marvel stuff, like they do already?

These are the questions I really want answered more than who will own the license.

And I imagine these questions are paramount in the minds of everyone involved and the negotiations will be tough. I just hope they don’t go into aggressive negotiations… which is negotiations with a lightsaber…

[Hattip: Club Jade]

Those eager for a first look at Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, but have no interest in the Zone of the Enders HD Collection, have something to look forward to after the holidays. The demo included with ZoE HD will be available to all in January. You may need to clear a little room on the old hard drive though; the demo’s a whopper at 3.5GB. The game is set for launch February 19, 2013.

The Spring 2013 release window for Sly Cooper: Thieve in Time has been narrowed and confirmed for March 26, 2013 on PS3 and Vita. For those who’ve forgotten or hadn’t heard, this game will be part of the cross-buy program. Buy it on PS3 and you’ll receive a voucher to download it free on Vita. A retail Vita version will be available as a standalone product at a slightly lower cost. But it’s not only cross-buy, it’s also cross-play and cross-controller. When playing on your PS3 you’ll actually be able to use the Vita AR functions to find treasures in the game. The Sly series has always been a fun one, and Sanzaru games is definitely pushing the technology in their first new entry to the series.

Borderlands 2‘s next DLC was leaked last week and is said to be called Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt. Gearbox still hasn’t officially announced anything, but more details have been revealed through more illicit sources. According to file hackers, here’s what you should expect:

• One new head and one new skin for each class.
• A new vehicle – the fanboat (summoned from a Catch-A-Boat station), with 68 of its own skins and corrosive, incendiary, and shock weapon mods.
• 12 side missions and 5 longer main story missions.
• A new raid boss – “Imagine, if you will, a Stalker the size of a small building. Now imagine yourself killing it.”
• More new Seraph items.
• New kinds of enemies, like the borok and the scaylion.
• Lots of monster-tracking side missions assigned by Sir Hammerlock.
• A new swamp/jungle continent named Aegrus.
• A self-important but not-so-well-known new enemy who is “super-pumped we’re archenemies now,” leads a tribe of jungle savages, and has an evil plan that might actually work.
• A new treasure room brimming with goodies… but with a time limit.

The PlayStation Store has big plans for three weeks of sales to end 2012. Beginning with today’s update, many top titles will be up to 30% off (up to 50% for Plus members). The sale kicks off with 14 titles today. The discounts will be good until next week’s update when those titles will be replaced with others. The three week sale will at least 40 games discounted when it’s all said and done. Here’s the 14 you’re getting today (title, sale price, Plus price):

• Catherine $27.99, $19.60
• Counter Strike Global Offensive $10.49, $7.35
• Dyad $10.49, $7.35
• Escape Plan $10.49, $7.35
• I Am Alive $10.49, $7.35
• LittleBigPlanet 2 $13.99, Free
• LittleBigPlanet PS Vita $24.99, $17.49
• Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 $6.99, $4.90
• NHL 13 $41.99, $29.40
• Rayman Origins $13.99, $9.80
• Rayman Origins PS Vita $20.99, $14.70
• Resident Evil 4 $13.99, $9.80
• Retro/Grade $6.99, $4.90
• Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition $10.49, $7.35

LittleBigPlanet is the franchise just keeps growing for Sony. Outside of Rock Band, very few games have released as much consistent DLC – and most of it crosses through multiple titles in the series. The latest news is especially attractive for BSR! readers: more Marvel costumes. This week will see the release of Marvel Costume Pack 5, and Pack 6 is coming early next year. This week’s pack will include Black bolt, Black Widow, Iron Fist, Nova, and Star Lord. The next pack isn’t fully revealed, Community Coordinator Steven Isbell has indicated Deadpool will be included. He also promises an update on the LittleBigPlanet 2 cross-controller add-on will be coming very soon (like maybe this week).

Looks like that’s it for this week’s early edition. We’ll have one more on Friday but no early edition next week on Christmas day. There should be a late edition on 12/28 to end the year though.

The good folks at comingsoon.net have informed us that the Josh Trank  resurrection will arrive in theaters on March 6, 2015. Trank is best known for directing the shockingly cool “Chronicle,” but the film’s screenplay has been written by newcomer Jeremy Slater and the man responsible for the Green Lantern screenplay, Michael Green. Tentative thumbs up? And should we go ahead and start our dream casts? I’m not particularly interested in another origins story and would prefer to see a more mature Fantastic Four made up of a cast that does not consist of empty “blockbuster” names. Some names like Benedict Cumberbatch, John C. Reilly, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Lawrence and Clive Owen are floating around the Bot-Shop. What do you think? Who’s best for these iconic roles, and how are your hopes for a successful reboot?

Yes, I’m that person who didn’t like “Pulp Fiction.”

