*** (three of five stars)
Summary
Kasey watches as the Specialist attempts to unmask Miguel, an attempt that proves futile since Miguel has webbed his mask to his face. Miguel manages to break free of the Specialist and slices him with his talons, something that the Specialist warns was a "grave mistake." In his office at Alchemax, Tyler Stone orders a staff member to redirect all scheduled programming on the Public Eye to Spider-Man's fight with the Specialist. The staff member asks if the Public Eye officers are to apprehend Spider-Man and Stone says they're merely to converge on him, not apprehend. He comments that, "I haven't arranged all this merely to turn him into another prisoner." He orders that he should just not be allowed to leave. Meanwhile, Miguel is thinking that he needs only to delay the Specialist to give Kasey time to escape. However, Kasey feels guilty leaving Spider-Man, particularly when she realizes that the Public Eye is after him and not her. Miguel wonders if the Specialist is attached to Stark-Fujikawa and the scene shifts to a building that resembles a Shinto temple. Inside, a group of Asian men are watching a holographic projection of the fight and one frets that the Specialist will be embarrassed by Spider-Man. A mysterious figure trimming a bonsai tree comments that it would be dishonorable for them to intervene, but that they will destroy Spider-Man if he defeats or humiliates the Specialist. Meanwhile, Gabe is working on a project at his apartment when he's interrupted by Dana, who tells him she's worried about Miguel. Dana reveals that she and Gabe had a previous relationship and they kiss, but she asks Gabe not to let their history poison her relationship with Miguel. The screen behind them suddenly shows Spidey's fight with the Specialist, where the Specialist is gaining the upper hand (much to the delight of the Asian men watching the fight) and Kasey tries to make her way through the crowd. A Public Eye member is watching on his flybike, lamenting the fact that he can't join the battle because "of who [his] father is," and Kasey takes advantage of his distraction by pulling him off the bike. She rides by Spider-Man, offering him a lift and he webs himself to the bike. The Specialist grabs his ankle and the extra weight causes Kasey to start to lose control of the bike. (Dana and Gabe observe the scene on the TV and, when Dana asks who "that deranged woman on the flybike" is, Gabe says he's never seen her before.) Spider-Man and the Specialist battle mid-air, attached to the bike only by Spidey's Web-Line, with the Specialist taunting him that he lacks a killer instinct. Kasey loses control of the bike and crashes into a pedestrian bridge and Spider-Man prevents the Specialist from falling to the ground. When Spidey puts them safely on the ground, the Specialist attacks him. Infuriated by his ungratefulness, Miguel slashes his throat, which everyone watching on TV sees. The Public Eye moves on Spidey and the lead member informs him that his son was the one who he "sliced" a few days ago (and was the distracted guy on the flybike). The Public Eye opens fire, much to Stone' fury, and Miguel plummets off the side of the bridge.
The Review
David and Leonardi deliver another great issue here, full of intrigue and action. David has a number of irons in the fire and, in a typical David way, he manages to keep all of them hot without leaving us confused.
The Good
1) I liked Kasey saving Miguel with the flybike. In addition to it being in character for Kasey, to the extent that we've gotten to know her, it also starts setting up the idea of the public seeing Spider-Man as its champion against Alchemax and the Public Eye. We haven't really gotten any insight into how the public views Spider-Man, partially because his fight with the Specialist is only his second public battle and partially because we don't have a "Daily Bugle" newsroom to serve as an insight into pro- and anti-Spider-Man sentiment. But, if the Public Eye is as repressive as it appears to be, my guess is that a lot of people will have Kasey's reaction when they see Miguel fighting the Man. The only wrinkle is whether Stone is going to use the video of Spider-Man slicing the Specialist's throat as a way to turn the public against him. Stone has something up his sleeve and my guess is that a misdirecting public-relations campaign against Spider-Man might be it.
2) Gabe, you dog! Your brother is saving your girlfriend and you're kissing his fiancée? I'm guessing Gabe is going to get Miguel into some serious trouble at some point.
3) David effectively uses Spider-Man slicing the Specialist's throat as a way to show how Miguel is starting to crack a bit under the pressure of the previous few days. He's only had his powers for, like, a week and he's suddenly fighting his second villain. Plus, the Specialist essentially taunted him the entire issue for lacking a killer instinct. Gabe informed us that Miguel was a hot-head in issue #2 and it seems likely that the taunting frazzled him, particularly because he reminds the Specialist that his lack of killer instinct is what drove Miguel to save the Specialist when they were falling. In fact, Miguel essentially strikes the Specialist because he continues to taunt him after saving his life, an echo of the frustration Peter Parker felt in the early days over trying to do the right thing and getting publicly blamed for it. It hadn't occurred to me that we were missing this part of the Spider-Man mythos, but David seems to be raising the possibility of it here, particularly if Stone does initiate an anti-Spider-Man campaign. Interesting stuff.
4) Leonardi really draws an amazingly fluid fight scene. Given Miguel's accelerated vision, he's often moving super-fast in these battles and Leonardi somehow finds a way to depict that without leaving you confused. I've rarely seen anyone draw these sorts of battles so well. Great stuff.
The Unknown
1) I didn't understand how the Specialist could be associated with Stark-Fujikawa and not Alchemax. After all, he clearly turned Kasey into Alchemax after capturing her and he appeared to be on the Alchemax grounds when she escaped, given how fast he was in hot pursuit. Unless Alchemax and Stark-Fujikawa are working together, this part made no sense to me. But, it seems possible that they are working together, given that Stone claims he manufactured these events. I'm not sure which events he means, though. Did he manufacture capturing Kasey to draw out Spider-Man? Wouldn't that mean he knew that Kasey was Gabe's girlfriend and the Gabe was Miguel's brother and Miguel was Spider-Man? David appears to be implying that, but he's not rushing the story, leaving Stone (and what he knows) a mystery. I'm not making it a "Bad," though, because I think David is going somewhere with this plot, since we saw the Japanese men watching the fight from afar. We shall see.2) Also unknown is what, exactly, Stone intended to do with Miguel. He ordered the Public Eye not to arrest him, but to make sure he didn't leave. His plan was ultimately frustrated when the Public Eye shot him and I wonder if we'll ever find out what he planned to do.
Note on "Ravage 2099" #5: The next issue, chronologically, in the storied history of Miguel O'Hara is "Ravage 2099" #5. Unfortunately, it's a disappointing one (to say the least). The sum of his appearance is two panels showing him wordlessly swinging by one of Ravage's supporting-cast members as she enters Alchemax. To be fair, the cover bills his appearance as the "briefest guest star appearance of all time," so it's not like I can say I was expecting much. But, still, for the desperate attempt to get people to read "Ravage 2099" that it was, you think they could've put a little more effort into it. Moreover, the issue itself is terrible. I didn't know much about Ravage before reading this issue and nothing Lee does in it makes me want to learn more. Ravage spends most of it whining about his new "laser hands," to the point where even one of his supporting-cast members tells him to stop complaining. If you're going to use the "briefest guest star appearance of all time" to get people to read your comic, you better make the issue a good one. I think it's best for everyone if we just forget this dodgy entry in Miguel's history and move onto the next issue of "Spider-Man 2099."
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