Countdown Part 1

Spider-Man returns to his apartment building after some web-slinging and after changing back into Peter Parker, heads down to his apartment.[1] He is surprised to see a number of his neighbors in his apartment, including John Anderson, Randy Robertson, and Caryn Earle. They all explain that they wanted to entertain Flash Thompson, who is still in a catatonic state, but Peter was the only person with a working television.[2] Meanwhile, Doctor Octopus is listening to the news as he is working on upgrades to his mechanical arms. Once he is complete, he tests them out. The mechanical arms can delicately turn off the radio while also being able to crush the head of a mannequin. Satisfied, Octavius decides that it is time. While back at Peter’s apartment, everyone takes turn playing video games. Everyone is stuck on a difficult level and they play it for hours and hours. It’s dark when Randy notices something that the others miss. When they ask what it was, Randy swears that he saw Flash’s character move. This causes everyone to pause and look at Flash.

The following day at the Daily Bugle, Joe Robertson is trying to get J. Jonah Jameson to pick a story to cover. However, Jonah isn’t interested in any of the international news because they aren’t interesting. Instead, he suggests that they go with a munitions dump explosion in Milwaukee due to the old journalism adage “if it bleeds it leads.” Later that afternoon, Peter Parker is out at a Greenwitch Village bar with Flash in the hopes of trying to get him to snap out of his catatonic state. He is soon joined by Mary Jane Watson who tries to cheer Peter up, telling him that it’s not his fault that Flash is in this condition. Peter and Mary Jane make a date for the evening. As she leaves, Peter admits how much he loves her and as if responding, Flash squeezes a squeaky toy that Peter put in his hand.[3]

Later that evening, Spider-Man is on patrol thinking about how things are going well, but he can’t seem to shake the feeling of impending dread. This is because his spider-sense is beginning to stir, with a low-level buzz that doesn’t seem to identify any specific or immediate danger. Suddenly, he runs into Doctor Octopus, who admits that he was intentionally looking for the web-slinger. Octavius tells Spider-Man that he has come to ask him a question and wants a simple yes or no answer. Spider-Man decides to humor his old foe, and Otto asks him to take his mask off and walk across Times Square for the whole world to see. Naturally, Spider-Man refuses, and Otto decides that he is going to unmask the web-head sooner or later.[4] Although Spider-Man is able to evade Otto’s mechanical arms, he is eventually ensnared in them. As Octavius squeezes his foe, he explains that he has enhanced his arms, making then ten times stronger than before. Letting the wall-crawler go, Octavius gloats how easy he could unmask Spider-Man himself, and offers the hero one last opportunity to do it himself. Although his arm is seriously injured, Spider-Man refuses and blacking out from the pain throws himself off the Brooklyn Bridge. Otto tells Spider-Man to run and hide, warning him that when he wakes up tomorrow, the world will have changed.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus, Mary Jane Watson, Randy Robertson, Glory Grant, Flash Thompson, Caryn Earle, John Anderson

Continuity Notes

1. Spider-Man recounts the death of his Uncle Ben here. You know the drill. Great Power. Great Responsibility. Blah blah blah. Amazing Fantasy #15.

2. Flash Thompson has been in this state after the Green Goblin orchestrated a drunk driving accident with Flash at the wheel in Peter Parer: Spider-Man #44-47. Flash will remain in a catatonic state until Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3.

3. Mary Jane talks as though she is not living with Peter at this time because she isn’t. The pair had been separated for a time from Amazing Spider-Man Annual 2001 until Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #50. Although they got back together, Peter insisted that they take it slow. The pair won’t start living together again until around Amazing Spider-Man #509.

4. Spider-Man states that the current score between him and Doctor Octopus is 5-to-0. This is an exaggeration of course, they have fought many, many more times than that. Since I’ve got nothing better to do, up to this point Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus have fought each other in: Amazing Spider-Man #’s 3, 11-12, Annual 1, Untold Tales of Spider-Man #19, Amazing Spider-Man #18, 32, 53-56, 587, Sentry/Spider-Man #1, Spider-Man Family (vol. 2) #9, Amazing Spider-Man #88-90 Spider-Man: Death and Destiny #1-3, Amazing Spider-Man #112-115, 130-131, 157-159, Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Negative Exposure #1-4, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #13,/Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #1, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #15, Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #72, 124, 73-79, Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1-12, Marvel: 1985 #6 Web of Spider-Man #4-5, Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #17-18, Amazing Spider-Man #296-297, Amazing Spider-Man #334-339, Spectacular Spider-Man #173-175, Spider-Man #18-23, Lethal Foes of Spider-Man #1-4, Spider-Man Unlimited #3, Amazing Spider-Man #426-428, Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #6, 9-10, Peter Parker: Spider-Man #39-41, and Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #43-45. That’s a total of 36 battles.

Topical References

• Peter’s friends appear to be playing a Playstation 2 based on the controllers they are using (the dead give away is that these controllers aren’t wireless) This should be considered topical since the console was discontinued in 2012.

  The news broadcast that Doctor Octopus is listening to makes a lot of topical references:

  • It references a baseball game where the New York Yankees lost two to one and featured a baseball player named Martinez. This is likely a reference to the 2004 American League Championship Series, which featured the Boston Red Sox playing against the Yankees. At the time, the Sox had a pitcher named Anastacio Martinez.

  • There is also a report about the spread of the SARS virus in Hong Kong. SARS, aka Severe acute respiratory syndrome, is a flue like illness. This reference is topical as its reference here was made due to the fact that this comic was published during a SARS outbreak that November 2002 until May 2004.

  • There is also reference to the “Roadmap to Peace”, which was the United States’ efforts to end the conflict between Israel and Palestine. This “roadmap” was a huge thing between 2003 and 2005. However, this was a project of then-President George W. Bush and after his second term ended in 2009, this plan fell on the wayside.

• Joe Robertson also goes over a number of news stories that should also be considered topical references. They are:

  • A clamp downs in Bosnia over voter tampering. Bosnia had an municipal election in 2004. There’s not any indication on Wikipedia (which is the length of my research) about any sort of vote tampering.

  • He also states that Palestinian delegation is coming to New York City to view site of the World Trade Center. This story was published between the years after 9/11 when the original Twin Towers at the World Trade Center were destroyed and the Freedom Tower was built in its place. This story is so old they don’t even refer to the site as “Ground Zero” as it was colloquially known until the Freedom Tower was built. I shouldn’t have to tell you why this is a dated reference.