A lotta punch-flying on this cover. SSS is Todd DeZago flying solo, Sal Buscema on breakdowns, Jimmy Palmiotti on finishes, and John Kalisz on colors this month. And it opens with the man usually known as The Looter having been cybernetically enhanced, which somehow seems to have also made him Hulk-big, and he’s been given a thoroughly forgettable new 90s look that, as we’ve seen, will be discarded almost immediately in Sensational Spider-Man #8.
Not sure how being able to mentally control mechanical objects lets you… make a forklift fall over… but ok. Fester throws the forklift at Override, saying he doesn’t need cybernetics to be strong (Good thing, too), but Aura deflects it and the Doc Ock calls time on this exercise. As she tells her super-goons to be ready for tonight, we learn the FBI has an agent embedded in her regular goon squad. That probably won’t end well for him, but don’t ask me, I sure don’t remember. Meanwhile, Ben Reilly goes to see Seward Trainer in the hospital while recapping the storyline, and is told his old buddy’s condition hasn’t changed.
Or you could just show up as a superhero, you know. You don’t have to work for a mob boss, dumby…
Carrie must’ve dyed her hair since last issue. Also she seems like she could hold her own with Shang-Chi, I’m not sure these regular people are going to be able to master her moves. But that’s Sal for ya. No half-measures on action. Ben tells her he can’t see her tonight on account of his promotion at work, and she takes it very personally. I mean, a promotion at work for the dude you like sounds good to me, but you know, “The Ol’ Parker Luck” and all. He swears he’s not blowing her off, but she leaves disappointed. Later, as Tos is reporting he’s ready to send all the components they’ve been hoarding to his mysterious partner, Ben Reilly reports for guard duty. He wants to get a tracer on the big guy taking the package, but then his co-worker Rachel, the other redhead who likes him, serves Tso a drink, and he throws it in her face, because he’s a real cool guy.
It’s fightin’ time. Overdrive starts the fracas by making a semi truck drive right into the club. Then he overrides their security system and begins working on their vault.
Aura is holding off the assorted goons with her, uh, aura, but that leaves all the club-goers in the crossfire, so when The Scarlet Spider appears, his top priority is to smash a hole in the wall so they can get out. Then, as Override takes over messing with the goons, Scarlet starts trying to get into Aura’s, well, aura, but isn’t having much luck. Hey, what happened to the former Looter?
Oh, ok. Override is down already. These lames got the treatment they deserve, I guess. But then Norton rolls in. Scarlet give him a sock in the face, but that just makes him mad. Assuming this is Spider-Man, Norton announced The Looter is eager for some payback.
Wait, how did they get the chips to Smythe? Also, uh, that’s Smythe’s deal now. He’s changed a lot since ASM 292, but we’ve not seen it yet. Not exactly bringing out the heavyweights for this stunt. Alistaire Smythe vs. temporary Doc Ock. Yay. But, you know, if this had just been TAC 230 like it should’ve, it wouldn’t have felt like it was supposed to have some extra importance. Next up: Had to get a Scarlet Spider Unlimited #1 out of this fiasco, so…