*** (three of five stars)
Favorite Quote #1: "Peter Parker, you're not who you are because your Uncle Ben died. You're who you are because your Uncle Ben lived. All the gifts he gave you, everything you needed, was already in there." -- MJ (so wise)
Favorite Quote #2: "Hate it whenever they say 'Plan B.' That's super-villain code for 'Blow everything up.'" -- Spidey, after the Alpha clones fail to exhibit powers and the Jackal announces that he's going to Plan B
Summary
In the aftermath of his fight with Giganto, Alpha departs, leaving the "cleaning up to the professionals." Spidey tries to tell him that it's a team effort, so he can't just leave, but Alpha does exactly that. Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four attach some drill cars to Giganto so that they can return him to Subterranea. When Spidey offers to go, Mr. Fantastic reminds him that his job is to take care of Alpha. Depressed, Pete heads to MJ's, telling MJ that he's haunted by the fact that he still sees Alpha as the person that he would've become had Uncle Ben not died. MJ tells Pete that he is who he is because Uncle Ben lived, not died. Pete says that he'd like to believe that she's right, but he argues that he's way too self-centered. He really believes that Ben's death was the reason why he worried about losing everybody else important in his life. At that moment, he realizes that Andy doesn't have a mask and leaves MJ to go find him.
At Andy's, Chrissy appears, only to discover him in bed (only kissing) with a cheerleader. Fleeing his room in tears, Chrissy leaves. Meanwhile, at the front door, "Dr. Warren" appears with his "daughter," Princess, who he claims is a big Alpha fan. Andy's mom remarks to their ever-present lawyer that they need to beef up security when they move into the city and the lawyer warns them to have a chat with their son lest they have a "Bieber-style paternity suit." "Princess" then attacks, firing a web from her mouth. Andy overhears from upstairs and attacks Princess with his energy-projection power. However, since he can only use one power at once, he can't activate his force field in time to protect him from the projectiles that Princess fires from her mouth, hitting both Andy and the cheerleader and knocking them unconscious.
Spidey arrives several minutes later to discover organic webbing like he used to have. He leaves, but talks to a member of the paparazzi who saw the whole thing. The paparazzo notes that someone with Spider-Powers clearly took them given the webs. Spidey proclaims his innocence, but the paparazzo accuses him of being the one who painted a target on the kid. Later, at Horizon, Glory Grant is arguing with Max Modell, telling him that she's adding child endangerment to the "growing list of grievances" that JJJ, Jr. has with him. Max claims that he only intended for Andy to be a mascot and Glory reminds him of the "industrial accident which could have killed him." Pete arrives, only to find Aunt May and JJJ, Sr. there as well. Pete says that he claims responsibility for Alpha and that JJJ, Jr. should leave Horizon alone. Aunt May suggests that he shouldn't bear that burden by himself, but Pete says that it is his burden. May informs Pete that they're there because they're getting an earlier flight to Boston because he's so busy, but offers to stay if Pete thought it would help. He tells them to go so that he can clean up the mess and Aunt May kisses him good-bye, telling him that she raised him right. Pete promises to see them before they leave and then chats with Max, who offers his help in finding Alpha.
In Pete's lab, Max notes how tricky it is to trace alpha-energy, since one of the properties of it about which he was most excited was the fact that it doesn't leave a residual trail. As they work, Pete suggests that he should leave Horizon, saying that all the trouble that Horizon has suffered lately (Alpha, disrupting Morbius' drug trials, not double-checking Grady's time door) had to do with his "connection" to Spider-Man. Max refuses to hear such a thing, noting that Pete has not only given Horizon some of its best inventions but also allowed its staff to become heroes, helping Spidey save the city from the Spider-Island virus and stop Dock Ock before he could destroy the world. Max says he wouldn't trade the ability to do that for the world and they recommit to the project at hand. They eventually realize that they can track the organic fibers from Andy's clothes from when he was first hit with alpha-energy and splice them with the Spider-Tracer, hoping that the similar charge leads Spidey to Andy. En route, Pete reflects on how he couldn't have invented the device without Max, and thinks of his other role models, people like Captain Stacy, Uncle Ben, and Aunt May.
Pete tracks Alpha to an abandoned school and realizes that someone who could take down Alpha might require more than just him to defeat him. But, before he can call for the Avengers, a group of Princesses attack Spidey. One of them hits Spidey with its projectile thing and he loses consciousness. Elsewhere in the school, the Jackal has placed Andy in "carbonadium shackles" and a white-sound helmet to neutralize him, with his parents, lawyer, and the cheerleader in webbing behind him. The Jackal exposits that he's going to clone him, making "a perfect world of Alpha-males." The Princesses arrive with Spidey and the Jackal congratulates him for having "out-mad-scienced" him. He observes that his "Spiderzons" (better than "Princesses") schooled him, but then realized that their powers shouldn't work on Pete. Revealing that he was playing possum, Peter attacks the Jackal, shattering him, to his surprise. The real Jackal appears around the corner, noting that he always sends in a clone for a slugfest. He then reveals that his first "batch" of Alphas are ready, kings to match his "Spider Queens." (Aha.) Pete is shocked by the potential threat that cloned Alphas would be and the real Alpha attempts to break his bonds. However, the cloned Alphas are revealed to have no powers, since the alpha-energy didn't alter Andy's DNA. Frustrated, the Jackal sends the Spiderzons to eat the hostages to distract Peter so that he can't free Andy. He then decides to harvest alpha-energy from Alpha and Pete expresses concern, since he looked into removing Andy's power and realizes that it can't be done without killing him. While fighting the Spiderzons, Pete gives Andy a rousing speech about not surrendering and digging deep, telling him that his friends and family are counting on him. He then corrects himself, saying that the whole world is counting on him to prevent the Jackal from getting alpha-energy. Andy breaks the bonds, declaring that the Jackal can't have his power because it's the only thing that makes him special. Stating that he'd rather die that lose it, he destroys the clones. (Spidey expresses dismay that Alpha got the wrong message from his speech, deciding to act to preserve his "specialness" rather than saving the world.) The Jackal, seeing the writing on the wall, pushes the "big red button," destroying the Spiderzons and fleeing.
