**** (four of five stars)
Favorite Quote #1: "All right. I give up...what are you supposed to be? The blue symbiote? Another Spider-Clone? Ugh. tell me this isn't cosplay." -- Otto to Miguel, upon their meeting
Favorite Quote #2: "I've lost my job! My discoveries might get stolen! And I've barely worked on my thesis! And now my Spider-Sense is unreliable! My Spider-Bots are failing me! My minions are useless! And another Hobgoblin shows up! What else could go wrong?" -- Otto, giving us a good summary of why the Parker Luck seems to be a powerful thing
Summary
Otto asks Miguel who he is and Miguel reminds him that he's the Spider-Man from 2099 and that they've already met. He calls Otto "Parker," causing Otto to panic over the fact that Miguel knows his identity. As he regrets wiping Peter's memories, Otto belts Miguel, viewing him as a distraction from his effort to take down Stone. Liz tells Otto that he can't threaten her employees, but Tiberius taunts Otto with his failure to "whack" the Hobgoblin. Otto prepares to strike but a confused Miguel intervenes, announcing that Stone is under his protection. Miguel again asks Otto if he remembers him, and, when Otto says that he doesn't, they prepare to battle. But, just then, Tyler speaks to Miguel from 2099 via his comm-link; he heard Liz call Tiberius "Stone" and "informs" Miguel that Tiberius is his father and the source of the "temporal event." At Horizon Labs, Uatu begs Hector not to leave, telling him that they need some adult supervision. Hector says that he'll return in an hour after getting Max sprung from jail and expresses confidence that they won't burn down the place. (Heh.) Skeptical of his faith, Uatu heads to Grady's lab, where Grady is telling Bella and Sajani hat he's fixed his time door so that he won't actually be present in the past, but "chronally out of synch." As such, he says that he'll be able to take photos of Tiberius sabotaging Horizon Labs without affecting past events.
Outside, Miguel denigrates Otto's technology as "low-tech," enraging him. Otto uses his extra arms to lift Liz's car to throw at Miguel, but, before he can, Tiberius activates a miniaturized Spider-Jammer, noting that getting revenge on Spider-Man was always part of his plan. Spidey falters and the car almost squishes Normie. However, Miguel grabs him with a Web-Line and pulls him to safety. Liz expresses concern for Normie, but Miguel says that his enhanced vision confirms that he's fine. However, he also notes to himself that said vision revealed that "gramps" was the source of the problem. Appalled that Tiberius was willing to endanger Normie's life, Miguel wonders if he's on the right side. Meanwhile, Otto tells Liz that he would never harm a child, but that they wouldn't be in that situation if she hadn't made a play for Horizon Labs and his technology. Liz says that she's had enough and orders Tiberius to go to Horizon immediately; however, her chief of staff notes that he and Miguel are gone. Enraged, Spidey heads in pursuit, viewing Miguel as a grave threat given Miguel's ability to weaponize his Spider-Sense and Miguel's knowledge of his identity. He orders his Spider-Island shock troops to deploy after Miguel. They ask if they should give up the pursuit of the Hobgoblin, but he says that they should pursue both. At that moment, Annamaria calls asking if he needs help with his thesis, and Otto realizes that all his thesis work -- connected to his "next great invention" -- is at Horizon Labs. Horrified that the world won't know of his genius, he ditches his pursuit of Miguel and heads to Horizon.
Elsewhere, Miguel is swinging with Tiberius as Tyler tells him that whatever he's doing is working, stabilizing his personal time-line. Miguel settles them on a roof top as he's telling Tyler that he's putting distance between his ancestor and Spidey. Tiberius asks to whom Miguel is talking and Miguel tells both Stones to be quiet as he has to "decompile" the situation. He contemplates the possibility of killing Tiberius, saving the world from Alchemax even if it means his own life. However, Tiberius interrupts him, correctly (shockingly, for him) positing that Miguel's use of the word "ancestor" implies that Tiberius or one of his descendants does something important and Miguel is there to protect him. Testing his theory, he jumps off the roof, forcing Miguel to save him. Miguel webs up Tiberius' mouth, prompting Tyler's rage for the way that he, "Downtown piece of trash" that he is, is treating a Stone. Miguel then contacts Lyla in the future and asks her to download everything she has on the connections between Tiberius, Alchemax, and Horizon.
