**** (four of five stars)
Favorite Quote: "Man, this'd be the perfect time for a certain someone I know to swing in and save me. Anytime now." -- MJ, fleeing mutated tarantulas
Summary
At Horizon Labs, Reed conintues to work trying to find a cure, while putting the Spider-Sense Jammers into effect. Meanwhile, the infected persons (now including Randy Robertson, Hawkeye, and Shocker) enter phase three of the Spider-Virus, turning into mutated tarantulas. The already-mutated Carlie and Shocker follow the other tarantula drones to Central Park where the Queen holds an audience with them (and conveniently exposits her back story). Spider-King (really Venom in disguise) arrives and joins the Queen and the Jackal. Meanwhile, Anti-Venom is healing people in Our Lady of Saints Church (as we saw in "Venom" #7) and the X-Men and Heroes for Hire are seen guarding the Spider-Sense Jammers, which allegedly have created a psychic barrier around the city, preventing the infected persons from leaving. (Yeah, I don't really follow that, either. See below.) Meanwhile, JJJ, Jr. is exasperated as Reed continues to be unable to find a cure, despite only 20 minutes remaining before the entire island is infected. Spidey (the real one) is fighting the tarantulas and is directed by Madame Web (who lost her ability to see the future last issue) to save JJJ, Jr., who has left Horizon Labs and whose motorcade is being attacked while it's en route to his emergency command center. JJJ, Jr. reveals his Spider-Powers to Spidey and joins him in figthing off the mutated tarantulas. The Queen senses JJJ, Jr.'s powers, and Flash realizes she intends to use her power to get him to drop the quarantine. He's distracted however when the Queen orders him to go kill Anti-Venom, after she received a report from one of the Jackal's clones that he held the cure. Flash calls in the news to Project: Rebirth, which in turn informs Reed. (Reed, meanwhile, is exploring the possibility of using Alicia Masters' blood to synthesize a cure, as we saw in "Spider-Island: Spider-Woman" #1.) At the emergency command center, JJJ, Jr. reveals his ace in the hole: he's had Alistair Smythe, the Spider-Slayer, transfered from Rykers Island to ask his advice. Smythe taunts JJJ, Jr. after he intuits that he's infected, and JJJ, Jr., who halucinates a conversation with Marla where she sends him after Smythe, attacks. Meanwhile, Venom takes on Anti-Venom (as detailed in "Venom" #7), MJ gains Spider-Powers (finally!), and Venom delivers Anti-Venom to Horizon Labs, where Reed reveals he'll need all his antibodies, effectively ending Brock's identity as Anti-Venom.
The Good
1) I loved Slott sending up the usual "damsel in distress" trope by having MJ wondering where the hell Peter was as she was getting chased by tarantulas...and then not needing him when she developed her own Spider-Powers. I look forward to the epilogue of this arc, becasue I'm hoping people like MJ use their experience with the powers to understand what it's like to be Peter. (Is Spider-May next?)
2) Again, the planning and execution of the story is great. The tie-in issues continue to be well-connected to the event. The only odd part seems to be that the "Venom" series is running a little ahead of the main title. We already saw Flash confront Anti-Venom and get him to Reed in "Venom" #7. I was wondering why everyone at Horizon Labs was spinning in the first half of this issue, given that we had already seen them informed that Anti-Venom held the cure. But, then I eventually realized that this issue started a little behind that one and it made sense. Otherwise, though, all the other major tie-in issues -- "Spider-Island: Deadly Foes," "Spider-Island: Spider-Woman" -- continue to get mentioned. We even get a preview of the "Spider-Island: Heroes for Hire" issue.
3) I thought JJJ, Jr. bringing in the Spider-Slayer and the Queen directing JJJ, Jr. to attack him were great twists. I mean, if I had to kill a bunch of spiders, I'd call in the Spider-Slayer, too. Moreover, we can tell the Queen didn't have to push JJJ, Jr. too much in getting him to attack Smythe. I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again, but I just love how Slott carries through the repercussions of previous plots well after the dust from those stories settle. Most authors would've surely forgotten about Marla by now, but Slott uses her memory here to inspire a really shocking twist. He hasn't focused on JJJ, Jr. being unhinged for a while (not since JJJ, Jr. ordered the Police Chief to assassinate Massacre in issue #656), but, unlike other authors, it wasn't because he forgot about it. Great stuff.
4) Peter apologizing to Carlie as she disappeared into the herd was really touching.
The Unknown
After Carlie turns into a tarantula, Pete calls her "honey." I wonder if she can understand him in that form...
The Bad
1) WARNING: I'm going to be super nit-picky here. I hate when authors have Storm use contractions. X-title authors do it, too, now, so it's certainly not Slott's fault. But, it bothers me, because it was always one of her great idiosyncracies.
2) I didn't really follow the point of the Spider-Sense Jammers. I get that their deployment allegedly created a psychic barrier around New York, but, how did that work, exactly? Wouldn't it just deny the infected people the ability to sense danger? Why would it prevent them from leaving New York? I thought the Avengers' quarantine was doing that. Or, is it somehow tied to the Queen's telepathic control over the infected persons? Do the Jammers deny her that control? I mean, they clearly don't, since all those mutated tarantulas went to Central Park to greet her based on their telepathic connection to her and we saw her psychically suggest JJJ, Jr. attack the Spider-Slayer. So, do they just screw with her powers a little? I feel like Slott could've that a little clearer, and it's the only reason I'm giving this issue "only" four stars.
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