Amazing Spider-Man #621
Out for Blood
After his last encounter with Mister Negative, Spider-Man has enlisted the aid of the Black Cat so she can break into Negative’s hideout and make sure he doesn’t have any of his blood left to make more of his deadly Dragon’s Breath.[1] Spider-Man has insisted in tagging along because he thinks it is too dangerous for Felicia to do alone. However, to prove she can handle it, the Cat uses her bad luck powers to short out the energy coming out of one of the Inner Demon’s swords. However when Spider-Man’s grip on the side of a wall snaps a piece of wood the guard becomes aware of their presence. Spider-Man quickly knocks him out and webs him up, but this puts the Black Cat on a clock, much to her annoyance.
Meanwhile, in Forest Hills, May Parker is kicking her neices out of her home after it was trashed in her absence, telling them to send a message to her cousin that she will be sending them the bill.[2] Harry tries to convince May to let him stay in the house because he has nowhere else to go. He reminds her how, when he still had access to his family fortune, he paid to have the house restored. This does little to move May tells him that she never liked the Osborn and accuses him of being a negative influence to her nephew. Then, after telling Harry he’s nothing without his money, slams the door in his face.[3]
Back at the scene of Spider-Man’s recent battle with Mysterio, Yuri Watanabe coordinates the NYPD’s efforts to collect evidence. Carlie Cooper assures her that the gas used by Mister Negative at the scene is only harmful to Spider-Man as Dragon’s Breath is DNA specific. However, she tells Yuri that she was able to collect a sample that she can reverse engineer. Yuri takes this to mean that Carlie was suggest they use it to kill Spider-Man, but walks away before Cooper can explain that she wants to come up with a counteracting agent. That’s when Carlie gets a call from her father and tells her to meet him in a secluded spot so they can talk things over.[4]
While in Chinatown, the Black Cat has Spider-Man tag along through the ventilation system, but not because she needs his spider-sense to warn her of trouble, but to try and make out with him. Spider-Man tells her to focus on after disabling the security system, the Cat leaves Spider-Man in a hallway to stop the oncoming Inner Demons so she can use the distraction to break into Mister Negative’s safe.
At that same moment, Mary Jane Watson gets a knock on her door. At first she thinks it is Peter coming by after a battle as Spider-Man, but it turns out to be Harry Osborn who invites himself in and tells her he just needs to stay for a day or two until he can get back on his feet, telling her it’ll be like old times.[5] Mary Jane lets him stay, but she doesn’t think anything good can come out of this situation.
Back in Chinatown, Spider-Man cuts loose, enjoying the fact that he can use his full strength on the Inner Demons because they can’t die. That’s when Mister Negative arrives to join the fight. Spider-Man tells his foe that he has figured out how his powers work and that after using his corrupting influence someone he can’t do it a second time, making it useless against Spider-Man.[6] When Spider-Man decides to match strength against Mister Negative, he’s surpirsed when Negative shoves him with so much force the web-slinger goes flying out of the hideout, smashes through a few buildings before ultimately crashing into a nearby alley.
Meanwhile, Carlie Cooper meets with Ray in the storage space locker where she has been keeping her mother’s things. She decided to prove if this man is really her father or an impostor. Closing the locker door, Carlie puts on a gas mask and shatters a vial of Dragon’s Breath she tells him that she synthesized using her own DNA. She figures that it will either prove that he’s an impostor. If he dies, she says it is just as well because as far as she is concerned her father has been dead to her for years. Growing angry, Ray attacks her, settling things for Carlie. As she struggles with the man who has claimed to be her father, Carlie says she didn’t actually use Dragon’s Breath, but knock out gas. Once the gas takes effect, Carlie gets up and calls Captain Watanabe.
By this time, the Black Cat has cracked Mister Negative’s safe and finds stacks of money as well as a vial. She reminds herself that she needs to swap out the blood sample so Negative doesn’t know she is there. Not far away, Mister Negative has arrived in the alley where Spider-Man has landed and finds no trace of the web-slinger. He calls out to Spider-Man and tells him that his code of honor says that he must get revenge on Spider-Man for invading his home. The web-slinger responds back by telling Negative that he invaded his home first, pointing out that all of New York City was his home long before Mister Negative arrived on the scene. Later he meets up with the Black Cat who gives him the blood she stole from Mister Negative, telling him she replaced the vial in Negative’s safe with pigs blood she got from a butcher. When she tries to get Spider-Man to fool around with her he is in too much pain after his fight with Negative. Insulted, the Black Cat leaves, telling the web-slinger to call her when he feels like a man again.
