"Necessary Evil - Part 1: Let's do the Time Warp Again!"
Story: Dan Slott
Art: Ryan Stegman
Colors: Edgar Delgado
Cover: Ryan Stegman
Spider-man 2099 is back!!!! Hit the jump to find out if Miguel O'Hara's return is a modern masterpiece or a futuristic failure!
Summary: Superior Spider-man #17 opens in the year 2099, where we find that the current craziness with the time stream in the Marvel Universe is having an adverse effect on the future. Miguel O'Hara, the Spider-man of 2099, is battling dinosaurs and dodging WWII fighters as he makes his way to Alchemax to try and find out what is going on. At Achemax, Spider-man 2099 confronts Tyler Stone, who is both the head of Alchemaz and O'Hara's father, though Stone is unaware of the latter. Stone reveals that some event from the past is erasing him from existance and disrupting their timeline. Realizing that this would lead to his own destruction, O'Hara agrees to be sent back to the Heroic Age to try and fix whatever the disturbance is. In the present, Max Modell is arrested for a variety of crimes related to Horizon Labs, all part of a plan enacted by Tiberius Stone. Grady attempts to use his time door to prove Tiberius is behind the problems at Horizon that Max is being blamed for, but before he can enter, Spider-man 2099 emerges from the doorway. Meanwhile, Liz Allen and Tiberius Stone announce their intention to take over Horizon Labs, which sends and angry Otto after Liz and Stone. Spider-Ock threatens Stone, but before he can lay a hand on him, he is confronted by the Spider-man of the future!
The good: This was a very solid book and there is quite a bit to like about it. First and foremost, the return of Spider-man 2099, a fan favorite character, is enough to excite just about any Spider-man fan. Slott does a very good job writing both the character and his supporting cast, all of whom have not appeared in a book in over a decade. It is also very impressive in the way Slott is able to tie in the current Spider-man story to the Spider-man 2099 universe. Having Tiberius Stone be the father of the villainous Tyler Stone was a great way to tie in the current Spider-man cast with the Spider-man 2099 cast. Also, having him team up with Liz Allen, who together will obviously form Alchemax, was another smart move. These thing show the amount of planning Slott does for these books and just how much of a slow build in story Slott is capable of. Slott also does a very good job of setting up the rest of this arc, by introducing an interesting conflict of interests with Spider-man 2099, who hates Alchemax and his father, but can not let them be erased without erasing himself. It also leaves the reader wondering how this will all play out, as it is in no way clear what the future of Horizon labs may be, and likewise, the future that readers know from the 2099 book may very well be in jeopardy. Finally, Ryan Stegman absolutely kills it on art, drawing perhaps the best Spider-man 2099 ever.
The not so good: There are really few problems with the book, most of which deal with the pacing. The second half of the book in particular moves fairly quickly, and there is a lot going on in this issue. The book probably could have benefited from the pace slowing down just a bit, and taken more time to establish some of the story, in particular the takeover of Horizon by Liz Allen and Tiberius Stone. This is compounded by the inclusion of more of the goblin scenes that have been popping up in the book lately, and do not really play any part in this story. Slott is clearly setting up an epic story involving the Green Goblin and his army of goblins, but it would probably be better to include these scenes as a prologue instead of interrupting the story with them. These are only minor flaws, however, as Superior Spider-man #17 is a great read and an absolute delight for the eyes.
Overall rating: A- (9/10)
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