**** (four of five stars)
Favorite Quote: "Ohhh yeah. The one who couldn't keep his gilfriend happy so she went and swiped my boyfrined. Not that I'm bitter, you understand." "Nice try, Xina. But you're not gonna get a rise out of me." "Your girlfriend have the same problem?" -- Xina and Gabe, going PG-13 in a pretty hilarious way that also reminds us how much Gabe has at stake in Kasey not falling in love with Miguel
Summary
Kasey, now outfitted and "cybernetically merged" with a suit of armor, tries out her new abilities. Deeming them "beautiful," she beelines for Alchemax for some "payback." In New York, Xina is working on repairing Lyla and expresses annoyance when Gabriel bursts into the apartment, telling Miguel that he has a problem. At Alchemax, Winston has returned to duty just in time for a Public Eye officer to inform Tyler Stone that Kasey is en route, something that he apparently anticipated. Outside Xina's apartment, Gabriel brings Miguel to speed, but Miguel isn't sure that he can help Kasey. Miguel tells Gabe not to underestimate Kasey's "personal resourcefulness"...when Kasey flies by them. Miguel recognizes her and Gabriel tells him to go after her, since she's in love with Spider-Man and will listen to him. Telling Miguel that she's trying to impress him (Spider-Man), Gabriel asks Miguel to stop her so that he doesn't lose a second girl to Miguel.
At Alchemax, Kasey makes pretty short work of the building's defenses and the Public Eye. However, when she uses towlines to yank out the officers' flybikes from underneath them, she suddenly finds herself unable to maintain her lift. Spider-Man arrives in time to help, cutting loose the towlines (since Kasey herself couldn't release them since they were too embedded in the bikes). Miguel has her take them to safety and he tells her that she's being idiotic when she tells him that she's taking the fight to Alchemax. (When she notes that he does it, he comments, "Yes, but I'm an idiot.") Spidey uses her name, which surprises her; he covers by saying that he heard someone use it. He tells her to stop with the "Payback" business, but she tells him that great power brings great responsibility. When he comments, "Oh, not that again," Kasey realizes that she knows Spider-Man. He tries to stall, but she places his voice, asking him if he's Gabriel (not Miguel). She's not entirely sure, believing that she's seen them together, but only in chaos.
Before they can address the issue, Risque appears, using her finger cannons to take out Kasey. Spidey manages to stop Kasey's fall, but Risque blasts the Web-Line and Kasey crashes to the ground. Gabe rushes to Kasey, but she's surrounded by Public Eye officers telling him to give them space. He pulls a gun on them only to have Tyler Stone appear and tell him to drop it if he doesn't want to get arrested. Gabe drops the gun and the Public Eye deliver him a sound beating. Meanwhile, Risque exposits that Stark-Fujikawa used Kasey to draw out Spider-Man. Miguel manages to pull off her cloak, revealing that she's a cyborg. Using Venture's staff, she chokes him and then tries to unmask him. He prevents her, but she kisses his exposed mouth, giving him the opportunity to use his fangs to poison her. While she's paralyzed, Miguel knocks her unconscious, only for Venture to appear behind him.
The Review
The last few issues, to be honest, have been a little slow. We've had the intrigue with Stark-Fujikawa and Kasey, the drama with Lyla, and the exploration of Miguel's past with Xina. They've been fine issues and David has done a great job of keeping all these plots interesting, but they haven't exactly been all that exciting. In fact, I can't remember the last time Miguel was actually Spider-Man. All that changes in this issue. While the Lyla and Xina sub-plots fade into the background, the Kasey one explodes to the foreground.
The Good
1) The action sequence is great here and, truthfully, sorely needed. Moreover, it was a pretty damn good fight. Risque proves more than a match for Kasey and she keeps Miguel on his toes. The revelation that she's a cyborg was well timed and, honestly, made her sexual advances to Miguel all the creepier. That said, I love how he poisoned her. David's always been great about Miguel using all the tools in his toolkit, particularly the ones that he doesn't have in common with Peter Parker. It was a great way for him to get the win. Now, Venture!
2) I loved Kasey figuring out Gabriel is Spider-Man by his voice! I mean, she's wrong (and I wonder if Gabe is going to take advantage of that fact to keep her), but it's still a great moment. As I've mentioned in many of the reviews that I've written for David-scribed comics, he really respects the reader enough to entertain the possibility that someone maybe, just maybe, would hear someone they know speak and recognize his voice. Honestly, he's probably the only writer in comics that would allow for such a thing, but it's what makes him the best there is at what he does.
The Unknown
It's still unclear (to me, at least) why Alchemax and Stark-Fujikawa are colluding on this one. When Stark-Fujikawa first appeared, Tyler Stone actually used the Specialist as similar bait for Spider-Man, expecting that his defeat at Miguel's hands would lead to Stark-Fujikawa getting drawn into a battle with Spider-Man to avenge the Specialist's honor (see issue #6, specifically). It was eventually revealed (in issue #7) that Alchemax was forced to go to Stark Fujikawa for the Specialist since Venture had been taken off-line. But, why did Stark-Fujikawa have to go to Alchemax? Did they similarly need Risque because they had no home-grown options? Moreover, doesn't Tyler want a piece of Spider-Man? Is he going to surrender him to Stark-Fujikawa so easily? I trust David to answer these questions, so I'm just putting them out there now.
The Bad
I liked the idea of Stark-Fujikawa manipulating Kasey to draw out Spider-Man. In fact, I originally put this comment in the "Good" category. But, at the end of the day, a lot doesn't make sense here. First, do they really need to draw out Spider-Man? It's not like they probably needed to wait all that long for him to appear to right some sort of wrong, given how many wrongs there are in 2099 New York to right. Second, why give Kasey so much power just to draw out Spider-Man? OK, sure, you want to draw out Spider-Man, but why equip a woman who's dedicated the better part of her life fighting you with an amazing suit of armor? Why not just have Risque kill a few people?
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