The Good
Peter, now reconnected with the Venom symbiote, tries to become the Superior Venom, but quickly learns it's harder to keep under control than he thought.
The last issue was the reveal that Spidey and Venom are one, once again. This is the first issue where we get to see the character move about the world, and we also get a really good look at the new costume. It's a really cool mix of the Flash Thompson Venom, classic Venom, and Superior Spider-man. Humberto Ramos really brings this new character to life here. Superior Venom is cool, sleek, and intimidating.
We've seen it before, but I'm always a fan of seeing how the symbiote changes its host. We get a lot of that here as we see Peter's personality change towards Anna Maria, Mary Jane, and Aunt May in this issue. While long time Spidey-fans may be thinking "been there, done that," what's great about these scenes is that is really introduces the Venom symbiote to a whole new generation of Spider-Man fans. On top of that, this really isn't Peter we're dealing with. Writers Dan Slott and Christos Gage present this in a bit of a new light, since it's the mind of Doc Ock, who thinks he's mentally superior to Peter, dealing with this foreign body in his, well, foreign body.
Again this is a great issue for those who are interested in the long-time "relationship" between Spidey and Venom, especially newer readers. Maybe I'm just a big jerk, but it's about time someone yelled at Aunt May. She's overbearing. Peter does it here, and it was pretty awesome. Who do you think you are, Aunt May? You can't forbid a grown man from working for Spider-Man!
The Goblin story line finally works it's way into the world of Spider-Man here, and while I've stated that I'm not the biggest fan of where it's headed, I like how it's all weaving together here. I may slowly be turning for the better for this upcoming story. I'm starting to like the idea of a goblin army waging war against Spider-Man. I can't pinpoint what brought me over to the goblin-side here, but the idea of all these guys going up against Superior Spider-Man or even Superior Venom is a really awesome idea.
On the downer side of things, there's a few small reveals here about the future for Flash Thompson, with his new fancy robot legs. He's got only a small amount of time to get that symbiote back onto him or things can get a lot worse for Flash Thompson.
The Bad
I'm a big fan of Humberto Ramos' style, but there's one character, on the final page, whose face looked really bizarre. She had almost no jaw and chin. In fact, all the characters on that final page looked really weird, and surprisingly enough, they didn't fit too well with the rest of the regular characters in the book.
The Verdict
Darkest Hours is turning out to be one awesome thrill-ride. I really love what Slott, Gage, and Ramos are doing here. Superior Venom has a great design, and you'll be on the edge of your seat finding out what he's going to do next. The Goblin story finally weaves its way into the main story, and you'll get pretty pumped for the next issue, especially after a big reveal page where we find out who's jumping into this series next. Overall, I highly recommend this issue.