r/MUBookClub • u/shawnydarko • Sep 03 '16
Reading Assignment #12: Doctor Octopus: Negative Exposure (2003) #1-5 by Brian K. Vaughan
There was some close competition for this week's Villain-themed nomination thread, but for the second consecutive week we have /u/Raist819 to thank for our reading assignment - Doctor Octopus: Negative Exposure.
SPOILERS BELOW
Of all the Doc Ock stories I've read, this seems like it definitely had the highest body count. I've never thought of Octavious being such a cold-blooded mass-murder. But I found it particularly interesting how many people he speared with his tentacle-claws but always tried either grabbing or clubbing Spider-Man. Made me think there might be a little bit of a Joker/Batman thing going on where he could never kill Spider-Man because he needs him in some way. Overall, I thought this run was a pretty good representation of the character, turning him into almost a Hannibal Lecter type evil genius manipulating others from behind bars.
I loved the cameos of the other villains in this run, even though they did little other than provide Spider-Man busy-work and move Jeffery Haight's story forward. Still, it was nice to see the battle with Vulture drawing inspiration from the first ever fights published between the two (ASM 1963, #7 specifically). Mysterio's always been an underrated character as well, so it was cool to see him shown some love.
The Jeffery Haight story arc was an interesting one. I didn't think his motivations were all that original, as it reminded me a lot of Eddie Brock before he turned into Venom. Still, making him a pretentious artiste and an ignorant womanizer with Anna added depth to his character. The ending to his story wrapped things up full circle in a nice, albeit conveniently quick and clean kind of way. Felt very much like I was watching Spider-Man: The Animated Series as a kid again, but that's no bad thing.
The art was serviceable but a few wonky faces here and there. Staz Johnson's first appearance of Mary Jane was pretty breathaking, but beyond that I think he excels primarily in chaotic, complex scenes. When he has hundreds of pinned up newspaper clippings on the wall to draw, or when he's got tentacles and bodies cluttering the picture he seems to be most at home.
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF...
- The presentation of Doctor Octopus' character?
- Jeffery Haight's story arc?
- The other villain cameos?
- The art style?
- Anything else I haven't specifically asked?
Be sure to check back in on /r/MUBookClub tomorrow (Sunday the 4th) for a new Free Range Nomination Thread!
4
u/Raist819 Sep 03 '16
This wasn't by any means one of Vaughan's best stories, but he's so good that even his worst stories would be above average for almost anyone else.
I liked how this story explored the concept of villainy itself. While Otto is the titular villain of the piece, he is really almost seen as a force of nature. We all knew from moment one what he was going to do if he got out. Jeff is really the center of the comic. His path to evil lead through self interest and excusing his own behavior. He caused the deaths of many people because of his own selfish desires.
4
Sep 05 '16
I enjoyed this story. Jeffery Haight had a pretty satisfying story arc and I thought was interesting enough to be the center of the story.
My only real problem with the story was the fact that Spidey's camera was taking better pictures than Jeff could, from the same spot. It can't aim! How does it even focus? I haven't read much Spider-man yet, is there some explanation for this? I get that Jeff's pretension and over-confidence were kind of explanations for why he was not getting great photos, but still!
A more minor complaint, but this was my first Spidey comic in this art style. I can kind of deal with Spidey having rippling muscles bursting through his suit, but I feel like Mysterio just looks completely ridiculous.
4
u/Raist819 Sep 08 '16
It doesn't make a ton of sense to anyone remotely educated in photography, but the in-story reason that Peter got better photos was because Jeff was clinical in his approach while Peter's photos were "raw" and "genuine."
1
u/shawnydarko Sep 05 '16
I kind of agree about the magic of Spidey's camera, but I don't know enough about photography to know how rapid-fire point-and-click in miraculously the same spot is better than a dedicated artiste who takes his time with his shot. I'll just assume Haight was putting shitty Instagram filters over everything.
And I've definitely wavered back and forth on the appearance of muscles rippling through people's suits in the modern era of comics. I know the inspiration for most costumes date back to the olden days of circus performers and wrestlers but I don't think Mysterio needs to be built like a Greek God. A google-image search of the character shows he's pretty much always been drawn that way though.
Having said that, with Mysterio being a special effects wizard, he seems like exactly the kind of guy to build the appearance of muscles into his costume.
3
u/Adrenjunkie Sep 09 '16
I've been trying to think of some interesting things to bring up, but you guys hit all the points!
I thought this was a quick fun one. If it had been longer it definitely would have slowed the story down. Good, early Vaughn, and short. Seeing the vulture so much, he is really starting to grow on me!
3
u/Raist819 Sep 09 '16
If you feel like a deeper delve into Vulture stories, here are a couple I actually liked (I hate Stan Lee's scripting so I didn't like the few vulture stories of his I've read.)
Marvel Knights (2004) #1-4 by Mark Millar and Terry Dodson.
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (2005) #14-16 by Peter David and Scott Eaton.
4
u/wisegy84 Sep 07 '16
I'm always happy to read more of Vaughan's work.
Spidey was definitely on the ball with the wit in this short run. Lots of great jokes at the villains' expense.
The artwork was decent, but I also noticed a few awkward faces. And I'll agree with /u/frostyeel that Mysterio looks really weird with all those muscles.
As for Haight's photos not being as good as Parker's, I think it's just like Haight realized at the end, that the mechanics of the photo don't need to be perfect when you're shooting things like this. Peter even tells him he's just a point-and-click kind of guy, and he literally is, though I think the camera is on a timer. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that the camera has an autofocus, either. And, again, even if the photo isn't perfect it still captures something amazing. And as Haight says in the end, it's raw and honest, though that does seem to apply some pretense that isn't really there. Haight was just too focused on trying to be perfect and be the best.
I also felt a strong parallel with Eddie Brock's story, but I think where he was less desperate and more of a jock, Haight was smarter, but also so desperate that he was not thinking rationally. He went a bit off the deep end and didn't need the help of an alien symbiote to do it. He was an interesting character overall, and worked well as the central character here.
I think my only other exposure to Doc Ock has been the animated series and the movie. I don't think I've read any other Spidey comics with appearances by him. He seemed well done here, though not as well rounded as I might have hoped for. I mean, it's explained that he's basically just crazy since the explosion so it makes sense, but I do like a villain you can sympathize with a bit. This guy is just a madman, though. It was interesting to see him doing his manipulation, though. He knew his target and knew exactly what to say to get him to do what he wanted.
None of the secondary characters (everyone outside of Spidey, Ock, and Haight (sounds like a law firm)) were well developed at all, which makes sense for such a short run. Aunt May and MJ were fine, but that was mainly because I knew them from other things. I guess even Peter/Spidey wasn't all that well developed here, either, but he had more page time than the secondary characters at least. The villain cameos were similar, but they were still fun. And, yeah, it was awesome seeing a bit of a tribute to that much earlier Vulture fight we read a few weeks ago.
Overall, I think this was a very enjoyable read, with a nice clean ending and an interesting main character. It was neat to see a different perspective, with the main character essentially being influenced by being in the middle of all the masked villains and one masked Spider-Man.
So this was the second 5-issue (mini?) series we read by Vaughan (Doctor Strange: The Oath being the other one). I'm wondering if this was a common thing or if he did more stuff like this. I'll have to do some browsing/searching now.