Act I written by Peter David
PART 1 - Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man #1 pencilled by Mike Weiringo
PART 2 - Marvel Knights Spider-Man #19 pencilled by Pat Lee
PART 3 - Amazing Spider-Man #525 pencilled by Mike Deodato

Act II written by Reginald Hudlin
PART 4 - Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man #2 pencilled by Mike Weiringo
PART 5 - Marvel Knights Spider-Man #20 pencilled by Pat Lee
PART 6 - Amazing Spider-Man #526 pencilled by Mike Deodato

Act III written by J. Michael Straczynski
PART 7 - Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man #3 pencilled by Mike Weiringo
PART 8 - Marvel Knights Spider-Man #21 pencilled by Pat Lee
PART 9 - Amazing Spider-Man #527 pencilled by Mike Deodato

Act IV
PART 10 - Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man #4 written by Peter David and pencilled by Mike Weiringo
PART 11 - Marvel Knights Spider-Man #22 written by Reginald Hudlin and pencilled by Pat Lee
PART 12 - Amazing Spider-Man #528 written by J. Michael Straczynski and pencilled by Mike Deodato

This overview is designed to keep fans updated with The Other: Evolve or Die, the biggest Spider-Man event in recent years. The story is told over 12 parts (October to January), written in four Acts by Peter David, Reginald Huldin and J. Michael Straczynski. David writes Act I, Hudlin writes Act II, Straczynski writes Act III and all three writers return to their respective titles to conclude with Act IV. Each Act spans the three titles Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man, Marvel Knights Spider-Man and Amazing Spider-Man.

ACT I

Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man #1 - Shock
Peter dreams about Morlun and tells MJ that he fears death. Captain America teaches Peter to use his chi and slow things down around him, not acting on instinct but concentrating and just doing it. Spidey implements this the following day when Tracer fires two bullets at him that follow him around the city. Spidey eventually stops and catches them. One of them goes through his shoulder and he has to go to see a doctor. This doctor takes Peter’s blood for testing. Later, Spidey pursues his spider-tracer to find Tracer but ends up attacking JJJ in his limo. At home, the doctor phones Peter; it is bad news and they need to talk. The man watching from outside? Morlun! Rating 4½ / 5

Marvel Knights Spider-Man #19 – Denial
In her dressing room, MJ is spied on by Morlun. We flash back to a conversation she has with Captain America, whilst playing pool, about why heroes (such as himself and Peter) do what they do. Backstage, the actors gather round a TV, watching Spider-Man vs. Tracer part 2. MJ can’t see properly so runs to a nearby bar. MJ watches as Iron Man enters the scene to aid Spidey, but Tracer takes control of his armour and Iron Man attacks Spidey! A fan obsessed with MJ enters the bar and threatens her with a gun. MJ takes him out with a pool cue and goes home to find out how Peter is. Later, MJ tells Peter that she thinks he wants to die, and that her being there is not enough to stop his death wish. Peter tells her he doesn’t want to die, that he is scared; scared ever since he read the doctors report that he now shows MJ… Rating 2½ / 5

Amazing Spider-Man #525 – Rage
Aunt May wakes up after a nightmare in which her dead mother, whose life support machines she signed to be turned off, attacks her. She leaves her room to find Peter and MJ arguing in the corridor. Peter leaves and May goes into the kitchen where she thinks about Jarvis and Ben. Tracer enters and tells her that he is a reserve Avenger. On the streets Spidey is approached by Morlun, who tells him that Peter’s deterioration is of interest to him so they will not fight yet. Spidey is in no state to pursue so returns to Avengers Tower. Meanwhile, Tracer tells May that he is a machine god and that he is there to talk to. May opens up to him about bravery in the face of death until Peter rushes back and attacks him. Tracer takes a DNA sample off Peter as they fight and rages about the condition of his foe. Peter nearly kills Tracer before May gets him to back off. Tracer melts away, leaving just a robot. May then forces Peter to tell her what is wrong… Rating 3½ / 5

