Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #17
Sandblasted Part One
The Sandman ambushes a guard patrolling the prison grounds at Ryker’s Island in order to steal his uniform and sneak his way into the prison. On his way in, he overhears two other guards debating on if Spider-Man is a hero or a menace.[1] When they ask the Sandman, he drops his cover and pins the two guards to the wall with his sand and demands to know where they are keeping Floyd Baker.
While in the city, Spider-Man is web-slinging across the city when he is suddenly chased by a police helicopter. The web-slinger refuses to surrender and as he attempts to evade the police helicopter, it almost crashes into a news helicopter. Spider-Man saves the news chopper from crashing by catching it in a web net. After that close call, the two officers in the police chopper decide to let Spider-Man go.
Back at the prison, the Sandman is using the two guards as hostages in order to get past the guards and free Floyd Baker. Soon, armored guards arrive and begin spraying the Sandman with fire hoses. When they ask what he wants with Floyd Baker, the Sandman tells them he wants to free him as he is innocent of the crime he has been incarcerated for, the murder of a homeless man. Unfortunately, the constant deluge of water begins making it harder for the Sandman to keep his cohesive form and he flees into the shower where he escapes through one of the drains. Exiting from a drainage pipe into the East River. As he sinks into the water, Sandman utters an apology — as though Floyd Baker can hear him — insisting that he really tried.
The next morning, Peter Parker — in his Ben Reilly disguise — is woken up in Flash Thompson’s office at Midtown High. He asks Reilly why he’s there and “Ben” tells Flash that he got into a fight with his wife and she kicked him out. When Flash asks why he didn’t get a cheap motel room, Peter thinks about how he was heading home to the one he’s been living in since he became an outlaw. He was spotted by the police forcing him to flee.[2] Since he can’t tell this to Flash, “Ben” just says he couldn’t get a motel room because he is having money problems. When “Reilly” turns to leave the office, Flash throws a dodge ball at him. Without thinking, Peter’s spider-sense warns him and he kicks the ball into Flash’s chest so hard that it knocks him over. This confirms Flash’s suspicions that “Ben Reilly” is actually Peter Parker.[3] Since he’s been discovered, Peter deactivates the image inducer that serves as his disguise and asks Flash how he figured out who he really was.[4] Flash explains that he has known Peter long enough that he picked up on subtle cues. He then hands Peter a spare set of keys to Peter. Peter is surprised and warns Flash that he’s a wanted fugitive. However, Flash doesn’t care, reminding Peter of all the strangers’ lives he has saved as Spider-Man and explains that this is the least he can do. He then tells Peter to go there now and get some rest, saying he’ll cover for “Ben Reilly” today. After Peter is gone, Flash pulls out his cell phone and makes a call. He tells the person on the other end of the line that he needs to tell them something big, and that it’s going to be a huge payoff.
Later, at Flash’s apartment, Peter looks at an old family photo of himself with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben. He apologizes to them for everything that has happened, First, he let Uncle Ben down by doing nothing to stop the burglar that eventually killed him.[5] Now, Aunt May is a fugitive along with him as he is being hunted down law enforcement and the military and wonders what the point of it all. He cries over the fact that all he has is the picture in his wallet and the clothes on his back and regrets revealing his identity to the public. Still, he figures that since the Avengers knew who he was it would have only been a matter of time before his identity was revealed.[6] He now wonders if Mary Jane was right about self-fulfilling prophecies. That’s when Peter’s spider-sense begins going off alerting him of the fact that the Sandman is sneaking into Flash’s apartment. When Spider-Man tries to web up his wife, the webbing passes harmlessly through the Sandman’s body. He tells Peter to relax as he has come to ask for Spider-Man’s help. When Peter continues to attack, the Sandman restrains him and repeats that he needs Spider-Man’s help. When Peter stops resisting he tells the web-slinger how Floyd Baker has been sent to prison for the murder of a homeless man, a crime that the Sandman knows is a bum wrap after reading the files at the District Attonery’s office. When Peter asks who Floyd Baker is to him, the Sandman reveals that Floyd is his father. When Peter refuses, the Sandman admits that his father is a loser who abandoned his family but he is not a murderer.[7] Peter still refuses, showing the Sandman his family photo and explaining that a man like the Sandman’s father was responsible for killing someone that was a father to him.
That Sandman snatches the photo from Peter’s hand and says that the man in this photo, the man that Peter said died years ago, is the same man that his father was accused of murdering. Peter refuses to believe this, but the Sandman insists that Ben Parker was found dead in an alley a week ago.[8]
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Sandman, Flash Thompson
Continuity Notes
1. This story follows Civil War #1-7, wherein Peter Parker revealed his identity to the public to show support for the Super-Human Registration Act, then rescinded that support making him a fugitive from the law.
2, Peter, Mary Jane and Aunt May have all been living in a motel room since Amazing Spider-Man #535 when Peter renounced the SHRA and became an outlaw.
3. Flash remarks that he is glad that Peter didn’t kick the ball into his face this time as he did in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #11.
4. Flash asks if Peter lifted the image inducer from Tony Stark. Peter says he actually got it from somebody else but doesn’t say who. He actually got the device from the Beast in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #14.
5. Seventeen issues in and we’re back to referencing Uncle Ben every issue. YAY! Amazing Fantasy #15. In this story, the death of Uncle Ben is referred to as happening “years ago”. Per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, Ben’s murder happened roughly 12 years prior to this story.
6. The New Avengers have known Peter Parker’s secret identity since New Avengers #1-6.
7. For more on Floyd Barker’s relationship with his son check out Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Annual #1.
8. The dead man that the Sandman is referring to is actually the Ben Parker of Earth-6078 who was brought to the Earth-616 reality by the Hobgoblin of 2211 who was attempting to mold reality to her bidding. In the end, she was killed by one of her own Retcon Bombs erasing her from existence. As a result, Peter no longer remembers this encounter, including the arrival of the Ben Parker from Earth-6078. See Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #8-10.
