** (two of five stars)
Favorite Quote: "Their gates are closed, sir." "Well, that's hardy surprising, Pembert. Kick 'em." -- Pembert and the Corporate Headhunter, as they approach Nightshade
Summary
Xina drives Miguel to Nightshade in an "antique" car without breaks, resulting in a terrifying ride that ends with her deploying parachutes to stop. Miguel complains about banging his head on the dashboard, but Xina reminds him that he found the "shoulder strap" too restrictive. Xina reveals a surprise -- Lyla has come with them, after Xina created a "patch-link" between the car and her data base. Lyla informs Miguel that he has a message from Gabe, which Miguel instructs her to delete. When Xina asks whether he wants to hear it, he responds that it probably has to do with their prior conversation, when he asked for Miguel to come over his place. In a flashback, Miguel recalls Gabe telling him that Kasey has returned and is being nice to him for reasons that Gabe doesn't quite understand. A still-depressed Miguel tells Gabe that he can't come and Gabe whispers whether it has to do with Spider-Man. Miguel responds that it doesn't, but that things change. Gabe reminds him that somethings don't change, like them being brothers: "Same parents, same gene pool." He starts to either offer to help Miguel or ask for Miguel's help despite his situation, but Miguel ends the call before he can finish his sentence. In the present, Lyla informs Xina that she's sent ahead the entry codes to Nightshade and the car makes its way into the complex.
At Alchemax's "Talent Search Division," a suited man arrives to convene a meeting of other suited men. He reviews Nightshade's assets (research on interdimensional breakthroughs and gene manipulation) and liabilities ("aggressive and well-armed"). Given its defenses, Tyler Stone has decided to send in the big guns, namely the guys at the table. One asks if they need more recruits, but the suit man, who calls himself the Corporate Headhunter, tells him that they -- the Corporate Raiders -- should suffice. They are then ordered to open suitcases and they morph into people with metallic skins.
At Nightshade, Angela greets Miguel and Xina, offering them a tour. However, she realizes that Miguel is still with Alchemax and, despite him swearing that he's not a fan of Alchemax, she kicks him off the tour since the town's rules say that someone from a rival can't see the research and development section. Elsewhere, the corporate raiders approach Nightshade (and have another hand of gin) while a recovered Kasey initiates sex with Gabe, confirming that she thinks that he's Spider-Man. In Nightshade, Miguel contemplates buying a robotic dog named Scooby when an alarm sounds, signaling that Nightshade is under attack. (In his cell, a shadowy Sgt. Estevez grunts, "Aaallll...chemax?") The Corporate Raiders are attacked by Nightshade's "laser-sighted plasma cannons" but blast through the closed gates. Miguel witnesses their invasion and changes into his costume on a rooftop, as, elsewhere, Sgt. Estevez breaks from his cell. Headhunter announces that he's initiating a hostile takeover and, when one of Nightshade's guards fires on him, he deflects the blast back, killing him. Spidey attacks Headhunter, but, before anything else happens, Sgt. Estevez's shadow appears over Miguel and he declares that he can't decide who to kill first.
In the back-up story, Miguel manages to maneuver a soccer ball around Kron, who pants him. Everyone (including Xina) laughs and, when Kron dares Miguel to do something about it, Miguel flees. The coach orders Kron to give him 50 push-ups, but Kron suggests that he gives him his father's private line instead. The coach sends Xina after Miguel while promising to have a chat with Kron. Xina finds Miguel and, when Miguel says that she hurt him by laughing, she apologizes. But, she tells him that he'll continue to invite Kron's bullying until he challenges him. Later that night, Kron enters the girl's locker room as Xina is exiting the shower. She demands that he leave and he pulls a knife, telling her that he thinks that she's plotting against him with Miguel and that he'll show her what he does with people who get in his way.
The Review
This issue is fine -- and an improvement over the last one -- but I will say that it went pretty quick, in part because five of the 17 pages of the main story are essentially splash pages. After David spent so much time building the mystery of Nightshade, it's weird to see so little of it now that we're actually there, particularly since we're thrown straight into the fight.
The Good
1) I'm glad that Miguel is no longer suicidal. Although it's somewhat weird that he's so quickly recovered when he was just, hours earlier, planning on killing himself, I'm just going to take the win and pretend that last issue didn't really happen.
2) Headhunter and the Corporate Raiders are pretty awesome. I'm not sure what their powers are yet, but Headhunter himself seems a worthy enemy for Miguel.
3) I failed to mention it last time, but I do love that we're returning to Sgt. Estevez's story. Peter David, man. Never leaving a plot dangling.
The Unknown
I wonder where David is going with Kasey thinking that Gabe is Spider-Man. I mean, Gabe hasn't lied yet, but he's definitely misleading Kasey by failing to correct her. At some point, he's going to have to decide to tell the truth (or, at least, deny that he's Spider-man) or he's going to be outted. Knowing Gabe, I'm guessing that he's going to be indecisive and let Kasey labor under the impression that he's Spider-Man without actually lying about it.
The Bad
Angela appears nothing like she was in previous versions. I get that it's a guest artist, but it's like he didn't even look at how Leonardi had portrayed her previously.
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