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At the end of Amazing Spider-Man #365, we saw the return of 2 characters that not many thought they would ever see, including Peter Parker...Who were they? His Parents, Richard & Mary Parker, thought long dead since an explanation was given for their whereabouts in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5...The surprise return began a rather short period that kind of "bridged" the Venom & Image eras with the next era...Besides the return of Peter's parents, other significant happenings made their way into the pages of the 4 main Spider-Man titles, a new quarterly title, and many limited series...Also some classic storylines took place that saw the death of Peter's best friend and one of the longest storylines in the history of all Spider-Titles.

Maximum Carnage was a very long storyline that spanned 14 issues of the regular titles plus the new quarterly Spider-Man Unlimited...It involved Carnage at the center of the story with his deadly allies that included Shriek, Demogoblin, Carrion II, Doppleganger, and others against Spider-Man, Venom and an assortment of other heroes...The storyline followed up another memorable storyline entitled Invasion of the Spider-Slayers that debuted many new Spider-Slayers along with Alistair Smythe, son of Spencer Smythe, the creator of the first few Slayers...Probably the most touching and memorable story though was in Spectacular Spider-Man #200 which saw Harry Osborn die from the effects of the Goblin Formula while he was the Green Goblin II...His death was an untimely one that still effects Peter to this day.

Many characters made their way into the Spider-Titles despite the long storylines...Most prominent were: Venom, Cardiac, a younger Vulture, the Chameleon, Shriek, Carrion II, Puma, Vermin, Tombstone, Scorpion, Rose, Hobgoblin, Lizard, Master of Vengeance, Electro, Mysterio and others...New characters included  The Jury, Warrant, Facade, Sandstorm, Platoon...The characters that were MOST prominent though were Peter's parents, but something was wrong , and it wasn't until Amazing Spider-Man #388 that it was revealed that his parents were some sort of human constructs that were able to morph...The person behind this cruel trick was none other than Peter's late friend Harry, the second Green Goblin.

Gotcha! Gotcha! Gotcha! was the phrase repeated by Harry as he appeared on a video screen when it was revealed that it was he who was behind the whole parent fiasco...Peter experiences yet another rough period in his life by his late best friend and loses his parents yet again in his life in what ended a pretty short era full of many dramatic moments and twists and turns...But you haven't seen anything till you see the next era!...Just one little innocent panel in the middle of Web Of Spider-Man #114 depicting a shadowy figure on the telephone with Peter's Aunt May will propel the entire Spider-Verse into the most tumultuous and controversial period in the history of Spider-Man that will last for the next 3 and a half years encompassing every title that Spider-Man appears in, or should I say Spider-Men?