Spider-Man: Quality of Life #1
Quality of Life Part One
Spider-Man is in the middle of a battle with Doctor Octopus. He plays into the Doc’s sensitivity about his weight to make him angry enough to stop watching where he is going and run into a net of webbing. Adding insult to injury, Spider-Man has written a condescending message asking Octavius to smile as he takes pictures. When Otto tries to break free, Spider-Man knocks him out with a single punch and then takes a selfie with his defeated foe. He then leaves Doctor Octopus tangled up in a ball of webbing for the police to deal with.
Meanwhile, at Sloane-Kettering Hospital, Martha Connors is about to enter an MRI exam and makes sure that her husband Curt and son Billy are still there. Curt assures her that they’re not going anywhere. Meanwhile, Peter Parker has taken his photos of Spider-Man’s battle with Doctor Octopus to the Daily Bugle. Unfortunately, J. Jonah Jameson is not interested in them because he believes they are fakes. Despite Peter’s efforts, Jonah can’t be convinced they’re real. On his way out, Joe Robertson sends Peter to cover a protest happening outside of Monanno Building. At that same moment, Monanno CEO Cliff Arliss watches the protestors on the ground from his office on the top floors of the Monanno Building. He thinks the protestors have no idea what Monanno does for the world as their pesticides and genetically modified plants make sure the world doesn’t starve. He tells his female companion, a woman named Yith, that the soya strain they recently patented can grow in even the harshest climates saying that the protestors will be up to their elbows in tofu thanks to him. Yith — who prefers meat — asks what the big problem is. That’s when Cliff tells her that the soy is genetically coded so that it can only work with Monanno made fertilizer. Eventually, those chemicals bleed into the ground and ultimately it’s only good to grow Monanno crop as no other plant will grow there. Yith now understands why they are so angry and finds it amusing, but Arliss defends himself saying that it is a legitimate way of doing business. It’s his concern over profits that led him to hire Yith as his Florida facility has been sabotaged a number of times over the last few months and relying on law enforcement isn’t going to cut it this time. He then hands Yith a dossier he has collected on Curt Connors and his alter-ego, the Lizard.
Back at the hospital, Martha’s doctors tells Curt the bad news, that Martha’s tumor is getting bigger. Despite their treatment efforts, the cancer has spread to Martha’s spine limiting the number of treatments they have left to use. Later, Curt tells his wife the prognosis as Billy waits outside of her room. Hearing that there is a surgery available, Martha wants to take the risks even if it could leave her crippled afterward, pointing out that given her diagnosis, surgery would become eventual. When Curt and Billy return to the hospital, Billy tells his father that he overheard the doctor say that the surgery isn’t going to work. Billy has issue with the 10% success rate, but Curt snaps at the boy that he doesn’t want to discuss this issue now. Billy gets upset and tells his father that he’s going back to the hospital and storms out of their hotel room. Curt, meanwhile, calls his lawyers at Nelson, Donleavy, and Grant. He is furious that they haven’t been able to do much bout Monanno, the company Curt believes is responsible for Martha’s cancer because their lab was ten miles upstream from their home in Florida. Unfortunately, even though his lawyer understands Curt’s position, and tells him that there’s nothing he can do as Monnano is just too big. Hanging up the phone, Curt begins to transform into the Lizard.
By this point, Peter Parker has arrived outside the Monnano Building to photograph the protestors. Suddenly, his spider-sense begins going off. It draws his attention to Yith, but he doesn’t know why and then draws him to look up where he sees the Lizard climbing up the side of the building. As the Lizard attacks Cliff Arliss in his office, Yith makes her way upstairs in the elevator while Peter Parker slips into an alley to change into Spider-Man. Yith makes it upstairs first, having stripped away her sunglasses and shirt, revealing that she has reptilian eyes as well as a lower torso like a snake. Hearing the Lizard threaten to kill Arliss, Yith — having produced two uzis — tells the creature that is exactly what she plans on doing to him as well.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus, the Lizard, Yith, J. Jonah Jameson, Joe Robertson, Martha Connors, Billy Connors Cliff Arliss
Topical References
All of the science in this story surrounding Martha’s cancer treatment and Monnano’s genetically modified crops, fertilizers, and pesticides should be considered topical as they were what was current at the time this comic book was published in 2002. The science behind cancer treatment and GMO technology has evolved since then and will continue to change as science makes new discoveries in both fields.
