By Dan Slott, Christos Gage & Humberto Ramos
This is probably one of the best issues of Superior. Is the dialogue still dreadful? Yep. Is the story structure still an absolute mess? You bet. Art? Yuck. However, Slott and Gage have given us plenty of moments to get excited about and to ponder for the next few weeks.
The majority of the issue revolves around The Avengers battling Spidey-Ock, now in possession of the Venom symbiote. It’s a very exciting battle, with a conclusion that will have people talking. We’re not going to spoil anything here, but if you have been paying attention to the internet for the past week, I’m sure that you at least have an idea of this big reveal.
There’s also a decent amount of time given to the whole Goblin War story. This is where the issue hits a bit of a snag. Slott’s interpretations of any of the Goblins have left a lot to be desired and that is a trend that appears to be continuing. Apparently, not even Gage can resolve this problem. Green Goblin is probably the worst. He speaks in a manner that is probably supposed to sound vintage and silver age-like, but it just comes out boring and sloppy. The actual Goblin War arc is coming and this doesn’t bode well for that story.
Humberto Ramos is all over the place in this issue. In most panels, you can’t even tell what Superior Venom is doing. Iron Man is the worst offense of all. Why does his armor look like it’s stretching like Reed Richards? Some of the quieter civilian moments look decent, but that’s as far as the positives go.
You may be wondering why I called this one of the best issues, considering there is so much wrong with it. Well, that’s how terrible Superior has been. The Goblin War stuff is almost guaranteed to be dreadful, so it might be a good idea to wait until the new Amazing Spider-Man #1. Well, Slott and Ramos are attached to that too, so maybe you should avoid that as well.
