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| Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #1 |
 WRITER: Mark Millar
PENCILLER: Terry Dodson COVER BY: Terry and Rachel Dodson INKER: Rachel Dodson STORY TITLE: Down Among the Dead Men - Part One of Four REVIEW: ACT 1: Two co-owners of a small New York deli are taking out the garbage when they come across Spider-Man, bruised and battered, laying on top of a pile of trash in the alley behind their deli. Spider-Man implores them to get back in their store and close the doors but the two men refuse to budge. A voice is heard behind them. As they turn around, they come face to face with the Green Goblin, who immediately throws several pumpkin bombs at them. Spider-Man suddenly gets a boost of energy and pushes the two men out of harm's way. He then takes on the Green Goblin one on one. As the battle rages on across the city skies, it is revealed how the two came to blows. Several hours earlier, the Green Goblin had held 18 people hostage in a church and had threatened to gas them unless his demands were met. His main request was to have Spider-Man forfeiting his guts for the benefit of the great American public. Naturally, Spider-Man did not comply, and it led to this battle. After a valiant effort, the web-slinger finally defeats the Green Goblin by literally crushing his skull into the pavement using a large mailbox. This does not bode well for Spider-Man as one of the Green Goblin's pumpkin bombs explodes and sends pieces of shrapnel into the legs of an innocent bystander. Again, our hero web-slings away, unappreciated. ACT 2: Forest Hills. Aunt May's home. Peter is helping her to pack, since the house is for sale and she needs to move out. Unknown to either of them is that they are being watched by someone or something that appears to be hanging upside down from a tree. Could it be the Vulture? ACT 3: Midtown High School. Peter is teaching his science class when another teacher comes over and informs him that there is an important phone call for him from city council. A few minutes later, Peter is at a cemetery, where his Uncle Ben's tombstone has been desecrated to pieces. While at the cemetery, he receives a phone call from the mysterious individual seen outside his Aunt May's house earlier (again, the individual appears to be hanging upside down). The mystery man tells Peter that it was him that destroyed his uncle Ben's tombstone – to get his attention – and that he knows that Peter Parker and Spider-Man are one and the same. After the mystery man makes mention of a phrase commonly used by Aunt May, Peter realizes that the individual not only knows his secret identity but knows who his family is as well. Costume-less, he rushes to his Aunt May's new apartment; a thousand pair of eyes catching a glimpse of him in street clothes as he web-slings across the city skies. Relying on his trusted spider-sense and the fact that he is moving fast enough not to be recognized, he soon arrives at her apartment. As he crashes through the window, he discovers that the apartment has been completely trashed.
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