Our
second special issue focuses on Spiderman, and as an added bonus, it enlists
the help of one of the greatest Spiderman artists of all time, John Romita, Sr. The interesting thing about this issue is
that it splits time between the modern Universe X universe (illustrated by
John Stanisci) and a more classic feeling universe (illustrated by Romita and Al Milgrom) - breakdowns for the whole issue were completed by Jackson Guice. These are not classic scenes in that you can
find them in your 1980s Spiderman comics, these are classic in feeling only
(thanks in large part to Romita’s involvement, no doubt). What the classic scenes offer is an alternate
universe take where Gwen never died and Harry never became a villain. It shows a happy, married life for Peter and
Gwen, as well as for Harry and Mary Jane.
Peter has retired from being Spiderman as well, preferring to let the
younger crop of heroes take over for him.
We cut
back to the “modern day” where we learn that May’s mother, Mary Jane, died,
which is probably what caused her father to go into his tailspin that we saw in
Earth X. We also get a brief “origin”
for May. I say “origin” because she was
basically born with her powers and beyond that, a symbiote bonded to her much
like it had to her father during the Secret Wars so many years ago. That created a rift between the two that we
saw during the previous series, a rift that was repaired by the end of that
series when Peter accepted his superhero destiny, he even became a member of
the police force.
Now, we
see that the police force, under the leadership of Marshall Muldoon and Luke
Cage are preparing an assault on Immortus, and in particular, Spiders-Man, the
villain who can cast illusions. It is
their idea that if they stop him from casting illusions to gain followers for
Immortus, the whole “church” will fall apart.
Peter goes off to take care of Spiders-Man by himself, preferring to not
have the entire police force caught under his web of illusion. However, two days have passed and he has not
returned, so May heads out after him.
Just a
quick aside on the artwork, Romita, Milgrom and Guice are legends, so it’s no
surprise that this is one of the best illustrated books of the series (I've never heard of John Stanisci before, but he does an exceptional job on this as well). What really does it for me though is the fact
that, stylistically, they are so different, and so perfect for what they bring
to the issue. Stanisci does a masterful job
at showing how dark and dismal the world of Universe X really is, while Romita (with help from Milgrom) brings his style to the happy, simple universe (more on that in a moment).
Okay,
so May, in searching for her father, has infiltrated Immortus’ ranks, and
easily dispatches anyone and everyone that stands in her way. She has many of the same abilities as her
father but is a little more ruthless, kind of like Venom, which would make
sense considering the fact that her costume is a symbiote as well. May eventually happens upon Spiders-Man, who
just so happens to be casting an illusion upon her father. She tries to break the illusion but is unable
to do so with just brute force. Her
symbiote suggests that she basically infiltrate the illusion to drag her father
out of it, which is what she does. It is
then that we realize that the “classic universe” is actually just Peter’s mind,
it’s his preferred universe, really, and now he’s trapped there. Old Peter, who is married to Gwen in this
universe, is actually Peter’s mind, and his wishful thinking of how his life
actually turned out.
May
sets off to find her father, but first she happens upon Spiders-Man as a human
because, as he states, inside the illusion he holds no power. He can’t help her at all in his current form,
so May sets out to find her father herself.
She bursts in on the scene we saw earlier, with Peter, MJ, Gwen and
Harry (though the way the glass is falling, it looks like the window shattered
outwards). Peter does not recognize his
daughter because he is so far deep into the illusion, in fact he thinks that
May is actually Venom, because she kind of looks like him, I guess. They fight through Peter’s home, where May
continues to try and explain who she is and what is wrong with Peter. As they traverse the house though, May
notices some pictures on the wall and sees that Peter and Gwen were married in
his dream, not Peter and MJ (who happens to be May’s mother in reality). 
They
take the fight outside, and Peter will not believe what May has to say, he is
convinced that the reality in his head is the real thing. May does her best to convince her father that
what she is saying is true by playing the guilt trip card about his dream
scenario being married to another woman.
She explains to Peter all of the things that are wrong with his current
scenario, all occurrences in the regular comic series, including the death of
George Stacey, and the death of Gwen as well.
This sends Peter into a tailspin as he not only learns that what is in
his head is all a lie, but he also has to deal with the fact that his daughter
has found out his dirty secret, that he was still in love with Gwen the whole
time he was married to MJ. Peter rubs
away instead of taking responsibility for his actions, and May chases him until
Spiderman shows up and tussles with her.
She unmasks him and realizes that it is not Peter, but Peter’s son, Ben
that is now behind the mask. This is a
blow to May as she sees that in Peter’s ideal world, he is married to Gwen and
has a son instead of a daughter. 
May
retreats out of the illusion and attacks Spiders Man, who is apparently
detached enough from the illusion now that he can be injured by May. May is so angry at her father, and at Spiders
Man for showing her what her father was really like that she is about to kill
him when Peter comes out of the illusion and stops her. Peter apologizes profusely, mainly because he
got caught. He does admit that living in
that illusion showed him how much he needed his daughter though. She offers an uneasy truce as she is still
hurt from the revelations, and Peter asks Spiders Man to join him and May on
the side of the good guys.
Next Issue: Back to
the regular issues, we catch up with the other players in this saga, and see if
maybe Spiders Man can dig up any dirt on anyone else? Does Cap wear ladies’ underpants? Does Reed secretly have two arms?
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