This issue, we begin with Spider-Man swinging to the FEAST center as fast as he possibly can, heedless of the fact that all the authorities in New York are currently gunning for him, because Venom is there. But what he doesn’t know, of course, is that Anti-Venom just came into existence there, and the 2 muck monsters are duking it out.
Yay, Aunt May! I’ve started to wonder if there was some kind of editorial policy about page layout on this book. Every artist is doing this thing where either the top or bottom panel on many, if not most pages, is as wide as the page, while the rest have gutters. It’s a constant no matter who’s drawing the book. Why?
Spidey doesn’t know what to make of Anti-Venom as Martin Li hustles everyone into his office, with a door made of “pure tri-tanium” and all kinds of panic room features. Aunt May wants to know why he could possibly need all this, but he’s on the phone, calling for help. Back at the fight, the 2 Venoms team up to beat up Spider-Man for interfering with their own fight.
I get naming the Thunderbolts’ ship “The Zeus,” but you’d think Hercules would take issue.
Hey, Dean White seems to have finally figured out Norman’s haircut. While they’re getting ready to join the brawl, we cut to Bill Hollister’s house, where he’s jus chilling and Vin and his partner, Al, are on guard duty, when Menace smashes into the house. But Menace overdid it with the explosion, and everyone is knocked out, so he can’t deliver his threat to drop out of the race. And the cops run in, so Menace throws Hollister’s unconscious form at them and takes off. Interlude finished, we return to FEAST…
He’s, like, literally Anti-Venom.
Come on, man. Eddie admitted Spider-Man helps innocent people in ASM 375. He can still hate him, of course, he’s obsessed, but he got over this bit a long, long time ago. Norman has now been lowered onto a nearby roof to observe, and wants his team to go in one at a time to wear Spider-Man down. He says Spider-Man is good against groups and doesn’t want them giving him an advantage, flashing all the way back to to his first appearance in ASM 14 with the Enforcers, which seems a little much.
Spidey holds Venom still while (sigh) Anti-Venom begins killing his symbiote. And Spider-Man’s just rolling with it. The murder of a living thing. Not terribly in-character. We cut away to Front Line, where Ben and Co. are talking through the Crowne sweatshop story. Ben is notified of the Spider-Man fight and dismisses it, saying the DB! probably has it covered. He’s going back over the photos Peter took, and says they should get his perspective on what was happening. He asks where Peter is, and Robbie says, “And here I thought you people were reporters. There’s a Spider-Man fight going on downtown. Where do you think Peter is?” I like that.
This storyline looks like a million bucks. Visually, this is the best Spider-Man’s been since… well, since Romita and Al Williamson on Spider-Man in the mid-to-late 90s. A crucial thing here for me was, I liked how brawny John’s Spider-Man was in the 90s. It stood out. Everyone wants him to be super skinny in the 2000s, and Romita, Jr. definitely went with that on his last turn in these pages. But now his Spider-Man has some bulk again, and he’s working with the inker who’s always understood him best, and these colors are perfect. Mm mm. Not my favorite Spider-Man story, but visually, a masterpiece.