Superior Spider-Man #8 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

So, here we go.  It looks like next issue Slott is going to lay all his cards on the table and show if he really intends to take Peter Parker from us.  For once, I'm actually intrigued by the answer.

On the plus side, Slott cleverly pulls together a number of plot threads from previous issues to bring us to this moment.  Last issue's conflict with Cardiac over the neurolitic scanner leads to this issue's confrontation with the Avengers, where Otto learns that he has a minor anomaly in his brain pattern.  That revelation leads to this issue's confrontation with Cardiac over the scanner, where Otto discovers that Ghost-Peter is, in fact, the "minor anomaly."   Moreover, Carlie Cooper comes to the conclusion that Spidey isn't Spidey, setting up a race against time for her to act on this revelation.  With just one villain and a clear conflict over a specific device, Slott is able to produce a believable series of events that brings us on the cusp of resolving the Ghost-Peter issue and ending the transition phase of this experiment.  Given that I honestly don't know which way that this story is going to go, I'm actually excited to see where it does go.

(On a philosophical note, I thought that it was interesting that Otto described Ghost-Peter was "all of Peter's memories[,] taking on a life of their own."  Otto seems to be dismissing the idea that Ghost-Peter is actually Peter, preferring instead to think of him as a simulacrum of some sort.  But, even if it is "just" Peter's memories taking on a life of their own, isn't that enough to constitute Peter?  Are we more than the sum of our memories?  I'll have to ask my philosophy professor!)

On the minus side, I will say that I still find it difficult to deal with Otto's mood swings.  In fact, this issue provides possibly the best example of this problem, making me realize just how much it's bothered me.  Here, Otto goes to pieces upon realizing that his attempt to destroy the world with his Octavian lenses left the girl at the center of this issue's conflict brain damaged.  It's here where I still have issues with this series, because I still don't feel like Slott has given us a clear reason for Otto's change of heart.  Is it Peter's memories that make him a better person?  Is it his selfish drive to outdo Peter's heroism?  Is it both?  Without any real clarity on this front, I'm still left rolling my eyes at the idea that Otto suddenly cares about a girl whom he was going to happily kill only a few issues ago.

But, to end on the plus side, "Ends of the Earth" also provides a good moment here, with the Black Widow relying on the connection that she and Peter developed during that experience to encourage him to talk to her as he slides into a darker M.O.  It's a great moment of character work on Slott's part and allows the reader to feel like the Avengers aren't simply washing their hands of the conundrum of a more brutal Spidey once they learned that he wasn't a Skrull.

So, in the short run, I'm excited to see where we're going, but, in the long run, if Otto is going to stay in control of Peter's body, I think Slott still has work to do in clarifying Otto's goals and motivations so that we're not constantly wondering if bad Otto or good Otto is in charge.