Review by Karl Verhoven
Doctor Octopus now controls Spider-Man’s body and believes he’s purged the residue of Peter Parker’s personality. He’s on a crusade to prove himself superior by being a better version of Spider-Man, and while originally also attempting to impersonate Parker and assume his life, he’s slightly moved away from that idea.
The opening story involves time slips, Spider-Man from 2099 and Horizon labs in considerable danger, and is a series highlight. From there we move to Venom, the battle with the Green Goblin that’s been brewing all along and the inevitable return of Peter Parker as Spider-Man, which is the only time in the entire series that Slott slips on a banana skin. The plotting is idle, the presumption being people will be so glad to see Parker back that they’ll not pick holes in the methods.
Never mind about that, though, as the remainder is first rate superhero entertainment, with Slott constantly digging holes for Spider-Man to fall into, not least when he ghosts people he ought to know. For all the improvements Octavius makes to Spider-Man’s efficiency there are moments when he fails due to his need to plan meticulously. While genius provides a level of adaptability, in situations when he needs to think on his feet he falls short. Slott provides an insightful assessment of both characters at a critical juncture, noting Octavius’ psychological take on Parker “You’re guilt-ridden, because deep down you know you are smarter than others. Better. But it came at a painful price, so you sabotage yourself”.
As in Vol. 1, the art is shared between Giuseppe Camuncoli (sample art left), Humberto Ramos and Ryan Stegman (sample right). This far into the series they’re now all working in broadly the same style of cartoon exaggeration, with Ramos generally toning his experiments down to meet the others halfway. Except, that is for the Venom sequence, which is difficult to follow, although there’s a case to be made that if a constantly morphing creature appeared before your eyes, how they changed would also be difficult to follow.
The other listed artists contribute largely to material separate from the main continuity written by Christos Gage, who provides dialogue over Slott’s plots for the later content. They’re all functional stories, but rarely anything more. The exceptions are a coda mending bridges illustrated by Will Sliney, and what Javier Rodríguez brings to a story about reporter Ben Urich.
There is a slight problem with this being labelled a Complete Collection when two original issues are missing, but the reason is viable. They kick off the Spider-Verse story and would be a stalled frustration if included. Otherwise, as with the first part, this is a constantly page-turning experience. It’s also available as part of the Superior Spider-Man Omnibus, spread over Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 of the Superior Spider-Man hardbacks, and in paperback as Necessary Evil, Superior Venom and Goblin Nation.