*** (three of five stars)
Favorite Quote: "Was that loss of signal deliberate? Did Tyler Stone --" "Strand you in the past? Yup. I'm a programmable hologram, and even I saw that coming." -- Miguel and Lyla, proving why she's so awesome
Summary
On the Caribbean island of Grand Tauró, the Wraith leaps onto the hood of a car carrying Antoine Morant, "banker to the Maggia, A.I.M., the Red Skull and an endless array of the worst this world has to offer." Morant orders his driver to shake her and his armed motorcycle-riding escorts to fire on her. The driver questions the latter decision, but Morant exposits that the car has armor plating and bulletproof glass. The men open fire, but the Wraith leaps to the safety of a trailing jeep driven by Carlie Cooper. The Wraith tells Carlie that she got some fear gas into the vents of the car, expositing that they can drop pursuit since he'll now be running scared. She posits that he'll make a mistake in his panic and they'll be able to grab him. Carlie refuses, saying that they've waited too long for this sort of tip and asking Yuri to trust her.
At Horizon, the gang chastises Spider-Man for knocking out Miguel, since he's the only person that could prevent Horizon from exploding. Spidey says that it's not his fault, and Grady agrees, saying that Stone sabotaged everything. Tiberius says that it's not his fault, since he hadn't been there for weeks, but Grady reveals that the three times that Tiberius messed with Horizon experiments created the current "time bomb." Max asks for an explanation, and Grady complies. By unlocking the safeties on Peter's Alpha-energy generator, Tiberius played with the fabric of space. By recalibrating Grady's time-door, he played with the fabric of time (explaining all the ambient chronotons). Finally, by tampering with Sajani's artificial vibranium, he added an "alien harmonic frequency into the mix." Spidey says that he has a solution. He orders Sajani to go get her reverbium; she agrees, invoking Max's ire since he thought that she had destroyed all of it, as she promised him that she would do. Spidey chides him, saying that he was just being resourceful, and then orders Uatu to "uncouple the regulators from the Alpha device;" Uatu asks Max if it's OK, and Max concurs. Spidey orders Bella to leave alone Miguel, but she refuses, saying that Miguel's the key to changing their timeline, since he's already confirmed that the actions that they're taking now are doomed to fail. Spidey says that Tiberius is actually the key, since he never expected to be at the heart of the cataclysm (since, after all, Miguel brought him there against his will). Tiberius says that he had no idea that his actions would lead to the current series of events, but Spidey says that it doesn't matter. He orders him to use his familiarity with the tech to help build a counter-device or suffer the consequences with everyone else.
Max then says that they need one more person: Peter Parker. Otto asks why, and Max says that it's because the fabric of space and time is connected to the "destructive vibrations" of the reverbium; only Peter was able to create an equation to cancel out those vibrations. He asks if Peter told Spidey about it or shared the equation, and a cranky Otto snaps that he had but that he has to think. Otto scans Peter's memories, the ones that he had previously accessed, trying to find the formula. He's interrupted by Max, who tells him that the chronotons are building in intensity. Spidey says that he needs another second, but Max tells him that he's been "spaced out" for eight minutes.
With five minutes until the "temporal event," Tiberius says that they've cobbled together a device from the Alpha-energy regulators, the reverbium core, and Grady's time-door. All they now need is for someone to enter the right frequency. At that moment, Miguel awakens, muttering that "Parker's here." Max says that he must be confused and asks Spidey if he can do it. He says that he can, privately convincing himself that he can do it if Peter could since he's the superior intellect. Max observes that he doesn't have it, and Spidey says that he would if Max stopped blathering. Max orders everyone to leave, and Tiberius heads to the door. However, Miguel grabs him before he can leave. Tiberius reminds Miguel that everything that Lyla said would happen is happening: they failed and Horizon is going to explode. Otto asks them to be quiet, but Miguel whispers to Tiberius (with three minutes remaining before the event) that he's going to make a better future, "one without Alchemax[,] without Stones." Miguel starts to miss pieces of himself, and Tyler from the future calls to berate him, saying that his personal timeline is almost all gone. The techs, however, say that everything in 2099 is being affected, "every last part of it is becoming undone." Miguel realizes that everyone that he's every known won't exist, but asserts to himself that they will, because a new timeline will take its place. Tiberius raises some doubt about that, though.
Outside, JJJ, Jr. arrives and screams at Max, asking if he's going to blow up his city. Max says that Spider-Man is still in there to save them (to which JJJ, Jr. responds, "Perfect."). Otto believes that he's discovered the key, that the reverbium is imperfect vibranium and that imperfection needs to be expressed in the equation. However, Horizon blows, just as Miguel leaps from the building with Tiberius. The explosion was controlled, wiping out only Horizon. Max asks about Spidey, but JJJ, Jr. asserts that he'll survive, as he always does. Miguel asks if Tyler's whole, and Tyler asks the lab technicians if he's safe. They confirm that the timeline is fully restored and that chronoton levels are dropping. Tyler steps from his chair, and the techs say that they only have to retrieve Spidey from the Heroic Age. Tyler says that it's sadly not possible, since the time-travel device has been "irreparably damaged," something that happens when he hurls his chair into it. The techs say that it'll take weeks to fix it, but Stone stresses that the damage was "irreparable." In 2013, Miguel asks Lyla if Stone deliberately stranded him in the past. She confirms that, and Miguel ponders being stranded with his ancestor. He realizes that both Stones know that he can't do anything to Tiberius, without risking everything back home.
