Superior Spider Man

I've never been a big Spider Man fan. My brother has always been, always telling me to try it out. I enjoyed the Spider Man animated series back in the early 90's. I've enjoyed every Spider Man movie, even Spider Man 3 and ESPECIALLY The Amazing Spider Man 2. So why would I not enjoy reading the Spider Man source material? Personal bias? I'm just a stubborn mule sometimes. I gave in and checked out Superior Spider Man Vol. 1: My Own Worst Enemy from my local library (wink). Dan Slott, the writer, has crafted a very creative twist on the Spider Man universe. He's taken a huge risk with this current story line, and in my eyes it has paid off. It was a great idea to start from issue/ volume one for new fans. The old model of comics was outdated and issue 1076 made it difficult for new readers to jump in. I'm glad the rise of trade paperbacks has really sky rocketed and gives more people access to comics material.

I'll give you a brief synopsis of the new Spider Man story line. Dr. Octopus, one of Spider Man's greatest foes, was dying from a terminal illness. His last evil plot was too switch his consciousnesses into the body of Peter Parker. Doc Ock discovered the secret identity of Spider Man and made it his mission to best him. He succeeded. He is now in control of Peter's body and mind. There is a part of Peter that still exists, forcing Spider Man to continue to fight crime. It's a little far fetched, but Dan Slott does a great job of convincing people that it makes sense. Even though Spider Man is still a "good guy," he is still controlled by Doc Ock and some of his methods are questionable. There's an internal dialogue between Ock and Spidey that's hilarious in itself. Peter starts a new life under the control, and succeeds leading Doc Ock to believe that he is far superior than his predecessor, naming himself the Superior Spider Man.

I've read the first five volumes and four team up tie ins. Below is a quick review:

Volume 1: My Own Worst Enemy - 5 out of 5 Burning Lariats

Volume 2: A Troubled Mind - 4 out of 5 Burning Lariats

Volume 3: No Escape - 5 out of 5 Burning Lariats

Superior Spider Man Team Up 1: Versus - 4 out of 5 Burning Lariats

Superior Spider Man Team Up 2: Friendly Fire - 4 out of 5 Burning Lariats

Volume 4: Necessary Evil - 4 out of 5 Burning Lariats

The Arms of the Octopus (X-Men team up) - 3 out of 5 Burning Lariats

Volume 5: The Superior Venom - 4 out of 5 Burning Lariats

The Superior Foes of Spider Man Vol. 1: Getting the Band Back Together* - 5 out of 5 Burning Lariats

Pretty awesome reviews across the board. Highly recommend getting into this series.

*This is technically not a Spider Man book, but it does center around his villains. This is actually my favorite book of the bunch because of its unique perspective. The drawing is simple, but it totally works. I'm a big fan of the insurgence of minimalist comic art, i.e. Hawkeye, Daredevil. The color really pops and grabs your attention. The coolest thing about Superior Foes is how hilarious it is. These villains are supposed to be menacing, but they are softies or self centered, and always greedy. Awesome story telling.

The First 15 Years of Wrestlemania: XIV & XV

I get really excited about years 1995 - 1998 so I tend to ramble on so the last post ran really long and I imagine this one will too. The Attitude Era of wrestling was so damn entertaining and exciting, it's forever etched in my brain. I grow up with Degeneration X and Stone Cold Steve Austin. I was lucky enough to witness the rise and fall of ECW. Lucky enough to have buddies that would watch with me every week.

