Who doesn’t love a good secret revealed? Not sure I’m in for the demon, tho. Kingin’s gonna get involved, eh? Man, how do I not remember so much of this stuff? I remember older stuff on a panel-by-panel basis, and this is all new to me a 2nd time.
Heck of a splash. One that really highlights how much Romita’s art has changed in the last year. We flashback to Spider-Man, hanging from a web with a cell phone, waiting for a call from MJ, who I guess went on the vacation without him? She shoulda taken Jill, at least. I guess she’s used to traveling alone with her job and all. Our man is very upset, not sure how he can make things right with MJ, desperate for her to call. But after a few false positives, the only call he gets is from Robbie. Robbie’s got a job and Spidey’s not getting any calls, so…
Tricorp! Remember them? You could be forgiven if you didn’t!
Peter tries to bolt, but runs into Blade, here for the chest Peter totally shoulda recognized. Then Peter has to dive Blade out of the way as someone shoots a whole rocket launcher at them. Seems a bit excessive! It apparently knocks them both out, as they wake up with state troopers standing over them. Blade flees, but Peter answers some questions, remembering the box now (?) and slightly recapping last issue. But one of the troopers worked for Fisk (No Spider Sense?) and relays Peter’s name to Kingpin, who tells Jimmy to kill him if he wants peace.
I read all these Spider-Mans and some Venoms, and yet I still don’t know what broke the truce between them. Probably Venom’s starpower burning out more than anything. I think he’s not starring in a book anymore. Might as well get him back home.
Nooooope! Nope, nope, nope. Ya know what’s funny, in my mind, it was Ben Reilly who dated Jill. hWhatever her name was with the black hair (I have genuinely forgotten), I swapped Jill in for her in my mind. So, finding out she was the burglar’s daughter instead, I thought maybe I was just confused all ‘round. We had Jill in the book a long time without this sudden, random swerve into a lukewarm attempt at a love triangle. I’d begun to think I imagined it. But the hints have been dropping, and now they’re leaning into it, and it sucks! Bah. Anyway, that night, Spider-Man finds Blade after he’s found the chest, and he wants to know what’s going on, but Blade tells him to deal with his own kind. He’s not gonna listen, tho, so they leap into action, fighting a pretty literal army of Fisk’s men, trying to get to the trunk before it’s opened, but naturally they fail, and inside, we find…
It’s morbin’ time! Why was he in a trunk? Morbius goes after Fisk, Blade goes after Morbius, Spider-Man tries to keep anyone from getting killed. Morby bites Blade on the arm and Kingpin zaps Morbius in the head wit his cane, it’s pandemonium.
“You heard T!” Good typo. Yeah, ok, Hunger is Crown. Somehow. Some way. I remember now. From looking it up after PPSM 4, not from back in the day. That doesn’t make much sense to me. At all! So, we’re told Peter takes Morbius to Tricorp to get help (??? He’s a vampire! Shouldn’t you do your OG move and take him to Reed Richard???), then he goes home, and someone calls the house, but hangs up. So he tries to *69 it, but that doesn’t work, and then the phone rings again.
I’ll tell you right now. I don’t know what happens behind the scenes, I have no firsthand or even third hand knowledge, but I’ll tell you this: Whoever that is on the phone, it’s not who it ends up being. We’re right back to Clone Saga territory. By the time this all resolves, it won’t be what it was going to be. And it’s going to suck so, so bad. It’s going to get Mackie branded one of the worst Spider-Man writers of all time despite being great prior to the relaunch. So, you know. Enjoy! Then we get back to the first page, with Jimmy Six holding the gun on Peter. He says he won’t kill him, but that he’s put him in a bad spot with Kingpin.
Isn’t there always gonna be a war, Jimmy? Isn’t the mob always about to have a war in the Marvel U? Peter is not having a good time lately. It’s gonna get a lot weirder next post.