Amazing Spider-Man (Digital) #5
The Private Life of Peter Parker Part Five
With great reluctance, Mayor J. Jonah Jameson has agreed to give Teri Hillman, a popular reality TV show star, the key to the city. However, during the press conference, Hillman humiliates Jonah by using the opportunity to announce that she too supports the Spider-Girls — a trio of teenagers who have been doing volunteer work after being inspired by Spider-Man. However, this is just yet another publicity stunt used to sell “Spider-Girl” merchandise. Watching from the audience are Peter Parker and Norah Winters who are covering the story for the Front Line. Peter isn’t overly impressed by the situation until the shameless Spider-Girl promotion, as he enjoys watching Jameson squirm on stage.
However, his joy is not reflected by Leila, Becky and Emma — the real Spider-Girls — who are furious that Teri Hillman would co-opt their movement for her own personal gain. However, this further proves that they are just like Spider-Man, since he never gets the proper respect either. Leaving the computer lab, the three teens decide how to respond to this recent development. They entertain fantasies about how Spider-Man would handle the situation but have a hard time trying to come up with ideas on what they can do.
While at the mayor’s office, J. Jonah Jameson is furious over what Teri Hillman has done and blames his assistant, Lubeck, who came up with the whole idea. He is particularly furious that Hillman is selling her Spider-Girl merchandise on her website, bypassing an municipal taxes she would have to pay to the city of New York. Lubeck assures Jonah that he’s going to straighten out the situation, but refrains from going into details, telling Jameson that there should be plausible deniability. Once out of the office, Lubeck calls Teri Hillman’s agent — Jimmy —- to complain. Jimmy tells Lubeck to relax, assuring him that nobody is going to get fired over this.
Meanwhile, at the headquarters of the NYPD’s Anti-Spider-Man Squad, the unit is under pressure to capture Spider-Man before the week is out or they will all be fired and replaced. Seeing morale starting to buckle, Captain Gannon reminds them of the publicity they’ll have if they finally capture Spider-Man. He then begins briefing his suqad by going over all their previous failures and decides that steal will be their best strategy.[1] He tells his unit that the key to capturing Spider-Man is to start setting up surveillance on the Spider-Girls.
At that same moment, the FEAST Center is still swarmed with the media who want comment from the Spider-Girls on Terri Hillman’s recent announcement. Inside, Lelia and her friends apologize to Peter Parker for all the negative attention and suggest quiting. Peter tells them to stay since they are needed, and accepts full responsibility for the media mob outside since he was the one who instigated the initial interview that led to all of this. When they ask Peter for his opinion on what Spider-Man would do in this situation, he suggests to the girls that the web-slinger would continue trying to do the job he set out to do and gives them a suggestion on how to deal with the media outside. Moments later, the Spider-Girls are outside telling the press that they will be making an official statement at 4 PM on Monday and until then they have no further comment. Sure enough, the media leaves but the three girls still have no idea what to say at the scheduled press conference. Peter tells them to ask their teachers and parents for advice while he consults a lawyer he knows to get them some legal advice.
However, when Peter takes his roommate, Michele Gonzales, out for dinner to ask for her advice she tells him that there’s not much the Spider-Girls can do to stop Teri Hillman from making money off their idea. Peter thinks that sucks, but it’s the reality of the system according to Michele. She then admits to him that she doesn’t feel very good when she stops to consider some of the clients she represents but tells him she always throws herself into another case in order to avoid thinking about it, telling him it beats developing a drinking problem. Suddenly, everything in the room starts changing colors. Peter recognizes this as the work of a new villain called Spectrum and tells Michele to remain calm, telling her that he needs to go out and photograph this for his job at the Front Line.
In reality, Peter changes into Spider-Man so he can try and stop Spectrum. However, when he gets outside he’s shocked by what he sees going on in the streets
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Spectrum, J. Jonah Jameson, Norah Winters, Michele Gonzales, Leila Goldberg, Becky, Emma Paley, Teri Hillman
Continuity Notes
Captain Gannon glosses over the Anti-Spider-Man Squad’s failed attempts to capture Spider-Man. These incidents happened in Amazing Spider-Man #593, 602, 604 and issue #2 of the Amazing Spider-Man digital series.
