If I haven’t made it clear before then I’ll do so now: I am a HUGE Spider-Man fan. I was also always a fan of the pairing he and Ms. Marvel made during New Avengers, down to some characters making the assumption that they had a full-on romantic relationship. I’m not gonna lie, I always thought they’d make a solid couple… maybe not now, but at the time, sure, so I was stoked when I got to this issue.
#spoilers
Another reason this one will go down as a fave? It’s a one-shot character piece. I can really never get enough of these. It’s nice to every now and then have a comic that just takes a step back and examines our favorite characters in a grounded setting. There’s some action sprinkled out here, such as the opening where Ms. Marvel and Spidey crackdown on some Z-lister I don’t recognize… if he’s anybody at all… but it’s not the focal point of the comic. So they defeat the criminal and proceed to their fancy dinner date. They end up talking about their Avenging lives and all that jazz, only to find that they don’t have much to talk about besides.
Their date gets interrupted by some Osborn goons (this takes place around the time of Dark Reign) and Ms. Marvel handles them while Peter chows down on some food. It’s pretty hilarious. Afterwards Marvel swoops up Peter in her arms and they take off, settling for one of Pete’s favorite hot dog stands to grab a bite.
The issue ends with the two of them sitting on a roof where they share their love of chili dogs and junk food, but more importantly Peter notes the fact that Carol had cared so much what he thought of her that she had chosen a fancy dinner spot.
I mean, that’s a pretty standard thing for a first date, and in no way does this make them destined lovers in any way, but it’s a nice capper to the issue that kind of puts Carol and Peter’s relationship out in the open. They’re just two friends that have a few common interests and genuinely care about one another, if only as just friends. Perhaps in a parallel universe these two got together, but certainly not in 616.
Like most character pieces this is one I could see myself coming back to again and again. It’s a brief story of “what could have been and what is.”
TL;DR Score: It makes me wish they’d had an ongoing together.
TL;DR Comics 