We shall finally answer the titular question. Kyle Baker’s back as MJ is nervously making up things to do in Peter’s apartment, worried about him, not sure what to do, or what all this worry means for their relationship, when he appears at the door, clad only in a ragged trench coat and the very small remains of his Spider-suit.
Peter also reveals he’s got a broken webshooter as he kind of wanders around the place in a fog, not hearing MJ’s reasonable questions. She finally snaps him out of it, and he says she does deserve an explanation. And that he’s spent some time in jail. He flashes back to the explosion last issue.
Silvestri is clearly drawing Spider-Man in less surviving costume than Sharen is coloring, for some reason. We see Peter steal the coat from off the fence of a local farmer, feeling terrible but left with no choice, and speaking of no choice, with no wallet or money, he had to try to hitchhike back to New York, which doesn’t go so well. At 3am, he finally got a ride from a trucker, who dropped him off in Delaware, warning him that hitchhiking isn’t taken too well there. He stumbled into a town, but with no money, he wound up trying to sleep in an alley. He was starving, and then, like a cartoon, a woman in the building he was leaning against had a freshly made pie on the windowsill several floors up, so he snuck up there and stole it.
I love Kyle Baker, cartoonist, but Kyle Baker, inker, is not wowing me here. I have to hope he’s just working from breakdowns, because he’s not leaving much of Silvestri on the page.
Cliches abound! Peter’s cellmates backed off, but the next day, the sheriff pulled Peter off the work duty crew for a “special assignment.“ Things are looking rough, but that cop who originally busted him clearly smelled a rat. Peter & 2 other guys were taken to the remote, palatial estate of one Medgar DuPaul.
Good grief, guys. This story is making a guy who can stick to walls seem positively realistic.
Peter now felt he could cut loose, and smashed the dumb flying thing instantly. Back in the house, the deputy who brought him in caught her boss doing this stuff, and tried to arrest him, but was distracted when the other 2 cons tried to run for it.
So, Peter was free, albeit still penniless and mostly nude under that coat. He hopped on top of a semi and rode it home. In the present, Mj goes to get him some more soup, and finds him passed out when she returns, thinking he’s earned the rest. One more loose end to tie up:
And that, ladies & gents, is the first appearance of Venom. Who Michelinie intended to be a woman at this time, so it’s not Eddie Brock, but it is Venom, able to get by Peter’s danger sense and trying to kill him. Apparently, behind the scenes, people were unhappy that Spider-Man had 2 costumes at this time. Me, I think it’s great, actually. Especially these days, when heroes change clothes almost every time a new writer takes over, I think they should cycle through all their outfits. But 2 suits is apparently 1 too many in the minds of comic creators, and thus, this storyline was devised mostly to put a definitive, permanent end to the red’n’blues. Which, if yer only gonna keep one look, seems like the wrong one to ditch. But, again, I’m not in charge. As we know, this decision would last a somewhat surprising 20 months, until Todd McFarlane pushed them to bring back the classic suit. Good call, Todd.