Before we continue with the main storyline of the Clone Saga, a few digressions pop-up. First, Spider-Man artist Tom Lyle writes the eighth issue of Spider-Man Unlimited, drawn by Ron Lim. And in a true bit of eeriness, the story revolves around an attempt to blow up the World Trade Center. And just to add some tension, Mary Jane is among the hostages taken. Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider both go to the tower to settle different scores. They never quite meet, but they both take out their own members of the criminal Terror Unlimited and save the city in the process. Nothing overly ambitious here, and excepting the eeriness of a WTC attack plot, nothing of note.
After those events, we move on to the three issues of Spider-Man: Funeral For an Octopus. In the aftermath of his cure, Peter Parker must deal with the ramifications of Otto Octavius’ death, while Ben Reilly has uncovered a mini-arms race, as an evil businessman as well as four of Doc’s allies in the Sinister Six are all after Doctor Octopus’s weapon cache. As the first issue ends, the Scarlet Spider confronts the combined forces of Vulture, Mysterio, Hobgoblin, and Elektro.
Issue two is for the most part a prolonged fight scene as Scarlet Spider battles the four remaining members of the Sinister Six. He is no match for the combined might and gets left under a crumbled roof. The villains attack a government building looking for Octavius’ weapons. Spider-Man stops them and retrieves an extra pair of Doc Ock’s arms. With their aid, he holds his own. But the arms malfunction and start dragging him away from the battle to parts unknown. As the issue ends, the villains have their own problem... as Kaine arrives!
The arms are running amok outside and attack the security detail at the building. Scarlet Spider breaks free, even as Kaine prepares to slay Mysterio. But he finds that the costume is occupied only by a robotic dummy. He continues to fight Elektro. Spidey tears apart the harness to free himself from the wild octopus arms. He swings off and inadvertently saves Elektro from the mark of Kaine. Meanwhile, Mysterio is actually using his illusions to get the info on Octavius’ weapon from a wayward relative, but Scarlet Spider shows up and stops him. The story abruptly comes to an end here, as does this report.
Next time, back to regular continuity as the Spider-books officially go weekly with “Smoke and Mirror”.
Just as a reminder, I will be going in to Nanowrimo mode for November, so updates will be sparse.
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