SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #31 REVIEW

By. Samurai Millo

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Classification: Teen

Language: English

Writer(s): Dan Slott, Christos Gage

Art: Giuseppe Camuncoli, John Dell, Terry Pallot

Coloring: Fabela

Cover Price: $5.99

Page Count:  55

Synopsis:

SERIES FINALE! The end of an era! A tale of triumph and tragedy! The GREEN GOBLIN unmasked! A hero reborn! But what does this mean for OTTO OCTAVIUS?! There’s only one man who can save us from the Goblin Nation… PETER PARKER: The one, true SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN!

Review:

This issue marks the end of a magnificent saga. Superior Spider-Man has been one of the best Spider-Man storylines that I have read in a long time and it was told in a total of 31 issues. The idea of killing Peter Parker and replacing his role as the wall crawler with someone else is not new. I remember reading in the 80’s fanzines about a proposal along this lines that was shot down by Jim Shooter, Editor-in-Chief at that time. Let us go forward in time to the 21^st century, specifically Ultimate Spider-Man 133, where they killed that universe’s Peter Parker and replaced him with a brand new Spidey named Miles Morales.

But still the Peter Parker from Marvel Universe Proper (Marvel Earth-616 for the purists) remained untouched, that is until the end of the year 2012 when Dan Slott wrote the story that I thought I would never see in my life. That’s right, Peter Parker’s mind was replaced by Otto Octavius’s beginning the 1.5 year long bi-weekly saga of The Superior Spider-Man. During this storyline the readers were treated to a very different work philosophy in terms of day to day superheroing, a way of doing things that turned Peter Parker’s world upside down courtesy of Otto Octavius’s “Superior Spider-Man”.

Issue 31 was the culmination of this saga. All mayor plot points were taken care of, setting this up and paving the way for Spider-Man’s latest re-launch on April 30, 2014. As far as I’m concerned, Dan Slott has gained his place in comic book history with this masterpiece. His evenly paced style shows that this is a man who knows what makes this characters tick. I wasn’t disappointed, not for one single issue or one single page. My favorite moment was during the climatic final battle. I’m talking, of course, about Spidey’s crack about Green Goblin’s choice of accessories for his costume. The art on all 31 issues was superb thanks to the outstanding talents of people like Ryan Stegman, Giuseppe Camuncoli and Humberto Ramos.

Final Verdict:

The Superior Spider-Man #31 is a fitting end to an epic story. It has my highest recommendation.