Peter Parker: Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #11
Background
Peter's been keeping the web-slinging secret, MJ's been keeping the stalker's calls and messages secret. That doesn't make for happiness - especially since MJ seems to have figured out that Peter is sneaking around in the suit again!
Story 'An Exemplary Day'
Peter Parker: Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #11
| Editor: | Ralph Macchio |
| Writer: | Howard Mackie |
| Pencils: | John Romita, Jr. |
| Inker: | Scott Hanna |
| Cover Art: | John Romita, Jr. |
| Contains Component: | Spider-Man Promo (Fast Lane Insert) #1 |
Jill's father has gone missing, presumably on the trail of Senator Ward, whom he considers a menace of cosmic proportions. MJ doesn't have a problem with asking Spider-Man to see if he can find him. Peter heads to the Bugle... and then...
Then we go into The Eighth Day, Part 3 of 4. A crossover from Avengers, or some such. All I know is that just as things were starting get het-up, we get some pointless cross-over, involving eternal beings, cosmic machinery in the basement of the Bugle, and the usual two-(or-one)-dimensional Spider-Man who always rears his uni-planar head in crossovers. Spider-Man saves the city, but now he has to save the world, as shown in Juggernaut #1...
Yep, it's sad but true. Marvel hijacked Spider-Man in the middle of some long-overdue plot development, just for the sake of hyping some poxy new spin-off series. Are they trying to destroy whatever chance Spidey has of getting his titles back to some level of readability, or is this just accidental destruction? Anyhow, they achieve the goal of turning this from a much-needed reconstructive tale, into yet another high-tech hyper-villain bloated instantly-forgettable half-tale of pointless mystic-cosmic-bickering, loaded with the usual assortment of big-name super-twits who should know better than to be seen dead in an ink-wasting fiasco like this one.
General Comments
Well, this is really sad. We were finally getting to see Howard Mackie doing something interesting, but as always, every promise of interest in any Mackie story is always (and I mean ALWAYS) ruined. Sometimes he just abandons the plot, sometimes there's a stupid ending, or sometimes like this some pointless cross-over takes priority, and turns the whole thing into a sub-standard tale of pallid irrelevance.
Overall Rating 
Good start, but rapidly went downhill. Two webs.