Superior Spider-Man 31

Superior Spider-Man 31
Slott (s) and Gage (w) and Camuncoli (p) and Dell and Pallot (i) and Fabela (c) and Eliopolous (l)

Peter Parker is back and he's ready to start setting things right. Carlie explains a little of what's happened to him at Parker Labs and he sets off, gaining the trust of Spider-Man 2099 on the way and helping where he can as he moves towards the Green Goblin and Anna Maria. The two spiders fight their way to the Alchemax building and "rescue" Liz Allan and son Normie, as well as Tiberius Stone (all of whom are still, you know, pretty evil, but they pretend they're not). As 2099 leads them out, Peter heads for the roof where Goblin has Anna Maria strapped to a pumpkin bomb. Goblin quickly realizes it's Peter, not Doc Ock, and begins to flee. Peter follows and unmasks him, revealing that it is Norman Osborn but with a completely different face, one that will be less recognizable. Peter's mini-spiderbots flood Norman's face and inject him with the goblin cure just as Anna Maria frees herself from her bonds and flings herself from the roof. Spider-Man catches her and Goblin and brings them back down to the ground, where Goblin still manages to escape with the help of Liz Allan. Goblin is devoid of his strength and stamina but he's also cured of his madness; the next time he goes after Spider-Man, it'll be at full mind power. Spider-Man meets with Anna Maria and learns that she's totally in love with the Peter she knew and he realizes that not everyone gets to win.

Story
This is it, the big finale of the 31 issue SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN. It's a strong issue, one that wraps up GOBLIN NATION nicely and one that ensures that the right people know Spider-Man is back to being Spider-Man. There are still plenty of hints at new possible stories and a bonus mini-issue at the end (written by Gage with art from Will Sliney and Edgar Delgado) shows where some of the people in his life might end up now (MJ is out of his life but still in the city, Carlie's leaving New York, Jonah Jameson has resigned). It's a story people knew was coming but no one anticipated a 30-issue run and it wraps up neatly here, setting Peter Parker up for a totally fresh start in just two weeks with AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 1. 5/5

Character
Peter Parker is back from the kind-of dead so that's really the big character change to look at. He's instantly back to quipping and helping out non-lethally, returning immediately to "no one dies" mentality. The idea that his personality is so pervasive, that it's so intimately known to everyone, plays a role here as people begin instantly to trust him again, even despite everything that's happened. It's a nice moment when he quips at Goblin and Goblin instantly realizes it's Peter and not Doc Ock and it's a testament to the strength of Peter Parker. There are some things that feel maybe like they're being set right a little too quickly if only because we're expecting him to have a hard road back to being a hero, but it all works here and it's nice to see. 5/5

Writing
Spider-Man books still have a bit of a tendency to over-explain and this issue is no different. Typically I'd have issues with that but somehow Spider-Man feels grandfathered in to over-explanation (I don't always feel this way with Spider-Man but I'm feeling good that Peter's back). Still, I'm not sure I needed shots of what seems like everyone he knows going "well geez, at least he seems to be back to normal!" You can leave some things for us to find out. Also there's a bit too much 2099 talk here and UGH do I hate 2099 talk. Nervous about when the new SPIDER-MAN 2099 series kicks off because I'll have to put that hatred aside. Anyway, certainly on par with SPIDER-MAN writing, maybe a hair better. 4/5

Art
I often confuse (on name alone) Giuseppe Camuncoli with Marco Checchetto, which is totally unfair and often hurts how much I like the art in a book. I tend to be lukewarm on Camuncoli's stuff and I really like Checchetto's. In this issue though, Camuncoli shines. The art is easy to follow, even considering how much ground Spider-Man is covering, how many fights he's entering into, and how many characters look similar to one another. With Peter Parker's return, he has to come face-to-face with a slew of people and Camuncoli does them all justice. Solid work. 5/5

Miscellaneous
What more is there to say? Peter Parker is back.

