The days of ‘Superior Spider-Man’ are numbered. There are only a few issues left before the return of Peter Parker and ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ next month, but there is just so much that has to happen between now and then and I don’t know how it’s going to work!

In the last round of Spider-Man vs. the Green Goblin, it almost looked as if there was a chink in Norman Osborn’s armor. Carlie Cooper (aka the goblin warrior known as Monster) appeared to be attacking Parker Industries, but was actually seeking the help of Otto Octavius, who she knows is in the body of Peter Parker, to reverse the effects of the Goblin Serum while she temporarily has control. To cover up this mission, Parker fakes his own death by caving in the ceiling of his labs, but now with Peter Parker’s loved ones safe and sound, there still leaves Octo-Pete’s girlfriend Anna Maria, who has been captured by Menace.

That brings us to the latest issue of Dan Slott’s emotional rollercoaster. Now that the Green Goblin knows that his former colleague will not be joining him in conquering New York City, he aims to tear apart everything he holds dear. After destroying many of the places that were and are significant to Otto’s life, Osborn sets his sights on an important figure from Empire University, which sends Spider-Man quickly into the heat of battle, closely followed by Mayor Jameson’s “Goblin Slayers”. Meanwhile, the real Peter Parker is getting lost further and further in the memories of his former nemesis’ mindscape.

Now, I just referred to this series as Dan Slott’s emotional rollercoaster, but Christos Gage, who is a very familiar name in the world of Spidey books, scripted this issue. Though Slott devised the plot, Gage did a great job of connecting all the dots that completed this issue. The writer did a great job of tying in a bunch of things from the course of the past year that impacted Otto’s time as Spider-Man. I love it when a story comes full circle and this issue did that very well, especially when it came to Professor Lamaze. Just like Otto, I didn’t really care for him and his superiority complex, but the scene involving him was extremely heartbreaking.

On the flip side, I was incredibly amused by Goblin’s tactics in this issue. I was just as surprised as he was when Spider-Man unleashed mechanical arms and I enjoyed the jokes at Otto’s expense, but the humor didn’t really last very long as things got heavy pretty quick.

Another full circle moment that was cool involved Spider-Man 2099. I’m glad that he came back into the picture because there were a few things still left to be desired by that arc. Maybe now we’ll get a better sense of closure with that character and his place in the current scope of the Marvel Universe.

Finally, artist Giuseppe Camuncoli knocked it out of the park once again. The two page spreads in this issue were gorgeous. Each one was as intricate as the next and I could see the image of the Goblin laughing becoming iconic. It almost reminds me of some vintage Joker artwork because of the devious grin and gleeful yet scary eyes.

Oh man, this is starting to get to be too much, but in the best possible way. The build up to this finale has been getting better and better, and while I may have said this at one point over the course of this year, I’m saying it again: ‘Superior Spider-Man’ is one of the best things to happen to the Spider-Man mythology in years. I hope that the creative team continues to fire on all cylinders so as to send this series out with a bang.

Final Score:

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SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #29
Written by Dan Slott & Christos Gage
Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli, John Dell, & Antonio Fabela