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AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #584

CHARACTER ASSASSINATION - PART ONE

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WRITER: MARC GUGGENHEIM
PENCILLER: JOHN ROMITA JR.
INKER: KLAUS JANSON
COLORS: DEAN WHITE
LETTERS: VC'S CORY PETIT
COVER: KLAUS JANSON
ASSISTANT EDITOR: TOM BRENNAN
EDITOR: STEPHEN WACKER
EXECUTIVE EDITOR: TOM BREVOORT
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: JOE QUESADA
PUBLISHER: DAN BUCKLEY

PREVIOUSLY: Who is Menace? The question has plagued Spider-Man since his this gray goblin first entered his life, killing Mayoral Candidate Lisa Parfrey. Who is this twisted freak? And why is he so invested in the mayor's race? At first he seemed to target anyone running against Randall Crowned, a billionaire real estate developer backed by Dexter Bennett, publisher of the DB – a newspaper whose sales have skyrocketed thanks to Menace's machinations. His primary target has been straight-arrow Councilman Bill Hollister, father of the beautiful Lily Hollister, Harry Osborn's girlfriend. But in a recent attack on Hollister in his home, Menace implied he was actually out to help the Hollister campaign. Whose side is he really one? One thing's for certain – Menace isn’t done yet.
REVIEW: On a TV show call Two-in-One, the panelists are discussing the mayoral race between candidates Randall Crowne and Bill Hollister. Elsewhere, villains Boomerang and Shocker are making their way to the Bookie's headquarters to collect money they've won on a recent bet. When they enter his office, they are shocked to find him dead (He was killed by the Spider-Tracer Killer in Amazing Spider-Man #582, just as he discovered his/her identity).

One anonymous 911 phone call later, police detectives are on the scene gathering evidence. At first, it looks as if it has something to do with his line of work, until one of the detectives finds a spider-tracer on the Bookie’s body.

Back on Two-in-One, one of the panelists concludes that Bill Hollister must conjure up a miracle – that is, the arrest of Spider-Man – if he's to have any chance of winning the election. Speaking of the wall-crawler, we find him trying to get away from a police helicopter that's chasing him. A barrage of bullets is zooming past his head; he dodges them all, with the exception of one that goes through his shoulder. Writhing in pain, he nearly falls to his death – luckily, he manages to spin a web and grab hold of a nearby rooftop ledge. Though his descent has been halted, the momentum of his swing sends him crashing through a window of an office building. Quickly, Spidey gets back on his feet and takes off running through the building. Having been alerted of Spidey's presence in the building, police officers rush in to try and arrest him. Spidey evades them by jumping into an elevator, whose door closes a little too slow for his liking. The police do manage to stop the elevator from going anywhere and pry the door open. However, Spidey is still one step ahead of them, as he has already escaped through the hatch in the ceiling of the elevator and he’s now lying motionless on the floor of the next story.

Carlie Cooper meets Julian Beck in his lab to find out if he's finished some work she asked him to do for her. After talking politics for a few minutes – mainly Bill Hollister's imminent defeat unless Spider-Man is captured – Beck indicates that he did indeed complete what Carlie asked him to build. Turns out that Carlie asked Beck to figure out a way to trace the spider-tracers, after she herself figured out that Spider-Man is able to trace his tracers. Three months of hard work paid off, as Beck was able to build a handheld device that has the ability to home in on the spider-tracers when they're turned on, as well as when they're turned off. He hands it to Carlie and tells her that all she has to do is follow the blinking dot. Upon seeing the location of the current dot, Carlie asks how accurate the device is. Beck responds that it has an accuracy of sixteen inches and proceeds to ask her why she's asking that question. She responds: "nothing" but it is evident that there is more to her comment than meets the eyes.

Spider-Man is in the midst of a battle with Menace, who pulls off his mask, revealing himself to be Harry Osborn. Spidey screams in disbelief. It turns out that Spidey is actually dreaming this sequence; he's actually still lying half-conscious on the ground.

At the Fit Gym, J. Jonah Jameson is taking out his anger on a punching bag, as Joe "Robbie" Robertson watches on. Jameson is furious to have lost his newspaper to Dexter Bennett. It doesn't help that it was his wife that made the decision to sell the Daily Bugle to Bennett after Jonah nearly died of a heart attack. Jonah claims that nothing is the same anymore, prompting Robbie to argue that some things have changed. When Jonah asks Robbie to name a few examples, the reader doesn’t get to hear the answer.

At the DB newsroom, Dexter Bennett has his whole staff on high alert for the results of the Mayoral Election. At the campaign headquarters of Randall Crowne, Crowne appears confident to win the election. At Hollister’s campaign headquarters, the level of confidence is not as high.

Climbing up the staircase inside the Statue of Liberty alongside Harry Osborn, Lily Hollister remarks that she should be with her father as the latest polling numbers come in. Harry argues that she deserves a break, seeing as she works too hard. Plus, she is less than forty-eight hours away from becoming the first daughter of New York City; Harry thinks she should be able to spend a few of those hours with him. She agrees to spend some time with him, as long as she gets good reception with her cell phone. Finally, they reach the top and make their way onto the platform that surrounds the torch. While there, Harry surprises Lily by bending down on one knee and asking her to marry him.

Vin Gonzales finally leaves the apartment he shares with Peter Parker, allowing Spider-Man to make his way inside to check on his shoulder, take a shower, clean up his wounds and, hopefully, remain alive. Sitting in the tub, he starts to get undressed and turns on the shower. Unbeknownst to Peter, Carlie Cooper enters the apartment using a spare key. She hears the shower going so she goes in to investigate. Peter yells at her not to come in the bathroom, as he's in the shower and he doesn't want her finding out what happened to him as Spider-Man. Carlie grants him his wish and closes the door. Either way, she could use a bit of privacy herself. With that said, she hauls out the spider-tracer tracking device and turns it on. Homing in on the signal, she finds herself in Vin's room, looking under the bed. She is completely taken aback when she pulls a bag full of spider-tracers from underneath the bed.

To be continued.

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