Spider-Man '94 # 2

 By Mark Rodriguez

Spider-Man recently got MJ back after the original 90's cartoon run ended. Despite having married a clone in her absence, the real MJ has to carry on as if they were married. A man named Kaine was sent after Spider-Man. After being defeated, we find out that Kaine is one of many clones created by a new villain named Morlun that seeks to feast on Peter's life force. What will happen next? 

 

"Chapter Two: Rebirth/Redeath" with a fresh new clone growing from an embryo to a full on adult Kaine. Morlun welcomes his 'son' back. The clone is actually a younger version of Morlun himself. Morlun takes Kaine to bed and tells him that he has been cloned from his cells and has lived and died multiple times. Every time he clones him, he wishes to fix the flaws so he can live a full life, but the degeneration kicks in the moment he's born. Regardless, Morlun has come to rely on Kaine. He tells him to rest so he can serve him when he awakens. Whenever his degeneration hits its peak, he will feast on him to prolong his life.

 

Meanwhile, Spider-Man is swinging through the city as he agrees with what Mary Jane's aunt said the day before. Anna Watson says Peter Parker has to stop associating with Spider-Man, not knowing they are the same person. After all the struggle and sacrifice to bring Mary Jane back from the portal dimension, he can't risk losing her by continuing to swing throughout the city. Just then Spider-Man's Spider-Sense goes off as he's hit by... an exploding banana? 

Spider-Man sees three silly crooks, the Grizzly, the Kangaroo and the Gibbon. Spider-Man says they just got out of jail and asks if they really want to go back again. People gather to watch the action and one of them thinks the bananabombs are funny. The trio say that Spider-Man defeated them individually but now that they're teaming up, they'll be unstoppable. Spider-Man flips out of the way, as Grizzly and Gibbon run into each other, Bebop and Rocksteady style. Spidey tells them to get real jobs and stop being criminals since they're real bad at it.

Spider-Man tells them to give up the costumes and get group therapy and he'll forgive and forget. Kangaroo jumps in behind him and Spidey socks him out. He comments that they've failed miserably at any attempted robbery and never tried to hurt actual civilians. He thinks if they've had better breaks in life they might have been valuable members of society.

Just then another villain lands on Spider-Man's back, Leap Frog. Spider-Man asks if Daredevil didn't already beat him a month before. Leap-Frog says maybe, but now he's working alongside the other three. Spider-Man had enough and hits all four of the animal-themed crooks. Just then... Morlun arrives as he tells the other villains that they are unworthy of the Spider. Spider-Man notices this new guy is not working with the others and wonders what he's doing there. 

 

Meanwhile, MJ visits her aunt and apologizes for snapping at her the night before. They huge it out and have some tea for a while. MJ has to rush out for a job interview and Anna makes another crack about Peter not being able to support her. MJ says not to ruin the moment. Anna asks if MJ snapped at her because deep down she knew she was right about Peter. MJ's face goes through several emotions and she leaves.

Back to the fight, Morlun takes down the crooks, a little rougher than necessary. He brutally slams Gibbon to the ground. Spider-Man tells him to take it easy, still not sure if he's there to help or hinder. Morlun hits him with a back-fist so strong, he's knocked into traffic. He lands in front of a speeding truck, too late to dodge it. Leap-Frog suddenly jumps in and carries Spider-Man out of harm's way.

Spider-Man is confused since the crooks were trying to beat him a while ago. Leap-Frog says that a friendly beatdown is one thing but he'd never forgive himself if he just stood and watched him get flatted by a speeding truck. Grizzly leaps in and slashes Morlun across the chest, saying that Gibbon was his best friend. Morlun says he hoped he enjoyed that since that will be the last moment of pleasure he'll ever feel. Spider-Man and Leap-Frog run in as Morlun picks up Grizzly and breaks his back. This is definitely not the Saturday Morning cartoon any more.

Morlun is about to feast on Grizzly's life force, and Spider-Man kicks him out of the way. Spider-Man offers to fight off Morlun while the crooks take Grizzly to the hospital. Morlun asks why he cares since their lives don't matter. He says that Spider-Man is exceptional and they both tower above others. Spider-Man isn't exactly flattered. Morlun says he doesn't want to hurt him more than he has to and asks him to surrender. Spidey asks why he would do that. Morlun says the alternative would be terrible.

