Amazing Spider-Man #653

Sep 5

Sep 5 Amazing Spider-Man #653

All You Love Will Die

The Spider-Slayer’s Slayer Swarm has attacked Andru Air Force Base in a scheme to get revenge against mayor J. Jonah Jameson for his past wrong doings. The Spider-Slayer’s scheme is to kill everyone that Jameson cares about. While Spider-Man is busy preventing the space shuttle carrying John Jameson from blowing up, the security detail are attempting to remove the mayor, his father Jay, and his secretary Glory Grant from the scene. Unfortunately, the Locust Army. As Jay and Glory try to fight back against the cyborgs trying to pull them out of the limo, the Spider-Slayer explains how his first target it Jonah’s son, comparing the situation to some Old Testament revenge. He tells Jonah that the person who will kill John is none other than the first person Jonah ever wronged, Mac Gargan, aka the Scorpion.[1]

Meanwhile, Spider-Man clings for dear life on the side of the shuttle’s rocket boosters. The only thing standing in his way is the Scorpion and the clock is ticking as the rockets are reaching escape velocity and pretty soon there won’t be anymore breathable air. Inside the shuttle, John Jameson and his co-pilot are scrambling to get the shuttle back under control after its systems were hacked by the Spider-Slayer, but to no avail. Back outside, Spider-Man spots an escape hatch that can get him inside the shuttle and tries to fire a web at it, but the g-forces make this move useless. With no other choice, Spider-Man turns on his Avengers communicator and calls for help. Unfortunately, the only person at Avengers Mansion is Squirrel Girl who is looking after Dani Cage while the rest of the team is off on a mission. Getting nowhere with Squirrel Girl (because she’s incredibly dense) Spider-Man hangs up the phone to evade the swing of the Scorpion’s tail, and figures he’s screwed.[2]

Back on the ground, Max Modell and his assistant, Jurgen Muntz assess the damage done to the facility as the Spider-Slayer and his minions flee the scene. With Smythe gone, Max figures they can get to the control room and take back control of the space shuttle. As they run to the command center, Jurgen notices that Peter Parker is nowhere to be found. Max finds this suspicious because he also missed Spider-Man’s battle with the Hobgoblin.[3] As Max and Jurgen contact John on the shuttle, Spider-Man decides to use the Scorpion to his advantage by goading the villain into striking the escape hatch with his cybernetic tail. Back on the ground, Max and Jurgen are unable to crack the Spider-Slayer’s program and regain control of the ship. They are unaware that Doctor Octopus is observing events through one of his octo-bot drones. Since Smythe’s scheme will prevent Octavius from completing his Octahedral, he decides to lend a helping hand and uses his drone to secretly aid Modell in cracking the code.

With the ship back under control, John releases the rocket thrusters and initiates the shuttles onboard rockets to get them out of range of the bomb. As the thrusters release, Spider-Man lets go and goes into free fall, leaving the Scorpion to get caught in the explosion. However, as Spider-Man plummets to the ground he realizes that he’s doomed unless he thinks of something quick. While the Spider-Slayer is furious over this interruption, he tells J. Jonah Jameson that Spider-Man can’t be in two places at once and has already dispatched part of his Swarm to go after Jonah’s wife, Marla Madison who is currently having a day at the spa with her mother-in-law, May Parker. He is also setting his sights on Jameson’s old friend, Joe Robertson, who is hard at work at the Daily Bugle.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man is ambushed by the Scorpion who survived the blast. Catching Spider-Man in a bear hug, Gargang figures he can survive the fall even though they are falling at maximum velocity. Luckily, Squirrel Girl has pulled through for Spider-Man and he is rescued by Ms. Marvel, who flies onto the scene and pry’s the web-slinger free from the Scorpion’s grasp. The Scorpion hits the ground and miraculously survives unscathed.[4] He is quickly picked up by the Spider-Slayer’s ship. After Mac explained what happened, Smythe is furious that the Avengers were called in so soon.

With help from Luke Cage, Power Woman, and Iron Fist, Spider-Man takes down the part of the Swarm attacking the mayor. It’s here that Spider-Man learns from Jonah that Smythe is also targeting Joe Robertson and Marla Madison. Spider-Man is incredibly concerned because his Aunt May is out with Marla this afternoon. Luke Cage tells the web-slinger to go as they have things there, so Spider-Man hops back into the Quinjet with Mockingbird and the Thing and head back into the city with Ms. Marvel and Power Woman following from behind. At that moment, the spa where Marla and May are relaxing is attacked by the Swarm. At that same moment, at the Daily Bugle, Phil Urich gloats when Norah has to cancel another date with Randy Robertson to follow a lead on the Hobgoblin story with Phil. Randy, jealous of all the time Norah is spending with Urich, has become suspicious about how Randy has been getting all of these sudden leads.[5] That’s when a Swarm led by a disgraced reporter named Shawna Tyron arrives to get revenge from being forced out of her job at the Bugle.

As everyone else runs for cover, Joe tries to talk Shawna down. When Randy suggests helping, Phil tells him that there is no profit in being a hero. That’s when Ms. Marvel and Power Woman arrive to clean things up.[6] At that same moment, Spider-Man, the Thing, and Mockingbird arrive at the spa to save Aunt May and Marla Madison. However, as each group of the three teams try to fight their foes it becomes abundantly clear that they all have some sort of early-warning sense much like Spider-Man’s spider-sense. Spider-Man recalls how villains have exploited his own spider-sense using certain frequencies in the past and comes up with a solution on how to interfere with the Slayer Swarm’s insectile senses.[6] When Spider-Man says he needs to get home to get a device to help, the Thing tells him to get going while they hold things down at the spa.

