Electro’s arms are weird on this cover. We don’t pick up with last issue’s cliffhanger. Instead, we start with a bomb going off and throwing MJ out of bed.
He’s having his head crushed by Venom, who looks much better in this issue. AsTOUNDingly, Venom really did just drop by, he’s got nothing to do with this. Sandman tells him if he wants to kill Spider-Man, he should do it quickly and leave. I mean, that’s just insane. Ward and Doc Ock have escaped due to Mysterio’s stupid mist, and Spider-Man’s about to die when Arthur chucks a bomb into the area. The explosion sets of Venom’s fear of fire and lets Spidey escape to go confirm Arthur did it, recap that he’s trying to kill Ward, and then web up all his guns. Meanwhile, Venom and Sandman fight so they can take turns recapping what’s going on, Electro awkwardly tees up Mysterio to recap how he’s supposed ot be dead, and then Mysty takes charge and offers Venom a chance to join their team, and he does. What a convoluted bit of business. Why couldn’t he have already been on the team for the chance to kill Spider-Man?
This MJ plot really doesn’t hold up too well. This guy’s too omniscient.
Well, the baddies are hunting and Sandman’s internal monologuing about how he only trusts Kraven & Vulture and Spider-Man’s lowering his charges to the ground when he hears a radio report through a window of MJ’s plight. He wants to go help, but of course, his sense of responsibility won’t let him. Which ALSO doesn’t really hold water. If he leaves, Ward and Ock might die. If he stays, MJ might die. Even personal connections aside, who out of those 3 most deserves to live? If he has to choose, why choose the bad guys? Then Arthur finally catches up with them.
Sandman’s a complicated guy lately. I liked his turn to heroism. It was unlikely and interesting. His return to villainy is far less interesting.
How long can this go on? Back a the fight, Spider-Man’s only thinking of MJ, but thinks even if he was willing to leave Ock and Ward, he can’t leave Arthur, despite Sandman telling him to grab Arthur and leave like a whole minute prior. Sandman fights Venom, Spidey and Ock fight the others, and then the Senator Ward plot finally goes somewhere and he begins glowing red. He doesn’t seem to understand whats happening as he begins emitting a ton of red energy.
Spidey leaps in to try to help, Ward’s energy field gets even bigger, Mysterio tells Electro “now” and he starts creating some kinda counter energy field, Ward says “I remember” and then there’s a huge explosion of energy. The villains all flee, Ward disappears, and Arthur refuses to explain anything to Spider-Man. Good stuff. Meanwhile:
Things are looking bad for Peter and MJ even if the stalker thing is resolved, eh? The Spider-Man line is on the precipice of going from middling to infamously terrible. Can’t say I’m too excited to revisit this. But, first, we have a Sandman backup by Tom Brevoort, Geof Isherwood, Rodney Ramos and John Kalisz. We flash back to some months ago, and Sandman’s still working for Silver Sable and not a jerk. But then he’s knocked out by a mystery man walking down the street.
Wizard recaps Sandman’s life at him, including his turn to the side of the angels, before announcing this machine will fix that. He says he needs Sandman back for something, and for Sandman to live, William Baker must die.
Not a great explanation, but at least they gave one. Very disappointing turn of events.