ACT I Overall Rating 3½ / 5

ACT II

Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man #2 – Bargaining
Aunt May demands that Peter take advantage of his super-friends and find a cure for his condition which sparks a journey that takes him through numerous Marvel characters. He goes to Reed Richards, Yellowjacket, Tony Stark, Bill Foster, Bruce Banner (whom they have to change from being The Hulk), Black Panther (where a run-in with Morlun is avoided) and ends up back in New York City non the wiser. As he contemplates his faith, Ox attacks a man in an alley. Spidey swings down and puts a major beat down on him when he transforms into Morlun. As Spidey pounds away, he almost loses it. Daredevil intervenes before Spidey, caught in a trance/dream/trick, damages Ox beyond repair. Spidey swings off and visits Doctor Strange. Strange uses the mystics to analyse Spider-Man’s condition and tells him to ‘Prepare to die…’ Rating 3½ / 5

Marvel Knights Spider-Man #20 – Retreat
In Latveria, Spider-Man and Iron-Man-armour-clad MJ and Aunt May, break into Doctor Doom’s castle and use his time machine to travel back to when Peter’s parents were alive. Peter and May find it a little hard to cope but decide that their trip is worthwhile. When they immerge in the castle they are attacked by Doombots but May and MJ, using the armour, are able to save the day. Once home, Peter travels to Las Vegas to have some fun and then he and MJ take a stellar trip for a beautiful romantic view. Looking upon the moon together from a shuttle pod, little do they know that Morlun has decided that it is time for him to feast…! Rating 1½ / 5

Amazing Spider-Man #526 – Reckoning
Peter now accepts that his death is imminent. On his way to The Bugle, Spidey is jumped by Morlun and the final battle begins! Spidey directs the battle from The Bugle offices to The Empire State University campus. Spidey tries his best but Morlun kicks the living crap out of him! Peter gets his second wind, refusing to lie down and die. As he pounds Morlun’s face into the pavement he feels he is winning but he becomes exhausted and Morlun seizes an opportunity… He plucks out Peter’s eye and eats it! Peter goes into shock as Morlun pounds him into a bloody heap… Rating 3½ / 5

ACT II Overall Rating 3 / 5

ACT III

Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man #3 – Bowling To The Inevitable
Morlun’s feed is interrupted by the police. They rush Spider-Man to the hospital, his face pummelled, eye missing, body and spirit broken beyond repair. As The Avengers and MJ rush to the hospital they race against Morlun who returns to finish his feast. The Avengers are told that Peter’s condition is fatal. As Morlun approaches Peter’s body little mouths open on his hands. As he is about to feast, MJ jumps on top of him. He sends her crashing into the wall and breaks her arm. With the man gone, the spider in Peter awakens as a reflex action to his impending death. He leaps on Morlun as his eye blazes, stings explode from his wrists and his face turns into more insect than man. He pins Morlun down and feeds on his head! Morlun dies in a swirl of dust and pain. Peter collapses and MJ holds him in his arms as he dies… Iron Man takes the body from the hospital and the man Mary Jane loved is dead… Rating 4 / 5

Marvel Knights Spider-Man #21 – Aftermath
MJ returns to Aunt May and begins to grieve. Tony asks to see her and they talk about what they are going to do with Peter’s body and identity. Midway through Tony telling her about modifying his injuries, she has to run out. She runs into Wolverine who acts as someone that MJ’s anger can be focused upon. MJ returns to Tony and tells him that she wants the world to know what a hero Peter Parker was. That evening, as Jessica Drew is talking to MJ about her grief, an alarm trips and The Avengers run to the room where Peter’s body lies. It has been split right open and the window has been smashed from the inside. The following morning, on a field trip, a teacher talks to her group about spiders being able to shed their skin. Above her, on the underside of a bridge, a cocoon has formed… Rating 3½ / 5

