Ultimate Spider-Man: Father’s Pride
Issue: #38
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Mark Bagley
Inker: Art Thiebert
Colors: Transparency Digital

Cancer is first mentioned in the time of the ancient Egyptians; it appears in medical texts from ancient Greece and Rome, where it was first named. It’s been around as long as humanity. And Peter’s Parker’s father wanted to cure it, he explains on a videotape that begins this issue. The result was the Venom Project, which produced a suit that was supposed to use a cancer patient’s own biology to fight the disease. Instead, the suit has produced a monster called Venom, which has taken over Peter’s friend, Eddie Brock, whose father also worked on the project.

Peter is facing Venom in the middle of a rainstorm on the grounds of his school. He tries to talk Eddie into taking control of the monster, but Venom attacks. Peter fights back. Eddie and the Venom suit are still struggling for control of their situation. Venom takes off over the city. Peter, still in civilian clothes, chases after it. They grapple several times, until both of them fall across a set of electric lines, and then onto the roof of a car. The electricity has stunned Venom, and Peter can see Eddie lying inside the suit. As Peter reaches to help him, the suit closes up over Eddie and throws itself at Peter, engulfing him in black.

Peter throws himself out of the embrace and lands near the broken power line. He hits Venom with a tire and they fight until the police arrive. The officers begin shooting; Venom absorbs the bullets, but steps backward onto the broken power line. The suit seems to explode, leaving nothing. Peter flees before the police can stop him.

Throughout the battle, the fight scenes contain "voice-overs" from the video tape of Peter’s father, who is commenting on society, humanity’s darker side, and, in the panels that show Peter in the aftermath of the battle, the fact that Peter and his mother are what keeps Ray Parker going.

Submitted By: Seldes Katne