Before "Spider-Man 2" was released this week and made $40.5 million its first day, Marvel comics did its best to set the stage for the blockbuster cinematic battle between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus. It seemed like every month one of the Spider-Man titles was featuring Doc Ock and if that was not enough there were limited series such as "Spider-Man Doctor Octopus: Negative Exposure," the current "Spider-Man Doctor Octopus: Year One," and this one, "Spider-Man Doctor Octopus: Out of Reach." This trade paperback collects the five issues written by Colin Mitchell and drawn by Derec Aucoin.As we all know Peter Parker was imbued with the superhuman powers of the spider after being bitten by a radioactive arachnid and has been fighting crime as Spider-Man. His lifelong nemesis is Dr. Otto Octavius, who became Doctor Octopus as a result of a radioactive accident that fused four titanium tentacles to his body and transformed his mind into that of a power made psychotic genius. However, the focus of "Out of Reach" is actually a third character, young Brigham Fortune, a scientific whiz kid who is a former student of Peter's.
The idea is that boy genius and inventor Brigham Fortune is everything that Octavius ever wanted to be, because not only is he brilliant and good looking, he is also revered by all and everybody wants him for his talents. Octavius, of course, was shunned by humanity in general and his colleagues in particular so he is jealous of the kid. But in an ironic twist it is Doctor Octopus who is everything that Brigham want to be as well (I guess nobody wants to grow up to be Spider-Man any more). After all, as a supervillain Doc Ock is not only powerful, but respected and feared. More importantly from Fortune's perspective, Doc Ock does not take orders from anyone. So while Fortune is looking for a father figure, Octavius is seeking a son.
Peter Parker just wants to go on vacation with his wife, Mary Jane, but the idea of Octavius corrupting the young Fortune takes precedence. Brigham had created an unbreakable bank vault, so Doctor Octopus kidnaps the boy genius and forces him to reveal its secrets. Just as the vault opens Spider-Man shows up to save the day. The only problem is that Brigham decides that he does not want to be rescued and he has his own ideas as to what he and Octavius should do next.
"Out of Reach" is basically then a fight for the heart, mind and soul of Brigham Fortune. Part of the fun is that the kid is smarter than Parker and Octavius put together, so that catching up with him is hard enough and getting ahead of him impossible. This is not a great Doctor Octopus story; there have been so many of those that every time another one comes out it makes it even more difficult to get even close to the heights of "The Amazing Spider-Man" #31-33, which I still think is the best of the Stan Lee-Steve Ditko storylines. But those who pick up this collection because of the movie will not be disappointed.
