* (one of five stars)
Favorite Quote: "Your face has excessive moisture, indicative of tears. Has something caused you distress?" "Ohhh...yeah. I found out Tyler Stone is my father." "How nice. Shall I add him to your Christmas card list." -- Lyla and Miguel, showing why everyone, not just Miguel, is glad that Lyla is back
Summary
At Alchemax, a Public Eye officer informs Tyler Stone that Kasey's life signs have been stabilized and that she's ready for "trial and punishment." Instead, to the officer's surprise, Tyler orders him to remove her armor and to dump her at a specified address. Elsewhere, Miguel dreams of killing himself, still reeling from the revelation that Tyler is his father and that he didn't have to become Spider-Man. Meanwhile, at Nighthade, Angela receives word from her assistant, Miss Pivot, that Alchemax is aware of their research and that they have an "83% chance of corporate raiders attempting a hostile takeover." Angela expresses confidence that they can fend off the raiders, as they've done in the past, but Miss Pivot reminds her that the last effort cost them a lot. Angela asks about "subject 394" and Miss Pivot brings her to see Sgt. Estevez, who's apparently proving to be overly aggressive. Miss Pivot expresses concern over the possibility of letting him loose, but Angela notes that they may need him.
At Miguel's apartment, a crying Miguel realizes that Lyla has returned to him and attempts to hug her, falling through her image. Lyla asks why Miguel is crying and he informs her that he discovered that Tyler is his father. He then asks her to put through a scrambled call from Spider-Man to the CEO of Stark-Fujikawa. Elsewhere, Gabe wallows in misery over the fact that he let the Private Eye officers take Kasey while Conchata dusts, mysteriously asserting that, "It's going to work out." Suddenly, Gabe hears the flyboys, who drop off Kasey's body. At his apartment, Miguel asks the head of Stark-Fujikawa why Kasey was dragged into their fight and Hikaru-sama, for his part, asks whether Spider-Man is who he says he is. When Miguel expresses surprise that the CEO is the guy that he saved (in issue #19), Hikaru-sama realizes that Miguel is who he says that he is. He then informs Miguel that he powered up Kasey to balance the scales, after Miguel defeated the Specialist but saved him. He powered up Kasey, who he had reason to believe was important to Spider-Man, and then sent her into the field without any training, "certain that the results would be disastrous for her." He tells Miguel that the scales are balanced and, when Miguel exclaims that she was innocent and that he'll get even with him, Hikaru-sama warns that Miguel should not underestimate Stark-Fujikawa's resources. He reminds Miguel that they found Kasey, so they can find other people important to him. He says that he doesn't want to make Spidey a pariah, but that Spidey should not force his hand or call him again.
As Hikaru-sama ends the call, Dana arrives. Lyla stalls as Miguel changes from his costume, asking Dana if she's destroyed any relationships lately. When Dana asks who taught Lyla to say that, she responds that it just popped into her head. Miguel arrives in a robe, telling Dana that he didn't get a lot of sleep and that it's not the best time. Lyla continues to ask if Dana has destroyed any relationships, while Dana tells Miguel that she thinks that he's been keeping weird hours because he's been seeing Xina. Miguel says that she just fixed Lyla, something that Dana doesn't buy. Miguel stresses that it's a bad time and Dana continues, saying that he never trusted her. Miguel asks her to go and Dana screams at him, asking if or when their lives will return to normal. Miguel says that he doesn't know if that's possible, scaring Dana, who tells him that she loves him. Miguel tells her that he loves her, too, but again asks her to leave. She tells him that they can work out any problem, but Miguel flips, throwing something at her as he screams for her to leave. Devastated, Miguel collapses to his knees, thinking, "Lord in Heaven...please. Let me die." Later, Miguel gives Xina a gumball machine to thank her for fixing Lyla. He says that he gave it to her now in case they don't see each other again. Xina comments on how "Kevorkian" he sounds and then asks if he was planning "to hang around" the city that week. Miguel responds that he "planned to hang" and Xina tells him to come to Nightshade with her to visit Angela.
In the back-up story, Tyler tells George to apologize to Kron for harrassing him, but Conchata screams at Tyler, telling him that his son is a bully. To Kron's chagrin, Tyler backs off his demand that George apologize and, after the Stones leave, George screams at Conchata for possibly angering Stone. Conchata tells him that she was doing it to save him embarrassment and George gathers up the boys to leave. Miguel laments to Xina that he now has to live with Kron after his mother got him into trouble and Stone's wife approaches Conchata, telling her that she agreed with her and thought that she was brave. She says that she doesn't have the guts that Conchata has but that she'd like them to be friends. She also reveals that she knows when Conchata's affair with Tyler began and ended and "about Miguel." When Conchata asks why she'd want to be her friend after all that, Stone's wife comments that she's "loaded with class."