Amazing Spider-Man #527 - Evolution
The Avengers continue the search for whatever was with Peter. On the underside of the bridge the thing in the cocoon wakes up. Peter appears in a dreamscape where he is spoken to by the spider within him. Peter flashes back to his origin, the death of Uncle Ben and his decision to wear a costume and hide his face. From a tree, a voice tells him that his decision to wear the Spider on his costume and not within his being was wrong. Now the Spider has taken the Man off and the Man is dead. Now is the time to be reborn; but as what? More Spider, or more Man? He is told that it is now the time to finally embrace the Spider; The Other. Peter reaches out to embrace the Spider facing him and immerses from the cocoon. He returns to MJ and May. As he sleeps he hears the Spider’s final words; The Man died and the Spider was reborn. Are you the Man who dreamed of being a Spider or the Spider who dreamed of being a Man? Are you you… or are you The Other? Rating 4½ / 5

ACT III Overall Rating 4 / 5

ACT IV

Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man #4 - Pirate Booty
In Stark’s lab, Peter undergoes tests to understand what happened to him. All they can figure out is that he is in absolutely perfect health. In another room, where Peter’s shed skin lies, spiders begin to appear. At Peter’s school, Flash Thompson (awoken from his coma and suffering from memory lapses) gets a job as a PE teacher. When the head tells him that Peter works there, Flash announces that he hasn’t seen Peter since High School! Back in the lab, Peter is a bout to leave when his spider-sense goes off and he floors Stark! He is incredibly apologetic and puts it down to his new reflexes. Later, as Peter and MJ swing around the city, they talk about what happened and MJ finds that she has grown because of it. Peter’s spider-sense rockets and they quickly go back to Stark Tower. They find it encased in web and, as Spidey enters, he finds a creature made from the Pirate Spiders that have consumed his skin. As he goes to attack, stingers slide out of his wrists and the creature flees through a whole in the wall…! Rating 3½ / 5

Marvel Knights Spider-Man #22 - Destiny’s Child
Spidey takes off after the spider-being but is unable to take her down. She tells him that his stingers are part of his evolution and that she is defined by everything Peter is not. When he died a cost had to be paid and her existence is that cost; Peter lived so she does. She escapes and Peter returns to Stark Tower so face the music and more tests. Later, peter and MJ talk about his confrontation and his death and MJ learns that peter does not remember evolving to kill Morlun in the hospital. Later, Doctor Strange tells Spidey that he is caught in the centre of a cosmic web and he is the spider, the meal or a bit of both. Back at Stark Tower, May talks with Peter about the gift of life he has been given again. Peter is confused, feeling like he is cheating somehow, but May tells him that whatever lies ahead of him he is ready for it. As she speaks we see a church, and in an archway lies another cocoon…! Rating 2½ / 5

Amazing Spider-Man #528 - Post Mortem
Tony Stark tests Peter once again to see if he is the real thing. That night Peter goes out as Spider-Man but finds that MJ’s repairs of his costume do not hold up. He goes to see Leo Zelinski (last seen in #502) for a repair job. Whilst there he hears an explosion and races to the scene where he finds an apartment building collapsed! He easily saves some of the residents but learns that a girl called Jennifer is still strapped. He forces open the rubble and crawls in! Inside, Peter’s new powers announce themselves and he is able to see in the dark and feel vibrations in his hands through his webbing, both of which aid him in finding Jennifer. He then sticks her to his naked back and crawls, runs and leaps through the building as it crashes down and saves her life! Later at home with MJ, Peter talks about his rebirth and welcomes his fresh start and new powers with open arms. Elsewhere in Avengers Tower, Stark listens in on their conversation as he works on Peter’s new costume… Rating 4 / 5

ACT IV Overall Rating - 3½ / 5

THE OTHER Overall Rating - 3½ / 5

Reviewed by Adam Rivett

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