This one opens with a 2-page, Spider-Man’s-eye-view splash of the book’s other heroes fighting various goons in recognizable supervillain tech. Doc Ock arms, Scorpion tails, Vulture wings. Constrictor, uh, constrictors, just so it’s not TOTALLY Spider-Man villains. Only including Spider-Man’s hands in a shot like this seems like bad business, but it was probably specified by Bendis. The original on this woulda fetched a fortune, but even moreso with Spidey in it.
This issue is published the same month as ASM 511 (Sins Past part 3), TAC 18 (Next block, has to be seen to be believed, but not in a good way), MKSM 3, and Avengers 501, in which Spider-Man appears (Next block), and also between Pulse 4 and 5 on that book’s bi-monthly schedule. I can only guess how to arrange them chronologically, but regardless, Peter & MJ celebrating their anniversary while May is kidnapped or right after Peter and Ben’s conversation in Pulse 4 or right after or maybe even during Sins Past seems like it should be WAY more awkward. I dunno, Marvel has occasionally published reading orders for their stuff, but I doubt it all lines up neatly.
Everything Gabriel Del’Otto paints kind of looks like a reflection in a puddle. Extremely bright highlights and dark shadows, but all middle values are washed out. Well, meanwhile or thereabouts, we rejoin the scene in Cage’s hospital room, Fury demanding he and Cap take it outside, Cap very concerned about Cage, and about Jessica and her child, too, even tho he barely knows Jess, ‘cuz he’s just a cool guy, and props to Bendis for showing this.
The 3rd appearance of that painting of Jess down there. That kind of repetition is nothin’ compared to what awaits as this book falls dramatically off schedule. Well, Jess’ lawyer is Matt Murdock, and right now, DD is flipping through the city expositing at us that he’s approaching his home and has sensed Peter Parker in it, and also that his secret has been compromised, but that he & Peter knew each other’s secrets long before that. He scares Peter as he enters, and then Peter tells him he’s been having these weird waking dreams of them fighting goons in Latveria, which he knows is where it’s happening, but as far as he knows, none of this really happened, and since Matt is in the visions, he wants to know if Matt’s experiencing anything like it. He is not.
Matt Murdock has for sure been to Latveria. Everyone has by now! I can’t believe they didn’t reference the infamous time Luke Cage went there because Dr. Doom owed him money.
I really can’t get enough of Spidey and Torch or Spidey and DD on the case together. Completely different dynamics, but 2 of the great friendships in comics, for me. DD has sensed an ambush, and they 2 barely escape several fiery explosions. They are being attacked by the 2 most random possible characters: Scorcher (You know, from Untold Tales #1 and 14???) and Diamondback, the former Serpent Society member who went legit to be Captain America’s girlfriend for many years. I don’t know what happened to her after that, but I first encountered her as a lad being a hero, and so this turn seemed pretty lame to me. But, people fall back on old habits all the time. The villains argue about their failure to kill DD and whether that was Spider-Man with him (Scorcher is very nervous it was). While Diamondback insists they just torch Matt’s house because “she” said to do it tonight, DD leaves Spider-Man alone and jumps in.
Back at said hospital, Cap is explaining that he was approaching Steve Rogers’ home when he was attacked. It appears to have been Hobgoblin and the female Doctor Octopus, or at least people in their gear. So much of this story revolves around screwing up Spider-Villain history, as if Millar wasn’t simultaneously screwing it up a totally different way in MKSM. Cap beat them, but then he called SHIELD to report it and heard about Cage. Then the boys show up, and DD says he was also attacked at home. Spider-Man makes a joke about how he goes to so much trouble to keep his identity secret and still gets pulled into this, and Cap says he was already in it. Then, to Fury, that tonight is the one year anniversary of their secret war. He said the name!
Villains from around the Marvel U, but a preponderance of Spider-Villains. All working for Lucia Von Barda, a situation that just doesn’t work at all. But we’ll see more about it as this continues. We’d be waiting some while for that, however, as there’s a 6 month gap between the 3rd and 4th issues of this book, and doing a full painted event series starts to look like a really bad idea. Backmatter for this one includes a transcript of Steve’s call to SHIELD after being attacked, and these pages of designs for the heroes “covert ops” looks designed for the Latervia invasion…
…about which absolutely nothing makes sense. They’re supposed to be in disguise, but they’re all wearing suits that perfectly identify them. It’s an unsanctioned, illegal action in a foreign country, but Cap, bring your shield. They’re suits made for “a secret mission thrown together without SHIELD sanction,” but they have design elements and color schemes. Did Nick make them himself? Like this is all ridiculous! They shoulda just been in black jumpsuits. Especially for how little the actual secret war appears in the comic called Secret War, but that’s getting ever-so-slightly ahead of myself. I mean, we’re through issue 3 of a 5-issue mini, and so far our entire look at the titular “secret war” is 3 pages of Spider-Man having vague flashbacks. And meanwhile, Wolverine’s “new look” is just… his Ultimate costume. Almost exactly, down to that weird V-shape on the shoulders. What a radical new vision! Then there’s a key for who was on that last spread:
I love that it’s “here’s a bunch of villains. Where certain ones didn’t make sense, like Crimson Dynamo or Hobgoblin, well, it could be anybody in there.” It feels very tossed off.