Boy, these generic covers. JMS has been trying to introduce new villains all over the place and none of them even get a cover. Cho’s 3 covers are marginally different, but ultimately they’re all Spider-Man about the same distance from the viewer, in the middle of a generic city scene. I sort of get the idea of having a clear, instantly recognizable image of your star to sell the book, but it’s not selling it, really. It says “Spider-Man is in this,” but what’s he up to? Ah, well. This policy won’t last forever. As we get rolling this month, A bunch of kids are learning about spiders by looking at the exhibit that CLEARLY has a pile of spiders in the shape of a human, and no one notices but one little boy, who is ridiculed for it. That’s, like, hundreds of spiders, maybe thousands, all piled up looking roughly like a body bag, that is not normal.
Morlun 2!
It’s sad how the bar is so low when it comes to African representation that just saying he was from Ghana and not “Africa” feels unusual and radical for a comic book. This is, of course, a version of a real legend.
So, like, in ASM 30, when Ezekiel asks if the radiation enabled the spider to give Peter powers, or if the spider was trying to give him power and the radiation killed it, that was interesting. It was something for the reader to think about, and something for Peter to think about. But, ultimately… well, if you’re a reader of a certain age, I suppose… you don’t want Spider-Man wrapped up in some mystical whatever. He is, after, the “every man.” But Straczynski wasn’t satisfied with that, and is now moving more and more to canonically say Peter is a mystical spider totem. And that’s dumb. And that’s going to stand, forever, or at least until I’m writing this, 21 years later. Well, anyway. Ezekiel has taken Peter to Ghana while he was out. He’s in a village of the Ashanti people, who originated the Anansi myth. Zeke says he bought a patch of land here about 10 years ago to study the ruins. Entering a big tent, Peter asking “what ruins?” gets his answer.
Ezekiel explains that this place will amplify “the spider” in Peter. On one hand, it’s probably made it easier for Shathra to detect him, and she’s probably almost there (And we see that she is). But on the other hand, Peter is stronger here due to the power of the site, so Zeke says he can use this place to win. He tells him to be smart and so on, then leaves. Peter asks where he’ll be, and he says “A place you cannot go.” And we follow him a bit.
Hey, that doesn’t seem ominous or anything. Peter gets the rest of his suit on, thinking he begins to feel calm instead of anxious and Shathra rips into the tent and says it’s time to die. She shoots her paralyzing dart, but Spider-Man is ready this time, dodging easily. Then he leaps up at her and it’s fightin’ time.
Shathra reminds our hero she will not stop or tire (Morlun 2!), and asks if he’s ready to “play til death,” and he says he is, but inside, he wonders if that’s true. If he could really kill her, or anyone, even to protect May and MJ. But, in the end… It’s not really his call…
Well, I’m sure that’s the last of her and we’ll never see her again, yes sir. It does take a surprisingly long time, tho.
Oh ho! MJ’s coming back to New York. What can that mean? We’re sticking with ASM to find out.