Well, the curtain has fallen and the winner has been crowned. Otto Octavius defeated Peter Parker and deleted him from his brain. He won the ultimate battle, the battle of the minds and with that he proved to the world he truly is the Superior Spider-Man. Or so he thinks.
I've been a Spidey fan since i can remember myself.My room was full of Spider-Man memorabillia, comics, toys, etc. The last few year though something about Spidey had changed. The evolution of Peter Parker was scrapped by One More Day. He reverted back to his younger self more or less. With Spider-Man 700 we said goodbye to good ol' Petey and "welcomed" Otto as the new Spider-Man. I was sceptical at first but i liked the direction of the book so i subscribed to it. So far i was really impressed with this series due to the fact that it fleshed out Otto's character and allowed for a new kind of Spidey stories.
The thing was that while Otto became more and more interesting with each issue Peter did not. Peter was forced to sit on the back seat and watch his rival change his life. Dan Slott writes an excellent Otto but not an interesting Parker due to the fact that, he simply isn't the focus of the book. The comic is about Otto's journey from villain, to "hero" to a real hero.
Parker's ghost run his circle, he gave to Otto the qualities of the hero but the constant struggle of Peter trying to get his body back was tiring. It was the same thing over and over again, it added nothing to the story. The fact that Slott wrote a segment were Peter endangered a little girl's life to save his own self is just awful. Peter would never, ever, EVER do that! It was completely out of character. I think he tried to show Peter's desperation but it didn't work out. It made Pete look like a selfish jerk something he nver was and never will be. And that is the reason i'm quite glad Peter died. Slott bastardized Peter and instead of seeing this continue i prefer Peter to be officially dead.
In issue 9's final confrontation Otto brought up some interesting points. He used his brain and resources to find new ways to fight crime and succeeded. Now, i'm not defending him since he was the cause of the little girl's fatal problem. He still is a hypocrite but he is doing a damn good job as a superhero and the truth is, that he is really interesting. The journey we are witnessing is one of redeemance and salvation. The diference between Otto and Peter is the age and the experience. Otto is an old man while Peter is in his early-mid 30s. Otto's interaction with children is one of the winning points of the book for me.He acts as a somewhat loving parent to them.
I guess i want to see him become the person i know he can be. Peter even though an outcast had a loving family and good looks. Otto had neither so his bitter attitude is somewhat explained. Not that i'm willing to forget all the people he has killed over the years but i believe this is his second chance at life. A chance to do good and get away from his awfull childhood, to become the man he could be, had his life not been so hard.
Marvel seems obsessed with keeping Peter young and somewhat immature. Otto was right when he said that he focused too much on the "friendly" aspect of his super heroics and less to the efficiency of keeping villains in line. This, for me is a chance for Peter to finally mature and leave the teen in him behind. He has lost everything dear to him and all that because he wasn't mature enough to take a decision. Had he let Octavius die back on the "Ends of the Earth" story arc, none of this would have happened.
Now, don't get me wrong, i'm not saying that Pete should start killing everyone on his path, i', just saying that sometimes you have to pull the trigger. From my perspective the series will reach to a conclusion where Otto will become THE Spider-Man, he will have his experience, Peter's morals but he'll be more willing to end a life to prevent the loss of more. Peter will come back, he will have matured by then and he will be THE ULTIMATE Spider-Man. Both he AND Otto will complete their repsective journeys and instead of a final confrontation we will be witness to Otto's change of ways. He will willingly give up the body, understanding the errors of his ways and that Peter must get his life back. Peter in turn will see the change and him and give him a new body, a new life but this time as Otto Octavius. Otto having learned what means to be a hero will reverse his life and this time with his own name, intendity and body will make a name for himself, he will start a new journey.
I guess what i'm trying to say is that Otto is the star of the book and Peter was badly written. To kill him off is logical and effective.Instead of having an awfull Peter i'd prefer no Peter at all. He will return, that's for granted. But only when it makes sense. I'd like to see both of them complete their destiny and see the story come full circle. Otto redeemed and changed and Peter ready to accept new methods of crime fighting and maturing.