J. Michael Straczynski's controversial story arc that delves into Spider-Man's past and the lives of those around him comes to an end, and after all of the big revelations and emotional conflicts, a question arises: what does this mean for future Spider-Man stories? The answer: little or nothing. After some plotting that went beyond this particular reader's ability to suspend disbelief but some solid scripting that brought out the extreme emotions sparked by those weird plot points, the end result is surprisingly ordinary. A new villain has been added to Spider-Man's rogues gallery, and little else is resolved. And now that I think about it, I'm not all that interested in the resolution either.
Gabriel discovers that everything Norman Osborn told him and his sister, Sarah, about their past was a lie, and he finds himself confused and distraught at the moment when an offer of greater power is presented. Meanwhile, Spider-Man learns Sarah is dying in hospital; the Golbin serum running through her veins is finally about to compromise her system, and only a transfusion from a genetic match can save her. No one who fits the bill can make it in time, and Spider-Man soon finds himself fighting an old enemy on some new turf.
Deodato's style suits the dark atmosphere for which the script strives here, but there's a contrast in the art that interferes with the storytelling. On the one hand, there's the realistic tone in how the artist presents the figures that's reminiscent of Stuart (Superman: Secret Identity) Immonen's style. But the extreme appearance of Spider-Man and the new Golbin doesn't fit in with the softer, realistic look of the other characters. Furthermore, the new Golbin design is rather uninspired, just rehashing what we've seen before. It would have been nice to see something new done with the classic villain's look.
Something that struck me about this issue was just how many similarities there are between some plot developments here and some that Mark Millar has incorporated into his stories in Marvel Knights Spider-Man. Spider-Man is shown to be helpless in a hospital bed, targeted by greedy shutterbugs and vulnerable thanks to media coverage. Millar pulled it off better, I'm afraid, showing violence and personal crises having real, lasting effects on the hero. Furthermore, though the writer tries to explain a plausible reason for Mary Jane's appearance and interaction with Spider-Man, her move to cross the line from Peter Parker's life into Spider-Man's just doesn't seem like a smart one, and Spidey's acceptance of her presence seems out of character.
Where the story ultimately fails is in its attempt to get us to care about Sarah and Gabriel. The connection to Gwen Stacy just isn't strong enough; this development comes out of nowhere after decades, and it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. If the violence were lifted out of this story, if Sarah and Gabriel were actually young children, there might have been more of a connection with the reader. Instead, we get a couple of villains who are generic at best. 4/10