At Alchemax Tower (DUN! DUN! DUN!), Liz raises a glass to the new company, combining Allan Chemical with Normie's holdings in Oscorp and the intellectual properties of Horizon Labs. Someone interrupts looking for Tiberius, announcing that he's his personal assistant. Tiberius says that he didn't request one, but the man introduces himself as "Michael O'Mara," telling Tiberius that Lyla set up the appointment. Tiberius says that it looks official and tells Miguel to start Monday, where, if he pays attention, he might "just have a bright future with this company." Miguel says that's the plan and leaves. On the site of where Horizon used to be, JJJ, Jr. tells Max that he'll get charges against Max dropped if he never builds anything in New York again. Max agrees, and JJJ, Jr. says that he's only doing it because Marla considered him a good friend. Max gives his word that he won't pull any "science shenanigans" (to use JJJ, Jr.'s words) in New York again. After the Mayor leaves, however, Max tells Grady to be quick about his plan. Hector tells him that he's insane, but Max says that they owe Spider-Man so much for all the times that he saved New York and Horizon. Grady finds the life sign in the fading chronotons and reverses the "polarity of the neutron flow," plucking Spidey from wherever he was. Spidey tells Grady that he doesn't remember where he was. Max tells Spidey that he considers them even. Max says that goes the same for Parker, noting that he was wrong about both of them. "Peter" returns home, wondering what he's supposed to do after being gone nine hours. He checks his messages, with several from MJ asking how he was after she saw the news of the explosion. Peter calls her and she tells him that she's busy fixing up the club that Spidey couldn't be bothered to save. Pete says that he was busy saving the entire city and stresses that he sent fire trucks there. MJ says that she's done with him. She was just checking on him, but she's willing to leave that to Carlie. She says that she knows that he's different since Silver Sable died, he almost killed the Lizard, and Otto kidnapped all of them. But, she says that she's changed, too, and says good-bye.
At the South Street Seaport, the Horizon crew boards Max's yacht, the Zephyr, which he reveals was his private possession, so Alchemax doesn't own it. He repeats his offer to Uatu, but he says that his mom thinks that he needs to take a break "from all of this." Sajani asks if there's room for her, but he says that he's running low on trust. They leave for "new horizons," and Sajani answers a call from Parker. He tells her that she's a resourceful woman and that he has a interesting proposition for her. Meanwhile, in the Caribbean, Moran is shredding documents as Carlie and the Wraith bust into his office. Carlie shoots the shredder and grabs the documents, seeing which ones he wanted to destroy first. Morant tells her that she has no idea what "he'll" do to him, but she persists. She discovers that "soldiers of fortune, vehicles, and scientific equipment" was purchased and shipped to Spider-Island from the secret bank account of "Otto Gunther Octavius." DUN-DUN-DUN!
The Review
Plot-wise, this issue wraps up the arc nicely. Sure, it involves scientific mumbo-jumbo like reversing "the polarity of the neutron flow." But, Slott more or less brings the story to its logical conclusion, though I still have some questions. My only complaint is that Slott is somewhat forced to sacrifice the script a bit, with most characters having to more along the plot (occasionally awkwardly, as noted below). But, overall, I'm excited about where we find ourselves at the end, with Miguel stranded in the past and Otto a little off his game.
The Good
1) Miguel becoming Tiberius' personal assistant is clever, since it would give him the power to influence the development of Alchemax. However, you have to wonder if it's not the same as potentially letting Tiberius die, since he would still be changing the future. I'm sure this conflict is going to be the focus of most of Miguel's story in the coming issues.
2) Allan Chemical plus Oscorp -- Jesus, no wonder Alchemax turned out evil.
3) I have to give credit to Slott for at least making a half-hearted attempt to show that MJ isn't totally an idiot. She assumes that the change in Peter's behavior comes from the recent challenges that he's faced, such as Silver Sable's death, etc. I'm not totally buying it, but at least he finally tries to address it.
The Unclear
I like the explanation of how Tiberius caused the dire situation that Horizon faces in this issue. It's clever, making all his various seemingly disconnected attempts at sabotage create a perfect storm. However, I'm still not sure why they all come together the way that they do. All the events that Grady described happened a while ago. What's the catalyst?
The Unknown
1) Tyler can walk, so we've either clearly retconned before Conchata shot him in issue #34 or something Miguel did in the past changed his personal history. But, it does seem like we're ignoring Doom's takeover of the United States, putting us somewhere in issue #26 (given the Nightshade and Mexico adventures that happened in #27-#33).
2) Where did Spidey go when he disappeared? For that matter, what actually happened in the end? Did the Horizon crew's efforts help bring about the controlled explosion? It actually seemed like their efforts were all for naught, since Otto was unable to enter the formula that Peter used the first time. Slott sort of leaves this part unclear, and I'm not sure if it's intentionally (and he plans to return to it later) or not.
The Bad
1) I'm not sure why Max assumed that Peter would tell Spidey the equation for the reverbium. I mean, Spidey has a lot happening in his life. It seems hard to believe that he and Peter would sit down every night so that Peter could explain his day.
2) How did Carlie find Morant in the first place? She makes an oblique reference to a tip, but I'm still not sure how the tip could've led her to Morant. Did she just go around the underworld asking who'd know how Spider-Man was funding Spider-Island? I feel like Slott could've held off giving us this interlude, using the pages to flesh out some of the script problems in this issue and enabling him to give the Carlie story the focus that it merited at a later point.
3) I was annoyed that Max singled out Sajani for fault. Sure, she saved reverbium. But, Grady also kept tinkering on his time door. Both their inventions led to saving the day (maybe), but for some reason she's blamed for her failure to do what she promised to do whereas Grady is rewarded for doing the same thing by being invited on board the Zephyr. Slott seems to sacrifice Max's portrayal as a fair and caring boss in order to move along the plot, leaving behind Sajani so that Peter could recruit her.
No comments:
Post a Comment