Andy's parents, shaken, tell him that they're sorry. Before his mother can tell him that it's not worth risking his life to continue being a superhero, he stops her, saying that he understands that life has a lot to teach him. Spidey thinks that he's talking to him, but he's really talking to the lawyer, telling her that he's the most special thing in the world and needs to set his sights higher. She agrees to help (for fifteen percent) and he later emancipates himself from his parents. Later, MJ comes to Horizon with food for Pete, who apologizes for all the time that he's spending with the Avengers and Alpha. MJ expresses hope in Pete's continued effort to train Alpha, but Pete tells her that it's a ruse, that he "promised" Alpha a spot on the Avengers if he continues coming to Horizon for regular tests. In reality, he's testing Alpha to strip him of his powers.
The Good
1) Have I mentioned that I love MJ as a bartender? Because I love MJ as a bartender.
2) One of the things that I feel Slott is handling really deftly is using Alpha as a Rorschach test for Pete. When Pete sees Alpha, he sees the person that he would've been without the tragedy of Uncle Ben getting killed to ground him. But, Slott (and MJ) make it clear that Pete would've never become Alpha, because he was too good of a person to start. For example, last issue, Slott drew a difference in his voice-over narration between Pete and Andy before they ever got their powers, noting that Pete already felt a responsibility to use his gift in science to apply himself whereas Andy was so lazy that he didn't even bother trying to discover if he had a gift. MJ elaborates on that thought here, reminding Pete that Uncle Ben was the one who taught Pete about responsibility. She then delivers the lovely speech quoted above about Peter being who he is not because Uncle Ben died, but because Uncle Ben lived. I'm glad Slott gives her this moment, even if Pete initially overlooks the advice, content with his guilt over Ben's death as the explanation for his overdeveloped sense of responsibility. He's been using the last few issues to show how special MJ is, how she's really the only person who understands Pete. I'm now worried he's going to kill her in "Amazing Spider-Man" #700 and, Slott, I'm telling you right now, you better find that bunker fast if you do.
3) Slott's continued use of Superman as a fictional character in "Amazing Spider-Man" continues to make me laugh. It just doesn't get old. I loved Chrissy announcing that she's Lois Lane.
4) I liked the tribute to Pete's role models as part of Slott's 50th anniversary tale. Leave it to Slott to keep up the theme throughout this arc and not just drop it the minute the anniversary issue was published.
5) I was wondering how Slott was going to work the Jackal into this story and he made a pretty compelling case, since I absolutely Miles would be attracted by both the possibility of getting his hands on alpha-energy as well as the opportunity to rub salt in Peter's wound. I love how Pete isn't even surprised that Miles didn't die in "Spider-Island."
6) Slott ends the issue taking up the hypothetical from last issue, namely, whether Alpha, when faced with a situation like the death of Uncle Ben, would rise to the challenge. The answer, as we learn here, is no. Instead, he focuses on his "specialness" rather than his heroism, ignoring the potential consequences to his family members. Last issue, Slott raised some generational issues and I think we see them here, too. After all, it's not like Pete had quite the same possibility of exposure to the mass media that Alpha has. Maybe he would've just shaken off Uncle Ben's death to sleep with supermodels a lot sooner than he eventually did if he had the same distractions. But, Slott puts their differences squarely on the shoulder of Pete's influences in his life, from Uncle Ben to Captain Stacy to Aunt May. It's a great approach, because it rings absolutely true. When Andy's parents show concern for him, it's too late. But, Pete's people have been with him the whole way. Great stuff.
The Unknown
MJ seems to chide Pete a bit ethically at the end of this issue, raising the suggestion that Pete doesn't get to decide to strip Alpha of his powers. To be honest, I think it's a pretty weak argument, since Pete was responsible for Alpha getting his powers and Alpha represents a pretty clear threat. Spidey himself compares Alpha to the Beyonder or the Dark Phoenix. But, combined with his apparently more aggressive view of his enemies, it seems to be part of Slott's attempt to move Pete on the ethical scale from Lawful Good to Chaotic Good. I'm still not buying it, but we'll see where we go from here.
The Bad
I didn't, for the life of me, understand why alpha-energy is untraceable but somehow using the organic fibers from the clothes that Andy was wearing when he was first exposed to it would allow Spidey to trace him. Did the energy hitting the organic make it traceable? How did that work?
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