Free Comic Book Day 2007: Amazing Spider-Man
Swing Shift
It’s Aunt May’s birthday, and now that Peter has decided to stop being Spider-Man for a while, he plans on making it to her home on time for once. He calls her after stopping off to pick up a lemon cake from May’s favorite bakery in SoHo and tells her that he’ll be there in about an hour. That’s when his spider-sense begins going off and he narrowly avoids getting run over by a new villain called Overdrive who is speeding down the road in his modified sports car. With the police in tow, Peter doesn’t think they can handle Override on their own and slips into a nearby alley. After changing into Spider-Man he webs up the cake to the side of the wall and follows the signal on his spider-tracer.
Down the street, Overdrive’s employer, Mister Negative, contacts him to make sure that he managed to secure the artifact.[1] Overdrive confirms that he has it and promises he’ll have it in his employer’s hand as soon as he shakes the cops. That’s when Spider-Man lands on the hood of the car and rams his fist through the windshield. In the pursuing police car, rookie police officer Vin Gonzales is unhappy to see Spider-Man getting involved because he sees him as nothing more than a vigilante. His partner Alan O’Neil tries to convince him Spider-Man is actually helpful By this point, Spider-Man has torn the roof off Overdrive’s car and is shocked to see that he has a number of Spider-Man bobbleheads on his dashboard. As it turns out, Overdrive is a huge Spider-Man. However, when Spider-Man refuses to give him an autograph, the villain electrifies the hood of his car, shocking the wall-crawler.
Meanwhile, at the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson is upset and complaining to Joe Robertson about how Spider-Man has finally taken his advance and stopped his vigilante activities and the Daily Bugle is suffering financially as a result. That’s when Betty Brant bursts into the office to tell Jameson that Spider-Man is back. Jonah tells her to use every resource at the Bugle’s disposal to get the story. While at the Bar With No Name, a group of super-villains watches the news coverage of Spider-Man’s battle with Override. As they all debate who is going to win, the Bookie, begins taking bets laying 5-to-1 odds that Override to win against Spider-Man.
By this time, Spider-Man is being dragged down the street as Overdrive continues to try and race away. Trying to shake loose the wall-crawler, Override activates the flame throwers that are built into the exhaust system. This forces Spider-Man to let go of his webbing. This forces the driver behind him to slam on the breaks, rolling her car. That’s when Jackpot — the city’s newest super-hero — arrives and catches the car, saving the driver from injury. While Jackpot deals with the irate drivers, she suggests Spider-Man continue going after Overdrive.[2] Spider-Man lands on top of the squad car being driving. Vin says Spider-Man is under arrest, but the wall-crawler tells him to focus on the task and navigates them through the New York City traffic and ram Overdrive’s car off the edge of the Queensboro Bridge. Instead of falling into the water below, Overdrive and his souped-up car are wrapped up in webbing by Spider-Man who leaves a note behind denoting his involvement. When Overdrive sees the note from the “friendly neighborhood Spider-Man”, he asks if he can keep it. As Vin and Alan decide what to do next, Spider-Man returns to Aunt May’s wedding cake and realizes his webbing won’t dissolve for a half an hour and that’ll make him late for Aunt May’s birthday party.
That evening, May gets home from an evening out with her friends and finds Peter sleeping on the couch and a slightly damaged birthday cake on the table. Seeing her nephew fast asleep, May prays to her late husband and wishes that Peter could have grown up to be a bit more responsible.[3]
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Overdrive, Aunt May, Betty Brant, J. Jonah Jameson, Joe Robertson, Bookie, King Cobra, Boomerang, the Spot, Ox, Hydro-Man, Slyde, the Answer, Speed Demon, Kraven the Hunter, Mister Negative, Vin Gonzales, Alan O’Neil, Jackpot
Continuity Notes
The identity of Overdriver’s employer and the item he stole is revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #546.
Jackpot’s name and that she calls Spider-Man “Tiger” is supposed to make people suspect that Jackpot is secretly Mary Jane. However, this is not the case as we’ll learn in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #35. She’s actually a woman named Alana Jobson.
It’s been a while since they referenced poor dead Uncle Ben (Amazing Fantasy #15) . May makes a comment about Peter being more responsible at his age. Per Civil War #2, Peter was 15 when he first got his powers. Per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, this would make Peter roughly 27 at the time of this story.