Wrestlemania XIV: March 29, 1998 - The WWE put all of their chips down and bet a lot on themselves with this event. They were involved in the infamous "Monday Night Wars" with wrestling rival WCW Nitro. They were getting beat in the rating consistently and needed to change something up to get back to the top. Good thing for WWE that they had a pool of awesome talent, namely Stone Cold Steve Austin who was ready to step up to the plate. We'll get to him and the main event in a bit. The night opened with a tag-team battle royal to become #1 contenders. I love battle royals and this one didn't disappoint. My favorite tag-team of all time (besides the Young Bucks) The Legion of Doom won. The tag title match later that night would be The New Age Outlaws vs. Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie was a brutal Dumpster Match. We saw some hits that would knock a normal person unconscious. The Rock was intercontinental champion for two consecutive WM's and defended against Ken Shamrock in a solid match. The WWE introduced the Light-Heavyweight Championship to rival WCW's Cruiserweight division that was making a lot of buzz worldwide. The finals of a tournament was held at WM pitting Taka Michinoku vs. Aguila. The match was fast paced and really grabbed the attention of the audience that night. I wish they would bring this back, they have a lot of guys that could benefit with this division. The Undertaker faced his brother Kane in his biggest WM challenge yet. The story is way more important than the match in this one. The Undertaker thought he accidentally murdered his parents and his brother in a fire when he was a kid. Kane survived but was disfigured from the flames. Undertaker tried to reconcile and swore to never face his brother in the ring. They did square off and it was a battle of titans. Undertaker had to finish off Kane with 3 tombstones piledrivers. One of the darker stories told in the Attitude Era, but it made perfect sense for each character's progression. Finally, the main event. HBK and DX have been running rampant through the WWE. Stone Cold has been on a meteoric rise to the top of the wrestling world, never winning the WWE Championship. They bring in Mike Tyson, who's a huge wrestling fan, in to referee the match. Their investment in Tyson and the story paid dividends, proving that WWE is the best wrestling company out there. This match garnered so much media coverage, just by having Tyson's name. The match itself was decent. Shawn was in a lot of pain with his back, and would retire shortly after WM. The explosion after Austin wins the title is deafening. People witnessed the culmination of the Texas Rattlesnake finally winning the belt. The best part is that this just began the Austin era, and so many more main events to come.

Wrestlemania XV: March 28, 1999 - WM 16 definitely wasn't as good as 15, but it had a better main event. The Rock and Austin have incredible chemistry. That's why they've headline WM 3 different times. My favorite moment at this WM was Professional Boxer Butterbean faced Professional Wrestler Bart Gunn. Gunn gets knocked out in such a violent way, it's cringe worthy. No idea why they would have this, it makes their wrestlers look weak, but it was entertaining. Mankind beat the Big Show who recently jumped ship from WCW. Mankind would become the special guest referee in the main event, playing a pivotal role in the decision. Shane McMahon has got to be the most under rated wrestler of all time. People hated him because he came from money, and show boated. He didn't get the credit because he was a McMahon. The guy was awesome. Taking some extremely dangerous bumps, getting heat, and displaying a solid wrestling repertoire. he defeated X-Pac in a very solid match. Undertaker continued his streak against the Boss Man in a Hell in a Cell match. Awful match and even more awful ending featuring Boss Man being hung from the cage. On to the main event and what a doozy it was. The Rock just finished a hellacious feud with Mick Foley that legitimized him as a main event player with a mean streak. They traded the belt a few times, and now Stone Cold gets his chance against the Rock. The Rock was Vince McMahon's hand picked champion. He's got it all and then some. Austin was a pissed off redneck who wanted nothing more than be champion. This bout was no disqualification and they brawled up and down the ramp, around ringside and in the ring. I can't stress how awesome their chemistry is, everything this did made sense and came to a perfect culmination. Stone Cold walks out as champion and the biggest wrestler of all time.

I wish I had written these sooner, but March and April were a very busy time. Lots of stuff happening, which is always a good thing. I will finish Wrestlemania's 16-30. I need to watch some tape and refresh my memory on some of those mid 2000's cards. I won't make the mistake of giving a timeline, because I don't want to raise expectations. Alas, thanks for reading, and thanks for letting me talk about my favorite thing in the world, Professional Wrestling.

The First 15 Years of Wrestlemania: XI - XIII

Wrestlemania XXX has come and gone, obviously I didn't keep my word and publish these before the biggest wrestling event of all time, but who really cares? Anyways, WM 30 was an awesome event. Lots of new stars were made, Daniel Bryan shined as our new WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Antonio Cesaro won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal in astounding fashion. Super Cena came came out as victor over the vicious and vile Bray Wyatt. Finally the Undertaker loses at Wrestlemania to Brock Lesnar ending an impressive 21 match winning streak. No one saw this coming and the reactions were priceless. This was easily one of the most entertaining WM's of all time. The right guys and gals won, and a new generation of wrestler is on the rise. Now let's jump back to 1995 with WM XI and witness the beginning of a rocket ride to the top.