At Horizon, Grady takes a photo of Tiberius turning off the safeties at Peter's display of Parker particles, after Max refused him a position in the think tank. In the present, Uatu raises the ethical issues of spying on someone in the past, but Bella just expresses concern over Grady. Sajani wishes Peter was there and then sees him in the hallway removing his stuff. She asks for his help, but he tells her that he's busy; she tells the gang that they need to "past-spy" on Peter to see why he's been acting so weird. In the parking lot, Max arrives with Hector, who berates Peter for trying to remove his stuff during a federal investigate and hostile takeover. Max asks Peter to trust him, but Peter says that he can't because Al Chem could lay claim to all his Spider-Tech and his latest breakthrough. Max says that he doesn't know who Peter is anymore and tells him that he could jeopardize everything. Peter interrupts him to take a call from "Spider Patrol 4," who's spotted the original Hobgoblin (who's really the "one true Goblin in disguise," hoping that Spidey takes the bait). Pete announces that he has to go, telling his robot assistant to take the stuff to Spider-Island. Max asks what could be more important than the events at Horizon. When Peter insists that he has to leave, Max tells him not to return if he does.
Meanwhile, Lyla tells Miguel that Tiberius' acts of sabotage led to the physical destruction of Horizon and the rise of Alchemax on that day. Max enters Grady's lab, where he expresses shock over the chronoton particles, asking if Grady's using his door. (Sajani comments that they're all fired and tells Max that she was against the plan from the start.) Meanwhile, Peter is changing costumes in an alley, ruminating on the fact that everything is falling to pieces in his life. MJ calls Pete, but he dismisses her immediately. He then spots Miguel swinging with Tiberius and must decide if he goes after the Hobgoblin or Miguel. At Horizon, Grady emerges from the past, where Max tells him to shut down his door. He says that it is off, but Max comments on the chronotons. Grady says that they're not from the door, that Alpha energy is also involved, that it's all connected, and that "it" was always going to happen. Miguel arrives and says that it's true, that "it" all started before he even arrived. However, he says that he can change "it" before the place blows. However, Otto arrives at that moment and knocks out Miguel.
The Review
Slott really amps up the tension here. It's hard to see how he's going to resolve this arc without some pretty serious consequences in Peter's life. Horizon seems pretty clearly doomed, which raises all sorts of issues about Peter's ability to pay his bills, etc. But, more importantly, Otto's learning how hard it is to be Spider-Man and Peter Parker, and I'm guessing that he's not going to be thrilled with that lesson.
The Good
1) Otto not recognizing Miguel due to wiping Pete's memories is well played on Slott's part. Slott has let Otto off pretty easily when it comes to his ability to maneuver Peter's life without his memories, so I'm glad to see some consequences to that act here, particularly given how important that memory would've been.
2) It seems like Slott has put us into the timeline before Miguel takes over Alchemax. My guess then is that we really are somewhere in issue #26. I'm not certain, but we'll see.
3) It didn't dawn on me until now, but Slott definitely comes from the school of thought that says that Tyler really didn't know Miguel's secret identity. If he did, he'd be holding over Miguel's head that he has to do his bidding to save Tiberius for his own self-preservation.
4) By having Max fire Peter, we're getting another log on the fire when it comes to the world that the Peter will confront when he returns. Sajani's comment seems to open the door to the possibility that Peter could reasonably convince everyone that Dr. Octopous took over his body, since it would certainly be a reasonable explanation. But, I wonder how many people will believe that.
The Unknown
I wonder what MJ was calling to tell Peter...
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