USM 066

Wolverine. As this hit stands, we were 2 months out from New Avengers 1, but everyone knew it was coming, so knowing Wolverine and Spider-Man would be defying convention by joining the Avengers, these 2 meeting up again carried a bit of an extra heft. Don’t think anyone really knew what would happen, tho…

Bagley’s Bendis likeness… not so good. Also it looks unnervingly like Greg Land drew it.

FRIDAY, is it? Yeah, they’re moving, I guess. You know, I did not remember that. Our strangely behaving hero goes down to his lab and literally sniffs around, clearly not sure what’s going on, when MJ shows up.

Do you have it, dear reader? Do you know what’s happening?

Now, I don’t claim to know what Bendis was thinking or anything, but I know 2 things for sure: 1. Bendis was a big fan of the movie Mean Girls. 2. The Lindsey Lohan/Jamie Lee Curtis Freaky Friday came out in 2003, no more than a year before this comic. And thus, I’m pretty sure Bendis watched it, and I’m pretty sure we have it to thank for this. Back at the Parker home, Wolverine-as-Peter fumbles through a conversation with MJ wherein he just won’t answer any questions until he gets her to ask if he wants his Spider-Man suit, which is still at her house, and he says yes, go get that, and also tells her she’ll understand when she’s older that high school is a waste of time. Then Aunt May yells down that someone’s calling from the Bugle.

In an increasingly frantic call, Peter begs Logan to go to school for him, because he’s missed too many days already this year, as Logan commits more social blunders with May. Peter gets so worked up he accidentally cuts the tip of Logan’s finger off, but it grows back. Logan decides to go to school, but he can’t figure out how to let go of the phone due to Peter’s sticking power. Truly, we’re in a wacky place. This is the kind of tonal whiplash JM DeMatteis seemed to love. Later, at school Logan is ogling cheerleaders and manages to offend MJ pretty immediately. She shoves a backpack with his spider suit at him and storms off, but Logan has no intention of putting that on. Then he get caught wandering around during class by a security guard, and tries to escape by scaling a wall, but falls off of it, KO’ing said guard.

I feel like they’re really overselling the 3 times these 2 have met. Granted one of those times did result in unmarked vans full of killers outside Aunt May’s house, but even so, it’s not like they bump into each other once a week. Logan goes to class, where he is not allowed to immediately turn around and go to the bathroom. Then Flash starts messing with him, and he gets a Wolverine death stare that gives him pause.