Miguel's presence in "Superior Spider-Man" and "Superior Spider-Man Team-Up" is making it difficult for me to focus at times. I've spent so much time chronicling Miguel's story that it's hard to focus on Spidey. But, thankfully, Miguel is really only a bit player in this issue, so it made it easier to focus just on Otto's shenanigans. Also, since he's not all that involved, I'm going to go the usual route and just do a normal review.
Despite Miguel's absence, this issue is pretty amazing. Yost again gives us a much less heroic Otto than the version that Slott delivers in "Superior Spider-Man." Here, he does it by finally revealing Otto's master plan for the Sinister Six: using mind-control devices to turn them into his own Avengers, the Superior Six. It's brilliant, not only because it shows how ethically challenged Otto is, but also because it reminds us of the troubling constraint that Otto finds Spidey's membership in the Avengers to be.
That said, all doesn't exactly go according to plan. When Otto uses the Wrecking Crew's attack on Alchemax as a test run, he's pushed too far, losing control of the team when Piledriver knocks Electro into Sandman, sending feedback through his control device. Yost does a great job of using the fight to stress how arrogant Otto is and how often his ego gets him into trouble. When he narrates the opening of the issue, he dismisses the Wrecking Crew as hardly worth his trouble, clearly never expecting a fight that could jeopardize his master plan. He manages to hold onto his control by the end, but this outing makes it clear that he's not going to be able to keep up that control, and it spells trouble for him in the future, given how unhappy the Superior Six is with him.
But, Yost works the danger that an eventually freed Superior Six poses on another level, since, after all, they think that they're dealing with a crazed Spider-Man (particularly after he uses the skull of one of the deceased Russian commandos from his Chameleon extraction to encourage them to behave). When Peter eventually returns, it's unlikely that he's going to be able to convince them that it was really Otto pulling the strings. These guys already had a mad-on for Peter; now, it's personal.
But, before we get there, we're looking to have an amazing few issues where the Masters of Evil take on the Superior Six. Otto stole the item that they attacked Alchemax to get, a quantum-particle engine (QPE). Lightmaster is revealed to be pulling the Wrecking Crew's strings and, upon discovering the Crew's failure, declares the Masters of Evil re-assembled. Who can't be excited about that?
A Note on Miguel: Miguel only appears in the background in this issue. He's at Alchemax when the Crew attacks, and he calls up Lyla who informs him that the QPE is destined to take out "the majority of old New York" in three days' time. Miguel tries to recover the QPE, but Thunderball gets it first. Miguel seems to think that New York is saved, but I'm pretty sure that it's not. But, again, it raises the question of how Miguel's involvement in the past is going to change the future. Even if he saves New York, he would've also saved it in the existing 2099 timeline. Something has to happen outside time for the timeline to be changed. As excited as I am to have Miguel back here, I have to say that these sorts of meta-physical questions are going to get old quick.
*** (three of five stars)
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