Behind this striking uncredited cover I assume is by Olivier Coipel, we have Marc Guggenheim at bat from the writing team, aided & abetted by Pat Olliffe, Andy Lanning and Antonio Fabela. And yes, Aunt May and Jay’s wedding approaches. We open on a flashback to “Several years ago.. Portland, Oregon,” and that’s just hilarious to me. It doesn’t even matter what’s happening. “Spider-Man can’t get divorced, because that makes him seem old. Hey, remember when he moved to Oregon to raise his dead baby? Like all young people do?” But what’s happening is 2 guys are having a fistfight in a burning house.
You fought a Tri-Sentinel twice and several regular ones, but we have some lovely parting gifts for Marc Guggenheim.
I don’t understand why these 2 are at each other’s throats all the time. Is it the wedding? I mean, they were never best friends, but they’ve usually been civil lo, these past 46 years. JJJ still sore about the heart attack? It never even comes up. Well, Jay says they’re doing this in Boston as part of his gift to May before launching into a long toast. As he extolls the virtues of his bride-to-be, including their passion, both Peter and JJJ have head enough.
Anna Watson, as I live and breathe! Always wandering in and out of the book.
The Reillys! Unseen and unmentioned for the same 36 years!
Quick cut to a very generic supervillain who is obviously the guy from the prologue out to get Peter Parker, who says he’s been surveilling him for 6 months, then back to the party, where Peter meets his nosy aunt Julia, her 3 daughters who Peter finds so attractive he’s uncomfortable (come on), and an Aunt Jan, who is mean. How much will be seeing of these Reillys, I wonder?
Why did May never talk about them? How could this not seem weird?
Real Early Image Guy vibes off this one. Peter forces them through a window while wondering why someone wants to kill him out of costume, then, as unnamed dork falls to his doom, slows his own fall by sliding down the building with his sticky fingers. Mr. Spike Arms isn’t killed by the fall, and lucky for Peter and his sense of responsibility, I might add.Thusly…
Baddie says he’s not a supervillain, just a guy with nothing to lose, as he produces an Uzi from his back and lights it up. Spidey’s dodging and joking and the usual as he disarms the guy and goes in for a kick.
Our man puts a beating on still-unnamed-baddie of the week, and the crowd goes wild. Despite some of them apparently getting shot, the crowd is loving Spider-Man. Pointy gets away from him, and our man wants to go the the hospital, but the crowd eggs him on to go find the bad guy.
The suit doesn’t much say “Velociraptor,” either. For a guy who claims not to be a supervillain, he sure had a code name ready to go. They battle off of the bus, through the city and off a bridge onto a moving truck for a few pages, until Spidey can finally demand some answers.
Oh my goodness, this is totally unrelated to Peter’s time in Portland??? That’s so ridiculous. Wel,l Spider-Man flashes back to who Ben Reilly is, in case you didn’t read the Clone Saga, you lucky dog, for 3 whole pages, and then…
DAMON RYDER. What a name. Sounds like someone who should be turning into Ghost Rider in the 70s. Spider-Man runs back to the scene of the crime, switches clothes, and makes up a story about that guy stabbing him, adding himself to the casualty list, which is a better excuse than usual, at least.
Come on, man, you know it was Kaine, don’t be dumb. But, you know, Brand New Day Peter is frequently prrrrrrretty dumb, so go ahead, I guess. Well, with that done, we can return to the main book, and also, to the actual wedding. It’s really happening!