So, this comic. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, this is the last issue of the ‘The Superior Foes of Spider-Man‘ and even though I haven’t been covering the series I wanted to give it a send off in style. Or, as much style as any series that is cancelled can get. As the last page came to a close I realized that this pretty hilarious masterpiece that came out of nowhere really is a book that you should pickup when it eventually comes out as a collection (there are two trade paperbacks available at this time with the first 2/3rds of the series), so I wanted to make sure to do a bit of a review for you. Clearly, this is a book that I’ve enjoyed.

Nick Spencer has brought life to a group of misfit villains brought together by Boomerang to form a new Sinister Six and while not all of the crew felt like the characters we’ve always known, this is how I want them all to be written from here on out. He’s given personality to a group of B villains and below from Spiderman’s past and humanized them in a nice mixture of humor and personality that really makes me want to see them pop up again.

Steve Lieber is again on art and his pairing with Spencer has been masterful. He has a unique style that works so well in this book and it is going to be sad to see this pairing broken up. Of course, there is some good news there for you. Just like Boomerang “got the band back together” by reforming the Sinister Six with this group of dead weights we’ll be seeing Lieber and Spencer re-teaming on a new title from Image! Wait, did I just call these two creators dead weights?!

Seriously though, in the same style of the ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ films (or any slew of other heist movies), we get a play by play of what was going on in the background to get us to the exact point we’re at today. While we never directly see the decision that Boomerang makes when he is put in a life or death situation as the book is coming to a close, he’s telling the story to someone one can assume that they know how things ended up. The best part? Who he’s telling the story to!

While most of this book will probably not be too big of a deal in the greater scheme of things, at the very least Shocker might be making a pretty impressive reappearance into the Spider-Man or Punisher books (or some street level New York hero book) as he’s got an entirely new lease on life.

The final verdict of the final issue? If you haven’t been picking up the ‘The Superior Foes of Spider-Man’ you’ve been missing out and you should order the first two collections right now to get you caught up. It’s a funny book that tells a good tale at the same time and was much more entertaining than it probably had any right to be.

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THE SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN #17
Writer: Nick Spencer
Artist: Steve Lieber