*** (three of five)
Favorite Quote: "Well, there goes Doc...and a perfectly good practical effect gets wasted on a mindless zombie. Might as well be working in television." -- Mysterio, on an Ock-controlled Rulk's defeat at the hands of one of Mysterio's creations (Mysterio had all the good lines in this arc.)
Summary
Sable, Spidey, and Widow scramble as they face the octobot-controlled Avengers. Sable hypothesizes that the Avengers should be slow and sluggish, though Spidey notes that Cap managed to knock his ice pellet from his hands. Widow tells him to use something else, but Spidey says that, over the course of their days-long crusade, he's used them his tricks. Widow engages Hawkeye, but Ock takes control of Iron Man and uses him to take out the both of them. He then takes control of Spider-Woman, who he notes made "short work" of Spidey not long ago. Spidey responds that his defeat was a wake-up call, leading him to develop his own form of fighting, Spider-Fu. He takes down Spider-Woman, but Ock leaps to Rulk, threatening Mysterio. Mysterio activates a "giant, angry animatronic deity" that he created for the "Mayan apocalypse gag," using him to distract Rulk while he escapes. Ock jumps into Thor, and Spidey tells Ock that he mad a bad call, since Thor was a bigger threat without Ock controlling him. Ock is confused, until he realizes that he can no longer wield Mjolnir. Spidey attempts to use his magnetic webbing on Ock, to disrupt the octobot's control, but realizes that he's exhausted his supply. Ock takes his opportunity and punches Spidey (with Thor's strength). Meanwhile, Sable takes down Cap, who she realizes was resisting Ock's control and purposefully giving her openings. She then engages Iron Man as Mysterio wonders what they do next. Sable notes that Spidey was going to use his magnetic webbing and Mysterio realizes that he can use the electromagnetic pulse in his wristlet that he used on them in Symkaria. The pulse works and the octobots fall off the Avengers.
Thor helps Spidey to his feet, noting that he tried to soften the blow. Before the Avengers can celebrate, Ock announces that he didn't actually need 200 missile bases, because he had a few of his own. He then launches the remainder of his satellites into space, and Iron Man, Rulk, and Thor chase after them. Iron Man notes that they have to destroy the missiles before the satellites launch, since they still haven't found a way to crack Ock's stealth technology. The three start destroying satellites, while, in Guatemala, Spidey observes that Cap, Hawkeye, and Widow are all unconscious. Sable tells Spidey that they have to go after Ock, since, if the three in space fail, Otto will be able to activate the Lens. Mysterio directs that to Ock's underwater base, four miles off shore, and tells them to use his "ride," which is parked in the temple. Mysterio then disappears and Sable and Spidey head for the base. Meanwhile, the Zenith, Horizon's floating lab, approaches the location of Ock's base, tripping the Octahedral's defense network. Spidey arrives in a giant octobot in time to save the ship and tells the Zenith to head to a safe distance. Max notes that they're trying to get readings of Octavius' stealth technology and Sable just cautions them to stay as far from the base as they can (while still being able to get the readings).
Sable and Spidey dock with the base and Ock, furious at their intrusion, tries to initiate the octobot's self-destruct sequence. Spidey reveals that Sable disabled it and Otto, infuriated, begins to floor the lower levels. Sable notes that they should've brought Flint Marko, comparing it to Spidey convincing Mysterio to join them. Spidey counters, saying that Mysterio was with them "for all of ten minutes," but Sable reminds him that Sandman wouldn't want his daughter hurt by Ock's scheme. Spidey, however, reminds her that she poured acid over him and says that they'll worry about Sandman when they're done. Sable notes how confident he is by assuming that they'll succeed and he remarks that he has to be since he's not used to "'end of the world' stuff." At that moment, Rhino appears, blocking their path. In space, Iron Man, Rulk, and Thor continue to take down the missiles, with Iron Man calculating that they have 9.5 minutes until the Lens activates. Spidey tells Rhino that he's sure Otto is trying to end the world and Rhino surprises him by saying that he knows: his deal with Otto was that he could watch the world burn. They try getting around him, but Rhino grabs Sable. He says that he's not going to move from that spot, forcing him and Sable to drown, and, in so doing, he will finally win by hurting Spidey. Spidey tries to pry her from his grip, but he can't budge Rhino. Sable tells him to go to stop Octavius or everyone, including "that girl," dies.
