Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 3) #11
Background
The Inheritors (Solus, Morlun, Daemos, Jenix, Verna, Bora, Brix and the outcast Karn) are traversing the Great Web to feast upon all Spiders in every dimension. There are three Spiders of particular importance to The Inheritors: The Other (Scarlet Spider, Earth-616), The Bride (Silk, Earth-616) and The Scion (identity unknown).
The Spiders are fighting back and some gathered around Peter Parker (Earth-616). They are currently being protected by Cosmic Spider-Man (Peter Parker, Earth-13). The Superior Spider-Man (Otto Octavius, Earth-616), currently trapped in the year 2099, also gathered a force of Spiders. These two forces met and merged to face an onslaught from Then Inheritors. Several Spiders were killed and three splinter missions were established: Silk (Cindy Moon, Earth-616), Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew, Earth-616) and Spider-Man Noir (Peter Parker, Earth-90214) flee through the Great Web (see Spider-Woman #1 for more details), Scarlet Spider (Kaine, Earth-616), Black Widow (Jessica Drew, Earth-1610) and Spider-Man (Ben Reilly, Earth-94) attempt to take out the Inheritors cloning facility (see Scarlet Spiders #1 for more details) and Spider-Man 2099 (Miguel O'Hara, Earth-616), Six-Armed Spider-Man (Peter Parker, Earth-92100) and Lady Spider (May Reilly, Earth-803) stay in the year 2099 to study the corpse of Daemos (see Spider-Man 2099 #6 for more details).
The rest of the group returned to the sanctuary of Earth-13 where Superior Spider-Man made a play for leadership!
Story 'Higher Ground'
Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 3) #11
| Executive Producer: | Alan Fine |
| Publisher: | Dan Buckley |
| Chief Creative Officer: | Joe Quesada |
| Editor In Chief: | Axel Alonso |
| Editor: | Nick Lowe |
| Associate Editor: | Ellie Pyle |
| Writer: | Dan Slott |
| Pencils: | Olivier Coipel |
| Inker: | John Livesay, Mark Morales, Olivier Coipel, Victor Olazaba, Wade von Grawbadger |
| Lettering: | Chris Eliopoulos, Travis Lanham |
| Colorist: | Justin Ponsor |
Our Spider-Man stands against the Superior Spider-Man for leadership over the group of Spiders. They end up coming to blows, but Peter soon realises that Otto thinks he is a younger version as he can't imagine a world where he loses. Peter gives Otto a chance to kill him but he can't (believing him to be from an earlier point in his timeline) so Peter kicks him down. He will not kill and that is why he is in charge.
On Earth-13989 Karn kills the great Spider-Wolf and calls out to Solus to grant him return passage home.
On Earth-001, Solus hears but orders the Great Weaver to send him elsewhere. Morlun enters and discusses the prophecy with his father. The three players (The Other, The Bride and The Scion), whom together have the power to end the Inheritors, are accessible now but one lies out of their reach. Solus begs to differ with this fact and orders Morlun to gather Jennix. It is time to crush all hope!
On Earth-13, Peter offers his hand to Otto and recognises his knowledge of their foes as crucial. Peter goes with Spider-Girl (Anya Corazon, Earth-616) and Spider-Gwen (Gwen Stacy, Earth-65) to visit the injured Spider-Man Noir and directs Ultimate Spider-Man (Miles Morales, Earth-1610) and Animated Spider-Man to go and round up as many Spiders as the can from the Multiverse.
They immediately transport themselves to Earth-67 where they are drawn to the Peter Parker/Spider-Man of the 1960s!
On Earth-13, the remaining Spiders are suddenly and viciously attacked by Morlun, Jennix and Solus! Captain Spider (Flash Thompson, Earth-78127) and Spider-Monkey (Peter Parker, Earth-8101) are killed in an instant but Cosmic Spider-Man takes out Jennix in retaliation!
On Earth-802, Jennix is respawned in his cloning laboratory (as the Scarlet Spiders prepare to attack).
Solus brutally attacks Cosmic Spider-Man, laughing at his idea of a safe zone! Spider-UK signals Spider-Man to come back quickly but his and the other Spiders' efforts are too weak to prevent Solus from devouring Cosmic Spider-Man! The heroes stand aghast, believing that this is the end! Morlun punches Spider-Girl (Mayday Parker, Earth-982) and grabs her baby brother Benjy... The Scion is theirs!
General Comments
Well the confrontation is a bit of a let down. The Amazing vs. Superior scene should have had a little more pizzazz, though Olivier Coipel renders Otto's expressions and the slight sense of satisfaction well.
In fact "well" is an understatement. Even with a little inking inconsistency, Coipel's art surpasses "well" at its worst. His construction of panels and pages, the level of detail and the level of cinematic scope that he captures is incredible. There is a grittier sense to the inks on the page where The Inheritors storm Earth-14 but even this has a certain quality about it that fits the page. Even the 1960s is made perfect!
The faults in this issue lie in the wandering plot. Last issue was paced perfectly and set up several subplots but here the main plot only moves on in the last 2 pages. The opening fight sequence doesn't really tell us anything, the swanning around Earth-13 does little more, then Spidey goes off for a bit, the Inheritors attack again and then, finally, we know who the Scion is. Cosmic Spider-Man's death was fairly impressive and sold the power of Solus a little more, but that does little for actual plot progression.
Dan Slott just simply mistimes this, especially when the editorial team has to reference the same issues that they did last time (as in #1 of Scarlet Spiders) and highlights the fact that Amazing hasn't really gone anywhere since then.
Overall Rating 
Coipel's art remains a major draw for this issue but the plot progression is a little too slow this time around.