Amazing Spider-man #7, published 100 years ago back in 1963, was my first Spider-man. I often, half-joking, said that Spider-Man ended at issue 38, when co-creator Steve Ditko left, that everything since has been a clone. But I followed him, sometimes more closely than others. There have been some high points, some low, some lower.

I read #698 with an objective eye, knowing #700 approached,and the rumors that arose.
SPOILER ALERT!
If you've been living in a cave all year, hello. Peter Parker dies. In #698, summoned to Dr. Octopus' deathbed, Spider-man finds his mind switched with Doc's. All in a fairly well, logical presentation. I found it a good, engaging concept. And I thought I knew where it was going, especially when the succeeding Superior Spider-man title was announced.

SPOILER SPOILER ALERT, if you haven't read #700.
Peter/Ock manages to escape the prison hospital, again, fairly logically. And though dying, is determine to stop Spidey/Ock. I figured he would die, that Spidey/Ock would do a Thunderbolts-villain masquerading as Hero. Smart money has Peter staying dead a year.

But there is a twist. In dying, using the connection between their minds, Peter Parker forces Dr. Octopus to relive Peter's experiences: the love from Ben and May, the burglar who wasn't stopped, the death of Gwen Stacy and others, and all the other tragedies he had endured, and how he continued to try to do the right thing through it all. Octopus is stunned, and Parker leaves this earth charging HIM to become Spider-man, repeating the famous line: With great power, comes great responsibility. Octopus picks up the challenge, vowing, with his great intellect, to become the Superior Spider-man, hubris that looks like it will be interesting to follow this story line.

A number of fans are upset that he didn't go out in a blaze of glory, holding up a burning building while orphans escape with their puppies.But this is real heroism (albeit, in a fictional, comic book sense), in that he did the right thing, knowing no one would know the truth.