Hi, everybody.
I'm Keiko Agena, and I'll be reading a story from Marvel's
Super Hero Adventures--
Spider-Sense of Adventure.
And the story is called Spidey Bugs Out.
So it's about Spider-Man and probably some bugs,
I'm guessing.
So we start on a washing machine.
A normal [IMITATING WASHING MACHINE]
and what looks like a little bit of a bored Peter Parker.
He's like, "sigh."
Swish swish.
And then we hear "I'm Spider-Man."
"Whoa."
Peter Parker moves back.
And there's a little kid with a Spider-Man mask
on that's running through, and a mom that says,
"sorry about him."
Peter Parker goes "Oh, it's fine!
I didn't want to stand there anyway.
There's a much better place to stand."
Peter's always accommodating, it seems.
She says, "uh huh.
Are you done with that dryer?"
"Oops, yeah.
Sorry about that.
I'll get these out of your way."
She goes, "uh huh."
"I think I got hypnotized by the washing machine."
Which will happen.
And then, as he's gathering all of his laundry,
we hear on the television "but, Bobby, how will
I ever know who ate my yogurt?"
It's interrupted by another news program.
"Good evening.
We interrupt this soap opera to bring you breaking news.
The esports stadium currently hosting the world championship
for the top title in Bubblenaut 3, a sold-out event--"
and we see that there are people scrambling out of the arena.
And the newscaster is saying, "--is
currently under attack by a villain
calling herself the Beetle.
Authorities have been contacted and are on their way."
But before she can even finish, Spider-Man
is zipping out into the street.
She continues, "we just hope that the contestants
can remain safe until then."
Meanwhile, there's a woman--
she looks pretty dangerous already.
She's got her fists in the air.
She says, "Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha!
Nothing and no one can stop the Beetle!
I designed this suit-- and it looks fabulous, by the way--
after the second strongest beetle in the world."
Now, the gamers have not stopped playing, by the way.
And they say, "dude.
Only the second strongest?"
One of the other gamers says, while she's playing, "so what
beetle is the strongest then?"
"The dung beetle.
They can lift 1,000 times their body weight."
"Yo, that's neat."
"I guess they gotta be that strong to push
elephant doo-doo up a hill," says the gamer, acutely.
"I understand not wanting your brand
to be good at doo-doo rolling, though," says the gamer.
Which is a good point because when you're a super-villain,
you got to think about branding.
Although this is not what the Beetle really
wants to talk about, I feel like, because she says,
"anyway, as I was saying--
she's trying to get them back on track--
I'll be taking the grand prize now.
A state-of-the-art supercomputer being used as a gaming PC is,
frankly, offensive to me."
She doesn't like gamers, guys.
"When I heard it was the prize for a gaming tournament,
I couldn't believe my luck."
She's marching towards the supercomputer.
The gamers don't seem to notice.
And she literally says, "I could walk right in, as I've done,
and steal your supercomputer, as I'm doing.
But you'd all be too weak to fight the Beetle!
I mean, gamers?
[CHUCKLING] Don't you lot hang out in basements all day?
He goes, "uh, that's a stereotype."
And she says, "yeah, we hang out on live streams all day."
Clarification.
But it doesn't matter because the Beetle's
already at the supercomputer.
And she says, "be that as it may,
this supercomputer is mine now."
And she rips the cords out of the supercomputer.
"Not cool!
Not cool!"
"You think because I'm a gamer that I won't
fight some bug nerd who settles for being
the second-best beetle?
Because, lady, I will roll your doo-doo head up both ways!"
That catches her attention.
"Do I hear a challenge in that?"
Her wings just pop out of her back.
"That would certainly make things more interesting."
And then, we see both of them locked in battle.
They're ready.
But from the side, we hear, "nope!"
[SPIDER WEBS SHOOTING]
Webs hit the Beetle on her head and on her back.
Says, "no, no, no, no, no."
[SPIDER WEBS SHOOTING]
There's webs.
There's a whole web wall, and the Beetle
goes flying out to the side.
And he says, "No!"
Spider-Man has arrived on the scene.
With the web wall already up, he says, "are you guys OK?
