I hate to say it, but after Spider-Island wrapped up in Amazing Spider-Man #673, the title did find itself spinning it’s wheels for the next year. Dan Slott‘s writing through the early Big-Time era was a soapy superheroic treat; with a definite sense it was building to something, and a satisfying pay-off once Peter Parker had to deal with a Manhattan over-run by Spideys. Although the arcs which followed this, from #674 to #697, provided a stream of perfectly servicable tussles with classic villains, there was nothing particularly memorable and no sense that Slott had a grander plan.
The dissolution of Peter’s relationship with his girlfriend Carlie Cooper removed one of the more interesting aspects of the title. Furthermore, the ‘blockbuster’ Ends Of The Earth arc, which gave Peter a new hi-tech costume and thrust him into a globe-trotting James Bond style action adventure against the Sinister Six, wound up feeling pretty generic and could have instead featured any number of other Marvel heroes such as Captain America or Iron Man. Otto Octavius (aka Doc Ock) fully committing to his role as a genocidal maniac is the most interesting thing to happen here, but even that seemed pretty played out by the end.
In retrospect, I understand what Slott was doing; he had to build his hero up, so that Peter’s fall from grace would be all the more spectacular. But in doing so, and in allowing Spider-Man the space to live his best life, for this short period Slott did wash a lot of the unique flavour out of the character. A noteworthy exception is the 2-parter I Killed Tomorrow from issues #678 and #679. Particularly interesting (and fun) because it actually has no main antagonist, but instead presents Peter Parker with a time-travelling conundrum that he (and the reader) must solve within a short deadline to prevent imminent catastrophe. Slott’s a big Doctor Who fan and his smart storytelling here was definitely a tip of the hat to the man in the Big Blue Box.
Gears definitely shifted in Amazing Spider-Man #698-#700, a game-changing arc called Dying Wish; which saw a terminally ill Otto Octavious execute his final revenge on his archinemesis, by swapping minds with Peter Parker while his own critically impaired body is only hours away from death, paralysed and locked up within the depths of the supervillain maximum-security prison The Vault. Slott’s storyline moves like the clappers, and packs a load of action and twists into Peter’s desperate last minute Hail Mary pass as he tries to catch-up to Octavius and reverse the switch. The shock ending of issue #700 is particularly brave, but even if you know what’s coming, the tight plotting and rich characterisation make for an excellent cat-and-mouse chase. A good tale, well told, and a superior precursor for the era to follow; the Superior Spider-Man.
