Superior Spider-Man #30 Review
Dan Slott – Plot. Christos Gage – Script. Giuseppe Camuncoli – Pencils. John Dell & Terry Pallot – Inks. Antonio Fabela – Colors. Chris Eliopoulos – Letterer.
Published by Marvel Comics.
*If you’ve been living under a rock or just not listening to ME, you won’t know that Doc Ock, through some freaky Friday-esk science has brain-swapped with Peter Parker and is currently the new Superior Spider-Man. Honestly nothing else you read will have made sense without that.*
This is it. This is the one. They promised us big things and big things were delivered.
Following last issues “Death by Spider-Slayers” cliff hanger, this issue kicks off with Spider-Ock (Spock) and Spidey 2099 ducking and dodging the mechs until the Green Goblin (who we presume to be Norman) reveals he’s still got the upper hand in the form of Spocks’s girlfriend Anna Maria and so the Superior Spidey in another classic dick-move, ditches the fight and leaves Miguel to battle the Slayers while he ventures to save Anna Maria. From here out the issue and over all story REALLY starts to cook. Slott’s masterfully laying down plot threads left and right. With Mayor Jameson getting blamed for the Spider-Slayers and his coercion being revealed, Alchemax CEO Liz Allan takes the time to distance herself from JJ right as his PR goes down the drain. With another possible red herring suggesting that she may have been the Goblin all along. Again with Dan Slott writing he could totally flip this on us next issue.
Skip to “The Mindscape” now where the disembodied consciousness of Peter Parker is trapped reliving the memories of Doc Ock and slowly realising that he is the one true Spider-Man for the job. This little plot thread Slott seeded last issue is quickly resolved here and let’s be honest with two issues left on Superior it was never going to last all that long anyway. But it was still agreat pay-off this issue with and fantastic double page spread featuring all kinds of classic Spidey panels from the last 50 years and yes, that epic epic pay off.
I want to talk about the art now before we go any further too. Giuseppe Camuncoli is the big-gun of the rotating art team on Superior. Any arc he gets something big happens. You see his name on the cover and you know you’re in for a great issue. Well he hasn’t dropped the ball yet. He looks to be doing the best work of his career these past few issues. He makes that Superior suit just look bitching. Everything from his panel design and formatting, right up to his decisions in the panels themselves is amazing. The dynamic action poses combined with the depth and character he manages to pack into each page really sets him apart from the competition in my opinion. All of this too is only highlighted by John Dell & Terry Pallot’s inking work and Antonio Fabela’s color. His depiction of light, tone and movement all serve to establish the environment and surrounding layouts.
Now look a lot happens in this issue, a lot of big, important developments. I’ve gotten this far into the review without spoiling the massive plot point that none of us saw coming and Will Smith help me I REALLY want to. But I’ve decided I’m not going to. Read it for yourself and we can geek-out together. Just know that the last 4 pages will astound you.
