Human Interest

Peter Parker and Ben Urich are sent to the Derleth House for terminally ill children to do a human interest story for the Daily Bugle. There, they watch as Maroc the Marvelous put on a magic show for the terminally ill children. As Peter photographs the show, one of the doctors points out a young girl named Stella, whom he told them about. As Marco does a magic trick involving a tarantula, Peter watches as the bald girl gets up and approaches the spider. When the magician assures her that it’s just a magic trick and makes the tarantula disappear, Stella screams but doesn’t make a sound.

Peter and Ben later sit in on a consultation with Stella’s parents, Jim and Annie Davis. The doctor says that they have been making progress with Stella, but she still won’t talk. Jim is still holding out for some kind of miracle, but Anne is upset because of their daughter’s illness being so serious. She is also upset that her daughter hates them for sending her to leaving her at Derleth House.

When they go to visit Stella in her room, the Davis family tells Ben Urich about how she has been staying at Derleth House for three months. Peter decides to see what the girl is drawing and is surprised to see that she is drawing a picture of Spider-Man. Deducing that Stella is a fan of Spider-Man, Peter tells her that he might be able to do something about that.

That evening, Spider-Man arrives at the Derleth House and sneaks into Stella’s room and wakes her up. She is excited to see Spider-Man who then takes her web-slinging across the city. When he asks her where they should go next, hoping Stella will talk, the little girl points out another location instead. Their tour is briefly interrupted when Spider-Man spots some thieves fleeing a jewelry store, Spider-Man puts Stella down so he can handle them. When one of the crooks sneaks up behind him, Stella finds the courage to speak and is able to warn Spider-Man before he can be ambushed.

When Spider-Man returns Stella back to her room, he tells her it was very brave of her to talk and asks if she can be brave enough to talk to her parents. Stella admits that she is afraid. Spider-Man tells the girl that her parents love her very much and that they’d be sad if she didn’t tell them how she feels about them. After telling the girl to get some rest, Spider-Man leaves and runs into the “crooks” he fought earlier. As it turns out, they are actually Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and Daredevil in disguise. They had pretended to be crooks to help Spider-Man convince Stella to start talking again.

A month and a half later, Stella has died of her illness and Peter Parker attends her funeral. There he gives his condolences to the Davis family who tell Peter that Stella started talking again and told them that she loved them. This is something that Ann will cherish for as long as she lives.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Ben Urich, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Daredevil

Topical References

• Doctor Desai is depicted as having an old computer that uses a CRT monitor. This should be considered topical as these types of computers are considered obsolete.

• Stella is diagnosed with leukemia. This should also be considered topical since future advances in medical science might make the treatment in this story dated as well. For example, advances in stem-cell research have been beneficial in treating this illness. Such treatments weren’t around in 2004 when this comic was published.

Slyde into Destiny

While on patrol, Spider-Man is glad to hear the sound of a bank alarm as it has broken up the monotony of an otherwise boring day. Inside the bank, he starts trouncing the robbers when their leader, the villain known as Slyde comes charging at Spider-Man. Slyde is now wearing a black costume and carrying a katana blade.He speaks by making puns and using grandiose statements, even going so far as giving his various attacks names. Spider-Man is very confused, even more so when Slyde orders his men to flee and then tosses throwing stars at the web-slinger as he tries to get them. When all the throwing stars miss, Slyde curses Spider-Man for his agility even though the web-head was standing completely still.

After Slyde makes a run for it, Spider-Man suddenly remembers who Slyde is and that they have fought a few times before in the past.[1] At this time, Slyde has gotten outside where his goons are being arrested by the police. As he incapacitates the officers he answers the questions of a reporter on the scene. When she doesn’t recognize him, Slyde explains that he changed his look. When she asks for his motivations, Slyde tells her a bullshit story about how his parents were killed by super-heroes and from then on swore to destroy them all and got motivation for his identity when he encountered an African Sliding Snake.

That’s when Spider-Man comes outside and when Slyde pulls his gun, he accidentally ejects the ammo clip. Spider-Man then points out to everyone that there is no such thing as an African Sliding Snake and that Slyde was actually a scientist who decided to use his non-stick coating for crime. Slyde then draws his sword, which Spider-Man yanks away from him as well. He then gives Slyde some advice, if he wants to reinvent himself to stay current, he should grow a beard and call it a day. As he gives this advice, Spider-Man uses his webbing to slam a police motorcycle into his foe from behind.

Later, as Spider-Man swings up to the rooftops, he wonders why Slyde was trying to reinvent himself, and figures he was trying to make himself look cool. At that same moment, Sylde is in the back of a police prisoner transport. He takes his mask off and looks at his reflection on the metal surface of the truck. Slyde is impressed with himself for going toe-to-toe with Spider-Man, even going so far as to convince himself that the web-slinger on the ropes at one point. Putting his mask back on, he gloats about how men his age are buying the same music as their children and buying fast cars, not him though, he’s perfectly fine being forty years old.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Slyde

Continuity Notes

1. Spider-Man has fought Slyde on a few occasions including Amazing Spider-Man #272, Web of Spider-Man #23, and Spider-Man Unlimited #6.

Topical Reference

• Spider-Man wonders if he is being “Punk’d”. Punk’d was an obnoxious prank show that began in 2003. It originally starred Ashton Kutcher who played pranks on his celebrity friends from 2003 to 2007. The show was revived on a number of occasions, first in 2010 to 2012, again from 2013 to 2015. There is a third revival that just started in 2020 because tragedies come in threes.

• Slyde says men his age are buying the same CDs as their children. This should be considered topical as Compact Discs are not as ubiquitous as they were in the early 2000s, as digital media formats have become more common place.