Mark Waid is back this issue. Thank goodness. He is aided & abetted by Mike McKone, Andy Lanning and Jeromy Cox. We open on 3 pages of Peter Parker recapping the last 2 issues, threatening to move out of the United States because JJJ is mayor of New York, and wondering who was taking care of his apartment while he was gone. There’s fresh milk in the fridge and neatly sorted mail with no bills despite his absence of 2 months and Vin being in jail or whatever.
Now who’s this? After a splash page of Spider-Man with one line of dialogue on it, which indicates to me maybe Waid wasn’t planning for it, we go see what mayor JJJ is up to. Answer: He’s up to his armpits in reporters after him, for some reason. One is Betty Brant, who asks if he’s responsible for the fact that Spider-Man hasn’t been seen in town since his election, and he of course says yes.
For some reason, it’s only just occurred to me that we’ve seen bits and bobs of JJJ’s childhood before, and he’s had at least a couple different dads, and they sure weren’t Jay. I guess those other stories were deemed obscure enough to contradict.
Big ol’ head on Spidey in that first panel. Spidey says he’s here to offer a truce. He says they’ve been going round in circles too long, and neither of them is going anywhere, so the least they can do is try to get along. Spider-Man offers JJJ a handshake to start over.
Typical cop behavior. “Just got here, don’t know what’s going on, open fire!”
Well, no “Spider-Man going to JJJ’s office to bother him” scene ever went quite that way, that’s for sure. Swinging away, our hero first worries things are going to be bad, as he is prone to do, and then realizes that Spider-Man out there doing his thing and helping people will confound Jonah more than ever now. So he decides that he’s going to be Spider-Man 24/7 for awhile, just to spite JJJ. Don’t you have rent to pay, man?
I’ve said it before, I’ll most likely say it again, Mike McKone draws a great Spider-Man. This segues to JJJ’s assistant reading him all these headlines, including one where Spider-Man rescues a stray cat. Which, as JJJ ponders what to do, Spider-Man delivers to JJJ’s office through the window. Jonah says to put his “Anti-Spider Squad” on double overtime, taking it out of his own salary, to take care of this. Cut to some guys pulling a job at the docks, trying to escape as fast as possible, when they learn one of their number is wounded.
As briefly alluded to last issue, they’re apparently trying yet again to introduce a new Vulture, because the original is obviously such a silly idea. And as usual, it’s not going to work. Adrian Toomes is still flying around as I type this in 2025. It just never sticks. But I guess that’s for later, as we return to following Spider-Man. he saves a kid from being hit by a truck, and is told he smells bad. And he does, he’s been Spider-Manning to the exclusion of eating and sleeping, we’re told, and he stinks. As he is closer to May’s place than his own, and she’s supposed to be at work, he drops in there to shower and wash his suit. But then he hears someone in May’s room.
I don’t think I needed to see that, but hey, imagine how Peter feels! How will he take this news? Knowing him, I’m sure he’ll be reasonable and well mannered…