Wrestlemania XI: April 2, 1995 - This was a weird event, and didn't feel like WM to me. The card was awesome, the matches were solid but it didn't feel like the grand daddy of them all. I can probably attribute it to it being in Hartford, CT, not the biggest arena. The opening match was pretty entertaining. The Blu Brothers were pretty talented, and had a good match against Bulldog and Luger. The Blu Brothers would have a tough time getting over in the future. They've changed their gimmicks so many times and had some success as part of the biker gang DOA. Razor vs Jarrett was decent, lots of Memphis shenanigans going on. Undertaker would continue his streak against King Kong Bundy. Bundy was let go from the company later that year. I was really excited to see Yokozuna and Owen Hart team up seeing that they are my favorites from the early 90's plus heel Doink of course. The main event featured Bam Bam Bigelow vs. NFL veteran Lawrence Taylor. The match wasn't bad. LT played his role perfectly, got beat up by the bad guy and somehow got the win. It was entertaining but shouldn't have ended the show. Diesel vs. HBK Shawn Michaels really stole the show. That's what these guys are known for and they didn't disappoint.

Wrestlemania XII: March 31, 1996 - The opener had really good potential especially when Vader and Yokozuna squared off. Unfortunately, the match itself was sloppy and didn't deliver. That's ok though, because we got to see HHH get squashed by the Ultimate Warrior in his first match back in 4 years. Undertaker continues his dominance at WM with a win over Diesel. Roddy Piper made his WM return with an interesting, hilarious Hollywood Backlot Brawl with the eerie and controversial Goldust. They tried to spoof the OJ Simpson car chase with sporadic segments throughout the show. Priceless stuff. The brawl itself got really brutal at times, showing a glimpse of the future of WWE matches. The main event was easily the most important match at WM since Hogan vs. Andre. It showcased two of the best wrestlers in the world. Bret Hart was the fighting champion from Canada. Shawn Michaels was the rising star and had the crowd behind him. The build up of this match was perfect. The vignettes were honest, and real. The match itself was an instant classic. Hart and HBK battled for an hour, trying to gain the advantage and reached a 60 minute time limit. Hart would walk away with the belt since it was a draw. They really turned up the volume at the end of the match with HBK in the Sharpshooter for over a minute without giving up. The match went into sudden death over time, and with two Sweet Chin Musics, Michaels beats the Hitman for the title. This is a match that I've seen at least 20 times, and it still gives me goosebumps. Wrestling at it's finest.

Wrestlemania XIII: March 23, 1997 - WM 13 is the first big event with the label of the Attitude Era. The theme of this show was Heat. Heat is a wrestling term that personifies the hatred towards a wrestler. A bad guy wants a lot of heat, a feud requires a lot of heat to really make an impact. The two matches with the most heat were the Nation of Domination vs. Ahmed Johnson and LOD, and Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin. Chicago was the perfect place for these feuds to blow up. The rest of the card was ok. Undertaker beat Sycho Sid to win the WWE Championship and continue his streak. The Rock made his debut at WM along with Mankind, big things will happen with these two later in their careers, but lets focus on the heat. The Nation of Domination really did not like Ahmed Johnson and beat the piss out of him on a weekly basis. So what did he do? He got the two baddest dudes to ever step into a wrestling ring, Hawk and Animal, and went to war in a Chicago Street Fight that went all over the arena. This was a fun match that showed intensity, and the right guys won. Stone Cold was the most hated man in wrestling at this time. Bret Hart was still a fan favorite, doing what was right. Hart had an issue with Stone Cold attacking people from behind and cheating to win. He also had an issue with his language and obscene gestures. These two guys were on fire when they walked into the Allstate Arena. The match stipulation was a submissions match meaning one guy had to willingly quit. They brawled, they hit each with chairs, slammed each other into the barricades and had a hell of a fight. Mid-way through the match, something happened. Stone Cold started garnering the sympathy of the fans. He was a bad guy, but he was getting whooped and wouldn't give up. Hart kept on laying them in, and giving Stone Cold his all. Eventually they end up back in the ring, Stone Cold bloodied, and Bret slaps in the Sharpshooter. In a pool of his own blood, Austin refuses to give up. He eventually passes out from the pain and Hart is rewarded the victory by referee stoppage. Hart may have won the match, but Stone Cold won the crowd, and that's the most important part of wrestling, having the crowd behind you. The scene of Austin screaming NO with blood dripping down his face is the most iconic scene of 90's wrestling.