Superior Spider-Man 30, Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 11

Superior Spider-Man 30
Slott and Gage (w) and Camuncoli, Dell, and Pallot (a) and Fabela (c)

Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099 are locked in combat with the new wave of Spider-Slayers when Goblin reveals to Spidey that he has Anna Maria and that he'll have to leave 2099 to fight a battle he can't possibly win by himself if he wants to save-oh, he left? Okay, cool, he's going after Anna Maria, leaving 2099 by himself. Spidey doesn't know where to go but he's intercepted by Menace as she flies by, taunting about their new captive. He follows her underground while, inside of Doc Ock's mind, Peter Parker continues to see Doc's memories. He gets to the point of Ock's memories where he manages to swap consciousnesses with Peter and, just as Peter's whole life flashed before his eyes then, it flashes before the ethereal Peter's eyes now. Suddenly, instead of losing himself to Ock's personality, he's regained all of his memories, all of the Spider-Man times and the Peter Parker times and all of his entire history. Fully charged by this, Peter jumps into Otto's mind again just in time to find that he's wavering about saving Amy Chen, the girl Otto saved alongside Cardiac and another captive the Goblins have taken, worrying that he'll injure himself and there will be no one left to save Anna Maria. Peter leaps into action, taking over the body and forcing Otto to swing in and save the girl. Peter, his presence again known to Otto, yells at his enemy and tells him that now isn't the time for plotting and planning, it's the time to act. Otto admits his weakness and the two leave, discussing what's happening. Otto reveals that he has overcompensated and has deemed himself superior only because he didn't really believes himself to be, whereas Peter always played down his intelligence and abilities because he was never so arrogant. Otto concedes that Peter truly is the superior one and rushes back to Parker Industries. He goes into his lab and enters the mindscape, deleting all traces of Otto's villainous history and even of his recent history, making sure to wipe the slate clean and leaving only the consciousness of Peter behind. Back in control at last, Peter dons his original costume and prepares to once more face off against Green Goblin.

This is the major turning point for the series, no question. Finally the moment we've all waited over a year for has come and we're rewarded by Peter taking control in his ever impressive way. The planner is replaced by the man of action in a time where action is most necessary and Otto's seemingly final act in the body he took such measures to steal is to learn a real lesson about heroism FINALLY. It's a huge moment and, while this is clearly the A-story, it's not the only thing happening. The Avengers continue to fight their fights (all the while reminding us their current feelings on Spider-Man and so on), Spider-Man 2099 continues his fight against the Slayers and Alchemax (all the while reminding us he's from the future), and the city is turning on J. Jonah Jameson thanks, in part, to Alchemax revealing that he commissioned and signed off on the Slayers despite Liz Allan's warnings that he shouldn't. On top of that, Liz is hiding something to do with this whole goblin mess and that will likely come to a head as we reach the conclusion of this storyline. Lots still to come here. Worth picking this book up for the reappearance of the triumphant Peter Parker and the special reprint of BLACK WIDOW 1 that comes tied to the book.

Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 11
Shinick (w) and Checchetto, Frenz, and Buscema (a) and Rosenberg (c)

In the middle of Goblin Nation, we take a quick look at a former relationship between Otto and Norman Osborn as Otto reminisces on a time when the two teamed up after (one of) the death(s) of Norman Osborn. They managed to put aside their differences and got along amicably enough as they built up plans to destroy Spider-Man, building up a friendship in the process. Of course, Norman's a bit crazy for Otto's liking and the craziness rears its head on more than one occasion, finally coming to a head when, after a heartfelt talk about their friendships in the past, Norman tracks down and hospitalizes a woman to whom Otto was once engaged, hoping that the pain in Otto's soul makes him realize what Norman is trying to accomplish with Spider-Man.

I'm not a big fan of this issue simply because I don't really buy it. Sure I can see a tentative team-up between Goblin and Doc Ock happening but I don't believe that either truly would form any sort of bond. Also, there's a sense between both this and SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN right now that they want Goblin built into the Joker of this universe (there were even chases in SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN this week that reminded me a little of the famous Batman story THE KILLING JOKE) and I have some amount of trouble believing this if only because we've seen enough of Osborn's backstory that it's hard to draw those comparisons. We've seen him be human and simply cold without any sort of craziness to him and then, on occasion, we've seen that craziness come back up. This one feels very all or nothing and, in truth, is more all than nothing. I have some trouble buying the conceit of this book and, on top of it, I don't love the writing as a whole. Maybe I just don't care and there's more to be talking about in the middle of Goblin Nation.