Been a minute since we looked at the JMS/JRJR Amazing Spider-Man run. This issue is mostly from Aunt May's perspective, as she talks with an unseen person about how she's adjusting to knowing Peter is Spider-Man.
The answer is, it's a process. She likes seeing Peter and Mary Jane back together, but she still leaves when Peter gets ready to change into the costume. It's easier if she doesn't have to see him directly, though she doesn't get much of a choice today, because her trip across town is disrupted by Spidey fighting the Shaker!
No, not the Shocker, the Shaker! In flashback, we see Peter reading about an experimental suit to go deep underground and mine with vibrations. The suit was stolen, and Peter figures if the thief is smart, he'll sell it overseas. But as he notes, 'smart and this guy dine at separate tables.'
We don't see any more of the news article because Peter clearly has more important business.
Unfortunately he couldn't spend all day making out with MJ, and he's not having much luck stopping Shaker. The suit's vibrations almost shake Peter apart when he lands on the guy, and it can vibrate webbing right off. Plus, the suit's tough enough that when Peter keeps a section of an apartment building from landing on the street by swinging it into the air and dropping it on Shaker instead, it doesn't do any good. Granted, the guy is too stupid to notice even if he got any damage.
Back with May, she admits it's difficult to adjust to the notion of how strong Peter is, when she spent years freaking out every time he got a cold or went out in the rain without an umbrella. Probably better Peter never mentions all those times in the Silver Age getting the flu somehow neutralized his powers, but he went out in costume anyway.
So she's tried to focus on doing little things to help others, like Peter would. In this case, making some loud, obnoxious guy drop his cellphone before he starts cussing in front of children. Well, it's something.
Meanwhile, Peter's fight with Shaker has moved into a gymnasium. They hit a waterline and Spidey gets an idea. Risking the internal damage, he picks up Shaker and chucks him into a pool, then explains to a nearby kid? employee? something, that the vibration of the suit, in a confined space filled with water, will create a miniaturized series of tsunami-like waves, that will just keep rebounding off the pool walls to pummel Shaker until he shuts the suit down.
Shaker says he surrenders, but Spidey lets him get battered a bit longer. Although if the waves are still going, the suit's probably not turned off. Wouldn't surprise me if Shaker didn't know how. Guy says stuff like, 'disburse your moleculars.'
Battle over, Peter makes sure he's the first to call Aunt May on her new cellphone and invite her to dinner, and we see May was seated at the graves for Uncle Ben and Peter's parents. Well if that story about Richard and Mary posing as double agents for the Red Skull's still in continuity, he probably has the tombstone bugged. Great work, May.
{1st longbox, 114th comic. Amazing Spider-Man #501, by J. Michael Straczynski (writer), John Romita Jr. (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Matt Milla (colorist), Cory Petit (letterer)}
2 comments:
There was a lot wrong with JMS' run (although *most* of that was because of crossovers or plots being forced on him by higher up) but I think he did a great job of rehabilitating Aunt May and turning her into an actual character. The issues with her adjusting to finding out about Peter were very well done.
Another thing we've lost because of Quesada's Big Stupid Retcon.
It bugged that they gave her a good sendoff in ASM #400, then pulled the bait n' switch in the Final Chapter to reveal she was still alive (rather than that Norman abducted Pete and MJ's baby), then did fuck all with May until JMS came along. But his work with her was fun, especially the time she told off Logan when they were living in Avengers Tower (put out his cigar in his whiskey, no less).
I have no idea if she knows these days or not. When he was badly radiation poisoned last year (and they did that bit where Ben Reilly was the Beyond Corporation's Spider-Man), May went to Octavius for help, which kind of makes me think she knows Peter's Spider-Man again, but maybe she just knew he had radiation problems and Otto knows about that stuff.
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