Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #23

Background

The Marvel Adventure books published by Marvel are all-in-one stories that have no actual connection between issues (other than the major elements of the Marvel Adventure Universe itself). Thus the comics themselves are prefect for young readers or for fans who are just looking to pick up an occasional issue without having to deal with 45 years of continuity or the grittiness of Civil War.

Story 'Dust-up in Aisle Seven!'

The Sandman has come to town and is running roughed through the local mall. Unlucky for him, today is the day that May Parker has brought her favorite nephew out for school cloths shopping, so now it is up to Spider- Man to save the day yet again.

General Comments

Peter Parker begins his day by waking up in his own bed. Not an unusual thing to occur you say, well, this morning for Peter it is, as he woke up in his new Smart suit. Somehow, unbeknownst to him, even though he didn't will it to activate, his stealth costume activated itself, and now he is wearing it. Not such a bad thing, actually, only his beloved Aunt May is knocking on his door, ready to come into his room. As he doesn't want his Aunt to know about his dual life, this could most assuredly be a bad thing.

Reacting quickly, just as she enters his room, he flips out of sight, behind her, and as she enters the room, he is exiting the bathroom, a mouth full of toothpaste (wearing his pajamas) as if that was where he was all along. That is when May informs Peter that they are going to the mall so that she can purchase new school clothes for him. Peter, as can be expected, is simply thrilled that his Aunt is going to buy him goofy-looking clothing so that the other kids from Mid-Town High will wind up picking on him even more.

In the parking lot, Peter and his Aunt pass by a black limo with a local mob boss who is about to sic Sandman on the owner of the Mall who refused to play ball and pay protection money. Now it is the Sandman's job to put a hurt on the mall to show that the mob boss means business, and payment should be made.

As can be expected, inside the mall, Flash spots Peter wearing some outfit that May thinks is darling (and was, in 1942) but is totally lame by today's standards. Seeing a great opportunity to further humiliate Peter. Flash snaps a picture with his cell phone, which he plans on e-mailing to all the kids in school.

On the other side of the mall, Sandman has arrived, and begins to terrorize everyone in his path. Hearing screams of terror, Pete slips away, and changes into his fighting togs in one of the changing rooms (not the best idea he's ever had, but, more on this later). Swinging into action, Spidey and Sandy begin to mix it up, while Flash begins to lament the loss of his phone (along with the embarrassing picture of Pete in it that he hadn't as of yet mailed out) which inadvertently got trassed in the melee between the two protagonists.

While Spider-Man and Sandman go at it, the Mall security rent-a-cops rush out to the floor in an effort to assist the civilians caught up in the brouhaha. One of them, Milt, is still sitting at a monitor, where he is watching a clip of some young teen switching into Spider-Man in one of the dressing rooms (see, I told you there would be repercussions). Realizing that he has a million-dollar video on his hands, he quickly burns a CD of the clip and pockets the CD.

Outside the security room, the two super-powered foemen are still intent on thrashing each other, while Milt is simply attempting to get away with his ill- gotten gains. As soon as Spidey spots Milt, he realizes that the guard must have evidence of his quick change, and politely begs him not to betray Spidey's secret. Before he can respond, Spidey is clocked by Sandman. Now in the appliance department, Spidey turns on all of the fans in an effort to simply blow away Sandman. It almost works, but Sandman retaliates by flinging a bunch of buzz saw blades at our hero.

Back in the young men's Dept, a guard is attempting to get May to leave the store; only she won't budge, as she is waiting for Peter to come back. When he finally gets her to move along, the path they walk in is directly into the line of fire of the warring costumes. Sandman snags the guard as a hostage and tries to move on, only to get pasted by Spidey with several bags of quick cement. Sandman drops Milt, and brings all of his powers to blast Spidey. Realizing that the hero is in trouble, Milt starts a fire with one of the nearby grills from the bar-b-que dept.

With the sprinklers going on, Sandman has become Cementman, and is now frozen in place. Realizing that Spidey probably saved his life, so he tosses the CD onto the grill, melting it. As he exits the building, Milt is confronted by a real cop who informs Milt that, according to Spidey, Milt was instrumental in capturing Sandman, and is thus eligible to collect the reward for Sandman's capture that has been posted.

Everything returning to normal, (Sandman is captured) people return to the mall, where May buys cloths that would have looked good on Frank Sinatra, but look, well goofy in 2007.

Overall Rating

As always, Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man delivers the chills and spills that we have come to expect. It is truly wonderful that no matter who is writing this series, the stories are always bright, funny, entertaining, and in the same modern-day classic feel that we have come to expect.

Footnote

Nothing special here, only a great story, go out and buy the current edition.