Total score: 5/5




Sorry guys, got a bit of a busy day today so I'll be back later to review the other books I have scheduled for today but for now, this is just a single-issue review. Figured if any book deserved to have a light shined on it this week, it'd be this one. The blog kicked off with a single-issue review of the death of Peter Parker, seems fitting to dedicate a single-issue review to his rebirth.

Superior Spider-Man 25

Superior Spider-Man 25
Slott and Gage (w) and Ramos and Olazaba (a) and Delgado, Fabela, and Gandini (c)

With the Venom symbiote, Spider-Man is stronger and faster than ever, giving him the upper hand in even his battle with the Avengers, called to the scene by Mary Jane. The only person that the Avengers can hope might help is Flash Thompson, who Iron Man goes to check in on at Parker Industries. Meanwhile, Carlie Cooper has been transformed into one of the Goblins with the Goblin serum though there's hope yet that not all is as it seems. She has yet to give away Spider-Man's true identity, claiming that she'll only give it when she's sure who her Goblin boss is. He claims to be Norman Osborn but won't lift his mask to confirm it until she's proven she's true to the Goblins and not to the NYPD so he sends her, under her new codename Monster, and Menace to go rough up some more of the Hobgoblin's men. Monster plays the part well (either because she really is full Goblin now or she's trying to get into the Goblin King's good books) and the result pleases Goblin King, who then declares an official war on Hobgoblin. Back in the city, Tony Stark shows up to the Spider-Man fight and sends Flash at Spidey with the Iron Man armor on. The surprise attack works as it's supposed to, granting Flash the opportunity to get the symbiote to come back to him but the symbiote refuses, realizing that it has more freedom with Spider-Man than it did with Flash, who tried to control it with drugs. With Spider-Man, it's been given free range and has very quietly pretty much taken control. Doc Ock realizes a moment too late that he really doesn't have much control any more and tries to force the symbiote out. By himself, he's too weak to do it but he gets help from none other than Peter Parker, not fully erased from his own mind after all. With the symbiote removed and Flash back in control of it, Peter goes back into hiding while he plots and plans and Otto announces that he's all better, that the symbiote that's been changing his behavior for months now has been eradicated and he's back to his normal self. MJ buys Otto's line when he appears to her that night but the Avengers absolutely do not and Stark, when he learns about the tests the Avengers ran on him back when he was in space, finds that someone has deleted all of the tests and the footage from that day from all security cameras but one. Cap calls for the Avengers to bring Spider-Man in.

Oh what a day, everyone, as it does indeed seem as if Peter Parker is truly coming back. Sadly, as I AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (oh my god, look at that beautiful Marcos Martin variant at right). I'm not surprised, per se (though I'm both surprised and unsurprised by the 5.99 price tag on that first issue which, admittedly, is 64 pages, but still), but I can't say I'm also not happy. Do I like SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN and the changes it's brought? Sure. I think it's stagnated just a tiny bit in the last couple of arcs (though I think, looking at the broad strokes of it, it was still rather interesting and very well done) but I think the idea has always been there and I am very impressed that Dan Slott kept Peter Parker dead for nearly a year and a half, come April. In this world where we're so used to heroes dying and being resurrected, there's now no bigger example. It was never a question of "if," it was a question of "when" and "how." Slott's left the pieces in place and done a pretty great job of it and now I think everyone will be better for it. More impressively, perhaps, the Goblin War storyline will push forward in the midst of all of this, meaning that Slott will carry two major stories out at the same time and both will likely be instrumental to the book and pretty epic in scale, all while he writes more established characters than ever, between Otto and Peter, the Spider-Man supporting cast, the Avengers, the Goblins, and (admittedly not in this book but Slott's still busy writing it, you guys) Silver Surfer. Should be a really fun time going forward, though I don't look forward to writing "Goblin" more times than I had to today, even. That word is WEIRD.
mentioned in the pre-game this week, the news was rather spoiled by the April solicits, which revealed a new title coming, or rather an old title returning, as we'll see the launch of