Synopsis & Review by RachelGrey:
Synopsis: Peter and MJ are awakened by Tony Stark, who has a surprise for Peter. When Peter arrives to Tony’s lab, he is shown his gift: A new costume. It’s a red and gold costume with many abilities: short-range gliding, heat resistance, resistance to small caliber bullets, built-in fire, police and emergency scanners, audio amplification, visual amplification (infrared and ultra violet), filters for toxins and poisons, and a short-range GPS communication system. Peter then agrees to take his new toy out for a spin.

One Hour Later: Two crooks with a hostage speed along the highway in pursuit by the police. They lose the cops but look up to see the new Iron Spidey! The one crook is still confident since there’s nothing for the wall-crawler to swing to them. A hesitant Peter readies himself to try his gliding abilities before jumping off a building and gliding into action. Spidey jumps onto the car and easily stops the crooks. He then rescues the hostage while the police arrive. The one crook, angered that he’s been caught, grabs a gun a shoots Spidey! He laughs that he’s killed Spider-Man, but stares in astonishment, as Spider-Man stands there unscathed. The men are taken away and Spidey swings off.

Later that night, Peter and MJ have dinner with Tony. Peter retells his adventure and thanks Tony. Peter then asks why Tony made it for him. Tony then explains that he needs someone he can depend on, even more than his teammates on the New Avengers. Tony asks Peter if he will become Tony’s protégé and that he’ll stick with him no matter what, like a blood oath. Peter says he trusts Tony and agrees. He’ll stick with Tony no matter what. Tony thanks Peter and then hands him a paper and tells him to pack his bags. They’re going to Washington.

Review: Ahhhhhh, the famed new costume and Iron Spidey. Loved and hated. I personally like the costume. I was unsure of it but once I saw Hitch’s cover and Ron Garney’s spread of it, I was OK with it. I still like the original better, but I can deal with this for a while. Everyone knows this won’t be permanent so people would be better off just riding with it. On the topic of art, Ron Garney does a decent job here. Again, his spread of Peter in the new costume is great. Otherwise, his art is only pretty good. Things can sometimes look to square, especially clothing. But it remains aesthetically pleasing.

The plot is really just introducing the costume and opening up for Civil War as the first of the Road To Civil War issues. There’s not really anything else to this issue except for being reminded of Peter and Tony’s father-son relationship. So, back the costume, it has its bad points too. I don’t like how Peter will now be relying on all of this technology, especially after “embracing the Spider” in The Other. However, at the same time, I’m not too big on the mystical element with Spider-Man. A more science edge is more to my liking, but the suit might be little much with that respect. The vision seems odd since Peter could see in the dark in The Other. But, the costume could add some fun elements if everyone keeps an open mind. Next stop: Washington!