Spider-Man hates to leave Aunt May alone, but has no other choice. He races back to Horizon Labs and changes out of his costume. However, when he steps out of out of a supply room he runs right into Max Modell who wants to have a talk with him.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Slayer Swarm (Spider-Slayer, Scorpion, Fly-Girl, Jumping Spiders, Locust Army, Shawna Tyron), New Avengers (Luke Cage, Power Woman, Ms. Marvel, Mockingbird, Iron Fist, the Thing), J. Jonah Jameson, Jay Jameson, John Jameson, Aunt May, Marla Madison, Glory Grant, Max Modell, Jurgen Muntz, Norah Winters, Joe Robertson, Phil Urich, Squirrel Girl, Dani Cage, Doctor Octopus

Continuity Notes

Every member of the Slayer Swarm has a grudge against J. Jonah Jameson:
- For the Mac Gargan, he blames Jameson for the side effects caused by the experiments Jameson paid for to transform him into the Scorpion back in Amazing Spider-Man #20.
- Alistaire Smythe blames Jameson for fueling his father’s obsession to destroy Spider-Man when he first hired him to build the first Spider-Slayer robot back in Amazing Spider-Man #25. Over the years, the radioactive isotopes used to build his robots gave Spencer cancer and he died in Amazing Spider-Man #192.
At the time of this story, Squirrel Girl had just recently been hired on as a caretaker for Luke Cage and Jessica Jones’ infant daughter Dani in New Avengers (vol. 2) #7.
This would be when the Hobgoblin attacked Horizon Labs in Amazing Spider-Man #649-650.
The Scorpion wishes the Sentry was still alive as he’d like to go up against him. At the time of this story, the Sentry was killed in action in Siege #4. He will later be resurrected in Uncanny Avengers #9.
Phil Urich took on the Hobgoblin identity in Amazing Spider-Man #649. Having grown attracted to Norah Winters, he has been recording his activities as the Hobgoblin and selling them as exclusives to the Daily Bugle to spend more time with her and cock block her boyfriend, Randy.
Both Ms. Marvel and Power Woman don’t like the look of the new Daily Bugle. About that…
- Both Ms. Marvel and Power Woman have worked for the Daily Bugle at one time or another. Ms. Marvel, in her civilian identity of Carol Danvers, briefly worked for the Women’s Magazine which was published by the Bugle from Ms. Marvel #1-22. Meanwhile, Jessica Jones was hired as a consultant for the Pulse, a Bugle published magazine that focused on superheros from The Pulse #1-14.
- Their comments about the “new’ Daily Bugle are a reference to the fact that this publication was originally the Front Line (founded in Civil War: Front Line #11) until it legally changed its name to the Daily Bugle in Amazing Spider-Man #648.
- What happened to the original Bugle? Long story, but in a nutshell it goes like this: After struggling financially the original Bugle was sold to Dexter Bennett in Amazing Spider-Man #547. Bennett rebranded it as the DB! and subsequently ran the business into the ground. Angered that the paper got a government bailout, Electro destroyed the original Bugle building in Amazing Spider-Man #614. Jonah bought back the rights and gave them to Joe Robertson in the aforementioned Amazing Spider-Man #648.
Spider-Man cites the times that the Chameleon and Doctor Doom exploited his spider-sense to their own ends. The Chameleon used it to send a message to Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #1, while Doctor Doom used a machine to track Spider-Man by his spider-sense in Amazing Spider-Man #5. The memories depicted in Spider-Man’s mind borrow panels from those very issues.

Lock and/or Key Part Two

The Looter and his armed goons have secured the Federal Hall on Wall Street where he hopes to use the key to the city to open a long lost vault that has been hidden for over three hundred years. When one of the prisoners tells him that the National Parks Service won’t stand for this, the Looter asks who is going to stop him, unaware that Spider-Man and the new Power Man are watching the scene unfold from the skylight.

As they come crashing through the window, Spider-Man explains that he was quickly able to deduce what the Looter was up to by doing a quick Internet search. When they land on the ground, Power Man tells Spider-Man to deal with the armed goons while he takes on the Looter. Unfortunately, despite his bravado, he is easily knocked aside. As Spider-Man prepares to attack the Looter explains how this building was chosen as the capital for New York during the Colonial Era. It was first used as a storehouse for the United States’ cash reserves. However, after pulling off a secret panel revealing an incredibly old lock, he tells them that the building housed an even bigger secret.

The key to the city fits the lock and at the turn of a key, a secret passage opens in the floor. He then blinds the two heroes with his dazzle gun and runs down the stairs. In the secret chamber the Looter finds a massive meteor. The whole way he explains how the Freemasons, under the command of Benjamin Franklin, hid the meteor there for secret ceremonies and how part of the reason Abraham Lincoln was assassinated was because he was not a Mason and was asking too many questions about the alien rock. The Looter intends to release the gasses trapped inside the space rock to boost his powers. However, as he prepares to smash the rock it suddenly shatters his hand revealing a Lovecraftian horror hidden inside.

When Spider-Man arrives on the scene, the creature snares him in his tentacles. Luckily, Power Man leaps down into the hidden chamber, impaling the creature on an American flag, killing it. With the Looter in custody, Power Man decides to take down his internet ads for his hero for hire business since supervillains are the only ones who seem to be interested in paying for his services. When Power Man suggests that he and Spidey become partners, Spider-Man insists that he wouldn’t want to deprive Iron Fist of such a great sidekick.