*** (three of five stars)
Summary
Despite a mid-air mishap with a pigeon and some bagels, Spidey makes his way to work in a good mood, monologuing how his digs at Horizon Labs are perfect for him to come and go as Spider-Man (after he did some rewiring to bypass the security system). As Pete changes into his street clothes, Uatu stops by his lab, wondering when Pete arrived, given that he had been there since 6:00 am. Pete lies that he slept there, and Uatu reminds him that he's there to check the math on Pete's new experiment, which he designed to take the skin off the Rhino. Pete gets distracted as Uatu quizzes him about his personal life and almost takes off his hand with his device. He instead merely cuts himself, something that Morbius, the mysterious occupier of Lab #6, smells. Pete's Spider-Sense goes off the next day as he's passing Morbius' lab, and he and Uatu (who's also intrigued by the occupier of Lab #6) agree to try to figure out who's in it. (Uatu is convinced it's zombie Albert Einstein.) Pete decides to investigate as Spidey. Meanwhile, Max Modell arrives to give Morbius samples of his blood, to avoid raising eyebrows at the blood bank. Morbius is revealed to be working on an artificial plasma, which he's based on the "Spider-Island" cure; he hypothesizes that it can cure a wide range of mutated humans (including him, obviously). However, when he samples it, Morbius is suddenly seized by his hunger for blood and barely keeps himself from attacking Modell. Spidey observes the incident and attacks, despite Modell insisting it's a midunderstanding and informing Spidey that Morbius isn't in control of himself. Morbius and Spidey break through the wall of his lab, which Uatu observes. Uatu then runs to his lab and it's revealed that his main area of research is killing mythical monsters. He puts on his vampire fighting gear and joins the battle with Spidey. They attack Morbius with a variety of light-based weapons Uatu created, and Morbius manages to get a grip after he strikes Uatu, lamenting that he hit a child. Spidey knocks out Morbius, and Modell helps him to his feet, announcing to the assembled Horizon Labs employees that Michael is an old college friend and he will continue to work in Lab #6. (The Horizon employees mutter how dangerous it is to themselves.) Modell blames the incident on Spider-Man, hypothesizing that Peter gave him a means of bypassing security and announcing that he will be beefing up security. Later that night, in his lab, Morbius regrets the events of the day that resulted in him risking his position at Horizon Labs. He swears to himself that he will get the mimetic plasma to work, and plans to use it on a test subject, the Lizard, who he has been observing.
The Review
Whoa. Talk about a change in tone. I wasn't surprised when I looked to see who wrote this issue and saw it wasn't Dan Slott, but Chris Yost. It's significantly darker in tone than the ones we usually get from Slott, though I can't say it isn't an interesting change of pace.
The Good
1) One of the things that worried me when Peter got the job at Horizon Labs was that it would eventually turn out badly, because authors seem incapable of not fucking up his life just for the fun of it. But, Yost here manages to complicate his position at Horizon Labs and not eliminate it. Instead of something related to Spider-Man causing Peter to lose his job or expose his identity (the events I figured would happen), Yost has Peter suddenly find himself with a more complicated access to the Lab and a more difficult relationship with the boss. It's a more realistic set of problems, exactly the type that most authors would bypass in favor of a more dramatic set. It reminds us that Pete, more than most characters, is just a regular guy, with boss problems, and workplace problems, and relationship problems. He just happens to be able to lift a Buick above his head.
2) I loved that Uatu's speciality is monster hunting. Awesome. He's like a mini-Blade.
3) Dr. Connors! Before we learned that Number Six is Morbius, I had actually wondered if he were Dr. Connors, who possibly had regained control of the Lizard persona off-panel but was so devastated by, you know, eating his son that he couldn't face anyone else. The idea that Morbius is using his time at Horizon to develop a "monster cure," one that he intends to test on the Lizard, has some serious dramatic possibilities. I mean, ever since "Shed," I've found myself hoping that Dr. Connors doesn't regain control of the Lizard personna, because I just can't imagine how he could possibly cope with, again, eating his son. But, given that things don't usually work out well for Morbius, it also seems that giving the Lizard the serum could have some unintended consequences beyond just Dr. Connors having to cope with eating his son. I don't think I've ever seen anyone pair up the Lizard and Morbius before, and it's such an obvious connection that I'm surprised it hasn't happened. These "Point One" issues are supposed to be a road map, more or less, for the coming year, so I'm excited to see where Slott and company go with this one.
The Unknown
I made this part "Unknown" because I think it's an interesting dramatic device, but I'm not particularly fond of it. Yost does a good job of showing us the fact that Modell is somewhat blind to Morbius' faults due to their friendship. Modell blames the incident on Spider-Man, when it's pretty clear that Spidey prevented Morbius from attacking Max. Yost makes sure to show us a Peanut Gallery of Horizon employees openly question Modell's decision to allow Morbius to work there, reaffirming that Modell is indeed operating from a blind spot. (I'm guessing that, when the aforementioned unintended consequnces of Morbius' research present themselves, Modell and/or Horizon could be affected.) Again, it's not a bad thing, nor is it poorly done, given that Yost actually really finds a way to show the blind spot without someone expositing it. But, it paints Max in a somewhat bad light, something that sucks, because he had been so unquestionably cool before. Such is life, I guess.
The Bad
Clark apparently didn't get the memo, but Pete's lab is a little more elaborate than the storage closet in which he appears to work in this issue. In previous issues, it was basically a spacious gynmasium where he had a super-size storage locker to store his Spidey equipment (e.g., "Amazing Spider-Man" #649). I'm surprised an editor didn't catch that.
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