Another thing about these Fiona Avery joints is they never got past 2 parts, as I recall. Real filler-type stories. The plot credit is swapped this time, with Avery getting first billing, and thus the implication of more input. We roll on Melissa coming to class excited to do well on a test, finding Mr. Parker barely awake and saying he didn’t get much sleep last night.
So… we’ve leapt ahead 8 days and a lot’s happened. Her brother was in jail last issue, now he’s out and just missing? Rather jarring. Also, her brother was Jack last issue, now he’s Joshua?
So, now, Peter has kept teaching right past the bell (I thought they were taking a test?) because he didn’t hear it, and Melissa wants to see him after school. We jump to that, where she finally asks him what he knows about her brother. She has jumped to the conclusion that Peter is the one who flunked her brother out of Honors Bio, which somehow has ruined his life (It seems like a stretch). When he explains he hasn’t been teaching that long, all is forgiven. He walks her home, as he has been, and then catches her meeting up with the dudes from the flashback to investigate another lead. Peter goes to a courthouse to try to get info on Joshua, but only learns he was released on good behavior. As he leaves, he runs into Ezekiel again.
Why does Spider-Man have a phone? Like what purpose would that serve? It’s not like he gives the number out (Sure woulda helped with that cabbie from Tangled Web 7, 8 & 9). Random. The thing about Peter looking for Spider-Man leads is not bad, though.
And we’ll presumably never see that guy again. I don’t remember, but seems a fair guess. So, then it’s night time, and we learn that Peter webbed Melissa’s window shut when he was there, like, 6 hours ago, so she couldn’t sneak out tonight. He sees it’s holding and thinks “It’s not permanent. It should wear off when she’s twenty-one.” Did… did no one tell Fiona Avery the webbing dissolves in an hour? It’s PRETTY WELL ESTABLISHED. Well, now that Spider-Man has turned Melissa’s bedroom into a deathtrap if there’s ever a fire, he can go Spider-Manning.
Lookin good! Spidey finds the spot and sneaks in, and the guys in there are talking like they’re from another century. He’s confused. Joshua arrives, and then Chekov’s Spider-Man phone starts to vibrate. He manages to shut it off before it rings, wondering how Ezekiel is calling this number he didn’t give him. Then it beeps loudly when he gets a message and he’s blown.
This is ridiculous. So many coincidences, and the implication that reading Aristotle means you start talking like him is absurd.
Peter is suddenly telling MJ how all this happened. And, eventually, what happened when the siblings reunited.
Hey, this wasn’t a good one. Awkward logic jumps, time jumps and a rushed ending. Yeesh. Filler indeed. Seems like a very strange use of Ezekiel, also. Well, I presume this was so JMS could devote more time to the big 3-parter starting next issue. Let’s see how that goes.