Sensational Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #29
Background
Having just cleared himself from the murder of Joey Z. and the beating of Norman Osborn in the IDENTITY CRISIS story, Spider-Man is now working on restoring his reputation.
Story 'Back on His Game!'
Sensational Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #29
| Editor: | Ralph Macchio |
| Writer: | Andy Zefowicz, Todd DeZago |
| Pencils: | Roberto Flores, Tom Lyle |
| Inker: | Juan Viasco, Robert Jones |
| Cover Art: | Mike Wieringo |
Two young people, hopelessly in love, make a potentially fatal mistake. They walk into a mugging attempt. Fortunately, they are foiled by the HOR... whoops, wait, Identity Crisis is over, so that means Spider-Man's back! Spidey stops the muggers, and is greeted with cheers of approval.
The next day, Peter and Mary Jane go to the Daily Grind to talk with Desiree about her psychic thingy. Peter's afraid that Desiree might be onto his secret. Along the way, they bump into Buzz, who shows Peter the newspaper with the headlines: "Seventh Dealer Disappears." Peter shoves it off, then goes to talk with Desiree. Desiree reveals that she knows Peter is Spider-Man! Oh, all right, no she doesn't. Rather, she tells Peter that Ben's last thoughts before he died were of Peter. All I gotta say is ... well, D-UH! Anyhow, we also are shown the straining of Billy Walters' and Peter's friendship.
Character development now over, it's time for action. Spidey prowls the night, and bumps into his ex-flame, the Black Cat. Here, Tom Lyle takes over (thank God!). Black Cat tussles around a bit with the punks, is aided by Spidey, and we find out that Black Cat is in search of a runaway by the name of Dougie. And Dougie's buddy, Mickey, might know something about it.
Later, we find out that Mickey is a 16-year old dealer, and Black Cat goes out to "talk" with him. No sooner has the crimefighters found Mickey than they're captured by a garbage truck, owned by none other than ... ARCADE!
General Comments
Well, after increasing sales 10% due to Identity Crisis, you would've thought the Spidey folks would've tired to keep those new folks. Unfortunately, they chose to go this route using fill-in stories. This story lookes like nothing special. Still, at least there's some supporting character sub-plot stuff going on for a change.
Overall Rating 
Average, or a little below. But let's see how it all pans out in the upcoming conclusion.