The Superior Spider-Man #30
Written by Dan Slott and Christos Gage
Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli, John Dell, Terry Pallot, and Antonio Fabela
The short of it:
Superior and 2099 against the Spider Slayers! The Goblin is enjoying this way too much, and taunts Ock with the captive Anna Maria. So, of course, he bails on 2099 and leaves Miguel to die, as Mindscape Peter continues his journey to become Otto. The city is in flames, the Goblin’s are rampaging, and it’s literally all Ock’s fault. The cops are overwhelmed, the Avengers are busy, Cardiac’s clinic is going to get him and Spider-Man both arrested, and these Slayers…well, they’re Jonah’s brainchild, how’s he taking it? By passing the blame; first to Spider-Man, which the press want an explanation for, and then Alchemax for building the Slayers, but then Liz gets brought in on an iPad to tear Jonah a new one and slap him with all the blame.
Ock keeps chasing down Goblin’s, looking for the kidnapped Anna Maria, and being led about by Menace. In the Mindscape, Peter relives his own final moments, and sees the burst of memories that he left Ock with. He rediscovers himself, no longer a fleeting remainder of what was, he is Peter Parker, and he’s not going to quit on his life. This means forcing Ock to stop screwing up, and letting him know that Pete is back in Ghost Mode. Ock accepts this as Ghost Peter begins to see what a mess was made in his absence. The two talk, with Otto admitting that his arrogance is the cause of all of this, and that he finally understands Peter. That’s why he does what he does.
Why he brings this volume to a close, and why from here on out things are going to be Amazing.
What I liked:
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The book opens with Otto admitting his own failure inside of the first few pages, which is a pretty cool moment. I mean, yes, he’s obviously failed so many times at so many things, but one constant in this book has been his never admitting to it.
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Seriously, Ock has his confidence rocked, and it makes him so much more dynamic. Yes, it had to happen this issue, but it was the subtle breaking down of his ego, and his own understanding of why he was such a failure. This issue probably featured the most human moments of Otto’s adult life, and it was fantastic.
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GHOST PETER! Words can not express how much I hated him in the early issues, but I was cheering him in his return.
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Man, when they said “Once this happens, it CANNOT be undone”, they were NOT kidding! I don’t see an obvious backdoor exit, and the moment was made so much better because of it.
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Dan Slott hasn’t fully confirmed who the Goblin is yet, and he’s abusing me with teases about who it could be. Last issue I thought it was Norman, and while no, I don’t think it’s Liz, the fact that this is even up for debate still is just awesome writing.
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I like how, for as clean as the transition at the end is, it’s very clear that things haven’t even begun to get ugly yet. There’s a lot of buildup already for the next volume, and I’m stoked.
What I didn’t like:
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The Otto/Peter sequence that I’m going to be vague about…it felt too short. Like, it was perfectly executed, but I felt it could have been built to this issue, and happen in the next issue.
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Man, this issue was heavy, and my first thought was “SWEET! MORE PAGES!”….and then I saw what they were, and that disappointed me.
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Seriously, you get to the cliffhanger ending, and it feels like you’re just getting started, but no, it’s just Black Widow #1.
Final thoughts:
Hey Marvel, can I have my four bucks for Black Widow #1 back? If I’d known you were going to reprint the whole damn issue less than two months later, for free, in a completely unrelated book that I do read, I’d have just waited for it. Adding this to the list of ways Marvel hates their readers wallets.
Marvel is generally filled with epic hyperbole in their copy statements. Lots of “universe shattering” and “internet breaking” without a lot of actual payoff. So when they said “It CANNOT be undone” complete with the caps (seriously, that’s from the solicit on their website), I rolled my eyes and said “whatever” before reading. And then they delivered it. Major kudos to Marvel’s marketing department for finally living up to their own hype.
If Peter feels any sympathy for Ock after all of this, then he’s a better man than me.
If Anna Maria doesn’t die, how do you explain her sticking around? Peter isn’t going to have any of Ock’s memories, which means he’s got this random girl that he was in love with last week but doesn’t know now.
How awesome is that cover?
The finals days of Otto Octavius have been interesting. He went from the King of New York, he who could do no wrong, to the guy who brought about more chaos to New York than any hero should have allowed. He finally quit passing the blame, and accepted that…yeah, he screwed all of this up. This is all on him. He’s a broken man in this issue, fighting to keep hold of the few things he has left. So, really, he finally understands what it is to be Spider-Man.
