Few covers in the period scream “We got Photohsop!” like this one. Peep that drop shadow. At least this is the rare situation where having a bunch of different fonts on the cover isn’t a design failure. Typeface made a splash upon introduction, but not the good kind, like you want.
You can’t say they aren’t trying something different. Why the color hold on the “R?” Very distracting. Well, as Typeface prepares for capital R Retribution, Peter Parker stands on the shoreline somewhere, narrating in his mind to Mary Jane, talking about how he’s filling his life with things to try avoid thinking about how she’s not coming back. But in the end, he says he has to, and moves his wedding band, which I suddenly realize I don’t think anyone’s drawn on his OR MJ’s fingers since the wedding issue (!!!!!) to his other hand, so everyone knows he’s a widower, and through tears and a smile, says he should start acting like one. Time to move on from MJ! She’s for sure not coming back, y’all. What’s Tyepface doing?
Attacking people with literal letters! Utterly bonkers. He finishes beating them up and steals their pants, calling them “the spoils of war.” No one was ready for mainstream superhero comics this weird in 2000. Speaking of:
Now what’s all that about? Is Spider-Man about to crossover with John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness? Because I would so read that. The phone call waking our hero is a guy running an rt gallery where Peter’s secured a show of his non-Spider-Man photos, one of the things he’s done to try not to think about MJ. What non-Spider-Man photos? The ones of supervillains taken after he beat them? Pictures of Mary Jane? He’s not exactly known for non-Spider-Man photos. Well, it’s also 2 in the afternoon, to his shock. He wanders into the living room to find Randy seemingly in a trance, and then telling him that he dreamt the apartment was on fire. Hey, there were firetrucks in Peter’s dream, too!
Nice to see those guys, feels like it’s been awhile, Now Peter, Randy, Glory & Jill are at “the club,” which looks suspiciously like a bar. Randy says he was in bed 12 hours and feels like he slept 2, and that his fire dream included an animal running around. Peter is at the bar, where he meets a fellow widower… maybe… who seems to give him a bit of a pep talk between panels.
Is that a thing? I mean, I wouldn’t know, but it seems a bit odd. I remember being a kid and people saying a man with an earring in a certain ear was gay, and thinking that also seemed silly. But, hey, people like symbols and totems and signs of identity, I dunno.
Some cool friends ya got there, Pete-o. Typeface has exploding children’s letter blocks he calls “letter bombs” as he rants about his retribution. Spider-Man shows up in several panels we’ve sene before (Chapter One #5 cover AGAIN!) and tries to web him up, but he’s got a razor sharp letter O to cut through the webs.
That Spidey on the ground up top is the 2nd time he’s used that particular reference in 3 pages. Unbelievable. Well, later, Peter Parker sits on the edge of his bed, worrying that his gallery show is at the same time Typeface will be getting his retribution. Why did he go in this pre-rampage if he planned to do his thing the next day at 7, anyway? Who knows? Peter doesn’t know what to do about any of that, because he’s just too tired…
Little gray men! Of all things! Yes, it’s time for Maximum Security to come crashing into the Spider-Books. Spider-Man appeared on 4 pages of this comic. This is going to become pretty normal, actually, but in the process of the shift, it’s surprising. Next time, more madness.