Spidey finds Otto in his control room (listening to Mozart's "Requiem," natch) and the two battle. Otto confirms that he plans on destroying the world, but he estimates that .008% of the Earth's population will survive. He wants Spidey in that number so that he can see the destroyed world. He opines that it'll be through the survivors that his legacy will remain "for centuries! for millennia! till the end of time itself!" He tells Spidey that he will live in infany, worse than "Pol Pot, Hitler, and Genghis Khan combined!" Ock grabs Spidey in four of his tentacles and Spidey realizes that he doesn't have much time with the water rising. He also realizes that Otto has a doomsday button somewhere since he's such an egomaniac that he would insist on pushing the button. Spidey tries to stall, noting that Otto needs his other four tentacles as his base, leaving him with no hands to push the button. But, Otto then crawls from his suit and makes his way to the button. Spidey tries to stall, telling Otto that his math is wrong, hypothesizing that the heat will fry the brains of all the survivors. Otto doesn't buy it for long, but it's enough for Spidey to break free of the tentacles. He uses one of them to destroy the control center. Devastated, Otto tries to drown himself, but Spidey saves him. He takes him to the Zenith, where he instructs the Horizon crew to create a life-support system for him. Max tells Spidey that they found a way to uncloak the satellites and congratulates him for saving the world. Spidey says that he failed, because "someone died."
The Review
Although I enjoyed this issue, I only gave it three stars for the fact that the end feels rushed. Although "Avenging Spider-Man" #8 will presumably address Sable's sacrifice, I feel like it's really something that should've been handled within the confines of the story itself. I'm not saying that we would need to see all the reactions to Sable's death; I'm fine with the fact that those moments are often reserved for epilogue issues that traditionally follow six-issue arcs. But, we don't actually know if Sable died. For a long-time character like Sable, I don't think you can just leave her in the sort of precarious position in which we see her here and presume that she dies. Grim as it sounds, you kind of need to see a body. As such, when Spidey just says, "Someone died," in the last panel, it felt flat to me.
The Good
1) Over the course of the arc, I was confused by whether or not Spidey and his team were successful in their strikes against the missile bases. If they were, then it seemed Ock would fail, since he needed the missiles to launch the satellites. Here, Slott provides the only reasonable answer, and not an unexpected one: Ock had a few missiles in his back pocket. (Ignore the obvious "Is that a missile in your pocket...?" joke, because, ewww, I don't ever want to think about Doc Ock that way.)
2) Similarly, Slott gave us a resolution of the Rhino situation that made sense, namely that Rhino knew that Ock wanted to destroy the world, and wanted to watch it burn. Long-time readers will vividly remember the Rhino story from the "Gauntlet," where he loses his wife and abandons his attempt to reform. The fact that he wanted to see the world destroyed to avenge that loss makes sense...and is as compellingly sad as the "Gauntlet" story was.
3) Slott delivers another page turner. Really, I just wanted to flip to the end SO MUCH.
4) Slott does a great job getting across how exhausted Spidey is by the end of the arc. He's used all his gizmos, he has no more magnetic webbing, his mask is half-shattered: he's not really doing so well.
The Unsure
I'm not entirely sure how I feel, at this stage, about Slott really upping Ock's villainy here. I mean, yes, I buy the fact that Ock was so megalomaniacal that he wanted to leave a legacy that would force people to remember him forever. But, Slott is definitely staking out new territory by having him aspire to be in the same category as Genghis Khan, Hitler, and Pol Pot. On one hand, I buy the fact that bad guys are occasionally just bad guys. They can't all be Sandmans, who are in it for some compelling personal reason that makes them a sympathetic character, or Mysterios, who are in it for the money and the fun. Sometimes, bad guys get to be crazy sociopaths. I'm just not sure if I buy Doc Ock as one, at least as extreme of one. This plan was Joker levels of sociopathy and I don't know if we've really seen Ock at that level before. Slott makes a good argument for why he is, since it's pretty obvious his impending death has inspired his actions. But, I think I'm going to have to let it sit for a while.
The Unknown
1) I wonder where Slott is going to go from here with the revelation that Horizon's technology was responsible for Ock's plans. It seems to be playing right into JJJ, Jr.'s hands, were he ever to learn about it, and I'm now concerned that Horizon is going to come to an end, and, along with it, Peter's lucky streak.
2) Did we ever find out what Otto planned to do with New York City when he automated it in "Amazing Spider-Man" #600? I'm pretty sure we never learned what the evil version of his "altruistic" plan was, as opposed to here, where we learned in the end what he actually planned to do with the Octavian Lenses (and it was ending climate change). At the time, it left open Otto's motives, since maybe he was trying to do something good. But, now that we know he wasn't, it would be interesting to know what he planned on doing. Was he going to start smashing subway cars together?
3) I''m
guessing Silver Sable isn't dead. I mean, she is on the cover of
"Avenging Spider-Man" #8 with Dr. Strange. Maybe he raises her from the
dead? I guess we'll see.
The Bad
Didn't Kangaroo also die in the "Spider-Man: Ends of the Earth" one-shot? Spidey alludes to a death in issue #685 in the short sequence at the end that occurs after "Spider-Man: Ends of the Earth." So, wouldn't that make two people, and just "somebody," dead? Or, is Spidey not counting it because he wasn't there to protect Kangaroo?
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