Credits: Written by JM DeMatteis, pencilled by Angel Medina, inks by Larry Mahlstedt with Randy Emberlin and edited by Danny Fingeroth and Bob Budiansky.
Cast: Ben ‘Scarlet Spider’ Reilly, Peter ‘Spider-Man’ Parker, Mary Jane Watson-Parker, Dr. Seward Trainer & Doctor Octopus II.
Plot: Using a VR set up (It was the 90’s) Ben is inside Seward’s computer system trying to find out who has been trying to steal Seward’s research. When he finds a link to whomever is doing this, he is confronted by anti-viral programs which almost kill him (the whole if you die in the system, you body dies thing, don’t try and understand that) but he is pulled out last minute by Seward in a very dramatic disconnection. The only clue being a Octopus logo left in the files.
Elsewhere, above his home, Peter (in his Spider-Man costume) is brooding. He’s distraught over the latent programming left by the Jackal which almost killed MJ. She pops up to the roof to check on him and forces him to talk to her about this, rather than run away or hide behind his mask. They decide to get checked out by Seward, to see if there are any more buried surprises. Relieved to have a plan, the couple swing off into the night.
Elsewhere again, the source of the attack on Seward and his equipment is revealed as a new, female Doctor Octopus who intends to use the information stolen from Seward to simulate or project matter in Virtual Reality and create a stable interface between both worlds. I know, I don’t get it either.
Peter and MJ arrive at the lab and Ben and Seward work on Peter with medical equipment. They tests ultimately determine that all of the latent programming is gone. Peter and MJ go out to celebrate and during this lovely moment of long delayed romance, inside MJ’s womb, the baby moves.
In the heart of the city, agents working for Doctor Octopus II set off something called a Virtual Reality Bomb and the heart of New York becomes a cut scene from a Jurassic Park film. This was a successful test and a real bomb is now to be constructed. Later that night, Doctor Octopus II visits Seward’s lab and threatens him to get his cyberspace research. Ben (in his Scarlet Spider outfit) is skulking in the shadows and leaps at her, but she quickly dispatches Ben as she has a personal forcefield that protects her, she was a student of the original Doctor Octopus, but considers herself his superior. As Ben tries to get up, his opponent grabs Seward by the throat, revealing herself to be his daughter.
Notes: The Spider-titles search for some kind of direction after the death of the Jackal continues. Now there’s more focus on Seward, who has yet to develop as anything more as yet another pseudo-father for Ben this time. We get the whole marvel scientist polymath, that thing where they are masters of all kinds of science, the way that Hank Pym could create the Pym particle and also Ultron. So Seward works with genetics and also cyberspace and this is why he’s targeted by Doctor Octopus II. I was going to go off on this mini-rant about the new and improved version we got a lot of in the 90’s. but even then I knew Otto would come back and prove his worth. Many villain roles can be carried out by others, but Doctor Octopus should always been Otto.
The whole cyberspace/VR thing takes me out of the story a little, it was the sci-fi buzz word of the time, like nanotechnology was afterwards and quantum related things did later. No one telling these stories had much of an idea what it was all about and honestly it just added some cool to the story. We also get a welcome end to the Jackal’s posthumous revenge and MJ starts showing that she’s pregnant. It’s all building towards something and as an issue it was a lot of fun.
Verdict: Writing – 3 out of 5 – This is a solid, if uninteresting start to a story that introduces a new villain with a personal relationship with a main cast member, so it’s very clearly a Spider-Man story and it moves between scenes well enough that you’ve no time to be bored wherever you are. I’m interested to see where this goes, because I genuinely don’t remember what happened next.
Art:- 4 out of 5 – Angel Medina does a great fill in job here, his visuals are interesting, his story telling solid and I like his interpretation of the new Doctor Octopus which is different enough to not be an Otto clone, but clearly recognisable as an octopus themed villain and we finally have a pregnant woman who isn’t either completely not showing, but isn’t ready to burst either and the shock and joy of both parents feeling the baby move is recognisable and brilliantly presented, proof that the personal lives of the characters are often just as important as the action, just as it always has been.
Overall: 7 out of 10 – A solid part one that gets you interested and gives you just enough to make you want to keep reading and that is what it should do. I may only have a few issues left of this era, but I’m enjoying this final lap.
Next Time: The last of the Age of Apocalypse mini’s comes to an end.
My Marvel Life 