I think this is the first time we see The Foreigner out of disguise, and we see that he has a very familiar, very playful relationship with Kingpin. Kingpin is kinda out of character in it–he’s not known for banter.
Then it’s on to a splash page:
It’s never good when Peter Parker is thinking “what else can go wrong?”
The story is a fairly dark one: A kid develops the power to vaporize people, and he starts (accidentally) with his abusive father. This leads to him being pursued by SHIELD and the Mandroids.
Spider-Man tries to protect the child, but in the end we get a pretty gruesome panel…
…Note how the agent in the back is just worried about Nick Fury being mad, not that he just abetted the assassination of a little kid.
Note: The kid is not dead. He will rise from the ashes (pun intended) as the character Ashcan in a future issue of Peter David’s Hulk, nearly 10 years from now.
Also, new corner box!