At this point, I just have to hope that Slott initiated this storyline to use Peter being possessed with the Venom symbiote as the excuse for why he's been acting so weirdly lately. If not, then Slott clearly intends to leave Peter's personal life in ruins before he lets Otto go. Berating Aunt May for mistreating his "woman?" Slott is really pushing the envelope here in terms of behavior that Peter could somehow explain when he eventually takes control of his body again. In fact, Slott seems to be setting up the situation that Peter is going to be able to clear either his good name or Spider-Man's, but not both's, unless he decides to reveal his secret identity.
The problem is that I'm not sure if Otto would even recognize the opportunity to redeem Pete by using Venom as an excuse. In "Superior Spider-Man Team-Up" #7, Otto seemed to realize that he had gone too far down the Punisher road, if you will, with the ends justifying the means too often. We see none of that self-reflection in this title. Instead, Otto only has rage, like he had in issue #18 when he listed everything wrong with his life. The clear implication in that rant was that other people were getting in the way of him being "superior." If he doesn't recognize that he's gone too far, blaming any excesses on other people, then he's not going to recognize the chance that blaming the symbiote for his behavior presents.
In other words, Slott really does seem to want to ruin Pete's life. It's the problem with this series, but not in the way that Wacker thinks.
Wacker thinks that anyone complaining about Otto's control over Peter is complaining about Peter still being dead. I'm not. I'm complaining about the fact that the question about Otto's legacy as Peter and Spider-Man after Peter inevitably returns is the only thing that serves for dramatic tension in this book. Since Slott is just flying through plots and sub-plots, the only constant theme is the fear that Otto will do something to irreparably ruin Peter's life. In that way, it's become a process story, not a substance one. It's not the meditation on Otto trying to be a hero that it initially seemed to be (or that "Superior Spider-Man Team-Up" is). In fact, even stories that have nothing to do with either Otto's struggles to be Spider-Man or Peter's future problems when he returns are too complicated to enjoy. I would've rather have just seen Spider-Man possessed by the symbiote, rather than Otto as Peter as Spider-Man possessed by it. [Sigh.] In other words, I'm really just over this whole thing.
** (two of five stars)
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