Revenge of the Rhino. What’s he got to get revenge over, at this point? I wonder if the whole thing with him moving his family to the US only to be disowned by them ever went anywhere. A surprisingly complex plot for a character you don’t see too often. We open on Hope’s mom driving to some kind of police standoff.
Say, maybe this is very much about his family. So good to have Ringo back, if only for 1 issue. Meanwhile, in Queens, Peter & MJ are repairing a fence, and Peter is complaining that it seems like every time they get something fixed around the house, something else breaks. I didn’t have any context for that when this came out, but in this stage of my life, man, I feel ya, Pete. MJ goes off to call “Jilly” and make sure they’re still on for tonight and offers to bring back a Snapple (1998!), but when someone does comes up behind Peter, it’s not MJ.
That’s nice. Peter makes Billy promise to call or write and come visit, and they take a Polaroid together, and then he takes off. Peter goes in and explains it to MJ. I guess that’s more tidying up before the relaunch by a departing writer. Honestly, I’m for it. It’s a lot better than regular supporting characters just vanishing because the writer who liked them is gone, and Billy could always come back if someone wanted him to. Looks like no one’s wanted him to so far. Well, anyway, this snapshot of normal suburban life is interrupted by the TV news reporting on the Rhino’s rampage, so Peter has to go. Soon, Spider-Man’s on the scene of Rhino tearing through town, still yelling “Nothing!” Narration tells his backstory, and not for the first time, I wonder how a man trapped in a Rhino suit goes to the bathroom. Spidey decides to go in swinging. Specifically, swinging a wrecking ball he happened to be nearby.
Rhino says Spider-Man has nothing he can give him, and isn’t making a lot of sense until the cops fire an actual rocket launcher at him. Your tax dollars at work, Marvel NY! Spidey yells for him to duck, but Rhino just stands there.
It’s Hope’s bus, of course. What other bus could it be? Spidey disengages to fo web up the live wired and then start pulling the bus out of the rubble. He finds the driver unconscious and the kids terrified, so he leaps the driver to safety first, then runs back for the kids.
That somewhat cryptic note means DeZago is coming to join them for Tellos, the creator owned swashbuckling adventure they would soon launch at Image. And it very much means Ringo is done with this book, but the next issue blurb disagrees. That’s the 2nd time they haven’t seemed to know what’s going on with their own art team in this book…