Spider-Man: Doctor Octopus - Out of Reach #1

Background

And another Doctor Octopus mini series hits the stands. Will this series be as good as "Negative Exposure", the other series? Read on!

Story Details

The past: Otto Octavius was bullied when he was a kid. His mother was the only one that supported him in his scientific interests. When she died, he burried himself in work. Then came accident and he gaind control over his four metal arms.

The present: Doc Ock breaks through a wall of a bank. Outside, Peter is walking home. It's MJ's birthday and he bought a present. He wants to ingnore the debris but just can't. Inside the bank, Doc Ock is having trouble opening the vault.

Spidey enters and says it's a magnetic sealed door. A fight follows in which Doc Ock tears the whole building down. The vault however remains undamaged. Spider-Man is burried under the debris, for he used his body as a shield to some woman, still in the bank. Ock leaves the scene and Spidey emerges without even a scratch. After making a joke, he leaves too.

Back at Doc Ock's hideout. Otto watches television. The item on the news reveals that the vault has an incredible liquid electromagnetic design. The guy who invented the thing, Brigham Fontaine, is shown. The safe is Doctor Octopus- proof. Which of course makes Otto mad.

Meanwhile, Peter and MJ are sitting on the couch, whatching the same news. Peter immediately realises that Doc Ock must have seen this too and that he will go after Brigham.

Later that evening, Brigham is about to give a presentation as Doc Ock bursts through the ceiling. He wants to kidnap Brigham. Of course, Spider-Man arrives just in time. And like their previous encounter, Doc Ock uses his arms to endanger the lives of some innocent bystanders and Spidey has to save them thus allowing Otto to leave the scene. But before Otto goes, he throws Spidey out of the window. Spidey falls towards certain death but manages to use a webline and swings just above street level into the building next door.

Nearly unconsious on page 20 but alive and kicking on page 22, shouting NO when Doc Ock takes Brigham with him.

General Comments

The childhood of Otto looks similar to that of Peter. I guess the writer is trying to tell us that.... eh.... yeah, well, come to think of it, what is the writer trying to tell us? Another attemtp to create an origin for Doctor Octopus? One to make us forget the one John Byrne gaves us? Oh, you don't remember that one? Lucky you, keep it that way.

The plot wholes, a jumbo jet would be able to go through them! How can Spidey know it's a new magnetic sealed vault? It's not revealed to be such a vault until after the attack. All that concrete, falling down on Spidey. Not even a scratch... or were there supposed to be scratches somewhere on his costume but did I just ingore those for the art was terrible? Even with no scratches on his costume, he'd have to have at least a dozen bruises. But later on, when Peter is with MJ, nothing is there.

And sitting with MJ on the couch, on her birthday. Way out of character. Peter would have taken her to a nice restaurant or something. It's her birthday for crying out loud. After months of separation, the most romantic thing he can think of on her birthday is watching some silly news item on television? Come on, this is all wrong. Please, let me wake up now and this turns out to be a bad dream.

Overall Rating

At first, I wanted to give this book 2 webs. But decided to knock it down just a little bit more. In short, I found the story to be extremely silly, something I'd expect to read in a 70's comic. Also, I found the art to be really awfull, the anatomy is totally wrong on certain pages. And I do not mean McFarlane wrong, 'coz that still looks cool.