Superior Spider-man Team-Up #1

Superior Spider-man Team-Up #1

"A Day in Someone Else's Life"

Story: Chris Yost
Penciler: David Lopez
Inker: Andy Owens
Colourist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Cover: Paolo Rivera

The first issue of a new series in which the Superior Spider-man teams up with various heroes of the Marvel Universe!  Does this first issue have what it takes to make the team or will it find itself watching from the stands?  Hit the jump to find out!

Summary:  Spider-man appears to be on some sort of rampage, as he is spotted all over the city taking out a variety of super-heroes.  Captain America, who has recently put Spider-man on probation from the Avengers, gathers a team to take Spider-man down.  After attacking Ant Man at the Baxter Building, Spider-man is confronted by Captain America and his host of Avengers.  After a brief battle, Spider-man is subdued by the Hulk and Thor.  An angry and annoyed Otto tries to explain to the Avengers they are making a mistake, when Hyperion declares they should have listened to Spider-man and attacks his allies.  Spider-man reveals that he has been tracking the Carrion virus, as it has been jumping from hero to hero, and has now infected the powerful Hyperion.  Spider-man works with the Avengers and uses a weapon he has designed to destroy the Carrion virus without harming Hyperion.  Captain America apologizes for doubting Spider-man, and Otto leaves, mocking Captain America for having put him on probation.  The issue ends with Carrion returning to the Jackal, who promises the next step of their plan is to kill Spider-man.

The good:  The issue does a good job of setting the stage for this new book, assuming many readers might be picking up a Superior Spider-man book for the first time.  Yost uses Captain America
 watching the news of Spider-man's attacks and explaining the situation to Jarvis as an effective way to summarize the events in the Spider-man books that have lead to this issue.  The cold open is also a
nice touch, as the readers have no idea why Spider-man is apparently attacking heroes at random.  It helps add some suspense to the story and it makes for a nice surprise when it is revealed that Carrion, an old Spider-man villain, is the villain in this issue.  Using the Carrion virus was a nice way to get Spider-man to team up with the Avengers, as it was a bit hard to see any reason he would team up with them after fighting with the and being placed on probation.  Yost did a good job with the characterization of all of the Avengers and the Superior Spider-man.  He captures Otto's arrogance and his annoyance with the other heroes, and captures the new Spider-man's desire to do things himself because of his superiority.  As for the art, Lopez does a solid job throughout the issue, delivering some pretty nice fight scenes that are highlighted nicely by Roseberg's colors.

The not so good:  The main problem with this issue is that it is just very average, especially for a "number one" issue.  While the art was certainly good throughout, there aren't any pages that really wow the reader, which there really should be in a book where Avengers are fighting each other.  While Yost does a good job of appealing to new readers and setting up the series, it feels like this issue focuses a bit too much on these aspects and not enough on the conflict at hand.  Once the Avengers confront Spider-man, the Carrion reveal and the battle seem to go by too fast.  The issue needed to focus a bit more on Spider-man's interactions with the Avengers, especially when they are involved in a fight against a very powerful teammate who is possess.  It also feels like the Avengers are too quick to forgive and trust Spider-man in this issue. 
No one points out that he could have made them aware of the threat, instead of going out on his own and attacking other heroes with no explanation.  It's also a bit of a stretch to think that the Avengers think Spider-man has changed so much due to the death of an ally.  This is not all on Yost, as this problem really exists in all of the Superior Spider-man books, but it does drag this story down a bit.

Overall rating: C (7.5/10)

Ads:

The first ad is one of the Dr. Pepper ads that have been running in the Marvel comics, this one featuring Captain America.  The second is kind of an odd ad for a comic book, as it is for Cirque du Soleil.