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| Amazing Spider-Man #31 | |
 WRITER: J. Michael Straczynski
PENCILLER: John Romita Jr. COVER BY: J. Scott Campbell & Townsend INKER: Scott Hanna STORY TITLE: Coming Home REVIEW: ACT 1: Peter, staring blankly at the dinner table, ponders about Ezekiel, the man with powers identical to his alter-ego Spider-Man, who surfaced in his life a few weeks ago with questions that made Peter wonder about the origin of his powers. His thoughts are suddenly interrupted when aunt May asks him if he wants another egg. She knows he’s a mile away and asks what is distracting him so much. Although he dislikes the fact that he must lie to his aunt, he knows it's the best solution to avoid revealing his concealed identity. So he covers up the truth by describing his recent visit to his old high school. After discussing of the school's dilapidated condition, aunt May suggests that Peter applies to the establishment as a substitute teacher. She adds that his sense of fairness is surely telling him that the kids there today aren't getting the same breaks he did, and that maybe he could repay a little of that, give back to the school that gave him so much. As Peter sits silently, aunt May goes to the kitchen, a smile upon her face, knowing that the gears are turning quite strongly in Peter's head. ACT 2: Elsewhere, Ezekiel appears distracted during a meeting with his employees as he constantly looks outside in hopes to see Spider-Man swing by. As the meeting comes to an end, Spider-Man unexpectedly web-slings by, catching almost everybody's attention. As Ezekiel sends his employees and associates back to their respective work, the black lady who appears to be one of his colleagues approaches him. "You made contact last night, didn’t you? Against all our recommendations..." she says. "I did" replies Ezekiel. "I just hope you know what you're doing. You're not the only one at risk here. If this goes badly, it could destroy all of us, rather than face that prospect, given the choice...I'd rather it was him than us. He is expandable." retorts the lady. "Is he? I'm not so sure...not so sure at all..." replies Ezekiel. ACT 3: The super villain Morlun, introduced in the last issue, is eating breakfast with his subordinate Dex, the man who managed to get clear access to Morlun's ship to the docks. As they speak, Morlun notices Spider-Man swinging nearby. His eyes become bright-red as Spider-Man spider-sense is triggered violently. Spider-Man is perplexed, having never felt something like that before. He looks down to the streets below but in vain, cannot pinpoint what triggered his sixth sense. He leaves, not knowing what just happened. ACT 4: Later Peter (a.k.a. Spider-Man for the newcomers!) arrives at his old high school to drop off his resume. Suddenly, his spider-sense kicks in. An individual with a gun erupts through a door shooting at everyone. Peter moves himself without thinking, putting himself between the kids and the bullets. He has to move slower than usual to avoid hurting them but he doesn't care about the added risk. He doesn't even care about what anyone might think if they'd see him. "There's a time for secret identities and there's a time to save lives and by God", thinks Peter, "He's not going to hurt these kids and I don't care if I get killed doing it, he's not going to get to them". Peter manages to get several kids out of the shooter’s way and locks them and himself into a nearby chemical lab. As he tries to find a way to save all the kids and stop that maniac, he recognizes Joey, that kid who was bullied around by some of his school-mates in last issue. Peter approaches him and asks him if he would help Peter stop the shooter, using the effects of some chemicals as a distraction. Joey, gathering his courage uses an amalgamation of chemicals that create a smoke screen which prevents the shooter of seeing Peter coming out of the lab. The shooter, choking on the chemical cloud (smoke screen) is furious, threatening to kill whoever did this. Spider-Man emerges from the smoke screen and using his trustworthy spider-sense, disarms the shooter. As he removes the shooter's mask, he is horrified...it's a kid. ACT 5: The kid is taken into custody. Fortunately, nobody was seriously hurt and most importantly, Joey, comes out of there as a hero, for helping to stop the shooter. As Peter discusses the recent events with the Phys. Ed. Teacher he had briefly met in last issue, the high school science teacher, who's had enough of the high school, leaves. Both Peter and the Phys. Ed. Teacher look at him in awe. The Phys. Ed. Teacher turns to Peter and asks him what his name is (as they were never formally introduced when they first met). Peter replies: "Who am I? My name's Peter Parker, I'm the new science teacher." | |
