Tantalizing! The clues are now tantalizing! I have trouble remembering my own reaction to all this. I suspect I was just kind of going with the flow. I know exactly how I felt by the end of it, but this was kind of a middling period for Spidey, to me. ASM 300-340-ish was pretty thrilling to young me, but I wasn’t as plugged in right here. Still happily buying the book most months, but less excited. This era feels positively idyllic compared to what follows from this vantage. We open on Scorpion testing out his brand new tail. He’s getting it from The Tinkerer this time, to avoid the unpleasantness of ASM 318 & 319. Tink’s quite in demand lately But there’s a short in it, and Tinkerer says to leave it overnight so he can tweak it. You’ll never guess what Scorpy wants it for.
Guy’s had no motivation other than “kill JJJ” for nearly 30 years, at this point. Sheesh. Meanwhile, Peter isn’t even sure those people are really his parents and is already eager to transfer his worries about Aunt May to them. Any new chance to worry is one worth taking for Peter Parker.
Spidey sees Felicia leaving Tink’s operation. Then we cut to his folks at the DMV, worrying that Peter isn’t accepting them. But when they leave, they run into the FBI guy from the last couple issues, one Charlie Shaddock, who says he thinks he recognizes them. They don’t know him, by as they walk on, he wonders if that could be true, and if he could take that risk. Who’s this guy? Back at Tinkerer’s, Spider-Man confronts Felicia, who says she’s commissioned some new Blakc Cat gadgets, but their conversation is cut short by blasts from above.
Spider-Man leads Scorpion up onto the rooftops to try to avoid people getting hurt, and learns Scorpy is stronger than ever, while still possessing the acid spray his tail had last time, but none of that proves too challenging for our hero. Then there’s that 6-page D&D advertisement again, and then…
Soon this goopy robot has Spider-Man all wrapped up, and Scorpion uses the opportunity to start laying into him.
Felicia may have changed a lot since the old days, but she still enjoys the adventure. Scorpion tries to use his new ability to electrify his tail to get that thing off him, but it creates feedback that blows up his powerpack. And Spidey knew it would, because he’s fought this particular kind of robot before, way back in ASM 37, which we unfortunately haven’t see yet. As Scorpion flees, Spidey and Felicia head back to Tinkerer’s place.
Mendel Stromm! Swing and a miss. A lot of red herrings for a story that, while it hasn’t admitted who’s the villain explicitly, has both implied who it is and showed us it’s definitely not the 2 guys Spidey’s guessed so far. Seems like they could’ve had more suspense by not showing him so early. Or calling this Invasion of the Spider Slayers, for that matter. But, what do I know? Now it’s off to the backup feature, once again by DeMatteis, Lopresti & Sharen, and now starring Aunt May. She’s just come to visit Uncle Ben’s grave and talk to him about the reappearance of Richard and Mary and how mixed up she feels. And guess what, she flashes back to her own childhood for the first time, and it was miserable, because this is a DeMatteis joint.
Good times! Just an endless litany of misery and sadness, that’s apparently what he thinks the title most known for being fun should be. May goes on to detail how she resented Ben’s little brother always tagging along with them due to her terrible childhood, but how she eventually came to love him, and Mary, once they got married, and then how Peter changed everything for all of them.
As a fully registered and licensed doting uncle, I can relate to a lot of this.
As usual, beneath all the usual muck, DeMatteis has a good voice for May. So frustrating. Why’d he have to wallow in misery so much? Why were the flashes of heart something you had to sift through 8 issues of grimdark nonsense to get it, especially in what were ostensibly supposed to be adventure stories for teenagers? I don’t understand it. Ah, well. This issue’s letter column makes the first mention I’ve seen of the 14-part crossover coming up in 1993. A rather famously terrible, seemingly endless debacle I’ve been dreading the re-read of basically the whole time I’ve been doing this. Not as bad as the clone mess just because it doesn’t last as long, but oh boy.