Spider-Man #18

Written by Brian Michael BendisPenciled by Oscar Bazaldua
Cover by Patrick Brown
Published July 5, 2017

   Ganke and Fabio scour Brooklyn looking for Miles when they see  people running. Fabio tells Ganke to go back to the school but he doesn't listen. Meanwhile Goldballs pops into the club and stops Hammerhead from curb stomping Spider-Man. He shoots balls at him and the flat headed gangster charges. He lowers his head and is suddenly smashed by the biggest ball Fabio can fire. He helps his friend up and carries him out while the crowd is enamored by the golden orbs that now litter the dance floor.

Insert "balls" joke here.

   When they get outside, Ganke is still there waiting with the cab. They climb inside amidst all the people distracted by the balls and Miles demands they take him back to the school. When they get there, they find Miles' mom in his room. She asks if he at least sent some bad guys to jail and back at the club, we see Hammerhead basically saying that some vigilante dressed as Spider-Man wrecked the place.

Because Hammerhead has always been so trustworthy.

   Ms. Morales calls in a favor and gets Miles there on the down low. Once there, they patch him up and mother and son have a heart to heart. He's afraid he can't control his anger and she gives him a pep talk. Don't be scared... be better than that. They get up to leave and Miles asks to see someone before they go.
   Lana lays in her hospital bed when her friends come in to see her. She's watching the news and on it, Spider-Man battles a villain. She's enamored he came to help her and hugs him much to the chagrin of his broken ribs. Back at the Black Cat's lair, she's concerned how it looks Hammerhead couldn't get this done without interference. She demands he fix it.
   Back at Lana's room, Fabio watches over her when she awakes. She's banged up, she admits, but as the conversation continues she admits she's completely in love with Miles. The issue wraps with Hammerhead on a cell phone in a seedy hotel. How much to kill someone with the proportionate strength of a spider? Glass shatters and he looks out the window... but whatever happens will have to wait as we're left to be continued.
   I just reviewed another book Bendis writes - the Infamous Iron Man. In it, I think I hit the nail on the head on what captures the best in his writing style. When an issue is quick and to the point, devoid of any overthinking and a little less on his usual heavy dialogue, it's almost guaranteed to be good. It's kinda between what Becky Cloonan does with the Punisher, where she almost doesn't write anything at all, and some of the other books where Bendis has to put in 10 million words. It's about the perfect series. This is another good one. I give it a 9/10.

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