“What a great example of comic book plotting.
The impossible happens. Something that I DON’T want to happen happens. And the story works. It’s great. Tension, action. It’s all there.
And at the same time, it plays with comic book tropes in a big way. The whole time, you figure Doctor Octopus is just hatching another dopey scheme that will never work. He even makes a big mistake early on that you, as a comic reader, look at and say, “Well, now he’s screwed. He should have just gotten on that flight! THIS IS HIS UNDOING!”
And because you’ve read comic books, you figure that, like always, Spidey will figure a way out.
Dan Slott’s run with Spider-Man will go down in comics history as one of the best runs of all time, mark my words. This stuff belongs in there with Frank Miller’s Daredevil, Chris Claremont’s X-Men, and probably some other classic run written by a guy who has been working really hard to tarnish his own legacy.
Fuck me, I really hope it doesn’t turn out that Dan Slott is some kind of evil bastard. That would be just about perfect. These guys really have a way of writing a great run, then doing something crazy that makes it hard to like them anymore.
Dan Slott, if you can hear me, please don’t blow this for me. I know you have to live your life, and if that life involves racist screeds online or bizarre sexual appetites, that’s totally cool. Just keep it a secret FROM ME. Please, please, please.”