I apologise to anyone enjoying this storyline, but I’m just counting the weeks until it ends.  I found myself reading the first two parts and constantly scratching my head as to why we are retreading all this.  I can think of only two reasons for this story to exist, which would be either editorial (in chief) vanity project or attempt to inject sales on the basis that Joe Q fans would line up to see more of the man’s sequential art.  The thing is, all I can think about is how much it seems to squander all the hard work of the last two and a half years.

Think about it.  In the past 30 (or so) months Marvel have punted out three issues of this book on time and with very few dips in quality.  A disparate group of writers managed to prove that Spider-man can be fresh and vibrant while reminding you of all the good Spidey stories you read in the past, entertaining you at every turn.  The editors managed to lure a huge range of artists from both the populist schools (McNiven, Jimenez etc) and the more unusual styles (Martin, Lark, Bachalo etc) so that the book always looked stunning.  The OMIT storyline just seems determined to turn the clock back on all that amazing, forward thinking work.

That and, at the end of the day, it’s just not very good.  This second part is all talking heads, it feels indulgent and dull, the story never really moving forwards and kind of making me hate Peter and MJ just a little bit.  The writing is soap operatic in a very bad way and that Quesada art is just odd looking.  For almost a hundred issues Marvel reminded me what there is to love about Spidey.  Rivera and Martin aside, this story is reminding me how easily it can go wrong.