Well, that looks weird. Well, it’s a week since the events of the issue 25s, and Spider-Man is ruminating on them by way of recapping. At the end of his recapping (3 pages of it!), he says it’s made him think about his real parents, how little can remember his dad. He’s decided he has to know who his dad was. Meanwhile, the owner of an old cigar store in New York is closing up shop when he steps in some black goo. You could be forgiven for assuming it’s Venom back already.
Well, gross.
Hey, that’s nice. Later, Spider-Man swings through the city, happy to have learned more about his dad, but not satisfied. But speaking of dads, as he arrives home…
Robbie tells Peter if he really wants to know his old man, he needs to find someone who knew him, an old buddy. This leads Peter call May and ask about that “Big” Mike character, who he soon learns owns a bar, and so, at what we’re told is the middle of the day despite JR clearly having this entire issue so far take place at night, Peter finds the place.
Bg Mike seems like fun. One assumes Donny is involved with the goo monster, who, as we leave the bar, attacks the owner of a nearby coffee shop in a similar fashion to the cigar guy. Back at the bar, Mike tells Peter about a time when he & Richard were home on leave from the war, out carousing, when they stumbled on a giant man berating his son. Richard stepped in, took a punch in the face, shamed the guy, and then talked him down. Mike talks about how Richard could have messed the dude up, but he was such a good person. He thinks Peter should look up more of Richard’s old friends, but then a scream outside ends the conversation. Mike grabs a bat and tells Peter not to come outside no matter what he hears, but you know…
I sure didn’t expect any of those “hilarious” knock-off villains to come back. This guy at least has an interesting look. Spidey’s really laying into him, until, unsurprisingly, he turns out to be Big Mike’s son he was mad at earlier, and Mike tries to pull Spidey off of him.
Hey, this was the best issue of ASM in a long, long time. This is, like, 1 of 2 really solid Mackie/Romita comics out of the last 26 months. Man. These guys were unstoppable from ‘96-’98. It’s so insane how it all spiraled out of control. Speaking of out of control, can’t wait to count the swipes in PPSM 26 next post.