Superior Foes of Spider-Man

Welcome to Cast Party, the feature that imagines a world with even more live action comic book adaptations than we currently have, and comes up with arguably the best casting suggestions you’re ever going to find for the movies and shows we wish could exist. This week, we're looking at one of the most fun comics Marvel has published in years, Nick Spencer and Steve Leiber's The Superior Foes of Spider-Man. This is a comic about villains, so we're going to need people who can play utter heels, but still remain likable and maybe even relateable. I've picked out some of the finest performers in the world for this dream movie, and as is tradition here on Cast Party, there may be a wrestler or two thrown in there where appropriate.

Honestly, it's pretty surprising Superior Foes of Spider-Man made it as far as 17 issues. The title lacked star power in terms of characters (Spider-Man's name is in the title, but that was very nearly the full extent of the character's participation in the comic) and it fell into a genre that, for whatever reason, doesn't connect with readers all that often: the superhero universe comedy. Yet, until it ended late last month, it was one of the best comics on the stands. Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber's tale of a group of C-list villains (and that's being generous) grouping together to be the new Sinister Six (despite there only being five of them) had more character, personality, playfulness, inventiveness and wit in its pages than most other comics coming out.

A great comic book cover is an advertisement, a work of art, a statement, and an invitation. A great comic book cover is a glimpse of another world through a canvas no bigger than a window pane. In Best Comic Book Covers Ever (This Month), we look back over some of the most eye-catching, original and exceptional covers of the past month. August offers a feast of shape and color, with striking covers by Scott Fischer, Victor Santos, Chrystin Garland, and Tula Lotay, some bold juxtaposition, and a quirky take on a pulp archetype or two -- including a Nazi airship and some poor sap being held in a giant hand. It's a classic!

The solicitations for November's books reveal that Superior Foes Of Spider-Man, by Nick Spencer, and Steve Lieber, and the New Warriors revival, by Christopher Yost and Marcus To, will offer up their swan songs that month. Neither series sold particularly well -- both were near the bottom of the charts -- but each drew critical acclaim, particularly Superior Foes.

A great comic book cover has a lot of work to do. It’s both an advertisement and a work of art; both a statement and an invitation. Sometimes they convey character, sometimes mood, sometimes moment. Sometimes they pastiche the classics or pay tribute to the past; sometimes they strive to show us something entirely new. Always they show us a glimpse of somewhere else through a canvas no bigger than a window pane. In Best Comic Book Covers Ever (This Month), we look back over some of the most eye-catching, original and exceptional covers of the month that was. Bloodbaths, glowing hands, and sinister animal silhouettes; these are a few of comics' favorite things, judging by the comic book covers from June 2014. Read on for great covers from Riley Rossmo, Christian Ward, Russell Dauterman, Jerome Opeña, and more.

The comic book, animation, illustration, pinup, mashup, fan art and design communities are generating amazing artwork of myriad styles and tastes, all of which ends up on the Internet and filtered into ComicsAlliance’s Best Art Ever (This Week). These images convey senses of mood and character — not to mention artistic skill — but comic books are specifically a medium of sequential narratives, an

Doctor Octopus might be getting all the attention right now, what with him inhabiting Spider-Man's body and all, but a team of Spidey bad guys is looking to steal some of it away this July, when writer Nick Spencer and artist Steve Lieber team up for Superior Foes of Spider-Man, a new ongoing series inspired by 1991's Deadly Foes of Spider-Man series...