I watched it very recently for the first time, and although there was some great writing and a lot of laugh-out-loud moments, I was pretty disappointed. Of course, this drew the wrath of many a Facebook friend when I posted about it, and one of them pointed out something.

My expectations were too high.

This movie is supposed to be Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece, the quintessential 90s gangster film….I recognized the iconic scenes and lines…realized this is what resparked the careers of Travolta and Jackson. But alas, I was disappointed.

I’m also that person who will passionately organize a movie outing with a few dozen people. I did so for several movies, such as “Superman Returns.”

With “Spider-Man 3”, I inhaled everything there was to know about the movie, including actor roles, all trailers, possible plots. I blogged on MySpace about it several times up to the premiere and, like many fans, was disappointed by the outcome.

Now that I’m older, a lot of these traditions have become tiresome and, in a way, seem to go against my inner movie geek. Here are a few unusual things to try in preparation for a either a movie outing. A few of these tips can apply to movie nights in, too.

 1) Never, ever, ever see a movie on opening weekend. The reasons why are pretty obvious. Yes, I have attended midnight premieres of movies and enjoyed myself. The last one I did was for “Harry Potter” with my niece, and it was an incredible experience. But more so because it was the end of a tradition I had been doing with my niece for a decade and I caught some friends there.

I also braved the crowds even though I was recovering from mono and went to the midnight premiere of “Star Wars Episode Three.”  My then boyfriend at the time sewed his own Jedi costume, so it felt pretty important for me to be there. (No, I wasn’t contagious and yes, he sewed a costume, cut and died his hair and grew a beard for Halloween and opening night. I ended up marrying a *Con gamer, so there you go.)

But then there are those ultra-crappy experiences. There’s the time I planned an outing for the opening of “Spider-Man 2” and we had to endure second row seats and a set of chair-thumping rugrats behind us. Once we finally said something, we got lip from their mom. It was a terribly unpleasant moviegoing experience, considering how epically awesome that movie turned out.

I only enjoy movies now when there are smaller (and less rowdy) crowds. I tend to go on second or third weeks of big premieres. Sure, I miss the costumes, the greeting from movie employees and the thunderous applause at the end of the last scene.

 But now I feel like my inner geek is much more content.

 2) Don’t read or watch reviews until after I’ve seen the movie. This is a toughie for me, because I’m a film critic at heart and (seriously!) take the reviews of critics to heart. Of course, there have been plenty of times where I’ve disagreed with them.

 Okay, okay. If you haven’t already written me off about “Pulp Fiction,” I will tell you that I cried watching “The Postman.” In a good way. Because I liked it!

It’s very, very easy for me to have certain ideas in the back of my head while watching a movie that shape the way I look at it. Usually, if a movie gets poor reviews, I end up walking into the theater already disapproving a bit, and how can that be an enjoyable experience?

It just can’t. And, of course, like “Pulp Fiction”, “The Departed” or other critically acclaimed movies, it can backfire. I go in thinking it will be amazing and then I’m extraordinarily disappointed.

3) Don’t watch movie trailers anymore. Period. Sure, I’ll catch them at the movies, because it’s an inconvenience to show up late or walk out, but other than that, I’ve stopped. Here’s the problem. The quality of most trailers has decreased dramatically. Particularly after a movie’s release, they reveal more and more information. The “camel straw” for me was when my husband informed me that a key scene in a movie trailer ended up being the actual ending of the movie.

Really?

Sure, people want the familiarity of saying, “Hey, I remember that. I saw that in the trailer!” But there’s the problem. Often times you’ll notice random little things about trailers that *weren’t* included. Or there will be entire scenes that don’t show up. Or you expect a certain song to be in the soundtrack, and it never happens.

Teaser or viral trailers are few and far between nowadays, and I hate that. I hate going into a movie knowing every single plot element, every important scene, every funny line.

Here’s an interesting example: I’m a *huge* superhero movie fan. I absolutely loved watching all of the different Avengers trailers. I tried to do some research on characters, since I haven’t followed the comics. So I dissected this trailer with a fine-toothed comb. At about 2 minutes in, there’s that great scene where all of the Avengers are gathered in a circle, prepping for battle. When Black Widow loads her handgun, her wrists light up in blue.

-Z4hw

I posted it on Facebook when the trailer came out, and the best answer I got was that I’m sure they would talk about what that was all about. Unfortunately, at no point did I ever get a real indication of what actually happens with her wrists. I think there was one scene where she punches through something, but I’m not sure if that was it. I’ve had to actually go back and Google this now to figure out why they were used.

Honestly, her character was a smidge disappointing in the final battle, but after watching and re-watching that trailer, it really did influence my opinion of the movie in a negative way. I won’t do that ever again.

I still have yet to see a full trailer of “The Hobbit,” and I could not be more excited!

What are you passionate about that you take extraordinary measures to have the best experience possible? What do you think of doing all of this to watch a good flick? Sound off in the comments!