Romita, Jr’s art has changed so much since the first time he was on ASM, and yet things like that left leg & foot were there from the start and continue to this day. This month, we open on a conversation that’s never happened in the history of ASM:
That always seems like something worth marking. Why would MJ’s ringtone be a Close Encounters reference? I don’t know, but that tiny detail is more thought that any writer has given her character since the early 80s, so I like it. Peter is calling to recap the story at MJ for our benefit, but after his avalanche of info, all she hooks on is “the flight attendant made a pass at me,” which is fun. Meanwhile, Digger is wandering NY, finding every landmark from his/their lives is gone.
I don’t rightly recall if JMS ever came out as pro- or anti-Spider-Marriage, but he sure sells it, either way. But that idyl is about to be interrupted, as we move our scene to a Forelli gambling den, where the local boss has enough time to talk about how he refused to take the number to Spider-Man’s pager because he doesn’t need any help until Forelli wore him down, and then of course, Digger smashes through the wall. The beeper is used, Spider-Man is on his way. He arrives in time to see people fleeing out a side door, begins the banter before even seeing Digger, and has a slot machine flung through the wall at him for it.
While the boys fight, various sets of goons in different modes of dress arrive, and begin lighting the place up. Spidey ducks for cover as Digger just casually takes a bunch of bullets. When the smoke clears, Dig is still standing, so the goons start shooting again. This 2nd round of gunfire does manage to hurt him, but that just makes him so angry he starts bringing the building down on top of everyone.
Spidey finds a piece of wood with some green blood on it, and absconds with it before the cops see him. He starts to feel bad for Digger, then remembers what kind of guys he was in life.
Lynne was visibly taller than Spider-Man last issue, and is not now. Oops!
This is some old school Spider-Man mob stuff. It all wraps up next issue. It’s been a long time since there was a letter page. I assume the bigwigs thought the internet would replace those. And, in a way, they did, but they’re a comics institution, and at some point, they get brought back. I have a vague notion that they returned to USM in #50 as part of the anniversary celebration, and I think they started popping up in other titles around the same time. If that’s true, it would’ve been about 8 months after this issue. I guess we’ll see.