This is a very awkward time to begin a new era of greatness. But after being a rudderless ship varying wildly in quality for almost 30 issues, Spider-Man finally gets its first permanent creative team since Todd McFarlane in Howard Mackie, Tom Lyle, Scott Hanna and Kevin Tinsley. We’ve already seen the vast majority of their run, starting all the way back in 2019, but here’s the beginning, as Peter Parker can’t sleep.
Mackie, of course, had a solid little run on Web not too long ago, and how he’s back, to slowly but surely become the only dependably good writer for the rest of the volume 1 era. Spider-Man goes to meet Detective Connor Trevane. This is very weird right off the bat, because this is Trevane’s first appearance, but he’s giving Spider-Man some info he wanted because he “owes Spider-Man big,” and then as he leaves, Spidey says to give his regards to Trevayne’s son. Spider-Man narrates at us that he saved Trevane’s kid during Maximum Carnage, but aside from that, it is never expounded upon. We’ve seen that Mackie will use Trevayne for years after this, of course. Spider-Man uses Trevayne’s info to hunt down one Frank LeMoyne, who he webs to a wall and demands to know where he was going.
Not playing tonight. Our man finds the place, finds it crawling with guard, and chucks a big crate to cause a distraction, then begins slipping inside, disarming and knocking out various guards.
The dealer in question shows up, bellowing for someone in the next room to get in here and take care of Spider-Man like he’s being paid to. And that turns out to be…
Hobby says this is make or break for his career, and then Spider-Man defeats him in 2 panels. Whoops! Hobby was able to accidentally set the place on fire with his bombs, tho, so Spidey webs him up and tries to get everyone out. Spidey hangs Hobby and another goon off the side of a building, demanding to know where this Dealer went. Hobby’s not buying it, but the other guy gets scared and says The Dealer has an office in Times Square he’s heading for right now. Hobgoblin says they next time they see each other, he’ll kill Spider-Man. That he won’t be humiliated anymore. We have, of course, seen his quest to level up starting in SM 46 back in 2019. Closing the loop! Spidey finds The Dealer’s place by the exploded cop car out front.
The echoes of Amazing Fantasy 15 are awkward, but this is obviously leading to a reveal that this is the anniversary of Uncle Ben’s death, so they don’t stop there.
No annual cemetery trip this year, but the night before. A firm start for this team. But, as the caption says, they’ve got some other business before they can really get cracking…