Dan Slott has constantly insisted that ASM 698 will be a huge game changer. Knowing Marvel, trying to promote their book, they'll likely spoil it first thing tomorrow morning.

But apparently a page of the book leaked. If the link is still up, you can see the page here: http://imageftw.com/uploads/20121119/1353368035756.jpg

Be aware, it's major spoilers.



Interested to see how long this sticks, as the next 2 issues is supposed to wrap everything up. Dan Slott says this is permanent. I think we may get something different out of it instead of what this page might lead people to believe.

So are we talking 6-issue permanent or 12-issue permanent?

Seriously, if this is the big plot twist everyone is all worked up over I don't get it why it's such a big deal. It's been done so much it's cliche.

I certainly won't be reading any Doc Ock as Spider-Man.
It's nice of Dan Slott to help me save money.


Saw this a few months ago. Seemed obvious.

I bet 12-issue permanent.

As did a lot of people. But there's still like 2 more issues left...

I don't see how any Spider-man fan could appreciate this.

I give Dan Slott the benefit of the doubt. It's the same when Cpa fans saw Cap get shot and replaced by Bucky. As long as the journey is great, it doesn't matter. In the end, Cap returned right? There is no way this issue will be permanent. We can only see how the story progresses. Dan Slott's run hasn't been the best. It's inconsistent. But it had a lot of great moments. So I'll wait and see where he goes with this. Especially since there's 2 more issues left.

Not the worst change to Spider-man. I gave up on the character after OMD, though I heard a lot of positives about Spider-Island.

This just re-ensures me that I don't need to worry about Spider-man books.

Predicting right now:

I'm just wondering how Scarlet Spidey/Kaine is going to react to all this.

After reading another online review, this made me realize the mind/body switch isn't a new ideas in this medium by any means, but this is one of the first notable times it's not being written off after 1-2 issues or a story arc, or so it seems.

Even the old JLU episode switching Flash/Lex Luthor explored this territory, though not on the same level as this, and that's why it's even bigger news with Spectacular Spider-man promising a "non-Peter Parker" Spider-man.

So this is a nice nod to those kind of stories told before and likely setting up for some interesting stories.

I think the most significant mind/body switches in superhero comics I can recall came from Legion of Super-Heroes in the 5 Years Later run. They retconned (in that continuity) that when Proty I had sacrificed himself to resurrect Lightning Lad, a mind transfer had taken place, so while it was the body of Lightning Lad that went on to marry Saturn Girl, it was with the mind of Chameleon Boy's original pet, Proty I.

In that same continuity, Wildfire used his powers to reignite the sun, then his consciousness was transferred to the corpse of Sun Boy. That wasn't revealed until Zero Hour, though.

I really am interested to see if

Either way, I liked it a lot and expect some awesome.

Doesn't matter.

The character who's tag line was always "With great power comes great responibility"?
He's dead. And not coming back.
He died the moment he made a deal with the devil.
R.I.P. Spidy.

I think it would be impossible for me to remain a fan of the big-company superhero genre if I wasn't able to ignore the stupid stories that inevitably befall every great character.

These are comics created by committee. Stupid stories aren't just a possibility, but an inevitability. Be ready to ignore them when they come.

If you can do that, you can open yourself up to the less-stupid, moderately decent, and even great stories that follow. There have been some.