The Superior Spider-Man #19

Writer: Dan Slott

Penciler: Ryan Stegman

Inker: John Livesay

Colorist: Edgar Delgado

Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos

Price: $3.99

Release Date: October 16th, 2013

"Necessary Evil, Part 3"

This issue was, for a lack of a better word, superior. The main focus is Otto trying to figure out how to stabilize the time before the whole of Horizon and New York explode. The thing that is incredible about this concept is Otto digging into his own brain to try to prove that he is better than his greatest foe, Peter Parker. It is known that Peter was able to stop the Reverbium reaction and Otto feels he should be able to do the same. The first step was to dig deeply into his previously accessed memories of Peter's which showed a ton of homages to previous story arcs which Ryan Stegman draws in such a fashion that is hard to not fall in love with his art even more.

Anyhow, Otto is unable to access the memories and there is an interesting image of someone is shadow struggling with rubble (I think it is Peter resurfacing) in his brain but it isn't really touched on. After being unable to use his memories to save everyone Otto comes up with his own plan and is able to revert the explosion into an implosion. During this time everyone else escapes Horizon including Spider-Man 2099.

I think the one missed opportunity in this book was for further interaction between the two Spider-Men. I am happy to see that Miguel is now stuck in the current timeline that could lead to some interesting double Spider-Man action in the near future. Hell, with the hints that Miles Morales is also coming to the main Marvel U and with Scarlet Spider joining the New Warriors, there will be a plethora of Spideys in New York again. I am really excited.

 All in all this was a good issue. It really pushed Otto forward and even made him state that in some ways he may be inferior to Peter. He also needs to move forward after the destruction of Horizon and now has to worry about the fact that Carlie has found out that all of Peter's current money is coming from Otto's personal accounts. With Green Goblin on the horizon and Carlie on his tail, Otto has a lot happening to him. I am loving Slott's work here.