Deron Generally
Deron Generally
Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #304
Marvel Comics
Written by Chip Zdarsky
Art by Adam Kubert
Colors by Jason Keith
After everything that Peter, Jonah and Teresa went through in the past, they have managed to make their way back to the present with the weapon they need to stop the Tinkerer. Unfortunately, time travel stories never seem to end that cleanly and Peter and company find themselves in a New York where the aliens have disappeared and have been replaced by flying drones, surveillance cameras and Harry Osborn as President of the United States. As the trio tries to escape from the area, they see a building with a very familiar name scrawled on it.
Peter and his team find themselves in the presence of a different adult Peter Parker and his wife Gwen Stacy. Apparently, there have been a lot of changes in the timeline since young Peter decided to give up being Spider-Man for good. This is a contradiction from the previous arc that had Doom tell Peter and company that nothing they did in the past would have an impact on the future so it will be interesting to see how this plays out. The prevailing observation I can give to future Peter is that he is kind of a tool.
What becomes more interesting in this story is the current state of the heroes of New York as Peter and company get information from Gwen about where they hang out now and we get to see the new version of Cap, Riri and Doctor Strange. We also get to see Norman again and it looks like he’s been waiting for this event to take place as well. It’s going to be interesting to see what he has planned for Peter and the gang. At the same time, Zdarsky takes some time to give Jameson a moment of catharsis that he’s needed for a long time and the background of a world without Spider-Man is the perfect back drop.
I really enjoyed the twists in this issue, especially when Peter and his new team try to break out Doom from one of Osborn’s prisons. The guard they use is inspired and I love how they rendered him for this fight. Other than a couple of dangling plot questions, a pretty solid issue.
