MRL - Untold Tales of Spider-Man (1995) #10-14

Untold Stories of Spider-Man (1995) #10-14 - Kurt Busiek/Pat Ollife

 

Checking back in the what else was going on in Peter’s life? series. ngl, I’m enjoying it. It both fleshes out aspects of the original and manages to tell a coherent story, despite the constraints of its premise.

While waiting for Doctor Octopus to return to New York, Spider-Man contends with Commanda, a beautiful jewel thief with flying drones and a force-field generating diadem. Peter doesn't succumb to his hormones, but he can't win against a woman who fakes distress and blames Spider-Man for her crimes.

Meanwhile, Sally discovers that Peter is the one taking Spider-Man's photos and gets onto phase 2 of her plan: become Blue Bird - her own costumed superhero - and have Peter take her photos, so she can become famous. Her qualifications are that she's a gymnast and she got Jason (and his engineer father) to build her some gadgets.

Peter forestalls her attempt at blackmail by telling people in school that he's the one taking Spider-Man's pictures. This has the unintended consequence of making Flash want to be Peter's best friend, so he can be introduced to Spider-Man, greatly impeding bit Peter’s and Spider-Man’s careers.

Things get more complicated when the Eel - the electricity powered Human Torch villain - springs Electro out of jail and the two hold the city's electrical grid hostage. Peter manages to sneak out, but gets joined by Blue Bird, who doesn’t acquit herself very well. One of her gadgets is an ether bomb - it does nothing - and, when Spider-Man comes up with a clever solution to neutralize the villain duo’s powers, she ruins it.

Finally, Peter blows up at Flash. Peter’s not introducing Flash to Spider-Man because he doesn't’ know him: he hides and takes photos and sells them to Spidey’s biggest critic, so Spider-Man doesn’t even like Peter. That gets Flash to leave him alone.

We learn a bit more about Betty’s reasons for leaving school. She and her brother were friends with Gordon. He was nice, but he also had a devious streak - he has the one who got Bennet hooked on gambling and embroiled with Blackie, to the point goons came to their house because of Bennet’s debts and hurt their mother. With her brother stuck working for Blackie, Betty has to take care of their mother, so she takes over her old job as Jameson’s secretary.

Betty sees a lot of Gordon in Peter and that makes her worry about him, even if she’s not ready to open up to him about everything.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man has Blue Bird to worry about. She keeps showing up to his fights and thinking everything’s fine, because Spider-Man is always there to help her out. Realizing this, Peter lets her get hit by a random goon, which gets her to put the costume aside. Instead, Sally’s going to be a daring photographer.

Things take a bad turn when she and Jason are trying to get photos of a Spider-Man/Black Knight fight and get hit by a car. Jason survives; Sally does not.

Peter spirals down, blaming himself for Sally’s death. He stops Black Knight’s plot of the week, leaving him badly hurt. The Human Torch is the one who pulls him out of his funk, by giving him a bit of tough love. After all, he did help Sally, he just couldn’t save her from herself.

We finish with the return of the Scorcher, from issue #1. He has a chip on his shoulder because he turned to a life of crime after being wrongly accused of theft at his former job as a respectable chemist. This only matters because it helps Peter find the words to help Tiny, who had ran away from home and dropped out of school. Just because his father tells him he's worthless it doesn't make it true.