Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #28
Distractions
Mary Jane has been locked up for quite some time and once again she tries to get her captor to talk to her, let her contact her husband, something other than the silent treatment he has been giving her this whole time.[1] Her captor listens to her pleas but cannot bring himself to speak and quickly leaves the room.
Meanwhile, Peter Parker is delivering a television for a friend of Randy Robertson named Fallon. She immediately starts hitting on Peter making him very uncomfortable. This discomfort increases when he learns that Fallon is under house arrest after beating another man bad enough to send him to intensive care. Peter makes a quick getaway, promising to call Fallon soon to arrange a date. Peter if furious by the time he gets back to the apartment he shares with Randy Robertson as Randy is trying to set him up with someone again after he told Randy he’s not ready to date again. Before he goes in, Peter calms himself down and steps inside. He finds not only Randy but also Glory Grant and Jill Stacy and all three are very interested to know how things went with Fallon. He also learns that Jill and Glory encouraged the situation. That’s when Peter asks if they were aware of all of Fallon’s piercings, tattoos, and criminal record. Hearing this, Glory get upset with Randy and drags him out of the room so they can talk. This leaves Peter alone with Jill, who apologizes for having Randy pick the girl to set him up with but agrees with the others that Peter needs to move on and start seeing someone new. Peter tells her that he’s not ready to start dating and that he already met someone who loves him, and she was taken away from him.[2]
Later that evening, Spider-Man is web-slinging across town and after some thought thinks maybe his friends are right. That’s when he sees violence explode on the streets below. It’s an all-out gang war that includes the Enforcers among the combatants. Seeing that a lot of the fire is focused on a single limo, Spider-Man tries to stop the Enforcers from shooting further. That’s when the occupant of the limo — Jimmy-6 — emerges with guns blazing.[3] Jimmy tells Spider-Man that this isn’t his fight and to beat it, but the wall-crawler refuses to leave when he spots Jimmy’s wife and child are trapped inside the limo. Spider-Man leaps in and keeps the Enforcers busy so Jimmy can get his family to safety. The Enforcers gang up on Spider-Man and he’s knocked across the street by the Ox. As he recovers, Spider-Man wonders what’s wrong with him. Suddenly feeling out of sorts, Spider-Man wonders what’s wrong with him. At this same time, the man who has been holding Mary Jane prisoner is watching the news coverage of Spider-Man’s clash with the enforcers. As Spider-Man was moving to defend himself against the Enforcers the Stalker suddenly begins mimicking Spider-Man’s various movements. When Spider-Man tries to web-swing after the Enforcers he feels a sudden sensation of pain in his arm and falls to the ground. From his hideout, the Stalker feels this too and ends up dropping a jar of lollipops that he is putting away. Back at the scene of the battle, the Enforcers consider killing Spider-Man while he is vulnerable but decide to finish their job, confident that they’ll eliminate Spider-Man some other time.
Later, Spider-Man pays a visit to Jimmy-6 at his safe house. After learning that Jimmy’s wife and child were taken to someplace safe, Jimmy explains why he has run afoul of the Kingpin. One of his minions, in an attempt to make a name for himself, robbed an illegal card game. Unfortunately, this was one of the Kingpin’s operations. Since Jimmy-6 refuses to sell out his own men it has made him a target for elimination instead. That’s when the Enforcers come crashing in through the window. As the Ox begins choking Spider-Man, the Stalker begins to feel it himself. Spider-Man quickly breaks free and beats the Enforcers into submission and then tells Jimmy that nobody is going to get killed this evening, even the Enforcers. Later that evening, Spider-Man returns to the scene of the battle and sees that a billboard was damaged revealing an old advertisement underneath the current one. Spider-Man is shocked to discover that it’s an old advertisement featuring Mary Jane.[4] Meanwhile, the Stalker is standing in front of the door to the room where he has trapped Mary Jane. Hearing someone on the other side again she pleads with them to talk to her and let her know if she’s still alive.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Stalker, Mary Jane Watson, Randy Robertson, Jill Stacy, Glory Grant, Enforcers (Montana, Fancy Dan, Ox), Jimmy-6
Continuity Notes
Mary Jane has been a prisoner of her stalker since he staged her death in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #13. She and Peter Parker 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.
Jill Stacy says it’s been almost six months since Mary Jane seemingly died. This doesn’t fit with the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, which operates on a 4:1 ratio. Instead of six months, Mary Jane would have been “dead” for about a month and a half based on how the timescale works.
In the middle of this gunfight, there is some exposition about the Kingpin trying to reclaim control of the criminal underworld. The Kingpin’s empire was dismantled in Daredevil #300 forcing him into an exile from New York City. He had recently returned following the events of X-Men (vol. 2) #64. He had been warring with the local crime bosses since Spider-Man: Made Men #1. Incidentally, the Kingpin and Jimmy-6 had recently brokered a peace deal back in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #6-8.
This billboard advertisement was one that Peter first saw back in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #2.
