Off to a Flying Start

After seeing his successor fail to stop the new menace known as Shadrac, Peter Parker has made the tough decision of putting on the webs again to face this foe despite the promise he made to Mary Jane to retire as Spider-Man.[1] As he soars across the air, Spider-Man wonders how he is going to explain this to his wife when he realizes that he doesn’t have any web-shooters.[2] He quickly clings onto the side of a building, but his momentum causes Spider-Man to skid down the side of the wall and although he reduces his momentum he still manages to fall onto the pavement. Quickly recovering, Spider-Man ignores the concern from the crowd and quickly bounds back up the side of the building to go looking for Shadrac.

By this time, Shadrac has retreated to a nearby ally where he reels in the pain caused by his transformation. His master, Grey Dolman, is unconcerned with his pain, reminding Shadrac that he is Dolman’s slave. Refusing his new name, Grey reminds Shadric that he knows all about the flaming man’s past. How he was once Doctor Gregory Herd who later became the costumed mercenary known as Overdriver. However, when his wife was gravely wounded he allied himself with Norman Osborn and took part in the Gathering of Five in the hopes of getting the power to cure his wife. Instead, he gained the gift of death, transforming him into Shadrac, Grey’s own angel of death. Deducing this much, Herd sought out Morris Maxwell, a pawnbroker who gained the power of knowledge from the ceremony. However, Shadrac learned that Maxwell could only provide the necessary knowledge if one asked the right question. Whatever Shadrac had asked it led him to the Long Island home of Robert Drake, known as Iceman by the X-Men. It was by this time that Dolamn managed to track Shadrac down, seize control of him mentally thanks to the power he got from the spindle used in the Gathering ceremony and force him to attack Iceman instead and forced him to leave in order to help find the spindle. When Shadrac asks why all of this is happening, Grey refuses to answer he only gives recriminations for Shadrac’s failure to recover the spindle from Osborn Industries and his inability to stop Spider-Man.[3]

Meanwhile, unable to find Shadrac’s trail, Peter Parker has changed out of his Spider-Man costume and returned to TriCorp where he had stashed all of his old Spider-Man momentos after recovering them from Aunt May’s attic.[4] Before he can get at the old pair of web-shooters he has in the package, Peter is approached by his colleague Javier Caldrone who tells Peter that their boss Ted Twaki is looking for him. Peter asks Javier that he has a personal matter to attend to but Caldrone refuses to be Peter’s messenger and gives Peter a stern warning to stay out of his way and storms out of the locker room. On his way out, Peter is met by Terry Kwan who takes him to Dr. Twaki before Peter can excuse himself. Ted wants to show Peter TriCorp’s next big project, the Roma 14-X, and when Peter admits that he hasn’t read the briefings on this new experiment Twaki tells Peter that he will bring him up to date. However, with the pressing matter of Shadrac on his mind, Peter quickly makes an excuse that he can’t help today and rushes off. Seeing this, Javier takes this opportunity to point out to Ted that they couldn’t rely on Peter Parker and given Parker’s abrupt departure it gives Dr. Twaki much to consider.

By this time, Gray has forced Shadrac to take him to Morris Maxwell’s pawnshop ignoring his pleas to get help from Iceman before he dies. However, when Dolman orders Shadrac to blast down the door, his slave refuses. His violent flaming outburst draws in police officers and causes enough of a distraction for Gray to regain control. The police call for back-up and Spider-Man spots the speeding police cars and decides to follow them. Incidentally, the Iceman, who as also been out searching for Shadrac meets up with Spider-Man and after comparing notes they discover they are after the same person. By this point, Shadrac has been given orders to attack the police while Dolman goes after Maxwell. Before anyone can get hurt, Spider-Man and Iceman arrive on the scene. They manage to trap Shadrac in a bunch of webbing and ice but the villain is able to burn through everything. Leaping to safety, Spider-Man covers his fist with webs and with ice added courtesy of Iceman the wall-crawler pummels Shadrac. As the battle rages, Peter fears what might happen if Mary Jane found out he is Spider-Man again after he promised her that he would retire and hopes there are no cameras filming this battle.

Eventually, Shadrac is weakened enough for Iceman to coat him in ice again. Back within his facilities, Shadrac explains that only Iceman can save him by plunging his body to absolute zero, preventing the all-consuming flames from eating away what is left of his body. But he pleads that they hurry as he needs the two heroes from getting to Morris Maxwell and learning the location of the lost spindle which can give him even more power than he already has. Even though being frozen at absolute zero might also kill him, Shadrac insists that Iceman try to save him. The mutant agrees and tells Shadrac to get ready….

This story is continued in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #3

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Iceman, Javier Caldrone, Terry Kwan, Ted Twaki, Shadrac, Grey Dolman, Jack Brennan, Morris Maxwell

Continuity Notes

1. Peter Parker retired as Spider-Man following the events of the Final Chapter story arc. Mattie Franklin took up the mantle of Spider-Man starting in Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #1, Peter decided to put the webs back on last issue.

2. Peter and Mary Jane are referred to as husband and wife here. However, years later, their marriage is erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. As such they should be considered a common-law couple here.

3. There is a lot going on here that is not fully explained. Some facts about this whole exchange:

   • Spider-Woman (Vol. 3) #4 states that Grey came into possession of the spindle around 700 years ago and was granted mystical powers and prolonged life.

   • Marvel Encyclopedia: Spider-Man goes on to state that the spindle was stolen from Gray by Overdrive.

   • Greg and his wife Ann became costumed mercenaries under the employ of Caroline Trainer (aka the female Doctor Octopus) in Spectacular Scarlet Spider #1

   • Ann was seriously injured in during a battle wit Spider-Man (Ben Reilly) and the Dealy Boys in Sensational Spider-Man #25

   • Gray claims to have fought the X-Men previously, but that battle has never been depicted. Given his familiarity with Bobby Drake being Iceman, my assumption is that this was eventually going to be a story in X-Men: The Hidden Years (written and drawn by John Byrne) but the title was canceled before any such story could be written.

   • Greg was involved in the Gathering of Five story arc trying to get the ability to restore his wife to perfect health.

4. Peter recovered his old Spider-Man gear from Aunt May’s house last issue.

Continuity Errors

• On the opening page, Peter knows that the young woman who posed as the new Spider-Man is named Mattie Franklin even though she never told him his name last issue and this story takes place moments after. I guess she shouted her name as he leaped off the building between issues?