written by Dan Slott
drawn by Stuart Immonen (p) Wade Von Grawbadger (i)
colored by Marte Gracia
As "Going Down Swinging" nears its climax, Norman Osborn, aka the Red Goblin, armed with his Carnage symbiote, takes on virtually Spidey's entire supporting cast, including Miles Morales Spidey, Cindy Moon aka Silk, Clayton Cole aka Clash, and Flash Thompson now known as Anti-Venom with Johnny Storm aka the Human Torch thrown in for good measure. Given Osborn's current power levels and the fact that there's a super-sized issue left to go, the outcome is fairly predictable. In the meantime, Harry Osborn, his ex-wife Liz and their children scramble to escape Norman, with a similarly predictable result.
I get that the main purpose of this issue is to ramp up the threat, to show how dangerous Osborn has become, and to set up a slam-bang finale, but to be honest, I leafed through the issue with some impatience, and ended it not so much pumped for the finale as I was annoyed that there was still a full issue to go. Yes, it was action-packed. No, it wasn't a waste of panel space full of talking heads.
I guess my biggest problem with the issue was Peter's nemesis: Norman Osborn himself.
Truth be told, I've hated Osborn ever since he was brought back to life 22 years after his death as a half-baked solution to the problem of what to do with Ben Reilly, and he's gone from one awkward, annoying storyline to another, including my all-time "favorite," the loathsome "Sins Past" which, as of writing, STILL has not been retconned out of existence.
I am not spoiling ANYTHING by expressing my sincere hope that "Going Down Swinging" refers squarely to Osborn himself, who has been due back in his grave for the last couple of years now, perhaps even as early as the end of the Siege storyline nine years ago. As ridiculous as this sounds, post-resurrection Osborn has been around longer than he was before Gerry Conway killed him back in 1974, and he has, to my mind at least, more than worn out his welcome.
I know that, even if Osborn does die, nothing is to stop some smart-ass editor or writer from bringing him back X years from now, but in truth Marvel has, for the most part, been unable to tell a really compelling story with him at the forefront anyway, so if he does die, I think they'd be hard-pressed to find any compelling reason to bring him back, considering that there are plenty of people in Spidey's rogues gallery who could fill the void. I never quite bought him as the "big bad guy" of the Marvel U during the "Dark Reign" storyline; he always just seemed like a pathetic wannabe rather than an actual menace, and it's largely because, as opposed to the likes of Doctor Doom or Kang the Conqueror, he always felt like small potatoes.
Slott has spent most of his run with Stuart Immonen (who shines here as usual, by the way) trying to "big up" Osborn and set up some kind of climactic finale between him and Peter. Well, considering that Slott's already "killed" Peter once in the last five years, it's hardly likely he'd go for the same trick twice, and so it's fairly clear to me who's going to be left standing when the dust from issue 800 settles, and who won't be.
I just hope that, however, big a bang Osborn goes out with, he takes the "Sins Past" storyline with him, once and for all.
7/10
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