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During World War II, Captain America was the only successful super soldier created by the U.S. One of the many failed attempts has now surfaced: Ana Soria, mutant, whose genetic makeup scientists altered to include insect genes. Now her insectoid bias has led her to want to convert her favorite people into insect/human hybrids, destroy the rest, and then rule as the insect queen. (Hey, it's a living.) A fateful kiss on Spider-Man's lips released something in his system which started transforming him into a real (big) spider (Does this indicate that Soria actually has arthropod genes or that her mutation can mutate all animals?).

Soria has developed a bomb that will destroy all human - but not insectoid or hybrid - life in its rather large expected blast radius in a rather short period of time. Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D., along with Captain America and the X-Men, are on the search for the bomb. Soria has demanded New York be evacuated, but the powers-that-be decide not to evacuate and not to notify the public, fearing more the potential damage millions of panicked people could cause. Will the gamble pay off?

While some parts of the story happen predictably, there are unexpected turns. The last couple of issues detail Spider-Man's eerie and disturbing transformation, which comes to completion here. And you'll see a change that ties into the Spider-Man films. One wonders how this will affect the core title, The Amazing Spider-Man.

The writing isn't exactly spectacular. The effect of Spider-Man's transformation on his family, while covered slightly in previous issues, was barely mentioned here and not dealt with overall as well (as dramatically) as it could have been. As this is the final chapter, though, perhaps the author had a surplus of material to wrap the story up with.

Paco Medina's art, while distinctive, is not my cup of tea. It's a bit too cartoony with exaggerated proportions, relying on the coloring to provide depth, but it is certainly energetic enough to overcome the green/gray backgrounds on virtually every page.

Quote of the Week: "In the meantime, they're losing their chance to evacuate. How typical of their species to present a united front and betray their own hive at the same time … It makes me miss the old days when honor was more than a concept designed to justify the draft."