Well, at least that FNSM story seemed to take place in something like only 24 hours. At least it wasn’t jamming days into this crowded mess. What’s SSM gonna do? While the cover correctly credits Sean Chen for this one, the interior still says Angel Medina is drawing, which is pretty rude to Sean. At least he got one of the credits. To open, we’re told about a dream Mary Jane has been having since all this started, where she’s in a coliseum, and in the stands…
I wasn’t gonna run this spread, but Hobgoblin rockin’ out was too much not to include in this post.
Honestly, this is a pretty good nightmare for MJ, full points to Mr. Aguirre-Sacasa. Madame Web appears on the field alongside 2 freestanding doors, saying behind one is the man, the other, the spider, and she must choose.
She thinks about how she’s trying to look and dress plain, to blend in, not like when she was younger. She talks to Aunt May, both of them trying to make the other feel better, and then says she’s going out for awhile. May makes her affirm that she’ll be back. During this, Spider-Man is apparently fighting the Rhino.
It’s like that Arthur meme. Ya know, in the superhero days, I thought sean Chen was kinda plain, kind of bland. And truth told, he still is, but now that comics are becoming less about fightin’ and more about people talking (A trend that will continue), his way with facial expressions seems like a huge asset. And yet he never gets any bigger than he was in the late 90s. Curious. Spider-Man is still fighting Rhino, and MJ really wishes she had someone to talk to. She calls Sue Storm, picking up from what Sue said in ASM 533, and they make plans. MJ goes by the theater she’d been doing her play in and learns, to little surprise, that she’s been replaced. They meet at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, which is weird, but weird in a useful way, and get lunch at the cafeteria.
At this stage in the game, I did NOT expect not only a reference to ASM 257, but one with correct clothes, even, wow. Bravo, Sean Chen! Doesn’t look like Peter’s apartment, but I can let it ride.
And somewhere, a finger curls on a monkey’s paw. I feel like I’ve done that bit before. MJ flashes back to the famous end of ASM 122, but from her perspective, the party girl choosing to stay with the man in searing pain and comfort him, and how the decision to stay is what made her realize she loved him. Very good work. Then she approaches their motel room, and thinks about her coliseum dream, and flashes back to her wedding and to Peter asking her & May’s opinions about unmasking, and in her mind, when Madame Web asks her to choose, she says she already chose a long time ago.
Well, there’s an unexpected last page! Dang, man, these guys understood the assignment! This is exactly the kind of thing these titles should’ve done. Maybe not the last page, but I guess you want Spider-Man in your comic. But yeah, wow, I’m very impressed. And now actually pretty jazzed to read the other two.