The Amazing Spider-Man #264: Red 9 And Red Tape!

Writer: Craig Anderson
Artist: Paty

Another self-contained filler-strip, though the first one I've seen featuring the black costume, so I guess it must be recent.

Once more the altruistic Spider-Man / Peter Parker is on a quest to help out a couple of complete strangers who he's just run-into.

Philmont Magee is an aging wheelchair-bound patient at the local hospital, who due to a government error has been declared legally dead, and is about to be accordingly discharged. (!) Parker's consequent dash across Manhattan to sort out his case with social security, Medicare and an off-duty judge show just how dedicated to fighting the good fight the man inside the mask really is.

There's no radioactive blood required to fight a villain like City Hall - Peter Parker proves what a hero we can all be.

Conversely, his intermittent run-ins with the pneumonia-ridden teen Red 9, if anything, bring out his bad side. That they wind-up friends by the end is really the kid's doing.

No disrespect to the writer, (I liked this) but I do hope we get back to Tom DeFalco's ongoing storylines soon.