Synopsis:
In Hell's Kitchen, a father narrates that his son is afraid to sleep at night because they live in the shadow of Shadowland, property of Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin. The father is frustrated that no one is doing anything about Shadowland, when, as if on cue, the "Superior Spider-Man" arrives, complete with "Arach-Nauts", a small army of "Spiderling" minions & around 300 Spider-Bots, to commit "regicide".Otto and his Spiderlings cut through the Hand ninja like a knife through warm butter, which convinces Kingpin & the Hobgoblin to fall back. Otto is forced to take a call from Mayor J. Jonah Jameson, who is disgusted that "Spider-Man" is attempting to blow up a building in "his city". However Octavius reminds Jameson of the conversation they had in the previous issue. Jameson protests, saying that lives will be lost, but Otto states the only bodies that will be found in the rubble of Shadowland will be those of Fisk and the Hobgoblin, deliberately leaving the last part of the exchange open to Fisk's security feed so as to intimidate the Kingpin.
Inside the castle, the Kingpin realises that, despite the voice being the same, this is not the Spider-Man he knows. This is one who will kill them if given the chance. He retreats underground with the Hobgoblin, revealing an obese man named Smedley Korfield watching television and stuffing his face. Fisk breaks Smedley's neck and tells Hobgoblin that Mr Kornfield's body has been modified to mimic his own DNA, which, along with cosmetically altered dental appliances, will allow the Kingpin to convincingly fake his death. He then activates the self-destruct sequence, escaping in a one-man sub and leaving Hobgoblin to die.
Ol' Phil is smarter than he looks however, and manages to escape the castle before it collapses. He thinks he's gotten away, only to scream when he realises one of the Spider-Bots has spotted him (what a sissy.). But lo and behold, the drone doesn't alert Otto, instead enacting "goblin protocol" and sparing Hobby, who takes the opportunity to flee.
With Shadowland now reduced to rubble, "Spider-Man" is thanked by the grateful residents of Hell's Kitchen, including the father & son from earlier. All the while, Jameson is fuming that SpOck has him completely under his thumb.
Underground, in the sewers, or the "Goblin Underground" as they are now calling it, the Goblin King's henchman welcome the several members of the Hand ninja, who feel disgraced for retreating from battle. They join the rest of the small army building underneath New York as the Goblin King himself makes an announcement that, in having taken over several of the Kingpin's operations, they have now passed the tipping point. 52% of crime in the city is under their control. The Goblin cackles, declaring that New York is his...and he did it without lifting a finger...
Thoughts:
This issue was surprisingly fast. I was expecting more of a complex take down of Shadowland that perhaps might even fail, not an all-out assault by Doc Ock that actually succeeds! Like the decision to kill off Massacre, I'm glad that Slott was allowed to make this story decision and we're left with an interesting ending to this issue with the Goblin King making a surprise appearance as his power grows. It's good that he's making regular appearances and contributing to the plot rather than just standing around in the background letting us know he's there, like Cygor from the Spawn comics.The "Superior Spider-Man's" new costume definitely reflects Otto's personality and I like the addition of the spider legs and the black lenses. Perhaps this is a metaphor for how Otto is twisting the image of Spider-Man to match his own warped personality? The art by Humberto Ramos is pretty good here since most of this issue is utter chaos and that's something Ramos' style is very much suited to. I will say that the pace was maybe a little too fast, but overall this was a good issue, though after the previous arcs, I'm more than wary of the next instalment...
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