Credits: Written by Howard Mackie, pencilled by John Romita Jnr, inked by Al Williamson and edited by Bob Budiansky.
Plot: Undercover federal Agent Joe Wade has been discovered. Linette Martinez, one of the staff at Doctor Octopus II’s base lures him deep into that base with the apparent offer of some illicit intimacy. He quickly learns he’s been found out and Linette’s husband, Doc Ock II and several other lab staff force Joe onto some mechanical apparatus. Joe fears he’s about to be killed, but that is not the plan.
Far above that base, Ben Reilly in his Scarlet Spider outfit (given this location by Seward who is still trapped in Cyberspace) drops from a plane and floats down to the roof using a web-parachute, but is stopped at the roof access by Agent Briggs, Joe’s partner. She demands that Ben stay out of this Inside, Joe is behind fed all kinds of information gathered about the Scarlet Spider by Doc Ock II’s partner now revealed as the holographic entity calling himself the Master Programmer. The pair now generate a solid enough hologram of the Scarlet Spider, somehow linked to Joe Wade, who bursts out of the building, almost killing Briggs, who is saved by Ben as this psuedo-Scarlet Spider runs off on a mission from Doctor Octopus II, to ruin the original’s reputation.
Back in Cyberspace, Doctor Octopus II appears in digital form alongside the Master Programmer, who informs her that they don’t really have all that much control of this holographic Scarlet Spider as Joe Wade has a stronger will than most they have used this technology on. But they have many matters to attend to. Elsewhere the other side of this mini-gangwar are meeting. Mr Tso and Kannor who have shown up unexpectedly to see Alistaire Smyth. The scene seems mostly to remind you that Tso exists, is working with Smythe and Ben works for him as a bodyguard.
On the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, Faux Scarlet Spider is tearing things up and Ben is chasing him, playing catch-up. Back at the secret base, Joe Wade has woke up and is struggling with being bound to this machine. Another machine is there and it’s occupant tries to talk to Joe, explaining that he can generate an idealised image if he stops fighting the system, or see and experience the world through the Scarlet Spider hologram. We learn that this voice belongs to Stunner and the original Doctor Octopus helped give her that same gift. As Joe continues to struggle, the scene ends and we see how far from the idealised image of Stunner, the real woman is.
At the Daily Bugle, the faux Scarlet Spider attacks the front of the building as he wades through the police who are trying to stop him. He starts pulling the newspaper’s building down around them until the real Scarlet Spider arrives and they battle. Faux Scarlet Spider generates a gun from nowhere along with his seemingly limitless amounts of webbing. Realising how badly it’s going, Ben fires all of his stingers and impact webbing cartridges and leaves his opponent in a huge web sack. As the police arrive, Ben tears the bag open, but the faux Scarlet Spider is gone and now everyone things that everything he did, Ben did and now he’s on the run, with the Daily Bugle staff ready to crucify him in the press.
Notes: This is now approaching the end of the Scarlet Spider era of comics. So there needed to be a reason connected to the Cyberwar story that made sense and this seems to be how they are going to do it. Ben struggles to be believed when an evil twin wreaks havoc on the city in his name. As he finally stops him, all evidence showing that he was there disappears. Now with this new wrinkle, Tso and Doctor Octopus II have free reign to do whatever it takes to bring their agendas forward, without interference and we are now at the darkest before dawn parts of the story. There’s a lot to like, the explanation of Stunner makes a degree of sense, given what we already know and this new VR hologram tech. and it does keep Otto Octavius a part of the story and I’m glad of that. But ultimately it’s setting up a climax and I’m sorry to see that this is all coming to an end. That said, maybe not that sorry.
Verdict: Writing 2 out of 5:- Apart from the scenes with Stunner, we don’t really get anything good that’s new, we re-tread the same beats from earlier in the story and once again we get the hero being thought of as the villain, because we need to be done with Ben as Scarlet Spider.
Art: 4 out of 5 – The one positive here is that John Romita Jnr takes the art and makes it work. Now his figure work varies wildly era to era, but his action scenes are solid and his story-telling is excellent as has ever been. It makes this last issue of Scarlet Spider a bit sadder, but whatever comes next, you know that JR Jr will be a part of it.
Overall: 6 out of 10 – A well drawn part of a less well written story and we’re all hoping that this ends with a bang.
Next Time: A Spectacular ending?
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