Maximum Carnage part 3

 Maximum Carnage part 3

The Amazing Spider-Man #380, Spider-Man #37, The Spectacular Spider-Man #203, Spider-Man Unlimited #2

Originally released in 1993

Written by David Michelinie (Amazing), J.M. DeMatteis (Spider-Man, Spectacular), Tom DeFalco (Unlimited)

Art by Mark Bagley (Amazing, Unlimited), Tom Lyle (Spider-Man), Sal Buscema (Spectacular)

Last time on Maximum Carnage, Carnage had set up headquarters in the Statue of Liberty as New York City descends into chaos.  While Carnage is torturing Venom, Spider-Man is working with a hastily-thrown-together team of Avengers (Captain America, Firestar, Iron Fist, and Deathlok) to put a stop to Carnage and his crew non-lethally.

Once Shriek is knocked out, her maddening effect on the population wears off, leading to a great Captain America moment that makes his inclusion in this crossover worth it.

Eventually, Shriek recovers, and is freed with the help of Demogoblin and Doppelganger, but with the heroes working to undo Shriek's maddening effect, the citizens of New York stand up against Shriek in a moment that reminds me of the "you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!" scene from the original Spider-Man movie.

This display manages to convince both Peter (who prevented a woman from throwing her babies off of a rooftop while driven mad by Shriek) and Mary Jane (who's watching this on TV) that Peter's actions as Spider-Man have been worth it for how they inspire people to do the right thing.  However, now that Shriek is conscious, she uses her powers to drive the citizens back into a berserk state.

Peter's father, Richard Parker, continues to stand for a cynical viewpoint of humanity, but Mary Jane has had enough of hearing about that and tells him off to Aunt May's silent approval.  Meanwhile, Venom tricks Carnage, recovering and escaping.

Carnage takes out his frustration on Shriek, abusing her while claiming it's because she was killing people without him.  Doppelganger intervenes, clearly more attached to Shriek than Carnage, and Carnage seemingly kills him for it.  Carnage's family is on the verge of breaking up (Demogoblin's involvement felt like a stretch to begin with), but Carnage turns their focus to the heroes.

Cloak arrives, with Dagger alongside him; despite being believed to be dead, Dagger survived but her physical form was unstable and she needed to take refuge inside the dark dimension within Cloak's costume. She tries her best to reach the abused little girl that Shriek once was, to help Shriek find redemption, but it's not enough, though her efforts do give Spider-Man an idea.

Spider-Man fights all four villains at once, and he's barely standing, but he manages to buy enough time for the other heroes to get a device that amplifies Dagger's redemptive powers and Iron Fist's meditation to bring out the long-buried good in whoever it hits.  It's uplifting, though kind of cheesy (but given how cynical the 80s and 90s could be, maybe that was needed), though it inexplicably also cures the virus that Carrion was infected with. (Maybe Dagger has healing powers that were amplified by the device? I'm not too familiar with the character)

Carnage's life has been one of abuse and pain from a very early age, so the concept of hope and the possibility of redemption are completely foreign to him.  The psychic backlash causes an explosion, the machine having apparently redeemed the other three villains (though I'm guessing it's only temporary for Shriek) but seemingly killed Carnage.

Spider-Man heads to Central Park to reflect on the day and mourn the lives lost, only to be met by Venom, who is furious that Spider-Man took away his opportunity to kill Carnage.  However, that chance isn't completely lost, as Carnage crawls out of the nearby lake, alive and well going into the final issue of this storyline. (The explanation that we get is that Carnage must have faked his death by covering one of his victims in the symbiote, though that doesn't explain why the victim was naked with only the symbiote preserving his decency)

Carnage and Venom are completely focused on trying to kill each other, with Spider-Man feeling more like an afterthought to the two of them. Weakened by the ray that he'd been hit with, Carnage flees to his former prison cell, with Venom in pursuit, while Peter heads to the hospital to get his ribs looked after and to reconcile with Mary Jane.

Peter heads back to his friends and family, where Richard is as cynical as ever.  Harry Osborn's son, little Normie Osborn, continues to be weirdly ominous, especially when (as far as I knew) he generally got along well with Peter.

Peter takes some time to recuperate, and to give his dad a pep talk, before heading out to track down Venom and Carnage, who are still battling their way across the city. At least Peter and Mary Jane part on better terms than last time.

Carnage flees to the cemetery, trying to dig up his mother's grave when Venom and Spider-Man catch up to him.  It's clear that he's even crazier than normal at this point, but Venom still wants him dead.

Venom knocks Carnage into a generator, causing an explosion that knocks out Carnage and gives Venom cover to escape.  Spider-Man muses that while Carnage will likely recover even with the Avengers putting him into stasis, sometimes the villains stay dead.  He says this while reflecting at the graves of Harry and Norman Osborn, both of whom (to my knowledge) are very much alive at the time of this writing.

If this event has been eight or ten issues, it would have been solid, but fourteen feels more than a little dragged out.  The messaging seems a bit heavy-handed, but then again, I'm not sure what the comic book, entertainment, or political landscape was like during this time; given the cynical environment that made the Punisher popular and turned Venom into an anti-heroic protagonist, maybe the lack of subtlety was necessary. I did enjoy it; it just felt like several issues and characters (like Demogoblin and Morbius) could have been cut from the story with nothing being lost.