Bout to get crowded again! By this point, it’s been 3 months since the end of the ASM 6-parter due to its accelerated production schedule, so maybe it didn’t seem overwhelming at the time to have so many guest stars in 2 of the titles so close together, but it seems excessive. I wouldn’t know, I was only buying this one. But, look, Sleepwalker! Spider-Man appearing in Sleepy’s book is a no-brainer. Instant sales boost for a fledgling new title. Someone choosing to put Sleepwalker in Spider-Man (And hotshot Erik Larsen, no less) really legitimizes the character. But, anyway. At his latest nefarious hideout, Doc Ock tells the boys to show him what they can do with the new weapons they have. One of which seems to just be… a regular machine gun?
I mean, did Vultch grab that from the other dimension along with whatever’s going on with Electro? Hobby sure is having fun. Cut to Peter waking up at home, recapping the story so far groggily at MJ. Then cut back to the hideout, where Vulture agrees to go along for now and Mysterio thinks he pans to betray everyone and they underestimate him (Impossible). Then back to The Parkers’. Every other page switches scenes.
I always thought this meta-defense of the big eyes is funny. And pretty reasonable, too. Some artists these days have since swung way, way back the other way, giving Spidey eyeholes so small I don’t know how he can see (Lookin’ at you, Joe Quesada, Sarah Pichelli, and others!). Unsurprisingly, l think the Romitas had it right. In this period, both of them started drawing Spider-Man’s eyes bigger, but not so big as was in fashion, and I think that wound up being the correct move.
Larsen doing to Hobby what he did to Venom. Thankfully without lasting effect.
So, like, I’m 13 reading this, right? I’m taking this as gospel. Everything I read in a comic is 100% canon, as far as I know. The idea of the author putting his opinions in the character’s mouth isn’t something I get. These are Peter Parker’s favorite music acts and that’s canon. This is not Erik Larsen making some kind of already-old-in-my-20s stand against popular music using Peter as a mouthpiece. I don’t even know who 3 of the 4 dudes Peter mentioned are at 13, but I know everyone MJ likes (And I friggin hate Fine Young Cannibals). But the real story here is… Erik Larsen thinks Prince is A. Cutting edge in 1992, and B. A flash in the pan like those other groups??? How dare you do this to Prince, Erik!! Anyway, cut back to the bad guys, where Ock finally tells us his plan. They’re gonna go take over a Hydra satellite control base, and then use Hydra’s weaponry to hold the Earth to ransom. Seems pretty simple. Not sure they needed the extra-dimensional weaponry for that, even. Then Ock shatters Sandman’s glass form and they leave. Ouch. Speaking of ouch:
Cousin “Christie” would be devastated to know Peter forgot how to spell her name, at the very least. Cut to Solo in some kinda green restorative bath healing his wounds, recapping his part of this, and gearing up for another shot at the bad guys.
Alrighty. Cut to SHIELD digging out the rubble of Care Labs, being led by what appears to be Al Milgrom? He calls over Dum Dum Dugan to see Deathlok, found at the bottom of an elevator shaft. DL’s computer tells him it’ll be 50 minutes before its repair cycle completes and he can move again. And that’s probably not quick enough, because The Sinister Five are tearing their way through Hydra in a 2-page spread. And then, the most awkward, layz, haphazard meeting you could possibly do:
You just turn the page and Spider-Man has found those guys all huddled in an alley while we weren’t looking. Wow, man. Wow.
Whole lotta quippin’ goin’ on. Doc Ock knocks Ghost Rider off his bike instantly. Sleepwalker disassembles some robots with his weird vision, but then Electro zaps him. Hulk wants a rematch with Ock, who produces a canon as big as Hulk is and shoots him point blank. Things aren’t going so good for our team.
Unfortunately, a big robot bats GR away from Hobby and toward the ground. And then Rick Sheridan has a visitor at his apartment, waking him up and making Sleepwalker vanish. And then a robot blows up Spider-Man’s cybercast without blowing up his arm inside. Somehow. But his arm’s fine in there, and seems healed, too. Lucky for him! Ock chooses now to callin the mysterious 6th member Hobgoblin mentioned them picking up in the other dimension. He’s very tall.
Gog. Last seen in ASM 104. How exactly did he get into another dimension? Gog apparently appeared in a Ka-Zar comic not long after ASM 104 and eventually disappeared, teleporting out of a fight and out of Marvel continuity until this very issue. Maybe that other dimension was his home. He is an alien, after all. What a random pull. Well, there’s only one issue left in this wild ride, so we’ll see how it all shakes out next time.