And we’re back… to the school. Insane. Truly insane. If things weren’t bad enough, now we gotta deal with a Mysterio story. And if that wasn’t bad enough, our new regular art team is here, led by Todd Nauck. Yes, much like the previous incarnation of Sensational Spider-Man, the perceived similarity between his art and Ringo’s brings him on board. I wonder if Wieringo had officially quit, or if he just took a break and never came back. At any rate, the difference between Ringo and Nauck as far as I’m concerned is the difference between a Mexican restaurant in Mexico and Taco Bell, and I’m not super jazzed about this. He’s inked by Robert Campanella and Rodney Ramos, with colors by Lee Loughridge. The recap page is heavily suggesting alternate Uncle Ben didn’t actually kill the future Spider-Man. I do not care.
So, back in the Mysterio Manifesto, and Tom DeFalco did damage control for the fact that Myterio was both dead and alive and also his 2nd tour of duty revealing an all-powerful mystical JM DeMatteis villain was not supernatural at all (Sheesh again), we found out the person currently operating as Mysterio was Daniel Berkhart, the briefly tenured 2nd Mysterio, returning to the suit after Quentin Beck killed himself. Well, as the balloon there says, this isn’t Berkhart. It’s Francis Klum, a villain from Kevin Smith’s wretched Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do miniseries. That book is infamous for 2 things: The almost 4 year gap between issues 3 and 4 of a 5 issue series,, and Smith adding an odious sexual assault backstory to Black Cat, which has thankfully been ignored since. Klum apparently framed Felicia for the murder of his brother. I bought those first 3 issues, loathed them, got rid of them during a move, and certainly never bought the other 2, so I don’t really know. But the internet tells me that the last page of that series found Kingpin selling Klum Berkhart’s Mysterio costume. How that could have happened, I do not know or care. But, that dumb series finally wrapped the same month The Other ended, and now that dork is Mysterio III, because Peter Davis is apparently leaving no dangling plot thread unpulled. I bet that doesn’t last long. But who’s watching him on that monitor? Doesn’t that seem overly complicated for page 2 of this book? What do I know? Well, at school, Peter Parker is being mobbed by reporters & protesters, and I think SSM 28 is meant to have happened already. A parent yells, “You’re going to get our children killed!” and is 100% correct. I had no idea Peter tried to keep going to school after revealing his identity, but talk about irresponsible! What would Uncle Ben think? Maybe we can ask him, if he’s not off shooting someone. Well, he goes inside, recaps at us because Peter David is old school, and says he’s beginning to think coming out was the worst mistake of his life, and you know, duh. Then he sees that kid that was getting picked on in FNSM 6 with a black eye.
I would have preferred Flash to stay in a coma rather than come back like this. Well, he keeps egging Peter on, reminding him of the horrible beating he’d get at Flash’s hands playing dodgeball as kids, and when he throws a ball, Peter kicks it into his face so hard it knocks him out. Very heroic.
“Ms. Arrow?” Cut to MJ on the phone, with Peter telling her what happened, and her telling May, and May, apparently having been told Flash is a jerk again, says he probably had it coming. Then Peter meets with the principal, who says he’s heard Flash provoked the incident. And also:
SUCH a Peter David page. Well, Peter goes to class, where that Jeremy kid is upset he’s leaving, but then the lights suddenly go out. Then we rewind a bit to find Flash flirting it up with Arrow, which is her FIRST name, which is even more absurd, and then they, too, see the lights go out. Flash says, “Cripes!” which, as we’ve seen, was a pretty normal outburst in the 70s, and Arrow notes it’s unusual. That doesn’t totally line up since he and Peter had buried the hatchet by the time people in comics were saying “Cripes!”, but whatever. Then we cut to reporters outside looking at a big black cloud that’s enveloped the whole school before they all fall unconscious.
Look at that horrible Spider-Man. Spider-Man starts leading the kids down the hall, sticking the ceiling for no obvious reason other than it allows the kids to more easily disappear without him noticing, which they do.
Good grief. Now, I haven’t read this story, but if Quentin Beck isn’t really dead, it’s gonna be a problem later. So is that Berkhardt? That makes more sense. But how did Kingpin even get his suit if he’s still around? I guess we might find out. Honestly, I my expectations are very low.