Spider-Man: Blue #4

Background

Part 4 of the retelling of some tales from Spider-Man's past. Written by Jeph Loeb with art by Tim Sale. Mary Jane has entered the scene and made a big impression on all of Peter's friends, including Gwen Stacy. Issue 3 ended with Harry asking Peter to become roommates.

Story 'Autumn In New York'

The story starts with a "klik". Peter starts his tape recorder and continues telling his story to Gwen. This time, he wants to talk about Aunt May. Aunt May, a frail woman, yet very strong. Peter and May are sitting at the kitchen table. It seems Aunt May overheard Harry and Peter talking. She thinks it's a good idea that Peter takes the offer. She'll move in with Anna Watson when Peter leaves for the city.

Cut to a prison. Some old, bald guy seems to have a heart attack when having dinner. It's the Vulture. One of his fellow inmates named Blackie kinda forces the Vulture to tell him where a spare costume is hidden.

Peter takes Aunt May to Anna Watson's house. Mary Jane is there. As Peter wants to tell her something, Harry arrives. She goes with him, leaving Peter standing. Aunt May mentions to Anna that she never cared much for that Harry Osborn boy.

Back at prison, Blackie is helped by a shadowy figure on his escape from prison. He also helps him locate the costume and then reminds him of the deal they made. Because the police have arrived, he has to leave the scene really quickly.

Over at Harry's appartment, a party is going on. MJ, Gwen and Flash are there. The girls are shooting some pool and dancing. Flash is standing near the window, hoping to see Spidey swinging past it. They're all waiting for Peter to arrive.

But he's not there; as Spider-Man, he is doing his web thing across town. Suddenly his webline gets cut. It's the Vulture, meaning the new Vulture. A fight follows, but because Spider-Man is caught totally off-guard, he goes down. The final panel shows him laying in the snow on a rooftop, not moving. The story ends with a "klik".

General Comments

Again, the story is told as a flashback. The talk with aunt May is from Amazing Spider-Man (volume 1), issue 46. Getting the location of the spare Vulture costume is from issue 48, as is the escape and the fight. The final panel of this issue is the same as the final panel from issue 48. In the original story, there is no party at Harry's place going on during the fight.

The shadowy figure is not in the original stories, but I think I now know who he is. Because with this isue, two of the original stories are skipped. We did not meet the Shocker and Kraven. Then it hit me, when looking at the shadowy figure again, here and in the previous issues, it'll probably be Kraven.

And you might have noticed, there isn't really much happening this issue. There's a lot of conversation going on, and several pages of it concern Aunt May--which is kinda nice for a change (it can't always be about Gwen or Mary Jane, right?). I've avoided summarizing these talks, because otherwise there wouldn't be much left for you to read, now would there? In other words, go get this book!

Overall Rating

Last issue, I said I was going to deduct points if they kept messing with history. Well, they stayed pretty close to issue 48, so I won't. Besides, by skipping the Shocker and Kraven stories, they kept the flow going. The story is great, the artwork is great, what else is there to say? Oh, right, Kraven's next... Wanna bet?