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| Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #5 | |
WRITER:  Peter David
PENCILLER: Mike Wieringo INKER: Karl Kesel COVER BY: Mike Wieringo and Karl Kesel COLOR: Paul Mounts LETTERING: VC's Cory Petit ASSISTANT EDITORS: Molly Lazer & Aubrey Sitterson ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Andy Schmidt EDITOR: Tom Brevoort EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Joe Quesada PUBLISHER: Dan Buckley STORY TITLE:  Web Log REVIEW:  This is a standalone story about a girl named Vanna Smith who encounters Spider-Man coincidentally at several occasions, which leads her to believe that he is stalking her. ACT 1: Vanna Smith is sitting at her computer and is busy posting on her blog. In it, she recalls her earlier encounter with Spider-Man that day. She was chatting with some friends along the football field (also occupied by Flash Thompson who was ragging on none other than Peter Parker) when the Vulture came soaring above them, carrying a bag of stolen money, the cops fresh on his tail. While her friends quickly ran away, Vanna sat there, standing her ground. Suddenly, two web-lines were shot from underneath the bleachers, snagging the Vulture's legs. Trying to get loose, the Vulture took off flying, Spider-Man in tow, and managed to shake his opponent off by causing him to slam into the goal post in the end zone. But Spider-Man quickly stood back up and tossed a nearby shot put at the Vulture, destroying his power supply and causing him to have trouble maintaining altitude. As Spidey took off after the Vulture, Flash Thompson came over to help Vanna and praise Spider-Man for saving her life. But Vanna did not see it that way at all and claimed that Spider-Man had in fact put her life in danger. ACT 2: Days later, Vanna sits once again at her computer and writes about another encounter with Spider-Man, which took place earlier that day. She was at the New York Science Museum, as part of an assignment for her ESU astronomy class, when she felt the need to go to the bathroom. She was washing her hands – having taken a whiz – when Spider-Man came crashing through the bathroom door, having been tossed there by none other than the Looter. Believing him to be stalking her, she whacked him with her purse and yelled at him to stay away from her. Having other business to take care of, Spidey simply ran back outside the restrooms to confront the Looter. No sooner was he back in the hall that he was, once again, sent crashing back into the bathroom and through the toilet stalls. The Looter came running in to finish him off by trying to drown him in a jet of water from one of the broken toilets. Vanna watched on as this took place and she started to realize that maybe Spider-Man was staging those fights to impress her. Spidey managed to break free from the Looter’s grip and punched him through a wall. He then took off after him but not before telling Vanna that they "should do this again some time"; further fueling her speculation that he was stalking her. ACT 3: This goes on for quite a while after this, as she coincidently happens to run into him when he battles the Sandman at the beach (where she is sunbathing) and when he and the Rhino come crashing through the front window of a Starbucks where she is sipping on a cup of coffee. Though she hired a therapist to help her out, she eventually fired her and realized there was only one thing she could do: get a restraining order. ACT 4: The presiding judge finds the whole idea of a restraining order against Spider-Man quite dubious but grants it to her anyways, trusting that this will give her peace of mind. ACT 5: Soon after posting the above on her blog, Vanna gets a call from J. Jonah Jameson from the Daily Bugle and he invites her over. After exchanging pleasantries, Jameson cuts to the chase and tells her that he wants to do a story about her in the pages of the Bugle, which he hopes will convince other people to get restraining orders against the wall-crawler and hopefully drive him out of the City. Jonah calls on Peter Parker, who happens to be walking by his office, to come in and take a picture of Vanna and her restraining order against Spider-Man. Vanna seems to recognize him but Peter replies that she doesn't know him at all. He then snaps a picture. ACT 6: An old woman sits in the park, feeding pigeons. Another old woman approaches her and mentions that it has been forty years since she made the front page of the Daily Bugle; therefore revealing that the woman sitting on the bench is none other than Vanna Smith. Vanna asks the other old lady how she found her and she replies that she's been reading her blog on and off since that day and that, as it is the mid-twenty first century, anyone can find anyone. The old lady adds that it was not difficult finding her since she still lives in the home that her parents left her. Vanna stands up, getting ready to leave, when the old lady coldly tells her to sit back down. The old lady explains that the restraining order was meaningless and that her encounters with Spider-Man were purely coincidental. She goes on explaining that, piece of paper or not, nothing would have stopped him from saving her, if her life had been in danger. She adds that if she believes otherwise, then she is a bigger fool than she credited her for. Defiantly, Vanna asks who the old lady is. Grabbing a bloody and torn Spider-Man mask out of her purse, she throws it at Vanna and reveals that she is his widow; therefore Mary Jane. Vanna is slightly taken aback, though she had heard the reports that he was dead. Mary Jane comments that knowing that he is dead must be a relief to her but Vanna appears unsure about that statement. MJ goes on explaining that, as near as she can tell, she – Vanna – has accomplished nothing of significance, formed not lasting relationships, loved no one, and contributed nothing to humanity. Vanna replies that she has reasons for that and cites her parents screwing her up something bad as one of the reasons. MJ replies that she does not diminish that and explains that there are some people who blame all their failures on those who failed them and use their youthful traumas as excuses for being less than they could have been, and there are others who use those traumas to propel them to greatness. She goes on explaining that her husband, Spider-Man, was one of the second type and, as for her (i.e. Vanna), for all that she has accomplished, good or bad, right or wrong, she might as well have not lived at all. Having said that, MJ stands up and prepares to leave. Vanna tells MJ that she is wrong about her and explains that she misses him (i.e. Spider-Man) and misses thinking he was interested and that she was special. Mary Jane leaves. ACT 7: Vanna returns home and sits down at her computer to writer her latest blog. Quoting King George the Third, she writes "nothing important happened today", as tears flow down her face. The end.
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