Part 2 of this insane storyline. Same staff as the previous one. Page one, Spider-Man is laid out in the snow. Claremont’s typically flowery prose says he was, “in a word, murdered.” Yes, that is a word. Then you turn the page and he wakes up. Wah wah wah waaaaaaah. He’s shocked to be alive, rips his mask off to breathe better. He helpfully recaps last issue for us, and then says Fury must’ve used an anesthetic bullet. Sure, that sounds like a thing. Realizing this means “Nancy” is still alive, too, he swings off to try to sort things out. Where’s he going? I don’t know, we’re not following him.
Why would The Contessa do that? This story is 4 issues long, I hope it actually explains things. Meanwhile, Peter Parker wants to know where SHIELD is, so he asks the Daily Bugle’s chief librarian, one Miss McCulloch. And she tells him they’re in the phone book. And they are. Top secret spymasters! So Peter just heads to their building, walks in, makes a break for the express elevator to the top, changes into his Spidey suit, and escapes out the top of the elevator car, completely avoiding the security in the headquarters of the most powerful law enforcement agency in the entire world. Fury needs to hire better people. Elsewhere…
Ah. now we’re getting somewhere. BW is still Nancy right now. She reluctantly puts on the Black Widow costume because it’s the only clothes available and ventures out into the building. A SHIELD agent spots her pretty quick, but before he can do anything, Spider-Man literally punches one of his teeth out. Seems a bit much, what’d that guy do to you, man? And it turns out, that’s not the only person he’s gonna hit.
What a plan! SHIELD is garbage, man, honestly. Everyone should be fired. We then turn our attention to the helicarrier, their more famous base…
Ah, it’s Viper, the sometimes Madame Hydra, with Boomerang and the Silver Samurai as muscle. Somewhat different bit than last time we saw the Samurai, eh? I like that he’s holding a grudge from the SNL caper, though, just because of how funny it is to compare the 2 stories. Elsewhere, Nick Fury is in a phone booth, asking that someone get here as soon as possible. He suspects SHIELD is being “taken over.” Does this happen, like, once a week? These guys are clowns. He flies off to look for Natasha, and Boomerang flies after. Fury has a bug planted on Nat, and Boomerang has a bug in Fury’s car. You never know who’s listening, I think that’s a lesson for us all. From there, we check in with the Widow, who wakes up in Peter Parker’s apartment.
Well, that’s a mess. Then Nick Fury kicks in the door and takes them both captive. Peter feels sure he was getting through to her, but he doesn’t have much time to consider it because Fury’s car explodes as he’s taking them to it. Seems like if you wanted to try to kill him by blowing up the car, you’d… wait ‘til he was in the car. It’s Boomerang, of course, so I guess you can’t expect a smart plan. In the fire and confusion, Peter slips away to do his thing.
Is Natasha finally back? Spidey kinda hopes she’s not, because he likes Nancy. Oy. Peter Parker, I swear. He rushes back up to the roof to help fight Boomerang, but then Silver Samurai teleports in with John Belushi’s ring. Samurai only hangs out for a second, he’s just here to retrieve Boomerang.
Well, then. Black Widow is half-back to normal, the villains have vanished, and all the heroes are maybe on the same side now. Time to press on to part 3 of this mini-epic.