This whole monster thing is a pretty unexpected turn. That’s kind of a bold cover, only showing Spider-Man’s arm. Well, Dr. Kafka and Edward have been taken underground by these critters, Kafka ruminating about nightmares in the narration as we get a look at their predicament.
How funny and rude would it have been for the writer of Captain America to try to reclaim Vermin between DeMatteis’ stories? JM clearly has a controlling interest, but what if someone was like “Hey, that was a Cap villain, I’m gonna use him!” I mean, it would’ve been Mark Gruenwald at this time, and he seemed far too classy to do that, but it’d be funny to me. Anyway, Spider-Man has found the wreckage of Kafka’s office. The police detective who said a lot of very correct things about Kafka just getting people killed with her reckless approach to “therapy” but was treated like a villain in TAC 178 is back to do that some more, and Spider-Man once again wags his judgmental finger at her for daring to suggest all the people Vermin’s killed since he came into Kafka’s care are, like, a bad thing.
A rare goof from Sal, the 6-legged spider symbol there. That’s Helmut Zemo, the son of the original WWII Baron Zemo. You know, the one who came back as a lady in Fear Itself. Helmut is the one who created Vermin. I wonder where this is going. Spider-Man goes home and silently sits in a chair, brooding and sad yet again.
I just officially checked out on this one. This is asinine. Kafka tries to talk Edward out of this, Vermin wants to kill her but remembers she’s been nice to Edward and doesn’t. Vermin leads the weirdos off into the sewer or whatever. Cut to Zemo, who has apparently thrown his father’s mask in the fire, but is still holding his. He puts it on, says he’s reborn, then takes it off and throws it in the fire, too. What… is this… Now Spider-Man’s back out on the hint, and he eventually finds the weirdo patrol looting a store. Kafka’s narration I’m only half-reading at this point says Spidey studied Vermin’s file, knew all about Zemo, and just figured out what all the weirdos were as he attacks Vermin. Sure, man, whatever.
Only took 2 issues after Spider-Man got out of his latest DeMatteis epiphany that made him whole again to fly back into a brutal rage. Great stuff. Fight fight fight, the weirdos overwhelm Spider-Man and Edward, Spidey wakes up in the same cave with Kafka.
Edward jumps in, gives an impassioned speech about how Kafka and Spider-Man are good and helped him and can help them, too, and since “their minds are one,” they believe him (If they have a hive mind, how did the weirdos not know this from jump? Oh, is it because this comic sucks? That explains it), but then Spider-Man’s danger sense goes off too late to stop a laser from cutting the lead weirdo in half.
Oy vey. I don’t know if I can make it through the next one. But I guess I gotta.