Symbiote Spider-Man #5

Peter David – Writer

Greg Land – Artist

Mysterio and Spider-Man fight on top of the train, Mysterio’s dagger-like fingers trying to swipe and slash at the Wall-Crawler. The killing blow is just within reach for the villain until his arm is snared by Black Cat. Distracted, Spider-Man kicks Mysterio off the train and follows him.

Shea Stadium is where the fight picks back up between the two men. Multiple Mysterios pummel Peter. Black Cat intervenes, and a well-placed kick finds the true Mysterio and his counterparts disappear. Mysterio’s hard light projections are damaged by Black Cat, her bad luck powers tipping the fight toward the good guys. Not to be deterred, Mysterio shoots fire from his gloves, which Spider-Man and Black Cat are able to dodge. Mysterios’s costume reacts violently from the fireball he unleashed, and the sample flees from his body and rejoins Spider-Man’s costume.

Spider-Man attacks, punches, and chokes Mysterio. Black Cat tries to stop Peter from killing the villain, pleading to let him go and for Peter to let go of his anger and for them to leave together. Spider-Man pie faces Felicia and continues to choke the life out of Mysterio. Mysterio electroshocks Peter and escapes the hero’s clutches. Spider-Man returns to his normal self, wondering how he got here and asking why Felicia ditched him the other night.

Trying to flee the scene, Mysterio projects a T-Rex which causes the spectators to run screaming in terror. Spider-Man finds Mysterio, but green mist clouds his line of sight. Mysterio picks up a t-shirt gun and aims it at Spider-Man. Felicia hits the villain three times with a bat, knocking him out, as the T-Rex disappears.

Spider-Man tells Felicia he has to leave and try to make it to see Aunt May. Felicia tells him to go and she will watch Mysterio until the police arrive. Black Cat has a suggestion for Mysterio: forget about the information he has on her and Spider-Man’s costume and keep it to himself. Mysterio obliges and wishes that Spider-Man’s costume will kill him sooner or later.

Peter changes to his civilian wardrobe and arrives at the restaurant. Aunt May is nowhere to be found. A waitress gives Peter a note, he reads it, and dejectedly crumbles it up. That night, Peter calls to apologize to Aunt May for making her wait two hours for his arrival. He says he has time for her now but the phone clicks and goes silent. The issue ends with the costume on Peter’s chair looking ominous as he asks aloud how could my luck get any worse?

I’m very glad that I added this miniseries to my pull list. It was a nostalgic trip back to the 1980s. After finishing Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars, I wanted to read more about Spider-Man’s black costume and Symbiote Spider-Man was the perfect jumping on point. I really liked the horror elements sprinkled throughout each issue. The feeling of suspense when the audience knows something, or someone is evil, but the main characters are unaware of that fact. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

There is a teaser at the end of the issue saying Symbiote Spider-Man will return and he will be facing off against the Hobgoblin. I will review the sequel miniseries once its released. A release date is unavailable at this time.