I think we've all got a friend or two who don't quite fit our own image of what our friends are meant to be like. Maybe it's someone who's a little rough around the edges, not as nice as we'd like, or maybe it's someone who's a bit too haughty somehow. But the friendship is there, a bond is shared... it's undeniable. Bendis explores one such friendship, reignited out of the loss of others to whom one felt much closer.
Peter Parker is reeling from his breakup with Mary Jane Watson. It's not only the rejection of the woman he loves that stings, but the loss of the one person with whom he could talk about his life as Spider-Man. While moping around in his private hideaway (the basement), he stumbles upon some boxes of old stuff left over from when his family was all together, and in the process, he rediscovers a friendship he had all but forgotten about. He reaches out to his past, but in the process, he may be tapping into a dangerous future.
A key aspect of this series is the youth of the title character, and Bagley demonstrates here just how well he reinforces that notion in the art. Never has Peter's age been more clear, because Bagley gives us a look at his late father in this issue. Suddenly, we see what Peter would look like as an adult. The consistencies and subtle differences are impressive. I also liked the plausible and grounded new look for a new character who seems to be destined to become a problem in Peter's and Spider-Man's life/lives.
Bendis comes up with an interesting new foundation for the origin of the fairly recognizable villain on the front cover. It's certainly far less involved than the original beginnings of the character -- back in the mid 1980s in the pages of Marvel Super-Heroes: Secret Wars. Still, this new spin is like many other super-hero/villain origins... built on some hard-to-swallow coincidences. Nevertheless, Bendis's move to make the villain's origins an even more personal link to the title character strikes me as though it will provide some strong character-oriented storytelling potential.
The greatest strength of this issue is Bendis's crafting of Peter's one-time best friend. The guy -- now a college student -- is clearly flawed, someone who didn't fare through tragedy nearly as well as Peter did. But Bendis humanizes him all the same. His flaws alone don't define him; there's also determination, brains and a longing within him that make for a well-fleshed out new player in the world of Spider-Man.
