The greatest era of all! Is that true? I dunno. I’ve come to think of Web as a kind of directionless title doing this. I don’t think it has any truly great runs, and it has surprisingly few runs of even just the same team for an extended period. Obviously, Alex Saviuk is this title’s MVP, illustrating something like 73 of its 129 issues (And 2 annuals). But the writer’s chair was a revolving door for most of its run, and so was art before Alex signed on. You almost have to give it to Conway/Saviuk/Williams/Sharen by default just for all sticking around so long at the same time. Now, Saviuk, Williams are joined by Howard Mackie. For a bit. Mackie will hang around just over a year before hopping over to Adjectiveless Spider-Man. But with his penchant for more street level, mob-type stuff, it’s no surprise he’s gonna get rolling with the folks on this cover. This 6-issue run also seems to have a lot of celebrity inkers, starting with the notable hand of Erik Larsen on this one. As we begin, Wilson Fisk is doing his usual “fight some dudes in my underwear” thing he seems to really love.
Has the fact that Richard is The Rose been spoiled before? I can’t recall, but it’s gonna have to be for this. At least, he’s The Rose from the 80s. I honestly don’t remember if he’s The Rose from the 90s or not. So, you know, he’s Tom DeFalco’s first Rose, and we’ll see if he winds up being Tom DeFalco’s 2nd Rose. Although DeFalco did not intend for Richard to be the one in the mask in the 80s. But that’s yet another tangent and this post really needs to get going already.
Fun family times! Meanwhile, Spider-Man is trying to get a big, angry muscle man to stop holding a child at knifepoint on her school basketball court. Grim times all around. Spidey webs the girl out of the big guy’s hands and proceeds to web him to a post so he won’t be late for dinner with MJ & Aunt May. Then we cut to everyone’s favorite character, Nick Katzenberg, learning from an informant that he’s been scooped on a story in The Bugle and flying ito a rage, and then we’re back to Richard.
Intrigue! This comic is moving pretty quickly.
The supporting cast! It only took 25 posts into this block to see them, sheesh. Pleasant enough moment, too. One assumes when Peter finally sees this paper, which he also tried to read at home before being hurried off to dinner, it’s gonna be serious. But also:
But also also:
A LOT going on here! Black haired guy shoots blond haired guy in the face! And he tells their boss that Michael should’ve known better than to speak on an unsecured line. And if a goon getting executed in Pete & MJ’s apartment wasn’t enough, Peter’s outside taking out the trash at May’s, thinking about how good life is, when armed goons show up there, too! Mackie’s really getting into it. Peter gets up on the roof and into his Spider-gear, trying to ascertain how many goons and where they are before doing anything as they approach the house.
A helicopter appears to fire on our man, but he webs the shooters out of it and then launch sup into it, knocking out goons and demanding to know who sent them. No one will talk, though, even as he throws several of them out of the helicopter on barely visible webs and claims he threw them to their deaths. Frustrated, he tells the pilot to land and then makes back for the house to make sure everyone’s ok. But, MJ, who took everyone else to the basement, says it wasn’t Spider-Man those goons were after.
Howard Mackie really came to play! I’ve mentioned before that he winds up being pretty reviled as a Spidey writer before his exit, and not without reason, but stuff like this deserves to be in the conversation, too. Easily the most thrilling issue in this block so far. And it’s only getting started. Who is The Rose if not Richard Fisk? Why are they framing Peter Parker? A lot can happen in 5 more issues. And the next one’s one I’ve not read before, even.