Is this issue promising THREE sand-based characters? Anakin Skywalker would be furious. And I only know who one of them is, so I hope they catch me up.We’re once again in for Terry Kavanaugh writing, Alex Saviuk penciling, Stephen Baskerville slathering hideous 90s all over him, and Bob Sharen coloring. The Marvel wiki says Bob colored 1523 comics. Incredible. On page 1, MJ is telling “Parker” she’s tired of his secret life and it’s over between them as Peter looks on, and on page 2, it of course turns out to be her shooting a scene on Secret Hospital opposite a character named Dr. Parker, with Peter watching from behind the camera. Wah wah.
So weird. Alex Saviuk is still obviously the base, but it also doesn’t look like he drew it. His own art looks like a very eager impersonator in this arrangement. I really wonder what he thought of it. That’s MJ saying she owes him, so I have no idea what’s meant to be going on there. She’s telling him how her recent frustrations with him have led to her being a better actress. And then he sees a Bugle headline and just leaves. Real smooth, Pete! As Spider-Man swings off, he thinks he hated to abandon MJ at such a crucial moment, but also doesn’t make it plain why he had to. He didn’t! What nonsense. But it turns out that headline was Betty & Robbie’s expose on Marla, so… no, I still don’t know why it meant Peter had to abandon his wife in mid-sentence.
Awkward. But not as awkward as what’s happening at ESU, as Marla and some Walter-Peck-from-Ghostbusters-type argue about the project. We learn she’s been making reports about it being too dangerous, with the other guy overriding her on behalf of the chemical company funding them and also furious about the Bugle story. All the while, a 3rd guy is actually doing some work on Project: Sandstorm.
No idea what’s happening. Preparing to treat this issue as hostile. Spider-Man swings overhead just in time to see the lab explode, and then a big sandy thing headed for the white coats in the rubble.
Well, Tony is certainly the brand-new villain Sandstorm now, who I’m sure goes on to a long and distinguished career and doesn’t disappear after this story. The wave of evil sand goes outside and makes a bunch of cops’ bullets bounce right back at them as 2 shadowy figures who’re obviously Sandman and Quicksand (Whoever THAT is) appear on the scene, brought by the Bugle story. As Spider-Man tries to use a bunch of rubble to reroute the thing away from people, both sand people arrive yelling “Noooo!” for some reason.
So.. this guy got caught in a poorly explained explosion of…some kind of sand experiment… which gave him black skin, armor, and even a bunch of useless pouches. Oh, 1990s. How did it take so long for Marvel to go bankrupt churning out dreck like this? And we’re apparently still doing back-up stories, like last block. This one’s a Cardiac story. I don’t think I care. Cardiac’s trying to stop some cancer drugs from being shipped to other countries and sold despite the manufacturer knowing they’re faulty and will hurt people when Scorpion appears, hired to guard them. Weird use of Scorpion. They fight, looks like Scorpy will win, to be continued. Sure thing.