Meanwhile, May Parker returns to the penthouse she shares with her new husband, Jay Jameson. Jay has just gotten off the phone with her sister Jan who just told him that May sent her nieces back to Boston and asks what’s wrong.[7] May tells him that she doesn’t need freeloaders in her life and tells him she wants to enjoy her golden years in peace.
The following morning, Mary Jane wakes up and is surprised to see that Harry is cooking her breakfast and figures that this arrangement might work out after all. While on the Lower East Side, Peter arrives at his apartment and finds Carlie Cooper waiting on his stoop. She says she came to tell him off for backing out on their lunch date the other day but seeing his black eye takes him up to his apartment. There, he asks Peter’s roommate Michele if they have a first aid kit. She directs Carlie to the bathroom, unconcerned that Peter is in bad shape. As she treats Peter’s wounds, she tells him that he has one more chance with her and not to screw it up. When Peter asks if this is the new take-charge person she was talking about outside, she say it is, telling him that when you go through a guantlet like she has, you come out the other side as a different person.
At that moment, at Phelcorp Pharmaceuticals, Curt Connors is hard at work on a formula that utilizes the r-complex. As he tries to explain this to his boss, he doesn’t care about the details, only that he has something to bring up to management. He stresses how Phelcorp has a few patents that are expiring soon and he needs to bring something new to the bosses upstairs. He also reminds Connors that they are his last chance since nobody else will hire him due to his history as the Lizard and that he needs to prove to the courts that he can support his son. Angered, Curt assures his boss that he’ll bring him something that will be bleeding edge.[8]
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Mister Negative, Aunt May, Jay Jameson, Carlie Cooper, Harry Osborn, Mary Jane Watson, Black Cat, Michele Gonzales, Ray Cooper, Curt Connors
Continuity Notes
Dragon’s Breath is a deadly poison that targets specific DNA. Mister Negative had forced Spider-Man to hand over a blood sample after the web-slinger interfered in his efforts to eliminate the Karnelli crime family. That happened in Amazing Spider-Man #547-548.
Some facts about what’s going on here:
When Aunt May got married in Amazing Spider-Man #600, she invited her family - the Reilly’s - to stay in her home.
Harry Osborn was also invited to move in after it was discovered that he was homeless in Amazing Spider-Man #603-604.
While she was gone, Peter was attacked by Raptor and Kaine in Amazing Spider-Man #610, causing serious damage to the house.
May returned from her honeymoon in Amazing Spider-Man #618 and after stumbling upon the fact that Mister Negative is actually her boss Martin Li, was corrupted by his influence, which is why the sweet elderly woman is being such a bitch here.
The Parker home had previously been heavily damaged by Charlie Weiderman in Amazing Spider-Man #518. As explained in Amazing Spider-Man #581-582, when Harry returned to New York one of the first things he did was use his family fortune to repair May’s home. Harry was just recently cut off from the family fortune by his father during the events of Amazing Spider-Man #595-599.
For years, everyone thought Ray Cooper was dead after a drunk driving accident. It was later revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #618-620 that he faked his death because he was a dirty cop working for the Maggia. The battle with Mysterio also happened during those issue.
Harry says it’ll be like old times, but not like some of the less happier moments of their friendship. Harry makes specific reference to….
When they used to date. Harry dated Mary Jane for a time although specific issues are kind of hard to pin down because there is no official announcements of them getting together and breaking up. She started dating Harry shortly on the regular around the time Peter and Gwen Stacy started going steady (so around Amazing Spider-Man #59) their relationship kind of came to an end when Harry was struggling with drug addiction in Amazing Spider-Man #96-98.
He also mentions the time he became the Green Goblin and tried to throw Mary Jane off a bridge. Harry had been the Goblin on-and-off since Amazing Spider-Man #136. He attempted to throw Mary Jane off the Brooklyn Bridge in Spectacular Spider-Man #199-200 in an attempt to emulate the time his father killed Gwen Stacy on the George Washington Bridge in Amazing Spider-Man #121.
Mister Negative previously corrupted Spider-Man in Dark Reign: Mister Negative #1-3. Spider-Man was eventually able to fight off the effects.
Jay mentions how he reunited May with the Reilly family as a wedding gift. He did this in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #36.
This is setting things up for the Lizard’s return in Amazing Spider-Man #630-633.
