Breaking News! "Superior Spider-Man"

I'm interrupting my normal Wednesday routine with this nerd-emergency.

Amazing Spider-Man will be ending after issue 700 and will be replaced with Superior Spider-Man under the Marvel NOW initiative.

This Spider-Man is stated to no longer be our "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man." Instead he will be a much darker character.

My reaction is something close to Sheldon's in this clip from Big Bang Theory:

Just replace the "Morlocks" with "Superior Spider-Man."

Slott explained he'll be going into his reinforced bunker once issue 700 hits. I'm pretty sure this is the same phrase used when Brand New Day hit.

Oh no!

(Exception: If it turns out they are SOMEHOW bringing Ben Reilly back and he's finally taking the title, I'll accept it. Otherwise, see the video. And I still hate the title.).

Update: Just saw this second image and read some even worse news:

First, it's not Peter Parker anymore. They already did this with Ultimate and, while that's working for them, they need to cut that crap out (again, only ok if Ben, though the second cover seems to argue against that).

Second, that cover looks like a sexual assault to me. We already had a villain Spidey during the Dark Avengers. You can't replace one of the most famous super heroes with a villain/douche. Just don't do it.

Third, Brand New Day (their last big change) broke up MJ and Pete. This big change shows an interaction between MJ and New Guy -- are they trying to bury themselves?

Fourth, ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? A black and red costume? COME ON! We just did this with Scarlet Spider and Miles Morales, try something new. Hate this so much.

I saw a theory that Doc Ock somehow managed to switch places with Peter, since he apparently knows Peter is Spidey. That'd be fine for an issue or two, but the onset of a new series doesn't seem like it's going to be a minor thing. I hope that theory is bunk.

Unless they REALLY pull something amazing (yes, I'm using that as a pun) with this transition, I fully expect to see a mass exodus away from Spidey again (which happened around the time of BND). I'll probably be joining them if it's as bad as I'm expecting. It will go to show that they don't learn from their mistakes and don't care about fans at all.

It's a bit sad. For a fan boy, anyway.

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In other news, I haven't played much of Dishonored. I'm halfway through my second, harder playthrough of XCOM and have a hard time pulling away. I did play the the opening and first assassination mission, and I have to say, I'm impressed:

I enjoy the Steampunk setting, and I'm also getting a touch of an unspoken Lovecraft feeling. It's not horror, per se, but it is dark and there are mysterious things beneath the water, apparently.

In the first mission, I saw three major ways to complete my mission -- brute force (barge in, kill everyone and my target), indirect (use poison), and non-lethal (the most difficult sounding, though probably the most rewarding). I went for indirect, because it allows me to be sneaky, but not to the exclusion of a couple good fight scenes during my escape (because I'm terrible at being sneaky).

The levels remind me of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, in that, while the missions are linear, there are other quests/objectives on your way to the target. I helped a creepy, crazy old lady poison a distillery belonging to a bunch of thugs, as an example.

I also saw plenty of paths to use for getting from A to B. I chose to take the high road, teleporting across rooftops and the like.

You have access to all of your powers from the beginning, it's up to you to choose how you level them up by spending runes you find during missions.

I'm not far at all, but at the very least my first impression is positive. I'll do a further review when I finish the game.