"Things Fall Apart"
Writer: Peter David
Penciler: Mark Beachum
Inker: Bob McCleod
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: D. Martin
Spider-Man stops the attempted mugging of a young woman, but decides against using any photos that were automatically snapped by his webbed-up camera when they all feature the potential victim's face. This leads to Peter getting chewed out by Daily Bugle City Editor Kate Cushing, who grudgingly gives him another assignment, but reprimands him further by saying, "Pretend you're a pro photographer -- like Lance Bannon." What a dashing name for such an obvious figment.
Peter beats himself up about his bad luck a little and then goes about his day, all the while continuing to suffer minor misfortunes. He finally gets suspicious when he loses 179 consecutive coin flips with himself, and goes to see Dr. Strange to get the bad luck hex removed.
But where did the hex come from in the first place? Why, from Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat and Spidey's ex, of course, whose bad luck power inconveniences everyone around her, and now Spidey suspects she somehow permanently hexed him when they broke up.
But while Spidey assumes the worst, Felicia is actively trying to shake off the poor decisions of the past and reform from a life of crime, hoping it will impress Peter. And what better way to present such a moment of introspection than a sexy-lady-workout montage:
Mark Beachum loves to draw sexy-lady-workout montages.
Note: This issue's title, "Things Fall Apart," is a reference to the fact that the protagonist of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo, was known as "The Cat" and had some pretty nasty bad luck himself.*
*That's not true. Well, maybe it is. But I definitely made it up.
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