The Daily Bugle has been sold out from under a hospitalized J. Jonah Jameson, and the new editor in chief, Dexter Bennett, is even more of an anti-Spider-Man guy than JJJ. Spider-Man has been framed in recent issues as a serial killer, and these issues have a lot of fallout from that.
The main story, though, is about a new character. It starts with a thief stealing serum from Curt Connors, injecting himself, vomiting, and then forming a large cocoon right out on a New York street.
There’s a funny scene in the Bar with No Name where patrons bet on whether it’s the return of Jean Grey (who re-emerged from death out a cocoon way back in the ’80s.
Of course, it’s not Jean Grey. It’s…
Freak.
Freak is just gruesome. He’s also not very interesting. Most of this story isn’t interesting, as a matter of fact. It feels very familiar–much like late ’70s/early ’80s Spider-Man: JJJ is mad. Daily Bugle hates Spider-Man. Chemistry creates a super-character. Spider-Man is wanted by the cops. Etc. Etc. Even the villains at the Bar with No Name are mostly throwbacks (Lightmaster, Ox, Spot, Trapster, Hydro-Man, etc.). Connors never turns into Lizard, but he does give Peter a formula to cure Freak. Before it can be administered, though, the creature disappears. Sadly, that means he’ll be back.
On the letters page, writer Bob Gale gets a little self-indulgent, reprinting his own fan-letters from the past.
English (US) · 