Elsewhere, Aunt May is watching home videos of Uncle Ben and a young Peter Parker. Mary Jane shows up and says he was a cute kid. Aunt May says she's proud of the man he's become but there are times he misses that little boy. She says she's sure Peter and MJ would have gotten along back then. MJ says she's not sure since she was a tomboy back then.

Aunt May can tell than MJ's aunt got to her. She says that Anna can get under people's skin but she wasn't wrong about Peter. Aunt May says Peter is full of contradictions, very conservative but also very reckless. MJ says he's a complicated man. Aunt May says he always seems to be harboring a secret... because he's Spider-Man. MJ is shocked.

 

Elsewhere, Kaine wakes up with nightmares of being allowed to die. He tries to remember his name and sees his costume draped over a chair in front of him. The name Kaine circles his mind and he remembers serving Morlun for many years. He has foggy memories of those years. He remembers that he would live and die for Morlun, but wonders why he hates him.

 

Kaine says he shouldn't hate the man that gives him meaning. He then remembers that his job was to capture Spider-Man but he failed. He can't remembered what happened next but knows it happens several times before. He says all that matter now is serving his father's will.

Elsewhere, Spider-Man is losing the fight against Morlun who seems too fast and too strong for him to handle. Morlun punches Spider-Man through the window of a clothing store. He picks him up and asks him to surrender. Spider-Man will never give up and throws a punch. Morlun catches his fist and starts to crush it. Morlun socks him out. He apologizes and says his needs outweighs those of Spider-Man.

Morlun scales a building with the defeated Spider-Man in tow, but he is being watched. The observer says Morlun is too arrogant, too secure in his power and too delusional. He says that last face he'll see before his death... is that of Kraven the Hunter.

 

My Thoughts-

They weren't kidding about Morlun and Kaine being different from the original comics. While in the comics Kaine was a clone of Peter Parker created by The Jackal, here is a clone of Morlun. Morlun is also constantly feasting upon his own clones rather than engaging in Spider-Verse shenanigans. I am curious why Kaine can bypass Spider-Man's Spider-Sense. I know it was a bit of a red herring but we'll still need some sort of in-universe reason.

So it seems every time Kaine dies, a new clone is made with most of the memories of the original, but forgetting the in-between life and death circumstances for the memory transfer. Besides that he has no memory that is also a younger version of his own father. It seems he has growing resentment over being used as a literal meal ticket so we'll see how things go.

I'm off two minds when it comes to the random villains Spider-Man was fighting. On one side I had to Google to make sure the Grizzly, the Kangaroo, the Gibbon and Leap-Frog were real characters and not just made up for this series. I'm starting to wonder if Rhino and Shocker just retired in this series. It also adds to the timeline between the show and this comic as Spider-Man already has an established history of having fought these goobers as well as Molten Man several times. Now that I think about it... Spider-Man does have a lot of silly jobber and loser villains. The cartoon just never devoted episodes to them.

On the other hand, I guess they didn't want readers to see the classic 'big name' villains being jobbed out to Morlun. And none of Spider-Man's rogues would have saved him from a speeding truck either. Speaking of which, I was surprised to see Morlun take matters into his own hands so soon. After all, why even bother making another Kaine clone if he already assumed he was going to defeat and devour Spider-Man by the time the clone wakes up?

Next issue finally brings in one of the classics as Kraven the Hunter enters the scene. Not only that, but Kraven already knows Morlun. Next issue promises a look into Morlun's backstory, and it seems that Kraven will be somehow involved. The relation between Kraven, Morlun and Kaine are a big change... but we also had to remember that this is based on the same cartoon series that turned Electro into the Red Skull's son and Black Cat was given Captain America's super soldier serum.

The comic packs a punch as the fights are no longer limited to the guidelines of being on Saturday Morning. Not only are the characters allowed to actually punch each other, now we have things like Morlun getting his chest sliced, and him breaking Grizzly's back. Not only that but Morlun gave Spider-Man the kind of beat-down he never would have gotten in the show.  

 

The one thing that made me stop in my tracks was the reveal that Aunt May knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. What a cliffhanger as her scene with MJ ends there in this issue. I can't wait to see what happens next issue regarding this. In different versions of the comics and other media, Aunt May would figure it out, but we haven't seen this version do so. Upon re-watching Spider-Man 2.1 in theaters recently, we all figured Aunt May just had to know when she made her little 'the world needs heroes' speech in front of Peter.

We'll see what happens next issue as not only is Kraven running around, so is Kaine.