Synopsis
Spider-Man Team-Up (1995 series) #2 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
Silver Surfer is mooching along in space when he's suddenly attacked by seemingly an Earthly biplane. He evades it and fires back, and it retreats at an impressive speed to the Big Casino, which resembles a Zeppelin in space. He follows it through an access bay and demands to know why they attacked him, but he's interrupted and welcomed by the Casino owner Floyd Donahue (who's the spitting image of Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca). Norrin Radd can tell he's a Skrull but accepts an invite into his office where Donahue asks him what he's doing in Kralian space. But then SS notices the configuration of stars outside the window and hastens away on an urgent matter. (And that's all we'll see of Skrulls in this story.)
On Earth in New York Spider-Man (Ben Reilly) interrupts an art robbery and saves the female gallery owner. He webs off when the the police arrive even though a friendly Det Snider calls out to him, leaving the cop to wonder why the Wall-Crawler didn't seem to recognise him. (But that's all we'll see of these folks too.)
Ben reminds us that it's been 5 years since he was last Spidey. Jackal rescued him from a smokestack after the clone-battle with the other SM and persuaded him that he was the clone and he went wandering the country as Ben Reilly. But now he knows that *he* is the real Peter Parker and his clone has been living his life since then, even marrying Mary Jane Watson. Then Jackal got him back in costume as Scarlet Spider, and now as Spider-Man while Peter 'retires' to Oregon with pregnant MJ.
But as Reilly swings away a new player enters the game who *will* be sticking around. It's the Mad Thinker who as usual has a devious plan that's *bound* to work. He's managed to get hold of 1 of Spidey's Spider-Tracers and recalibrated it, and his field operatives are monitoring SM's actions. But someone else is monitoring Thinker and planning revenge. This being thinks like a computer and says it's taken a long tome to adjust to his current system. But now he must have the patience of a machine. And then he spots a hyperspatial wormhole disgorging 1 of his revenge targets ...
... which is Silver Surfer exiting his jump from Kral space. He remembers another recent rift he passed through which was more troublesome and involved Outrider 111 (7 in binary) who thought SS might be his people's Messiah (seen in SS#111-114).
Meanwhile Ben Reilly's Spider-Sense goes wild, causing enough pain in his head to make him let go of his webline so he has to bounce off the walls of an alley to break his fall. Then he notices some pigeons that have been following him around giving him the evil eye - and the pain comes back. We see that they are indeed Thinker's 'field operatives'. Spidey throws some bricks at them to shoo them away but the pain increases. Then he erects a strong web for them to fly into. But then a green android grabs him, gives him an electric shock and everything goes black.
When he awakes he's pinned down on an operating table and Thinker is gloating over how he can use him for scientific experiments. But then his android hits him which should be totally impossible. However the droid seems to have been taken over by someone else who thanks MT for playing his part in *his* master plan for vengeance. And Thinker recognises the face that appears on the android before he too gets shocked ...
... and his head comes off revealing that he too was an android being controlled by the real Thinker in jail in the Vault via a cerebral cyber-link. The controller of the green droid guesses that the shock to the simuloid may have fried Thinker's brain, making him *really* the Mad Thinker. The voice says that 1 part of his vengeance is complete, and SM will help him with the 2nd half.
Silver Surfer is flying through Yosemite Valley admiring the scenery when Spider-Man drops onto his back, blinds him with web fluid and makes him slam into a giant redwood which falls on him. Even that of course isn't enough to stop the Skyrider Of The Spaceways who wants to know what Spidey was thinking! Ben Reilly webslings away but SS causes trees to get in the way(?!). When Norrin Radd catches him Reilly tries to explain that pain in his head causes him to do it, and now warns his 'foe' of an ambush by several green androids with blasters in their mouths. SS tries to escape on his Cosmic Surfboard but they shoot him down. So he blasts the droids to pieces, and the pain in SM's head subsides.
Ben sees Surfer falling out of the sky exhausted by the effort. He tries to catch him in a web net but his red hot body melts through it. A voice tells Spidey he's free to go because his usefulness is at an end, but he refuses to leave SS at the mercy of the mystery villain. He sees Surfer and his board disappearing and dives on to him ...
... and all 3 wind up in a big spaceship. The villain's head appears on a screen and SM and SS both recognise him as Quasimodo. Quasi relates his history (for us). The Thinker created him as a sentient computer (Fantastic Four Annual #4) but Silver Surfer gave him a humanoid body (FF An #5), and he blames both of them for his miserable life after. He ended up as a disembodied entity floating in space (after Avengers #253) but eventually got into the computer system of this mighty spaceship Sanctuary II. It took him some time to gain control of it, and along the way discovered that it used to belong to Thanos and saw the Avengers fighting Nebula in it (Av#260-261). At the end of that battle he used holography to fake the ark's destruction. And now he's brought it to the Solar System where he intends to install himself in Surfer's body.
Spidey swears to protect the still-recovering Surfer but Quasi blasts him (from the screen) out of the room and shuts the door. Ben tries to think what to do (invoking Will Robinson of the Lost In Space TV series). Quasimodo has SS in a forcefield and explains how he used Thanos's files on him to deduce exactly how the (Thinker's) androids could neutralise him. And once he has Surfer's body and power the Quasi-Motivational Destruct Organ can do what he was designed to do - destroy. But then Spider-Man enters through a ventilation grill and thanks the wordy villain for giving him the time to get here. He smashes the video screen and urges Surfer to fight for his freedom.
SS strains and breaks out of the forcefield, but Q reappears in a smaller flying screen. Instead of fighting Surfer flies away, explaining to Spidey that the villain has all the resources of Thanos at his disposal, and he should know from experience how dangerous that makes him. (But Ben Reilly has no idea who Thanos is.) More flying blasting screens join in the chase and the 2 heroes keep destroying them to 'blind' their foe. But the assault is relentless ...
... until suddenly they notice that the screen with Q's face in is shrinking. Panicked Quasi doesn't know what's causing it. But we see Thanos himself on the scene with the screen now small enough to fit in his hands where he crushes it, expelling the cybernetic organism back into space. He says that he came to reclaim his ship and has just rescued the heroes as a consequence. Surfer stops Spidey from making a joking response and the Titan teleports them away, reminding them that they are now in his debt.
They reappear in the Pacific Northwest of the US, not where they started. Surfer thinks it's because Thanos knew where he had been heading. He leads his ally to the grave of Alvin Bernard Harper with an eternal flame burning above it. He tells him about his (1969) #5 where Harper tried to help him escape from his imprisonment on Earth and then died saving Earth from the Stranger. SS lit the flame and returns every year on this anniversary.
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Quasimodo, Spider-Man (
Ben Reilly).