Anyone hurt?"
And the gamers kind of chill.
They're like, "hey, Spider-Man."
He's like, "hey, so the exit is clear now if you want--"
"Spider-Man!"
He's like, "um, hi, again."
He's doing a lot of introductions here.
"So the exit is clear n--" he hears another person say,
"Spider-Man!"
"Yes?"
See, he thinks it's another gamer
or like another fan so he's real casual-like when he turns.
And he says, "hi there."
And [THUD] "Wait, no, you're the bad guy.
OK.
I see what just happened there.
Ouch."
I don't know what these bug beetles are doing,
but they're probably biting him.
And she says, "nothing and no one will stop the Beetle!
I modeled this tech after the second strongest
beetle in the world."
Spider-Man is also surprised by this.
He says, "second strongest?"
As he swings up and throws off some
of these little beetle bugs.
Thwip!
"What's the--" and the gamer says, "dung beetle."
"Little dudes can lift 1,000 times their body weight."
He's thinking, "huh.
That's neat."
That is neat.
But while he's distracted, oh, he gets knocked in the head
because he wasn't protecting himself at all.
He says, "oof!"
Falls to the ground.
Another gamer goes, "Spider-Man!"
And he's like, on the ground, "hey, buddy."
He says, "I fixed the computer."
Spider-Man, as he gets back into action, says, "what?
What are you guys still doing here?
It's too dangerous!"
He thought he let them out of the way,
but these guys are real focused, you know?
And all of them are back on the computer.
While they're tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tapping away,
from off-screen, we hear, pow, wham, thud!
"Ow!"
And the gamers say, "anyone who leaves forfeits the tournament.
And none of us are willing to do that.
But you got this, right?"
Spider-Man's fighting the Beetle and he says, "I think so."
They're like, "thanks, man.
It's a world championship.
You know how it is."
I don't know if this is going to work,
guys, because in the next panel, she's busting out.
She says, "ah, ha, ha, ha!
Nothing and no--" Spider-Man's like, "wait, wait, wait.
How can you even escape my webbing?"
She says, "spider webs are no match for beetles.
We always fly out of them."
"Fly, you say?
Got it!"
"Wh-- what?
I didn't-- stop that!"
"No, you stop," says Spider-man.
"You stop first!
In fact, you can't hurt anybody if you're grounded."
"Oof!"
And she falls down the ground.
Her foot up in the air.
She's like, "oof!"
And Spider-Man with his hands up in the air.
I think he's won the day at this point.
She says, (SIGHING) "it's a design flaw.
I needed the power of that supercomputer
to improve the performance of my beetle suit."
Spider-man says, "then I'm glad I was able to stop you
from stealing it, because with great processing power comes
great performance capability."
That Spider-Man.
So later, we're back at the laundromat.
Peter Parker picks up a little note,
the one he wrote earlier that said, "BRB," be right back.
And his smiley face is crossed out,
and then somebody had drawn in a frowny face.
His laundry is piled up high, maybe he left
another dryer full of laundry.
In any case, I don't think people are too happy with him
at this point.
He looks pretty sad.
He says, "and with great responsibility
comes great laundry.
Seriously, so much laundry."
But then, on that same television
that we heard earlier, we hear "this just in,
the Beetle's attempted burglary was bungled earlier today.
Lucky for these gamers that Spider-Man
arrived to detain the Beetle before anyone was injured.
Tell us, how did you feel during all this?
Were you scared?"
The gamer, he said, "nah, not with Spider-Man there.
He had things under control the whole time.
I love Spider-Man."
That's the kind of confidence that Spider-Man gives people.
"Aw."
The announcer says, "well, congrats again on
your big tournament win today."
"Thanks, dude.
It was all because Spider-Man had our backs."
That, he did.
Well, you know what I really liked about that story
it's that sometimes we can all get
a little bit down in the dumps and think that no one
appreciates what we do.
But you know what?
I bet there is someone out there appreciating you right now,
and you might not even know it, just like Peter Parker.
Thanks, everybody.
Stay tuned for more Marvel Read.
[MUSIC PLAYING]