Well, now we’re in the present, I believe, and Paul Smith has drawn a Torch that looks like it and a Spider-Man that doesn’t, which is… puzzling. They say ol’ PMS loved Spider-Man and always wanted to work on ASM, and yet it never happened. When John Romita, Jr. replaced Paul on X-Men, Paul should have taken over ASM (Yes yes I know the timeline doesn’t work like that). His stuff was so incredible back then. I mean, these covers are nice, don’t get me wrong, but those X-Men comics were gorgeous, and if he wanted Spider-Man, they shoulda given it to him. Well, anyway. Now Tom Palmer is gone, Drew Geraci hangs in there, and Greg Adams joins him on inks, because that’s just how it goes on this book for some reason. And we find our heroes meeting at the Statue of Liberty, as they tend to do. Torch asks Spidey how he even gets out here, and Spider-Man complains that he has to figure it out since Torch chose this spot. Then Johnny points out that Spider-Man picked it during their first team-up in Strange Tales Annual 2.
All their real history and they mostly reminisce about what happened in this title. Bit lame. And then…
…they start bringing up stuff that didn’t even happen. “Let’s just skip over that whole period, ho ho ho.” “What about that time you figured out my clone wasn’t me his first day on the job?” “What about that time you were wanted for murder and Wolverine clawed Ben’s face?” Well, anyway, today, Torch made a special appearance at Peter’s school, just like he did when they were kids. And he saw his “old friend” Peter, and they were relatively nice to each other, and then Torch burst into flame to do his thing.
Only fitting to end this series with more of Johnny being jealous. But it does lampshade how “everyman” Peter Parker’s love life is anything but ordinary, so it’s fun enough to me.
Well, ok. These guys are led by Maggia boss Carmine Villanova, whose son was put in jail by the Torch, and then shot dead trying to escape, which, obviously, he blames on Johnny. He says the once-ubiquitous DA Tower helped put his son away, so he’s come here to kill Tower’s son, who is a student. But he’s got an outdated photo of the boy with a Beatle haircut and goatee, and Peter knows he’s now got a shaved head and pierces all in his face, so the mobsters probably won’t be able to find him. Peter and Johnny are sizing up the situation, and Johnny has no idea what to do, but Peter does. He just has to reveal his secret to Johnny without speaking from a distance. He tries making his patented webshootin’ hand gesture.
Johnny goes nova and Peter shoots a web ball at the goon up on the catwalk, knocking him down. This lets Peter slip away while Johnny superheats some of the goons’ guns, disarming them, and then Spider-Man smashes through the window. In short order, all the kids are running out and the heroes are beating up the villains. Johnny is upset to learn Spider-Man’s identity, and once everything’s cleaned up, Peter and MJ are outside when they see a fiery message saying “the usual place” in the sky. And now we’re back where we started.
Is that 2 Bendis references in one page from Slott? Referencing the boys confronting Matt Murdock in DD 56 and Spider-Man’s mask coming off in New Avengers 2?
Johnny stops him and asks if he’s busy tonight. Then we cut to Sue flying one of the FF’s planes back to the Baxter Building, invisible, carrying Peter, Aunt May and Mary Jane.
Well, isn’t that sweet? It’s kind of crazy to think it took 40 years for Peter to trust Johnny with his secret, and even then only under duress. But it’s a sweet end to the series. The Parkers being adopted by the FF is really nice, and just feels right, too. Yet another fun thing you can do now that May knows. But I guess that’s enough fun for now. Time to wade back into the muck.