Superior Spider-Man 18, Venom 41

Superior Spider-Man 18
Slott (w) and Stegman and Livesay (a) and Delgado (c)

Spider-Man 2099 is still in the present, hunting down Tiberius Stone to protect him as Spider-Man tries to stop him from taking over Horizon Labs. Meanwhile, the other scientists of Horizon Labs are using Grady's time door to get evidence of Stone's destruction at Horizon. Spidey 2099 saves Stone from Spider-Man, escaping with him for the moment to sort things out and realizing, through a connection with the future, the chain of events that lead to Horizon's takeover and Alchemax and everything. Present Spidey, getting a bit overwhelmed for one of the first times since he's taken over Peter's body, eventually tracks 2099 to Horizon, where he's explaining to the scientists how he can stop everything from going wrong, only to knock him out before he can explain.

Everything is going wrong for Ock, whose lab may be taken over (he would lose all of his patents and, in fact, for trying to take them out of Horizon, Max seems ready to fire him anyway), who doesn't remember who 2099 is, who doesn't realize what's really happening here, and who can't track the Goblins. It's a nice collapse of everything on Spidey's head but it doesn't necessarily mix well with what is already a very convoluted set of stories. This may be one of the double-edged swords of having Ock take over the role; he's more of a planner and seems smarter and more logical than Peter because of it but that means that his collapse has to be even bigger and more orchestrated than the little collapses you'd get every several issues for Peter. It puts this book in a place where the story has to be harder to follow because Ock has to not be following it. That means the inclusion of 2099 helps a lot in that respect, as Ock can't remember him so he's already playing from behind, but still kind of muddies the plot for the reader. Tricky stuff. Less future swearing in this one, which I appreciate, but it's still there, so I'm still kind of mad about it. Bit of a messy story even if it kind of has to be.

Venom 41
Bunn (w) and Coelho (a) and Loughridge (c)

Venom continues interrogating Hellstrom, who reveals that he's been searching out the power the demon mark brings, including splitting himself into duplicates to hunt things down (which is why he's been appearing dead all over the country). Venom figures out Mania has the demon mark on her and goes to find her. She's currently attacking Lord Ogre's base. As she reaches Ogre, he reveals that she can't kill him without triggering a chemical weapon that will kill a chunk of the city. She's willing to take the risk to call his bluff but Venom shows up just in time to stop her. However, Crossbones and his group shows up and his crony, Master Mayhem, unleashes demons through a portal on his chest. The demons kill Ogre and Venom throws the chemical weapon into the portal, stopping a few threats at once. Escaping the area, Mania and Venom go to learn some things about the symbiote and recent developments therein. He does manage to learn some things but it really just begs more questions, leading Venom to believe he needs to make a deal with a devil.

The pacing continues to be solid in this book as we never spend too much or, really, too little time in any one spot. The next issue will not only end the arc, but also the series, so it's important not to waste any space, especially now. It's particularly not easy with so many plot lines still running as we press forward. It's handled pretty well and there's, even with the tensions here, still a bit of humor to be found in this book, especially in the situation in which Flash and Andi debate how to deal with the symbiote and with Ogre. It should be a tense scene but it's pretty light-hearted and it works. Still pretty sad to see this book going away, a book that has been consistently good read since its start and that has changed the rules a few times over.