*** (three of five stars)
Favorite Quote: "At ease, S-Man. I'm not this Risque person. I'm Strange." "And I'm whacked out. What's your point?" "Now I get why the other guy had a medical degree. Makes for better intros." -- Strange and Spider-Man
Summary
In Mexico City, a guy robbing a grave is caught by a security guard, who he then promptly kills. Elsewhere, a young woman looks at an image of Spider-Man in a glowing orb and a disembodied voice tells her that Spidey will be her ally in her mission. From his hotel room, Miguel watches the crowds gather on the streets of Mexico City for the Day of the Dead celebration, reflecting on how it was the desire to have a sturdy suit to party at a previous Day of the Dead celebration that led to the creation of his current costume. Xina (archly) compliments him for being a gentleman and sleeping on the sofa and Miguel reminds her that they agreed to be friends. She asks what "romance" has to do with lust and he responds that she's not Miss Super-Irresistible. Offended by the comment, a naked Xina makes her way into the bathroom. Miguel looks out the window again, remarking to himself that he would've been unable to act on any feeling of being ungentlemanly because the people in the neighboring room killed the mood by making "noises like wounded rhinos half the night." On cue, Gabriel appears in the neighboring window and falls from it in shock that Miguel is staying next to them. Miguel grabs him with a Web-Line and pulls him into his room. Xina enters naked with a towel over her head (post-shower) and suddenly realizes that Gabe is in the room. Xina retreats to put on some clothes while Miguel tells Gabriel to keep his hand covered (since it's covered with webbing).
Meanwhile, at an apartment building, a superintendent pounds on "Morgez's" door, telling him that people are complaining about the smell. The shadowy figure of the graverobber answers the door, telling the super that he'll never leave if he enters the room to discover the source of the smell. The super, seeing a body on the floor, flees, telling Morgez to take care of the problem. Morgez closes the door, breaks his skylight, and promises the corpse, "Soon, my sweet...very soon." On the streets, Xina tells Kasey that she should've seen it coming that both brothers would've wanted to come to Mexico to relive the good old days. Kasey disagrees with Xina's comment that they think alike, saying that they're nothing alike, since Gabe is "forceful, dynamic." She asks Xina if she's offended that she doesn't like Miguel and Xina tells her that she's "ecstatic." Behind them, Gabe admits that he's having trouble telling Kasey that he's not Spider-Man, since, every time he tries, she initiates sex. Kasey and Xina ask what they're discussing, but Xina is distracted by a guy in a Spider-Man suit. Miguel notes that a lot of people wear the skull image there and Kasey asks why she thinks that Spider-Man would be following her. Above them, in a sky car, the young woman arrives in Mexico while, in his apartment, Morgez uses some sort of amulet to try to resurrect the corpse. On the street, Xina tries to convince Miguel to enter the parade, when a bright burst of light (from Morgez's apartment) bursts into the sky, blinding Miguel (due to his hypersensitive vision) and serving as a beacon for the young woman.
In his apartment, Morgez is devastated that his spell failed to resurrect his sister, after searching for years for the amulet and incantation. However, in a nearby graveyard, skeletons begin to emerge from their graves. At the hospital, a doctor notes Miguel's unique "corneal arrangement" and Gabe tells him that it's a family trait because their grandfather ate some "radioactive carrots." The doctor says that Miguel's flash-blindness should pass if he stays in a darkened room with bandaged eyes. The doctor tells them that Miguel has asked that they all go enjoy themselves, while, in reality, Miguel has left his hospital room to go find the source of the burst of light, despite his "fuzzy" vision. He encounters the young woman levitating in front of him and mistakes her for Risque. She tells him that she's "Strange" and that she's there to check out the disturbance in Mexico. She asks for his help, telling him that she's not sure what's happening. Meanwhile, skeletons walk the streets of Mexico.
In the back-up story, Miguel hitches a ride with Dash (from last issue) and asks to go to the city. He's explaining to Dash that he's fleeing a "nutcase" at school when Dash accidentally hits and kills a raccoon. As other raccoons cross the road, Dash notes that the "little masked hero" died trying to check if the coast was clear for his friends, getting the job done. Miguel notes that it left him as roadkill, an apt metaphor in his mind. Dash says what the raccoon did was admirable and Miguel asks if he's "worth less than a dead raccoon" just because he's playing it "smart." He asks Dash how he'll know what the right thing is and Dash tells him that everyone knows deep down what it is; it's just a question of whether they'll do it. At school, Tyler Stone presses to wrap up the meeting, since Miguel isn't there to back up Xina's story, but Miguel arrives (and sticks out his tongue at Kron after he growls at him), inviting the panel to ask him whatever they want to ask.
The Review
This issue was certainly more fun than the last few issues, due for the most part to the light but loaded banter between Gabriel and Miguel. (The puns, however, were almost criminal.) It more or less delivers on the early promise of the idea of getting Miguel outside New York; going one step further and sending the brothers O'Hara to Mexico City was definitely inspired.
The GoodThe Day of the Dead festival has obviously played an important role in this series from the first issue so it makes sense to use it as a way to bring together a lot of different plot threads. First, we get Gabriel and Miguel in the same place so it's pretty clear that Kasey is either going to be more convinced than ever that Gabriel is Spider-Man if he's not present when Spidey appears or learn the truth if he is present. Second, we get the introduction of the 2099 version of Dr. Stranger and her presence is Mexico is pretty understandable given that someone has just called forth an undead army. Plus, we seem to be getting somewhere with Xina, who clearly is going to play some sort of role in Miguel's life for the next few issues. It's all a great combination of old and new plots.
The Bad
This issue again feels artificially truncated to make way for the back-up story. I would've preferred a little more insight into why Morgez felt the need to raise his sister from the dead or why Strange is who she is. If the back-up story had been decent, I'd be OK with waiting until next issue for those answers, but David instead uses a fairly heavy handed metaphor to convince Miguel to return to school and testify against Kron. Although we do discover who Dash from last issue was, he seems unbelievable preachy for a simply cabby picking up a hitchhiking kid. Sure, the story speaks to Miguel as a reluctant hero from the start, but we already know that; a raccoon didn't have to die for us to be reminded of it.
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