Sensational Spider-Man (vol. 2) #23
Cold-Blooded
Mary Jane Watson wakes up from a fitful sleep to find that Peter is not sleeping in bed next to her. She finds him crouched on the railing of the balcony in costume. When she asks what’s wrong, Peter says that he couldn’t sleep and that he feels something. Then, he suddenly puts on his mask and tells Mary Jane to go back to work because he’s going to be working this evening. With that, he leaps out into the night.
The following morning, Mary Jane gets up at dawn so she can be at the theater in time for make-up and finds both Peter and Aunt May at the kitchen table. Seeing Peter struggling to stay awake, she asks him if he has a rough night. Peter is thinking about the night before when he fought the Vulture. As he sips his coffee, Peter tells her it was rough, but he’s experienced worse. At that same moment, Doctor Curt Connors is toiling away in the basement of the Museum of Natural History. That’s when he gets a phone call from a colleague named Doctor Treyman who asks for Connors to come and see an ancient stone Treyman uncovered, even though geology is not his area of expertise.
Meanwhile, Peter Parker arrives at the Bronx Zoo and uses his press credentials to be allowed on the scene. There the police are trying to make sense of why the monkeys went berserk in their cages and killed each other. Hearing this, he remembers how he fought the Vulture the night before and that Adrian Toomes explained that he was hungry and a vulture only eats the dead. Peter then asks to see the rhino exhibit and there he photographs another grisly scene, two dead rhinos who appeared to die after repeatedly ramming into the wall of their enclosure. When he asks one of the zoo caretakers why the rhinos essentially committed suicide, he is told that all of the animals in the zoo suddenly went crazy the night before, some more than others.
At that moment, at the Daily Bugle, John Jameson waits patiently for his father, J. Jonah Jameson to come out of a meeting. Although he tells Jonah’s secretary that he doesn’t mind waiting he still rakes his fingernails across his briefcase.[1] That’s when he notices Mary Jane has come by looking for Peter Parker. When John tries to catch up with her, Mary Jane says that she’s not feeling well and suggests they meet up later. John sees the look of pity on her face and figures she won’t be calling anytime soon. However, when she unknowingly drops her scarf on the floor, John picks it up and figures they will be meeting sooner than he thought after all.
Meanwhile, Peter Parker is riding the subway when suddenly something begins setting off his spider-sense. He’s drawn to a little girl who is hiding a sick puppy in her jacket. When she asks him not to tell any subway officials. Peter is confused over the entire experience. Elsewhere in the city, Curt Connors hunches down in an alley trying to prevent another transformation into the Lizard. At that same moment, Peter calls Mary Jane to tell him about his spider-sense while Aunt May watches the evening news where the top story is about the Invisible Woman stopping five machete-wielding men, one of many acts of violence that appear to be plaguing the city. Peter, now in his Spider-Man costume, tells her how his spider-sense is misfiring. As she examines knives in the kitchen, Mary Jane suggests that maybe Peter is getting sick, but he doesn’t think so and then abruptly goes to the next line when another call comes in.[2] Hanging up, Mary Jane goes back into the living room and asks May if she enjoys living in Stark Tower among the other Avengers. May admits that while she enjoys spending time with Jarvis, the Avenger’s butler, she does missing living someplace normal.[3] That’s when May notices that Mary Jane is holding a knife and asks her why she has it. Mary Jane is shocked to realize that she had been brandishing a knife and has no idea why.
At that moment, Peter is answering the other call from a frantic Curt Connors who tells Spider-Man that he feels another transformation into the Lizard coming on. Spider-Man begins racing toward Connor’s home telling Curt to take his pills. Connors tells the web-slinger that it is too late for that and tells him that he thinks he may have hurt someone. After telling Spider-Man that his son Billy is at home with him, Curt can’t hold off the transformation and the Lizard takes control. The creature then reiterates that Billy is home alone with him and then hangs up the phone. As Spider-Man pleads with Curt to fight the Lizard, the creature drops the phone and with a second lizard creature leaves the room.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Vulture, Lizard, Mary Jane Watson, Aunt May, John Jameson, Billy Connors
Continuity Notes
The narrative of this story references John Jameson’s past history of transforming into the Man-Wolf by the strange stone he found on the moon. John first turned into the Man-Wolf back in Amazing Spider-Man #124.
Peter mentions his recent battle with Morlun and his new powers. This all happened in The Other: Evolve or Die story arc. Check out Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1-4, Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #19-22, and Amazing Spider-Man #525-528
The man May has been spending a lot of time with is not Edwin Jarvis but a Skrull spy as we’ll learn in Secret Invasion #1. He replaced the real Jarvis prior to New Avengers #1.
Topical Reference
The little girl asks Peter not to tell because dogs are not allowed on the subway. This is topical because the rules for riding on the New York subway system have changed (I can’t find exactly where, but I know its a thing, thanks Google) Basically, you’re allowed to bring a cat or a dog on a New York Transit vehicle as long as that pet is in a carrier or bag. One could assume that the little girl didn’t have an appropriate pet carrier.
