*** (three of five stars)
Favorite Quote: "Come up here, son! You should take part in this, too." "Nah. You guys did all the heavy lifting." "Nonsense. You designed Spider-Man's tech. Without you --" "Ah, Mr. Modell? Not something I'd like to broadcast to the world." "Ah. Of course." -- Max and Peter, as the Horizon crew revel in its newfound fame
Summary
"Now," the Lizard and Spidey battle in the sewers, with the Lizard expressing confusion over why Spidey broke their "understanding." Spidey realizes that the Lizard thought that his failure to chase him into the sewers after their last fight meant that he wasn't going to do so ever. However, Spidey exposits that he was so badly beaten after their last battle that he couldn't follow him; when Spidey did try to find the Lizard in the sewers later, he couldn't. Spidey reminds the Lizard that he had an army supporting him last time and the Lizard reveals that he ate all of them because they were unable to embrace their lizard side. (Yup.) Enraged, Spidey goes full-tilt at the Lizard, furious that his failure to find the Lizard meant that those people died; he's particularly upset because he feels that he knew that the Lizard was capable of that level of brutality after he ate Billy Connors.
Eight hours earlier, Pete greets the Zenith, Horizon's floating lab, along with a gaggle of reporters. Hector is also there and informs Max that the "Heroes of Manhattan" have had their power returned by Con Ed. However, the Mayor's Office is still insisting that Morbius get fired. Max refuses and the scenes shift to super-models handing out invitations to a party at a nightclub called MJ's. (!) At said party, Peter realizes that practically everyone he knows is at the party, but he decides to leave. MJ stops him and takes him outside, telling him that she did everything for him because "the world didn't go ka-blooey." When MJ tells him that he should just enjoy the win, he tells her that he can't celebrate, because, despite saving everyone on Earth, he lost someone. MJ tells him that she understands why he feels that way (because, Peter, you idiot, she's the only one that understands you). He tells her about his "No One Dies" pledge and she tells him that it's the stupidest thing that he's ever said because, at the end of the day, even if he can walk up walls and bend steel with his bare hands, he's still human and he still makes mistake. He acknowledges that, but tells her that, on the days when he believed that he could save everyone, it was the only thing that kept him from going crazy.
In the present, the slugfest continues, and Pete tells the Lizard that he's there to end him, slamming some sort of bayonet into the Lizard's shoulder. Four hours earlier, MJ and Pete's conversation is interrupted by a phone call from Carlie, who tells him that she has something for him. Pete leaves (after MJ tells him about her "two-woman support group" with Carlie) and meets Carlie at Billy Connors' grave site. The grave is empty and Carlie tells Spidey that one of the groundskeepers say the perp: "Pale skin. Bleach white. Inhumanly strong...Took the body and flew away." Spidey storms into Horizon Labs, demanding to see Morbius. Max leads him to Lab #6, where they discover Morbius dissecting Billy Connors. Spidey attacks him, but Morbius tells him that he needed Connors' DNA. He declares that he's found a cure to stop the Lizard for good. In the present, the Lizard presses his attack, saying that they should've resorted to a fight for survival years ago. Spidey tells him that he's not here to kill him, but cure him, and Morbius attacks with another bayonet.
Two hours earlier, Morbius is swearing to Max and Spidey that the cure will work, since he based it on the mimetic solution that he and Reed Richards devised to cure the Spider-Island virus. He says that it's a two-step procedure that will restructure all the mutated cells. Spidey, however, says that they can't cure the Lizard, because Curt Connors died when the Lizard killed Billy. Morbius dismisses Spidey as giving a "poetic argument," preferring a "scientific solution," asserting that there are no real monsters, "just aberrations and afflictions that can be cured." Max interjects, saying that Morbius will have to leave the lab as a result of his desecration of Billy Connors' body, but suggesting that they at least try to help Dr. Connors, since, "What is done is done." Spidey agrees, since he wants the desecration of Billy's body to count for something.
In the present, the Lizard asserts that Connors is dead. Spidey announces that he's had enough of death for a while, so he wants to put "one in the win column!" Max and his team, who are around a bend in the sewers, activate a device to break down the metals in the bayonets, and the Lizard "regresses" to Dr. Connors. They cover up a naked Dr. Connors as Spidey exults in the win and Morbius asserts his faith that "there's hope. For us all." However, internally, it's clear that Connors is dead and the Lizard is still in control.
The Good
1) I liked how Slott highlighted the differences in the Lizard's and Spidey's perceptions of their "relationship" based on their last encounter. The Lizard thought that Spidey let him go and that they had an "agreement" whereby he would stay in the sewers and Spidey wouldn't bother him. But, Spidey remembers that he was left almost dead after his confrontation with the Lizard and his enthralled army of Lizard-zombies, so chasing him at that time wasn't in the equation. Of course, Spidey reveals that he did try to find him later, but couldn't, an important point, because it shows how hard on himself Peter is being. Had he just left the Lizard to his own devices, perhaps some self-criticism would be valid. However, he did try to find him. He is the hero, after all.
2) Along those lines, this revelation goes to Pete's conversation with MJ, where he feels responsible for every death that he believes that he could've reasonably prevented, such as Silver Sable's. MJ wisely tells him that he's setting unrealistic expectations for himself and, of course, she's correct. Spidey couldn't save Silver Sable, since, by saving just her, he would've doomed the entire planet (including her). Moreover, he didn't get a chance to spend more time trying to track down the Lizard because, as we've seen since then, he's been busy with everything that he's been doing for the last 50 issues. But, Slott's actually raising a deeper question than just Pete's guilt of Sable. He's showing that the losses that Spidey has suffered in his career are taking their toll. Uncle Ben, Captain Stacy, Gwen Stacy, Oksana Sytsevich, Billy Connors, and Marla Jameson are all mentioned here; for a more complete tour of his failures, you can refer to his nightmare in issue #655. The idea that Peter on some level knows that he can't save everyone but feels that drawing that line and trying to hold it is the only thing keeping him sane is a pretty dark revelation. But, it's actually a revelation that I'm surprised that we don't see more in superhero comics. In "New Avengers" #30, the New Avengers kept asking, "Can't we have one normal day?" It was more of a joke there, but, here, Slott seems to be setting up the exploration of how the cumulative effects of Pete's time as Spider-Man might just be weighing on him more than he can handle. Is he heading for a nervous breakdown? I guess we'll see.
3) Mary Jane owning a nightclub is effing genius. Team MJ!
4) I thought that it was interesting that Slott made it pretty clear that Morbius and Spidey were "resurrecting" Dr. Connors for fairly selfish reasons. Despite suspecting that Dr. Connors' psyche was completely obliterated when the Lizard ate Billy Connors, Spidey decided to help Morbius because he really wanted the win. Moreover, Morbius is clearly motivated by his desire to prove that monsters can be saved. The revelation that the Lizard appears to be the only psyche left after the team "de-evolves" the Lizard into Dr. Connors seems to draw a line under how blinded to reality they were by their own needs.
The Unknown
I wonder where Slott is going to go with Horizon. Here, they're greeted as heroes, but, as I mentioned in my review of last issue, I wonder if that'll change if they (and, more to the point, JJJ, Jr.) discover that their technology was what helped Doc Ock create his Octavian Lens in the first place.
The Bad
Given that we're Team MJ around here, I can't say that I was thrilled with the way Pete reacted to MJ throwing the party for him. I totally get why Slott did what he did, since he used Pete's inability to appreciate what MJ did for him as a way to highlight just how depressed Peter is. But, if MJ needs a reminder why she should stay in the "two-woman support group" and not resume a relationship with Peter, she just got it.
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