Shades of ASM 55. Speaking of, for some reason, they got Romita, Sr. to do a version on the fold out:
Kinda jarring, really. They’re still in the era of a recap folding out on the inside cover. This issue opens with some background on Stunner.
I don’t know if anyone ever explained how they met or what their deal was. Typical of the period, really. Well, the villains and the ninjas are all gathered ‘round to watch Doc Ock be reborn. Rose says if this works, Spider-Man will be out of his hair and Doc Ock will be in his debt, while Trainer and Stunner discuss what they’ll do if this really works. And as for our hero…
Since we’re firmly inside Peter’s mind or dreamscape or whatever, he naturally sees May & Ben, who he assures he won’t let down, and MJ, and then Harry as The Green Goblin. Yes, yes, all very rote by now. Peter summons the willpower to wake up and free himself in 2 pages. Beat that, DeMatteis. Spidey’s pretty messed up, but able to leap to relative safety and ninjas and Stunner try to get him back on the table.
More Jackie Chan/Steve Ditko stuff. Not mad at it. Turok, Dinosaur Hunter is a weird reference. He’s an old comic book character, at this point most recently published by Valiant, the first company Jim Shooter headed up after he was ejected from Marvel, but he also starred in a minor hit Nintendo game. A weird one to name check for a couple reasons. Back inside, Stunner volunteers to take Spider-Man’s place to bring her beloved back, while up on the rood, Delilah appears to keep Spider-Man’s fight scene going. But we cut away to some different villainy.
We will recall these jokers from last time, tho it was so long ago. Stunner is recalling that Doc Ock was the first person to be nice to her, as we see them in flashback strolling through a park, still no explanation of how they met, and then we see him putting her in the machine for the first time. Now her goofy 3D hologram form is laying on the table to take Spider-Man’s place. How? It’s not even a real person. Carolyn Trainer, meanwhile, has the gadget that was apparently used to take a copy of Ock’s brain on her, and plans to slap it on him should he actually come back. And up on the roof…
Spidey keeps on fightin’, but we go see what MJ is up to…
DeFalco’s portrayal of black people is still as totally normal as ever! Who is this? Shantal has emerged from nowhere, already MJ’s friend. I don’t remember her, but MJ really needs some friends, so I wish she’d stuck around. What an astounding coincidence that MJ’s professor is the ex-wife of lil whatshisname! ASTOUNDING. As Spider-Man keeps fighting Delilah, we see The Rose hiding under a carpet demanding to know how long this will take. This version of The Rose is pretty weird. As the leader of the ninjas says something’s going wrong, Delilah forces her fight with Spidey back inside through an air duct, so the player are all converging again as we begin to run out of pages.
Well, there he is. A dumb wrong righted, Spider-Man’s greatest foe returned. Bringing people back from the dead is generally pretty dumb and lazy, but when the death itself was dumb and lazy, it’s to be encouraged, I say. But wait, there’s more: The back cover is a 2nd gatefold, with a Doc Ock by none other than John Romita, Jr.
This issue cost an additional 26 cents so it could have this. Seems kinda silly, but it’s a nice image.