ASM 30-45, PPSM 30-41, DD 20 & 25. After years wandering in the wilderness, J. Michael Straczynski takes over writing ASM, and less heralded but almost as important, Dan Kemp takes over coloring ASM, giving the book the slick, complex colors we now expect from a 21st Century comic. The result is a much-needed return to greatness for the title. Spider-Man meets the mysterious Ezekiel, who tells him his powers stem from him being the latest in a long line of ancient spider totems, and also, whoops, an unstoppable killing machine called Morlun is coming to get him for it. After barely surviving that, Peter is bloodied and unconscious in his apartment when Aunt May comes over, finds his tattered costume on the floor, and learns the truth, beginning a new phase in their relationship. In PPSM, Peter meets new neighbor Caryn Earle and her mysterious dog and Randy, Glory and Jill make their last appearances as the regular supporting cast, while Spider-Man has various heartwarming adventures, fights the bizarre villain Fusion and a gang of evil mimes, teams up with Human Torch against the Vulture, and nearly gets killed by a resurgent Doc Ock. In Daredevil, Spidey impersonates DD in court under oath to help him win a court case, which seems prrrrretty unethical of Matt Murdock. Then back in ASM, Spidey gets help from Dr. Strange against new villain the Shade, and some random guy captures Doc Ock, replicates his cybernetic arms, and they end up fighting across LA just as Peter & Aunt May have come to visit newly minted movie star MJ in the hopes she & Peter can patch things up. Not yet, but with a big 50th issue coming up, it’s not long now. This one features a John Romita, Jr. Spider-Man, and a Morlun cobbled together from about 5 Romita drawings to get the figure I needed. I tried to incorporate backgrounds into the the various sections. Not sure it worked, but more interesting than a solid color.