Web of Time
This may not be the long awaited Green Goblin arc, but this is essentially what I've been waiting for. It's been quality, but all this time things have been slowly getting a little stale. All of Superior Spider-Man is just demonstrations of how he's different than Peter, nothing so far has REALLY seemed like a genuine arc-threat. But now Spock is in danger, albeit in a very roundabout way. This isn't about Spock's new approach to a classic villain, there's actual tension moving the story forward with the future of Horizon at stake. Things are looking a bit desperate, especially considering the time travel connections, but that just adds to the unpredictability.
It was obvious what was going to set off this story. Age of Ultron broke time, and it'd be meaningless if not enough stories took advantage of that fact. Plus we saw Spider-Man 2099 in the fractures back in the event. But the time holes are appearing in the future, not so far in the present where the time paradox lies. There's something else going on here and keeps you on the edge of your seat.
I've been reading Amazing Spider-Man regularly since Spider-Island. That gave me 44 issues before Superior Spider-Man and yet I'm STILL constantly hit with loose ends from Slot's run I know nothing about. A lot of them have been streamlined well in the new series, but what's the deal with Normie? That completely caught me off guard and threw me for a loop. A lot of the Horizon nods are easy to piece together ( I understand them but still) but this one has me flabbergasted; although definitely intrigued.
Hero vs. Hero battles are a massive cliche, although Spock gets into them for entirely different reasons; and yet his type is almost becoming its own cliche. Yet here, we've got one that makes a whole lot of sense. I'm not saying Spock is completely right to want to outright kill Tiberius Stone, but Stone really does have it coming. And to be fair, he's a huge threat in a way. He's got a lot of red tape on his side, and Spock can't just arrest him without evidence, especially in a situation like this. It's just that he doesn't know the severe repercussions it would have. But this goes back to the earlier question, why is it that this specific incident is going to change time?
In Conclusion: 4/5
Dan Slott is great, what can I say? This is exactly the kind of arc I've been waiting for, and this is one of the most valid Hero vs. Hero battles I've ever seen about to be set into motion. Plus, I absolutely love Spider-Man 2099. Slott writes him a little off, but overall the colliding plot threads here work really well.
