Written by Dan Slott
Penciled by Stuart Immonen
Cover by Alex Ross
Published Mar 15, 2017
Cover by Alex Ross
Published Mar 15, 2017
In Delvadia, Spider-Man's team takes out a drug cartel while a mysterious invisible woman curses them for interfering. Keeping her cover, Tarantula asks to take over the mission but Nick Fury tells them Spidey stays in charge. Between him, Mockingbird, Tarantula and Devil Spider, they know they're in the right place by seeing the goblins. Kingpin's information was correct - this is where Norman Osborne has been hiding.
Back on the streets, the translucent stranger sets bombs in the road but is forced to create a diversion once their spotted by the residents. Meanwhile, Spider-Man's team is growing weary of their team leader. He reminds them where the spiderpods if they wanna bail out and Mockingbird tries to convince Spidey he needs backup. He tells them he needs a win and their target is actually the Goblin. Meanwhile, the bombs detonate topside. He tells the team to take the baddies and head out, but Bobbi is sticking with him.
They spot the target, but as they capture him, he insists he isn't Norman Osborne. He drags the perp into the pool and detonating a pumpkin bomb at the bottom, they escape. Later tests reveal the disguised man is not Osborne much to the chagrin of a disappointed Spider-Man. Discovering that the true identity of the stolen face was captured, the real Norman Osborne prepares to switch up his face once again while back stateside, Peter Parker heads to the cemetery to reflect on the past events of the Jackal encounter.
Pete goes to Aunt May's apartment and inside, enjoys a reunion with her, Betty Brandt, Harry and young Stanley Osborne. Harry asks Peter to discuss some things with Betty, who tells him she recently received a voicemail from her dead ex-husband, Ned. Once again a clone from the Jackal, Peter is more disturbed by his actions affecting others. He boards a commercial flight with Bobbi to continue the search for the Goblin as well as attend an event for the Uncle Ben Foundation in Hong Kong and after weirdly asking her out, is surprised on the flight by Aunt May and Harry. They land and Pete plans for their immediate return as soon as the gala is over.
Spidey and Mockingbird go to work busting heads. In one of the oddest white guilt moments I've seen in comics recently, Spider-Man is conflicted about beating up Asian people... in Hong Kong for some reason, which I guess is just Dan Slott's attempt to out-social justice warrior Brian Michael Bendis. Either way they eventually track down one of the perps who knows the plan, using the Uncle Ben Foundation as cover. There, a disquised Norman Osborne sees Aunt May and plans a face to face when suddenly he hears someone address a "Mr Osborne...". Seeing they meant his son Harry, as well as learning he changed his name out of shame, he tells himself that he has one final lesson to teach him.
That lesson is interrupted by a sniper rifle, and the person aiming it is this mysterious invisible woman. As luck would have it, Spider-Man and Mockingbird have gotten there just in time. As they knock the gun from her hands and Spider-Man electrifies her stealth frying it and revealing it to be Silver Sable. She says she isn't dead and that what Spider-Man just did is save Norman Osborn's life... and with that we're left to be continued.
Dan Slott is a good writer, but like so many fans who've criticized him in the past, I'm slowly being counted among them. Why this story has to be so complicated, I won't ever know. The fact that he made Peter Parker awkwardly ask Mockingbird out and then the weird crack about beating up Asians in an Asian country makes zero sense other than trying to use up pages. He's been writing this book forever and it wouldn't break my heart for Marvel to shake the tree a little bit. I give it a 6/10 with hope it gets better in time.
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