Superior Spider-Man #19 Review

By Harrison Rawdin on Thursday, October 17th, 2013

Is there enough to alter history or does the arc ultimately fail to deliver? Read on to find out.

The official description from Marvel:

Necessary Evil CONCLUDES!

• The moment that changes world of Spider-Man– and the Marvel Universe for years to come.

• Which Spider-Man is responsible for such a thing? Spider-Man 2099 or the Superior Spider-Man?

• Major developments for both Spider-Man’s cast… and for the future.

During this year there’s been quite a bit of time travel within the House of Ideas, and this latest one dives into the thick of it. The creative team delivers an enjoyable finish where Otto continues to try and prove himself Superior to his ill-fated foe, but as this issue closes the promised changes may or may not hold enough weight to go anywhere during his dark reign.

The script by Dan Slott is solid, as the author of this mad jaunt continues to play with the pieces in front of him. After building up Peter Parker it’s painful to see the scribe demolish what came out of Big Time, but thankfully there’s enough of a payoff to keep audiences engaged. I found that the dialogue was sturdy as some potentially over the top moments were avoided while key bits of evolution took place. I was underwhelmed by what happened to Miguel O’Hara but a few specific sequences proved there’s a lot to love. To sum up: these temporal shenanigans were imperfect but certainly fun.

Ryan Stegman handles the art and the talent confirms his mantle against some tough requirements. From the past to the future he brings enough to the table to make the world feel genuine and believable as he employs a chaotic spark within this narrative. It’s through these illustrations that the whole of the affair feels unique despite a couple of instances where the final product came off a bit too noisy. I was especially impressed by three simple pictures that might illustrate a definite weakness in this current Spider-Man’s armor.