Superior Spider-Man #16 Review!

Hello everybody, Donlinedude here and welcome to my review of Superior Spider-Man #16.

Synopsis:

With everyone in the Bugle offices now staring at Phil Urch, Joe Robertson orders everyone to turn off their phone or get away from their keyboard, threatening to fire whoever texts, tweets, or posts a status update about the current situation. Ben Urich refuses to believe that his nephew is the Hobgoblin, but Norah is more sceptical, asking Phil to say himself that he is not the Hobgoblin.

Unfortunately for Phil, an anonymous employee tips off the media and "Spider-Man", who swiftly arrives at the Bugle. As Phil starts to lose it, Robbie reprimands SpOck for his handling of the situation and asks where his proof is. After noting the irony at play here, Otto proves his claim by explaining how he injected Phil with Nano-Spider Tracers. At this point, Phil finally snaps, activating his flame sword and using Norah as a hostage, quipping that "nothing says Goblin like a dead blonde!" (only if you're green though).

In his secret lab, Tiberius Stone laughs at Hobby's misfortune, before moving onto the next target on his list, Horizon Labs! As various news crews debate whether or not costumed vigilante's deserve secret identities, we cut to Captain Watanabe interrogating a Spider-Ling as the Wraith. Despite her use of "fear gas" (Man, Scarecrow would sue if he lived in the Marvel U, ha, rhyme!), the henchman maintains that everything involving their salary is above board. At Carlie Cooper's request, Watanabe sends her the Spider-Ling's bank number, which gives them a lead on a large (likely illegal) offshore account, and since Carlie knows Spidey's secret identity, this only serves to fuel her theory. The pair decide to travel to the Caymans in order to follow the money.

Back at the Bugle, Norah breaks free of Phil's grip and elbows him in the face, whilst also feeling the need to tell him their through (I don't think he'd have assumed otherwise). With no hostage, Phil resorts to using his Lunatic Laugh on the civilians. He falters however at the realisation that he's killing his "Uncle Ben", which allows SpOck to detonate the Nano-Tracers, stunning Urich. SpOck then tackles him through the window and out into the street.

Meanwhile, the Goblin King watches the chaos from his Goblin Underground. He chides "Spider-Man" for releasing Urich's identity to the public, remarking that "it's almost like you don't know how this game is played anymore" (if only you knew Gobby). He then instructs Menace (where the hell did she come from?) to bring Urich to him.

Surrounded by police and Spider-Lings, as well as several news-crews recording everything, Phil opts to surrender rather than continue to fight. SpOck picks up the now-discarded flame sword with the intention of killing him, but he's suddenly interrupted by an Avengers Priority Call from Captain America himself, who tells him that they need to talk (What, do you think he's a Skrull again Cap?). Otto deactivates the sword, thanking the people of New York for their efforts.

As the chaos dies down, the media begins to question why so many employees of the Bugle have led double lives as super villains. Robbie dismisses everyone except for Ben and Norah. He explains that Ben will have to be temporarily sidelined. Norah however will have to be let go since she was the one reporting the front page Hobgoblin stories.

En route to New Jersey, Phil Urich's convoy is attacked by Menace, who frees Phil and takes him to the Goblin Underground. After watching the news reports on his escape (Which includes SpOck blustering over it and Mayor Jameson dodging questions.) he's let in to see the Goblin King, but first he's given something else to wear. As he dons his new costume, the Goblin King informs him that Phil Urich's life is over, and this new identity, the Goblin Knight, is all he has. In return, the Goblin Knight promises to deliver "the spider" to the Goblin...

Thoughts:

Thankfully this story arc has managed to end in a way that isn't a cop-out. There's good payoff to the characters, especially Phil Urich, the ongoing plot threads are built upon very nicely and art from Humberto Ramos is pretty good, although it's a little rushed in some places.

Despite Phil Urich being exceedingly irritating in his previous appearances, I actually felt a small amount of pity for him as his life crumbles to dust here and he goes down what looks to be the point of no return. Dan Slott gives a surprising amount of depth to this character in this issue, which justifies the somewhat tragic nature of this issue. You could almost say that "the Superior Spider-Man" did kill Phil Urich, as by the end all he has left is the Goblin. Watching him lose control in the Bugle offices was very tense and it made sense (Another rhyme!) because he's under pressure from numerous things. Norah Winters on the other hand is still very annoying, her dialogue was nothing short of nauseating.

I very much enjoyed the appearance of the Wraith and the way in which both her and Carlie Cooper's ongoing plot to expose Otto is building. The same can be said of the Goblin King, whose army is becoming pretty impressive with the additions of Menace and the Goblin Knight, even if Menace's appearance came out of nowhere. I also appreciated that we see more of the fallout from Otto's actions.

While it's not perfect, this issue is the most satisfactory, as well as the most fun, conclusion to a Superior Spidey story arc so far and actually leaves me jazzed for the next issue and the re-introduction of Spider-Man 2099...

Score: 4.0/5.0