Welcome to the final issue of Web of Spider-Man. Kinda funny, really. MTU was cancelled to make way for Web, and now Web is cancelled to make way for Sensational. No matter how many Spider-Man titles there are, this slot is the one that always changes. Well. Until the big relaunch, anyway. DeFalco & DeZago writing, as is often the case these days, Steven Butler breakdowns, Randy Emberlin finishes & Kevin Tinsley colors. The Scarlet Spider arrives at The New Warriors’ headquarters and learns from “Carlton LaFroge aka hindsight, The Warriors’ resident cyber-cowboy” (Haha, ok) that they’ve all gone to save “some woman on the phone.” Ben is immediately concerned. After a recap over a splash of a terrified MJ, a 2-page splash has Spider-Man dodging past all The New Warriors’ best efforts on his way to MJ while begging them to stop him.
My very exciting free Marvel Overpower card is still bound into this issue. It’s a Black Cat card. I bet it’s worth zero dollars! The poor Warriors continue to do their best, but their best is pretty bad. They definitely need Scarlet Spider more than he needs them. Hey, speaking of which…
Is there any tension to this? Did anyone think Spider-Man would kill MJ? I will tell you: No. Advanced hype let people know Peter was stepping down as Spider-Man, and if you didn’t pay attention to that, well, an ad I’ve already passed in this very issue tells you Peter quits in this month’s Spectacular. Comics are often their own worst enemy. The New Warriors charge back in, but Peter is once again able to elude them all and Ben, getting so far as the roof of MJ’s cab and tearing it open before being tackled by his clone again. The cabby, obviously, just runs for it, and good ol’ MJ just takes the wheel and peels out of there. While she is technically a damsel in distress, I appreciate that she’s not really acting like one. Plotting on how to try to help, taking charge with the cab. It’s nice.
I guess Firestar randomly saying “mañana” is supposed to show how she’s cool and hip and other things these 2 writers have no personal knowledge of. Peter figures out where MJ is going and becomes even more desperate to be stopped, and yet fights even more desperately to complete his mission. In a way, this is proving how great he is, as all these people and a clone of him aren’t enough to even slow him down. MJ pulls the cab up to Aunt May’s house and runs in. Spidey dodges all The Warriors yet again and escapes into the sewer. They give chase, and I learn there’s a 2nd copy of the same Overpower card bound into this issue (How generous!), but they soon find multiple paths and will have to split up. And they also notice they lost The Scarlet Spider, who is frantically swinging to Aunt May’s house, having guessed what MJ is up to. I gotta be honest, I’ve read this comic, and I still don’t know what she’s up to. In my defense, it was a long time ago. Arriving at May’s, a more desperate than ever Peter finds his wife, now sitting cool as a cucumber, waiting for him, saying they can’t run from ghosts.
That is one tiny hand up there!
That was relatively easy! It’s almost like this whole story (And every previous issue in this block) was just filler! It’s almost like editorial is forcing these guys to spin their wheels for a few months (And, as we’ve seen, not for the first time)! As the box says, that’s it for Steven Butler. We’ve seen he came back for a few pages in a later Unlimited, but he’s basically gone. I think he’s about to go participate in an attempt to make Archie comics look more contemporary before becoming the long-running artist on a Sonic the Hedgehog comic. Hey, it’s a living.