This one’s weird from page one because Spider-Man is swinging Peter & the corpse through Manhattan. Didn’t they drive to the Avengers’ place? Why is this necessary other than it’s a more interesting visual? Then it gets weirder as, while Spider-Man is recapping, like, everything, a cop sees them swing by overhead, WAY overhead, so far away they probably can’t hear him as he yells “Stop or I’ll shoot!” They don’t. He doesn’t. Weird. Peter wants to contact Seward Trainer about their discovery that the skeleton is another clone. Trainer is the one who ran the tests that told them Peter was the fake.
The narration BOXES using CAPS for EMPHASIS is ANNOYING to READ.
Whaaaat? That looks like Carnage, but it doesn’t look like Carnage. And if anyone knows what Carnage looks like, it’s co-creator Mark Bagley. Too late, we’re jumping to Ben at work, trying to get Jessica on the phone. While he recaps why he wants to talk to her so bad, Buzz rants about how there’s no way to know if “the authorities” might be releasing Carnage at night to attack people. That’s some A-level conspiracy theory, but Ben thinks it’s not as “WACK” as it sounds (Funky fresh for the 90s!).
Detective Trevane is this period’s cop. Seems like every couple of years, there’s a new cop who gets a lot of facetime. A lot of writers seem to want their own cop to be a confidant or sworn enemy to Spider-Man. When you think about the compressed timeline, these guys are cycling in and out really fast. John Jameson gives Dickerson, the stout fellow there, a security guard at Ravencroft, a ride back into the city. Spider-Man follows them. He wants to prove Carnage really isn’t getting out at night. Since he knows Peter trusts John, he tails the other guy to an abandoned warehouse that turns out to be not-so-abandoned…
What other comic is going to give you a dancing Dr. Doom? Are you not entertained? You think Bags meant for that guy behind Abomination to be The Joker? Dickerson concludes his business and Spidey is debating whether to tail him when Not-Carnage bursts through the wall.
Spider-Man and Not-Carnage go a couple rounds as the club clears out in a panic. But then Not-Carnage smashes through a support column and escapes, leaving Spider-Man buried under rubble and very confused. He’s not able to try to chase Not-Carnage, because someone else is stuck in the mess with him.
I wonder if Ben has flashcards to learn all the people he’s supposed to know as Spider-Man. “Don’t tell me, don’t tell me… you’re… Detective Connor Trevane!” We’re told it’s only 20 minutes later when Trevane leads a raid on Dickerson’s place. The raid makes the late edition of the paper, where Buzz doubts they’ve caught Not-Carnage when Ben talks to him about it. Meanwhile…
Oh ho! The funny thing about this is, due to the ever-shifting plans behind this story, whoever he’s talking to isn’t who he’ll wind up having talked to when the mystery man on the other line is revealed. Confusing. The captions keep saying “a few hours later,” but it has to be the next day by now, right? What underground supervillain-themed nightclub would get cranking early? Whatever time it is, Jessica is trying to sell her Spidey photos to Robbie at The Daily Bugle. He says they’re good, but they’re just pin-ups, and they need news photos that tell a story. JJJ stops by to say they need pictures to help nail Spider-Man, and Jessica says they can count on her for that.
HOW IS IT ONLY MIDNIGHT?
Man, John Jameson has been through enough, he didn’t deserve this. The fact that he seems to know this isn’t the real Spider-Man unnerves our hero. Not far away, Jessica hears a commotion and comes running for something newsworthy. Meanwhile, John Carnage warns Spider-Man he can’t win this fight, because the symbiote is only using John…
Uh-oh. “Spider-Carnage” starts bouncing around wrecking stuff, internal monologuing about how he’s free of society’s rules, as Jessica catches up to him. And as she starts snapping photos, he notices her. Uh-oh again! To be continued…