We start off where the last issue left off, with Spidey engaging The Vulture while President Roxxon is webbed to the side of the building. Meanwhile, Sharon Carter of SHIELD is cloaked on a nearby building relaying images of the fight to Nick Fury and Tony Stark back at the Triskilon. Stark wants to suit up and help Spider-Man, but Fury tells Stark to hold up while they get an ID for the Vulture. Plus, he reveals that he's testing Parker. Cut back to the fight, we see that Silver Sable and what's left of her Wild Pack are watching the fight between Spider-Man and The Vulture fron the wreckage of the top floor. Sable has a gun and appears to be waiting for a clear shot at the Vulture.
Spider-Man is havig his hands full fighting Vulture, who is using a combination of grenades and razor blades shot from his wings against Spidey, who is managing to barely dodge them all. Back at the Triskilon, Fury finally has an ID for The Vulture. His name is Blackie Drago, and he happens to be a decommisioned SHIELD agent, which doesn't sit well with Fury. Back to the fight, Vulture makes a dive at Roxxon, but Spidey manages to land on Vulture and steer him off course.
Roxxon suddenly gets a call on his cell while he's still webbed to the building. He answers it, and finds that he's talking to the very person who has masterminded all the attacks on his buisiness. The mystery caller begins to taunt Roxxon. Unknown to the caller though, he's being traced by SHIELD, who hears every word. Shifting back to the fight, Vulture finally gets the better of Spidey, but just before he can slash him, Sable finally gets her opening and puts a bullet through Vulture's right shoulder.
The Vulture starts losing control and begins falling to earth. Spidey manages to save The Vulture and keep him from landing on innocent civilians. He webs up Vulture for the police and heads back to where he left Roxxon, only to find that he's not there anymore, and neither is Sable and the Wild Pack. Spidey swings off frustrated that he'll never know what was going on.
Cut to Jersey, SHIELD has traced the call to an old lab and with Iron Man and Fury leading the way, have blown their way in. They find a single guy in a lab coat surrounded by all kinds of high-tech weapons. He identifies himself as Elijah Stern, a former Roxxon employee. When asked if he's an inventor, Elijah responds "I tinker.". Stern explains that he came up with all of Roxxon's technology, but that Roxxon downsized and fired him. He intended to kill Roxxon with technology that he had stole from Roxxon Industries and, using an agency operating out of Malaysia, he hired goons and outfitted them with all their weapons.
Fury then offered Stern, whom he referred to as 'The Tinkerer', that he had two choices. Either work for Fury and do what he says, or Fury will kill him and take his toys anyway. Stern reluctantly agrees to work for Fury. Before leaving, Fury comments on a giant spiked robot in the room, which Stern calls a 'Slayer'. When Fury asks what it Slays, Stern replies "What do you got?".
The next day, Roxxon is being hounded by the press on the way to his limo. But once inside, he finds Silver Sable waiting for him. She demanded her money, which Roxxon said he'd pay. Sable then says if she ever hears from Roxxon again, or if she ever hears her name spoken out loud by SHIELD or the FBI, that she would find Roxxon, and kill him in his sleep.
Cut to Flash Thompson's house. Spider-Man is shown to be talking to Flash, who is armed with a baseball bat. Spidey apologizes to Flash for all he did to him, but Flash doesn't accept. Later that night, Peter is in his living room watching 'Caught in the Spider's Web, The Flash Thompson Story' which is basically making Spidey out to be a criminal. Peter is talking to Kitty Pryde on the phone, where we see that the X-Men are watching the same thing and Wolverine is basically dying from laughter. The next day at school, all the girl's are hitting on Flash, while commenting that Spider-Man might be a janitor, since he 'smells funny', much to Peter's dismay.
VERDICT: A very solid ending to a decent arc. The revelation that the Vulture isn't Adrien Toomes, but Blackie Drago will sit well with fans of the USM video game that worry about continuity. And the debut of the Ultimate Tinkerer is very cool, considering he was one of the lesser villains in 616.
I'm curious to see what Fury has up his sleeve, as this issue strongly hints at some bad things he has in store for Peter. No doubt this will all be explored leading into issue #100. The ending, with Wolverine laughing his head off at Peter wass a nice touch of comedy and a good way to end the issue.
Artwise, Bagley seems to be getting better and better with each issue. His play of color and shadows are great in this issue. And the lighting on Fury's face when he threatened The Tinkerer was great, as it made him look very sinister.
Overall, a very solid issue. I give Bendis credit for Ultimizing The Tinkerer, a villian I never really took seriously. And the thought of seeing the Spider Slayers in the future is really cool. Here's hoping the upcoming Deadpool arc can keep the comic's momentum going!
Score: 5/5
