written by Dan Slott
drawn by Stuart Immonen (p) Wade Von Grawbadger (i)
colored by Marte Gracia
"Going Down Swinging" begins!
Dan Slott's swansong begins in earnest as Norman Osborn grills a mysterious person he has kidnapped, while Peter Parker and his erstwhile lover Mary Jane Watson share a tender moment, only for things to go sour when she remembers what a hassle it was living with Spider-Man. One-time superhero and now full-time supervillain Phil Urich, who now goes by the name Goblin King and whose crew stole some valuable, and explosive metal last issue, makes a move on the Green Goblin's territory, and violence ensues.
This story sees the welcome return of series regular Stuart Immonen to illustrate Dan Slott's final arc on Spider-Man before moving on to write Iron Man, and to be honest his timing is impeccable as Slott was starting to lose me with his filler issues. The story pacing still isn't great considering how much time Slott's been wasting the last few issues, and I honestly wonder how Slott's going to fill the two issues between this and the landmark 800th issue. Truth be told, I feel that Slott could have squeezed in one multi-issue story arc before going full-bore on this last arc, rather than give us the annoying throwaway fill-ins that the last two issues turned out to be. Maybe the arc with Loki could have been expanded to three issues? Maybe.
What I feel pretty sure of is that with each passing issue (as well as the solicitations for future issues) it becomes clearer and clearer exactly WHO will be "going down swinging." Even though I know I'm just speculating here, it's been pretty clear, at least since Immonen came on board, that Slott had somewhat specific plans for the character I'm thinking of, so much so that a fake-out at this point would have zero narrative or emotional impact, sort of like Slott's awkward reveal at the end of "Superior Spider-Man" that this very character had been hiding in plain sight, disguised as someone else.
In any case, Slott's clearly trying to raise the stakes here, as a violent fate apparently befalls a long-standing character whom he's been developing since early on in his tenure. It feels a little anti-climactic considering what a nuisance this character has been, but assuming this to be a genuine death and not a fake-out I don't necessarily mind as I find the character kind of irritating.
I sincerely doubt Slott would "kill" Spider-Man, by mind-swapping him with a dying man or otherwise, so soon after the last time he did it, so given that Pete's already scheduled for a "fresh start" later this year, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out whose ticket is getting punched. Assuming I'm right, this would mean that following his "resurrection" from a seemingly final death years ago, the character who's about to kick the bucket has been alive for more than twenty years, or longer than he was around before he was killed the first time. Personally, I'd be glad to see him go; I think the character has long outlived his narrative usefulness. I just hope that Slott uses this as an opportunity to finally retcon "Sins Past" one of the most irritating Spider-Man storylines ever printed, out of existence. It could be his parting gift to us fans.
I'm just going to savor the last three-issues of Immonen-illustrated goodness before we get to the big eight zero zero.
7/10
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