So, like, with the “prologue” part, this is a 6-issue story. Pretty typical of its day, and most days to follow. So why does it have 3 different artists? That doesn’t feel like it would’ve happened on purpose. But we’re joined this month by Paco Medina, one of the better guys, in my opinion, in the “vaguely Ramos-ish mode” cottage industry inexplicably happening at Marvel as the larger company house style becomes realism. Ramos, Herrara, Skottie Young, etc. Medina is in the ballpark, cartoony and exaggerated, but his figures are way more solid and his stuff looks a lot more intentional, and he’ll get much better with time. To be fair, even Ramos gets a little better as he goes. He’s at least stopped drawing people with gigantic, rectangular feet by this point. Medina is inked by Juan Vlasco, unseating Wayne Faucher for the first time on the secondary Spidey title in quite some time. This opens at some kind of rooftop function at Peter (And MJ’s?) apartment (I still don’t know if they live together in this title). She seems distracted, and Aunt May asks what’s wrong. She says she’s worried about Peter. Oh, NOW you’re worried??
He’s looking great!
Not Peter’s best day. Elsewhere, Nick Fury and Cap spend a page reiterating that Queen has a stupid bomb and the US government made it. Nick demands to know why, even though he should know.
You get that feeling, Nick, because nothing in these pages is not colossally stupid.
Captain America was in the ice before the war ended! He was not there for this! Nick should be the one telling HIM this! Uggggghhhhh.
Does Jenkins think Cap was out walking around when Kennedy died!? This is insane! I vividly remembered the Spider-Man parts of this story, but Cap being nothing but anachronisms and incorrect levels of security clearance while MJ is the worst partner anyone ever had, I guess I suppressed it all. Well, as all that stupid nonsense is happening, the Queen has found Spider-Man. She tells him he did this with her kiss, like he couldn’t have figured that out, and demands he come out of the shadows and be with her. He doesn’t want to.
She spends a few pages smashing him into walls with her ill-defined powers and telling him he’s in love with her before disappearing with him. And then the Human Torch shows up.
We see Detective Garrett, in the background there, telling a coworker the mayor has told the cops to find Spidey and the Queen before the superheroes for “a public relations coup.” Whatever! Now we’re at some kinda SHIELD war room, and they get a message from the Queen. Fury rushes everyone out of the room because this is “level 17 clearance,” despite that not being a thing, and then the Queen’s message turns out to be addressed to the people of New York, Boston, Montreal and Washington, so why’s he acting like it’s a secret? This comic sucks.
Whatever. I don’t even care. Elsewhere, the queen goes to some giant metal doors to check on the ostensible star of this comic…
I guess this is what Peter gets for not saving Tarantula when he turned into a spider in ASM 236. Man, I miss those days. More and more with each post! Next time: the impossibly terrible conclusion. A conclusion that promises to change Spider-Man… for the worse… forever! And then is promptly swept under the rug and not referred to again…