Ultimate Spider-Man #77

Background

Harry was struck dumb by his father's violent defeat. Peter tired to comfort his old friend, but the only words Harry could speak were: "I'll kill you all." That was the last anyone saw of Harry until he reappeared a few days ago. Peter, not knowing she dated Harry prior to Peter, warned his girlfriend Mary Jane to stay away from Harry. Peter learned of the dating thing from Harry. An associate of his father, a Mr. Shaw, returned harry's repressed memories. But in fact, Shaw is a figment of Harry's disintegrated mind. (are you still with me?good) As Spider-Man, Peter tries to reconcile with Harry, who then goes a startling transformation into a creature much like his father. A brutal fight follows, Peter gets on top and Harry makes a surprising request...

Story Details

"Do it... kill me..." mutters Harry to Peter. Peter, dressed as Spider-Man, hesitates, he wants to help. Harry cries. Shaw whispers in his ear, telling Harry to push this farther. He then grabs Spider-Man and throws him in the air. The police have arrived and start shooting at the monster. Harry cries "no..." and destroys a few cars. Spidey is back and kicks Harry. Shaw then points Harry towards something that will do it.

Cut to The Triskelion. Home of the Ultimates. Nick Fury sees the fight on a monitor. It's Osborn he says and he orders a Hulkbuster unit. A few moments later, the unit arrives at the fight. Harry is pleased, so is Shaw. Spidey tries to stop them, but Harry knocks him out of the way. The Hulkbusters use their weapons and Harry goes down. he transforms back into his normal self.

Spider-Man yells at Nick Fury. Why was harry begging him to be killed? Fury doesn't respond. Spider-Man hits him in the face. Immediately, he gets zapped by the unit. Fury calls a cease fire and tells Spidey to go home. Which he does. Fury then tells one of his teammates that he wants the formula of Oz cracked. And that he thinks that it's time for Peter Parker to say goodbye to those spider powers.

Later, Mary Jane is sitting on the porch. Peter arrives, he has a lot on his chest. He can't protect her because she doesn't listen. He can't have her in his life. He can't be responsible for he can't trust her. Then they hug. Peter stops the hug and runs away. MJ is crying.

General Comments

Well, what can I say? Mr. Shaw is actually a figment of Harry's mind. It's not told in the story, it's disclosed in the introduction to this issue. Phew, for a minute I thought he would be wearing some sort of cloaking device (like one of you letter writers suggested). Luckily, it's only Harry being insane. Would that cloaking device be true, think of the retcon possibilities. Can't have that happen, this is the Ultimate Marvel universe.... right?

Anyway, Nick Fury entering the battle was a highlight to me. He always seems to be one step ahead of everybody else. And with his final remark of making Peter Parker loose his spider powers, well, I'm guessing we'll be seeing him some more. Perhaps building up the tensions towards issue 100? Please, mister Bendis, anniversary issues should be something special. You missed out on issue 75, please, make 100 a big one.

The Harry thingy that was in the air for months (after the Ultimate Six mini series) is gone. With both him and Norman locked up, chances are the both of them might break out together. But that's perhaps something I'd like to see happen, one day... For now, the Hobgoblin story got wrapped up very nicely. With Peter and MJ breaking up and Fury going after Spider-Man in the (near?) future, very exciting things are possible. In other words, it took a couple of slow issues, but I like Ultimate Spider-Man again.

Overall Rating

Finally, this is what we (or at least I) have been waiting for. Lots of action, lots of drama. Need I say more? Yeah, I do. It's to all those that have taken the time to write to me directly or through the editor about my reviews. Most of you disagreed with me on the reviews. Great! Please, do continue to disagree. It shows that you care. Maybe not like I do about the character, but you care. And that's what counts. That said, why not give this one a full 5 webs? There needs to be room for improvement! Or perhaps I'm just an old geek. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go bore someone else.