Slinger (Marvel NEW)/Issue Two

The second issue of Slinger is the second part of the "Before He Was Amazing" story arc and continues to follow a far younger Peter Parker, who has just faced his first villain in the form of Otto Octavius, AKA Doctor Octopus.

Synopsis
A lot of people in New York look up to Spider-Man and see him as no normal human, but people often forget that he is actually human. A human teenager who goes through a lot of money troubles... Luckily for him, the head of the Daily Bugle has put out a challenge: no one at the Bugle has gotten a good picture of Spider-Man, so if anyone does he will instantly hire them. This turns out to be far more difficult than Peter thought, as it is nearly impossible to get a clean shot of himself while battling the shifting Sandman!

Plot
At a museum, a man is asking about a painting, with the woman he's speaking to revealing that the painting was painted by Wilhelm van Vile, a painter who went mad shortly after creating the piece. The man studies the piece, asking how much it's worth. The woman answers that the piece is worth around $500,000 and the man says that he'll take it. The woman tells the man that nothing in the museum is for sale, only for the man to claim she doesn't understand what he means. His arm then turns into a sandblast and pins her to a wall as he proclaims that he'll take it.

A voice then boos at the thief, who turns around and sees Spider-Man by the window, who says that he's amazed there's someone who can tell worse jokes than him. Peter reveals he's met the thief before, calling him Flint Marko and asking how he got his new powers, since the last time they met he was far smaller and wasn't superhuman. Marko simply claims he had luck on his side before turning his sandblast on Spider-Man, who manages to dodge it for quite some time but is eventually hit by Marko, who then transforms his hands into hammers before continuously smashing his head. Unfortunately for Marko, the police burst in and force him to run away with his painting before he can finish Spidey.

Peter picks himself up and questions where everyone is getting their powers these days before it cuts to the next day, where he's getting ready for school. While walking out he overhears a conversation May has with her friend Anna, revealing that she's been forced to take on two jobs just to pay the electricity bill. Peter feels extremely guilty about this and walks downstairs, where he spots a newspaper with an ad from J. Jonah Jameson. He can't make out too much of it but he can read "big reward" on the front.

He picks it up and finds out that Jameson is issuing everyone a challenge: if they take a good picture of Spider-Man he'll hire them without question. This excites Peter quite a bit as he runs out the door with his phone before it suddenly cuts to him speaking with Harry Osborn in his school. Harry reminds Peter that there is a dance coming up to celebrate the Tigers' (Midtown High's football team) eighth victory and that they need dates to it.

Peter asks why they can't just go with each other, causing Harry to stare at him for a few seconds before Peter asks if it was a stupid question. Harry shakes this off and says that he's thinking about asking Sally Avril but there are multiple rumors that she's dating Flash Thompson. Peter then asks why he doesn't ask Gwen, only for Harry to say that it'd be weird. Peter attempts to ask how only for Gwen herself to show up and ask what they're talking about. Harry then smugly asks Peter if he's going to tell her only for Peter to give in and say that it is indeed weird.

Later at lunch, Gwen is still trying to find out what Harry and Peter were talking about, throwing out guess after guess to Harry, who denies each and every one. While they do this, Peter watches videoes on his phone and finds one with Sandman in the thumbnail. He clicks on it, revealing it to be footage of another Sandman attack where a woman spits water into his face, causing that side of his face to melt. This gives Peter an idea but his train of thought is broken when Flash Thompson smashes Peter's head into his food.

Flash sits down and begins talking with Harry and Gwen, asking if they're excited about his team's eighth win. Harry points out that he just smashed Peter's head into mashed potatoes and is now trying to act friendly with them, causing Flash to ask if they are actually friends with "Puny Parker". Gwen sarcastically states that they aren't and that they've been hanging out with him for no reason. Flash, not being the brightest around, doesn't get the sarcasm and tells them that's great before walking off.

Later in an auction in an unspecific building, Sandman has absorbed multiple guards into his being and is walking around with them inside him as a meat shield. Once he finally reaches the main hall of the auction he begins wreaking havoc, tearing up chairs to get to the auctioneer on the stage. He grins sadistically before asking where "Angel's Tear" is. He points to a safe and Sandman rips it open, revealing that Angel's Tear is actually a rather large diamond. Spider-Man then reveals his presence by asking if Sandman's master plan was actually to just steal a diamond.

Sandman yells that he can't believe it's him again before asking if Peter is stalking him. Peter attempts to make a joke only to realize he more or less has, in fact, been stalking him. The two then get into a rather large fight, with Sandman using his powers to throw objects and try and smash up Spider-Man, who dodges all of his attacks while using his phone to take pictures of himself and Sandman. Eventually, he gets a rather good picture that includes both of them in it and fists pumps before jumping out a window and telling Sandman to catch him if he can.

Sandman does so with pleasure, slithering out the same window and dropping his meat shields to follow Peter, who is still taking pictures of him while saving the lives of everyone he puts in danger during his assault. The two have a short scuffle where Sandman catches Peter, who in return takes a picture of his face before kicking his head so hard the sand of it bursts everywhere.

Spidey lands on a large metal girder, which Sandman breaks. He lands on more and more girders, with Sandman breaking each one until Peter lands right in front of him, allowing Sandman to get a rather out strike on him. He then asks Peter if he has any lasts words, with Peter saying he does: "look up". Sandman is rather confused by this and does so, realizing he's just broken the legs of a water tower. Before he can even react, the entire thing collapses in on him, spreading water everywhere and flushing what's left of Sandman down into the sewers.

Peter, talking to himself, says that the water probably didn't kill Sandman but it did take him out for a good week or two. He then receives a text from Harry, who asks if he's found a date yet. Peter rubs his chin in thought before Gwen Stacy is seen outside of a football field on her phone. Peter runs up to her and confesses everything about the conversation to her before asking her if she'll go to the dance with him. A whistle is heard and Gwen runs off to the field. Peter then gets another text, this one from Gwen which sadly states that she didn't want to break his heart by rejecting him in front of everyone. Peter is shattered by this but yells at Gwen that he understands before walking home defeated.