HUGE SPOILER ALERT! YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!

The best thing I read last week was The Superior Spider-Man #31, the finale issue and conclusion of the Goblin Nation storyline. For those maybe not in the know the series The Amazing Spider-Man ended at issue #700 with a triumphant Doctor Octopus inhabiting the boy of Spider-Man/Peter Parker and our unlucky hero dying in the failing body of one Doc Ock. The entire Superior Spider-Man series was based on the idea that Otto believed with his intellect he would be a far superior Spider-Man than Peter ever was. Over the course of the 31 issues that the story ran Spides life did indeed see some vast improvements, Peter Parker went for his doctorate, Peter also started Parker Industries, and fell into a new relationship with a great lady. Plus other changes, New York was now patrolled by Spiderbots that updated Spider-Man to crimes in the city and Spider-Man converted an island into a base for his Spider-Men and mechs which he used to take out bigger threats. Depending on your point of view these weren’t necessarily bettering Peter’s life but they sure were changing Spider-Man’s.

Over the course of the series Doc Ock fought the Peter ghost he found lurking in his memories, tangled with old buddies who now became his new sparring partners and showed the world that the new Superior Spider-Man meant business. Between maimings and murders the new Spider-Man quickly let it be known that he was out for blood and not a hero to be trifled with.

All of this of course changed the worlds, and even J. Jonah Jameson’s, view on Spider-Man and now, big shocker, with Peter back in the driver’s seat he has a whole lot to catch up on and a very different life to try to fit himself back into. And let’s be honest, when Otto took over Parker’s body everyone knew it wasn’t going to last. Especially with a block buster film on the horizon it was basically guaranteed to be a storyline with a set expiration date. The upside was the writer Dan Slott knowing that. He built up to something amazing(sorry) as he brought Amazing Spider-Man to a close with issue #700 and knew going in that he had a finite time to tell his Spider-Ock tale. This I believe is what lead to some of the funnest Spider-Man comics in the last decade. Outside of Ultimate Spider-Man I believe Slott has created the most interesting and lasting Spider stories of the last decade and if we’re lucky he’ll keep doing it for awhile. I mean seriously, look below and check out the super cool sequence when the Green Goblin realizes that he’s no longer facing Otto in Peter’s body.

Go get these books peoples! If you are a fan of Spider-Man and were afraid of what was going to happen during the Superior Spider-Man run I can understand your trepidation but as we have now all seen that the sun did indeed rise again on a brand new day (sorry again) you know going in were it leads and at this point you are just denying yourself great stories.

My fingers are crossed at this point for a supersized Omnibus containing all the Superior Spider-Man goodness. Even owning all the floppies and the digital copies I’d happily slap my cash down again for an oversized collection of all these issues. Chris Ferrell was wrong, Superior Spider-Man rocks! And Chris Ferrell was right, Peter’s back and things are more interesting than ever.