Coming Home

Spider-Man is back in New York City after a tip that his wife was a prisoner in Latveria led him on a wild goose chase.[1] When Peter returns to his apartment he is shocked to discover everything packed up. When he asks Aunt May what’s going on she tells him that she tried to explain things to him before he ran off to Latveria. The bank has been calling because the mortgage payments weren’t being made, neither have any of the other bills. Peter can’t understand how this could be happening since Mary Jane’s manager was supposed to be handling their finances. Unfortunately, Aunt May’s calls to him have been ignored. Peter tells May not to worry he’ll straighten everything out. He pays a visit to the office of Mary Jane’s agent and finds the place abandoned. At the bank he discovers that all of her accounts have been cleaned out and all they have left is debt. A short time later, Peter tells Aunt May the bad news as she is catching a cab back to Queens but assures her he’ll straighten everything out, as they can count at his jobs with TriCorp and the Daily Bugle for money. As Aunt May leaves Peter can’t understand where his aunt finds all this strength to keep going.[2]

Later, at TriCorp, the facility is visited by an unexpected visitor, the time traveller known as Cassandra Locke.[3] She’s not sure what decade she has arrived in but figures she must be in the 21st century given the clothing people are wearing. At first, she thinks she’s been seen when Peter Parker calls out to his co-worker Terry Kwan. Peter had trouble getting through security and asks Terry what’s going on. While she is sorry to hear about his wife, she says that he should really talk to Doctor Twaki. Before leaving she expresses her disappointment with his performance after she went to bat for him to get the job at TriCorp.[4]

Cassandra wonders why Peter Parker is so important but can’t put her finger on it. That’s when the intruder alarm begins going off and Cassandra flees thinking they’re talking about her and goes the direction that Peter Parker took off in. However, the guards run right past as though they don’t see to get into one of the labs. Following the guards into the lab she witnesses Doctor Twaki activating a device that will be the basis of every technological advancement from this day forward. She becomes concerned when she sees Twaki doesn’t seem to have quite the control he should on his experiment. That’s when she spots the espionage operative known as the Ghost phase through the wall and realizes that she is in a period before Twaki uses the Ghost’s technology to improve his invention. That’s when Spider-Man comes swinging in adding to Cassandra’s confusion. She thinks she should keep going back further in time but decides to see how this scene plays out. As Spider-Man swings in to pull Doctor Twaki and his assistant to safety, the guards accuse the wall-crawler of sabotaging the experiment. That’s when Cassandra alerts them of the presence of the Ghost.

When the guards try to shoot the Ghost, the bullets pass harmlessly through him and hit’s a crucial computer system that will cause the device to overload. Twaki tells Spider-Man the back-up switch is on the other side of the room. Spider-Man swings past the unstable energies coming out of the device to try and hit the shut-off. Unfortunately, when he throws the switch, the Ghost appears and reveals he reprogrammed the switch to ramp up the power levels instead. While Spider-Man is trying in vain to stop the Ghost, Doctor Twaki estimates that the device will soon go critical and destroy the entire city. Cassandra knows this won’t happen in her future and tries to remember how this catastrophe was averted. She remembers that Twaki averted the disaster by inversing the phase differential on the device and tells him to do that. Explaining the physics behind this choice, Cassandra manages to convince Doctor Twaki to do just that. With one crisis dealt with, Cassandra then goes to see what she can do to help Spider-Man.

Manipulating the belt controls of her time travel device Cassandra manages to put the Ghost’s phasing device out of synch. Spider-Man easily knocks out the Ghost. When he tries to thank Cassandra she tries to run but Spider-Man webs her feet to the floor. Cassandra tells Spider-Man that she is a historian from the future who has been trying to travel back in time to the Cold War. He tells her to give him some insight into the future and all she tell’s him is that she thinks he grows to be an old man. Spider-Man really wants to know is what happened to Mary Jane, but Cassandra doesn’t know who he is talking about and then disappears into the timestream again. When the guards try to stop him, Spider-Man swings away. After changing back into his civilian clothing, Peter Parker asks Doctor Twaki what’s going on. Twaki is surprised to see Peter has come to the TriCorp building. Peter admits he has been distracted recently but promises that he will refocus his life on his job at TriCorp, but unfortunately, this is too little too late as Doctor Twaki tells Peter he’s fired.

Stunned that he got fired, Peter goes to the Daily Bugle to try and sell his photos of Spider-Man. However, his bad luck is in spades as J. Jonah Jameson says he’s not interested in any photos of Spider-Man. Jonah explains that he has decided to make a change in editorial policy and tells Peter he won’t be accepting any more Spider-Man photos and suggests Peter diversify the type of pictures he takes. The whole time Jameson is talking, Peter can’t help but think that Jonah is acting strangely and then remembers his recent battle with Venom in which J. Jonah Jameson was a hostage. He was knocked out by Venom for a brief period and fears that Jonah may have unmasked him.[5]

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Ghost, Aunt May, Cassandra Locke, Ted Twaki, Terry Kwan, J. Jonah Jameson, Ben Urich, Glory Grant

Continuity Notes

1. There is a lot of exposition in this opening page here, the facts:

   • Mary Jane is believed to have been killed in a plane crash in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #13. She didn’t by the way. She’ll turn up alive again in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #29.

   • Peter got a phone call telling him that MJ was alive and a prisoner in Latveria in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #14. Peter found out this wasn’t true in last issue and in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #15.

   • 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.

2. Peter evokes the death of his beloved Uncle Ben here. You know this happened in Amazing Fantasy #15, right? Well, you should.

3. A footnote note provides a brief explanation as to who Cassandra Locke is. She is a time-traveling historian who primarily was investigating the lost era of super-heroes that predate the modern age. This was chronicles in Marvel: The Lost Generation #12-1 (the series ran numbering backwards) Her appearance here happens before she manages starts her investigation into the Front Line.

4. Peter landed a job at TriCorp in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #1, although you wouldn’t know it since he has never been seen working there since.

5. Spider-Man saved J. Jonah Jameson from Venom in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #10. While Jameson certainly had a chance to unmask Spider-Man we’ll learn in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #10, Jameson chickened out at the last minute. The reason why Jameson decides to stop reporting about Spider-Man is that he is being blackmailed by Alistair Smythe as revealed in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #20.