The Good
SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #27 opens up with quite the bang. The opening pages are a ton of fun and that fun continues throughout the rest of the issue. If anything, this issue is more of Spider-Man trying to discover why his surveillance isn't working and how he was beaten, even though he's the superior Spider-Man.
This issue is nothing more than a series of super-villains one-upping each other, and it's awesome. During the Spider-Man/Green Goblin sit down, "Osborn" (I'm still not 100% convinced that it's actually Osborn, even after this issue. Slott has made me skeptical about everything in this book) finds out that Doctor Octavius is actually in Parker's body. While this moment is actually incredibly awesome because we get to see the confrontation we've all been waiting for, it leads to a series of two characters trying to show each other who is more clever.
The ending of this issue is quite the cliffhanger. It's a very explosive ending that is a great lead in to the rest of the story line. Dan Slott knows how to keep readers engaged with the story and he always ends on these cliffhangers that make readers incredibly excited for future issues.
Artist Giuseppe Camuncoli, with John Dell on inks, and Antonio Fabela on colors, all do a fine job on this issue at telling a great story, visually. The artwork is solid and consistent and really moves the story along. The color shading, especially on Green Goblin's outfit is fantastic during the final scenes of the issue. There's a great amount of detail within the costume and it looks awesome.
The Bad
The issue gets off to a bit of a slow start. The first three pages move very quickly. Then, there's a lull in the story as SpOck tries to figure out how the Goblins got past his surveillance equipment. Afterwards, it's back to the goblins. The real problem is those opening pages, it's a pretty insane set-up but we really don't get back to it until the end of the issue.
Camuncoli’s page layouts get a tad stiff. He uses relatively the same layout, with either four or five horizontal panels, one after the other, numerous times in the issue.
The Verdict
Goblin Nation Part 1 isn't as good as I expected it to be, but it was still a very solid issue. This has been building up for months, and while a good chunk of the issue revolved around Spidey figuring out how the goblins beat his spiderbots, the issue was bookended with awesomeness. The artwork was incredibly solid, especially in the color department, and overall, it was an incredibly fun read.