Hard to believe I’m seeing The Eel 2 blocks in a row. But there he is. We open on Max Dillon, Electro, being made fun of in jail for being beaten by kids in UTS 8 before a loud voice from outside tells him to stand away from the wall, then blows it up.
Not an unreasonable proposition. Meanwhile, in Forest Hills, Peter Parker is patching up his Spider-Man suit, unaware that someone is about to come in through his window.
There’s a lot of things I don’t remember, revisiting these comics, but I’m embarrassed and maybe a little worried I don’t remember big swings like this. But this leads to an interesting thing. When Stan introduced the idea that Peter wanted the byline for his photos kept secret in ASM 2, I wondered when that got reversed. I couldn’t think of it offhand. When did we go from “don’t print my name” to Peter’s parents discovering a copy of WEBS in JJJ’s office in ASM 377? Well, turns out, right here. Seeing no way out of Sally’s threat, the next day, Peter takes his Spidey photos to show & tell at school, shocking all the kids with what he does for a living and ruining her plan. And given that Kurt Busiek is both a consummate professional and a real lore guy, I’m betting he noticed Stan never officially changed Peter’s wishes, it just happened one time, and so Kurt has come up with the explanation. A minor thing, but handy to be able to do in a series like this. So Peter passes around some photos from his first battles with Vulture, Sandman, Electro, The Enforcers, and so on, and the kids are pretty amazed, to put it mildly. None more so that Flash Thompson, who has suddenly discovered his high school nemesis knows “the coolest guy in the city!” Liz suggests that maybe now Flash will realize he’s misjudged Peter, and Flash thinks maybe she’s right…
This situation’s inability to work makes itself known almost immediately. Peter finds himself hanging out with Flash & Liz after school, getting a million Spider-Man questions, when they hear about Electro & The Eel on a rampage over a radio. Peter tries to run off “to take photos,” but Flash is all-too-eager to see his idol, and insists on driving Peter to the scene. So the 3 kids head down to see the electric lads blowing up cop cars. Peter starts awkwardly taking photos of the villains as they announce they want NY to pay them $10 million or they’ll cripple the city’s electrical supply. Our hero can’t slip away to become Spider-Man, but manages to make an excuse about reloading his camera and get a tracer on the Eel’s helicopter as the villains depart. Flash can’t believe Spider-Man didn’t show up. Peter says he’s got to get to The Bugle to develop his film, but Flash insists on driving him.
Flash not letting Peter become the hero he wants to see is a great bit. As soon as Peter leaves, Betty cries and clearly wishes she hadn’t been so mean. Eventually, Flash drops Peter off at home, assuring him he’ll be back to pick him up bright & early. Aunt May lets Peter know Betty called while he was out, and he rushes upstairs to “call her back.” He digs his tracer receiver out of a box, and soon, Spider-Man is swinging off to find the zappy boys. They’re in a power station in Brooklyn, waiting to hear if the city will meet their demands. Electro is flying high, but Eel notices Electro has been getting top billing in their duo, and thinks maybe he needs a better costume or something. I think he’ll get a new suit shortly in the timeline after this, so that’s fun. Then Spider-Man is on them, taking them by surprise.
That seems bad.
This kinda feels like the surprisingly multiple times Black Cat has tried to get in on the act and been in over her head over the years, most recently when she didn’t have all her new gear in ASM 370. But Sally’s not the only one who heard about this, as Flash, Liz & Jason show up to watch the fight. Flash called Peter, but Aunt May apparently told him Peter left in a hurry, so they came without him. Jason mentions he tried to call Tiny in on this, and his dad yelled at him, and he’s not even sure Tiny lives there anymore, but no one is listening. Back at the fight, Spider-Man plays his ace, the Anti-Magnetic Inverter he used to disable Vulture’s power pack in ASM 2, modified for use against these guys. It makes them slam together and stick like magnets, which, I mean, I dunno, why not? But then Bluebird kicks them into the water, shorting out Peter’s device and allowing the villains to escape.
Well, that makes sure Peter & Flash can continue to bicker in the classic comics. What’s gonna happen with Sally, tho? We shall see.