InsaneJournal

Given the discussion on this mini a couple of posts back, I thought I'd give this a shot. The story seems to be well-known on the internets for a dick shot of Peter that was censored in subsequent printings (really, it's less detailed than Bart Simpson's on The Simpsons Movie)  in the first issue and for the fate of Mary-Jane. Chances are you know what I'm talking about, but I won't get into details just yet.

For those who don't know, Reign was a Spider-Man miniseries that dealt with Spider-Man as an old man in a possible "future". It was written and illustrated by Kaare Andrews. The story was obviously inspired by Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns in a number of areas, and Kaare Andrews makes no attempt to hide that;  a character's named Miller Janson. Still, having been a fan of Miller's work, I think Reign is far from being a ripoff when you get past the basic concept of the title characters. For example, just compare how Batman was portrayed as to how Spider-Man is. Batman, despite being old, was portrayed as grizzled and larger than life. Spider-Man, on the other hand...well, you'll see.

For the record, the full issue is about 40 pages. 

The story opens with the rhyme of "the itsy-bitsy spider" with the focus on a, well, spider. The camera zooms out, and...



Peter Parker is working at a flower shop. It turns out he gave a customer white roses instead of cream ones, and now the customer's refusing to pay.



Outside, Peter runs into the kids from earlier being chased by the "Reign" officers. He's knocked over and his flowers are stepped on. One of the kids identifies himself as Ben Taykit, middle name "Doverand".





We see a clip from the "Daily Bugle News Channel" (with the aforementioned Miller Janson) celebrating the anniversary of the city's independence and a decade of no attacks from super-powered crime.



A brief scene from Mayor Waters reveals that he's the opposite. We see that Waters is taunting a once-fat man on an IV-drip with some steak. This man hasn't eaten solid food in ten years, and Water takes him out each year for this "annual tradition" before taking him back to the "Vault". Although he isn't named, this man was revealed in an interview to be the Kingpin. 

Peter returns home with the flowers, and tells an unseen person that he left his job. When the unseen person doesn't respond, he yells for them to "say something".







Peter wakes up from this dream to hear someone knocking on his door.





Jonah drops a package on Peter's doorstep and tells him he's been holding it for him a long time. When he gets outside, he goads on the Reign agents by damaging some property with his walker. Inside, Peter finds his old camera and doesn't get it, when he realizes what the black fabric holding it is... Peter gasps. "It has eyes." Outside, poor Jonah's getting the crap beaten out of him.





Spider-Man makes quick work of the Reign officers. One of the criticisms that the series gets is that Spidey's portrayed as a sad old man with none of the humor that makes Spidey who he is. I have to wonder if they're reading the same series I am. As soon as Peter puts the mask on, he's making jokes and egging the officers on with witty banter.