The Review
This issue is disappointing, particularly after the emotionally gripping last issue. David makes it clear how he wants the readers to feel as they're watching Miguel reel from the revelation that Tyler Stone is his father and that his "addiction" to rapture was staged, but I don't really feel like he sells it. Miguel just seems somewhat irrationally unhinged, something not helped by the fact that other characters around him.
The Unsure
I'm still not really sure why Stark-Fujikawa did what it did to Kasey. According to Hikaru-sama, powering up Kasey and sending her into battle unprepared somehow balanced the scales that were unbalanced after Miguel defeated the Specialist but also saved Hikaru-sama's life. According to him, one "did not fully balance out the other." OK, sure, but I'm not really sure if Miguel was ahead or behind in that unbalanced equation. Did powering up Kasey mean that Miguel was "behind" and needed something to put him ahead, but setting her up for failure meant that he didn't get too far ahead? Or, was he ahead, so they had to do something bad to him, but it couldn't be too bad, which is why they gave Kasey some powers at least for a time? It's confusing and not in an "intriguing Eastern ways" kind of way. Plus, it still doesn't explain how Tyler knew that Kasey was coming in issue #24. Does Hikaru-sama just not mention to Miguel that he tipped off Tyler? I'm OK with corporate intrigue and David not spelling out the exact nature of Alchemax and Stark-Fujikawa's relationship. But, I feel like the "inscrutable Eastern man" trope goes a little too far here, since it's clear that Hikaru-sama could've balanced the scales without empowering Kasey.
The Bad
1) My main problem with this issue is that Miguel seems to be seriously overreacting to the revelation that Tyler Stone is his biological father. I mean, I'm not saying that it doesn't suck. But, it seems odd that he's driven to the verge of suicide over it for two reasons. First, it wasn't like he liked the man that he thought was his biological father, George O'Hara. In fact, if it had been anyone else other than Tyler, I could imagine Miguel feeling relieved that George wasn't his biological father. But, second, I just have trouble seeing Tyler as that bad. After all, based on comments that other characters have made about Miguel before he got his powers, Miguel seems like he was a chip of the old block. OK, I'm being a bit extreme, since we definitely saw that Miguel had a stronger sense of morality than Tyler did when he refused to engage in human testing (causing the events that led to him becoming Spider-Man in the first place). Plus, Tyler did try to get him hooked to rapture (or, at least, seemed to have tried to do so). But, is Tyler any more scheming than any other corporate leader in the 2099 world? Would Miguel be this upset if he discovered that any other Alchemax big-shot was his father? To be fair to David, he's certainly hinting at Miguel having a long history with Tyler, as seen in the back-up stories, so I get that we may just not yet fully understand the situation. But, without already having a sense of this history, it still feels like something that would certainly upset Miguel but not really lead him to the verge of suicide. David seems to be implying that it's the revelation that he also didn't have to become Spider-Man that's making it worse, but I also feel like that's a little overblown. Sure, again, I'm not saying that it doesn't suck. But, does Miguel really want to return to being the Alchemax patsy? David has made it clear that Miguel doesn't quite have the same sense of responsibility that Peter Parker had, but does he really wish he had a "normal life?" It all seems really melodramatic, even for Miguel.
2) As I mentioned, it's not just Miguel acting weird here. David has made it clear that Dana might not be the brightest bulb, but her whole interaction with Miguel displayed a really low emotional intelligence. I mean, I actually think that she came to a pretty reasonable conclusion that Miguel's weird hours and strange behavior meant that he was having an affair with Xina, but the fact that she suddenly switches from railing at him for having an affair to pleading with him when he tells her that he needs some space was just odd. If she were that mad over Xina, why tell him that they can work out anything, as she does here? Moreover, even if he scares her into dropping her anger, why push him when he tells her that he doesn't want to be pushed? Plus, why does Xina suddenly decide that she doesn't hate Miguel? It seems pretty clear that David has her invite Miguel to Nightshade so that he can confront whatever beast Sgt. Estevez has become. But, David doesn't really do the legwork that would make me buy that she likes him enough to invite him on such a trip. I mean, even if she downgraded "hate" to "dislike," inviting him on a daytrip seems to be a little much. Finally, Tyler's wife wants to be friends with her husband's lover simply because she's "loaded with class?" WTF? I'm not even sure what that means. All in all, as I said, everyone, not just Miguel, seemed to be acting weird this issue.
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