The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #8 Review

After a brief interlude issue focused on the origin of the new Beetle, Nick Spencer is back into the thick of things in The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #8. All of the elements that make this series so great are in full effect this month. We have the core group of miscreants who manage to be lovable even as they bumble and scheme and plot against each other. We have the biting humor that pokes fun at pop culture and various corners of the Marvel Universe. And we have the surprise introduction of an A-list villain sure to shake things up even further.

This is easily one of the funniest issues of the series to date. Spencer writes multiple dream sequences for Boomerang, which include a shot of Barack Obama grilling hot dogs and visual gags that play off of previous gags. These scenes are where Steve Lieber's art is at its best. So much of the humor depends on symbols and facial expressions and other completely visual elements. Even when the dialogue is completely straightforward, the series always finds ways of entertaining.

And the humor doesn't let up in the waking world either. The scenes of Shocker struggling to babysit the stolen head of Silvermane are downright hilarious. My only complaint is that some of the humor relies too much on current pop culture references that threaten to date the series after a while. Is anyone even going to remember who Katherine Heigl is in 10 years?

But alongside the steady stream of humor is the strong characterization that has defined the series. As much as it's fun to laugh at the bumbling Fred and his crappy luck, Spencer also has us rooting for him in both his romantic and professional struggles. As always, Superior Foes strikes that magic balance between poking fun at these C-List villains and making us care for them.

Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

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