This comic feels like it’s never been opened. The spine doesn’t bend at all. Huh. Well, It’s a splash followed by a 2-page splash of Spider-Man and Sonja engaging Hobgoblin, Lizard and Scorpion, all talking like they’re from old times and Scorpion saying Gath has promised them lands to rule for Spider-Man’s head.
Spider-Man sure is getting jobbed out a lot in this. It’s wild how the single-issue predecessor to this had a more effective story. This series has been just a bunch of fighting since issue 2. Spidey and Red never get a chance to catch their breath or do anything interesting, and Gath just sits in his tower til, presumably, the last page or so of this issue. This series could’ve been interesting if it landed somewhere between MTU 79 and the ludicrously overstuffed Uncanny 192–193. Instead… just a bunch of fighting. Most of it including Spider-Man getting beat up like a rookie so Red Sonja can swear to kill his opponent and never do it over and over. Well, while Spider-Man fights the other two, Sonja grapples with Hobby on his glider until they fly so far that they accidentally breach Gath’s spell. As with previous times, it’s transforming the world slowly, and the regular world outside has reacted. When they go through the wall, Sonja is thrown from Hobby’s glider, impossibly landing just fine on the street below.
Earlier than anticipated, but not by much. Gath goes on and on about how merging with Venom has made him unstoppable for a couple of pages, while casting spells and not utilizing the symbiote even a little. Totally isn’t a factor. He says he needs Sonja’s goddess-blessed blood to finish his work, but no one knows where she is anymore, so Spider-Man once again gets beaten into submission (By Gath’s spells, not by his Venom power). Back in the real world. Sonja is chasing Hobgoblin, having somehow gotten on the elevated train tracks, where she is almost hit by a train, but just… jumps? She manages to leap over a train and several more feet into the air, grabbing onto the goblin’s glider. Like this is a jump Spider-Man shouldn’t have been able to manage, and he’s got fakey spider powers. This book is not good.
The blue text is MJ, able to communicate with Sonja out in the real world. Over various montages of Peter & MJ together and Spider-Man fighting villains, she talks about who Sonja has taken over her body and she loves Spider-Man and so on. This issue, which saw print the same month as the last part of One More Day, emphasizing that they’re married and flashing back to it, even, is hilarious. Great timing. Well, MJ tells Sonja not to give up or whatever, this didn’t really accomplish anything, story-wise, and then she suddenly wakes up.
They shot her belly button off! 3 shots and only managed to hit her shoulder. New York’s finest! I feel compelled to run this page, because you really get a sense of who you’re dealing with…
