I suppose the revelation that Harry actually being rendered unconscious presumably from the Goblin formula rather than dying was expected, as was Norman Osborn, once again, being involved in getting his son out of there--although technically that completely screws up his whole reason for coming back during the Clone Saga.
However, having Mysterio be involved I must admit is a bit unexpected. I would imagine that Dan Slott having Quentin Beck appear in a flashback would suggest that the Spider-Man writers have plans on bringing this character back from the dead sometime down the road. Say, perhaps, reveal that MJ's new boyfriend, Bobby Carr, is actually Beck in disguise and a servant of Mephisto (he did reveal in one of PAD Friendly Neighborhood issues that he was in service to hell, after all) and that this is all part of Mephisto sticking to his deal to keep Peter and MJ separate and not rekindling their love, etc. etc.
But there is something that's bugging me. Even though Harry never died, there still was a "body" and a funeral, courtesy of Norman and Mysterio. So, for about a couple of years Marvel time, at least, everyone pretty much thinks Harry is dead, thus the whole "all the stories still happened" mantra Marvel has been putting out, right? So far, and I'm assuming it will be addressed next issue, we'll be given a glimpse of Harry's "return from the dead" and character's reaction to it via flashback. This suggests that Harry "returned" sometime during the "mysterious gap of missing time," you know, the one that Quesada said happened in-between the last time Peter and MJ were married and when Peter woke up to go to Harry's return from rehab party. Now remember how one of the problems the Civil War event had in that the Superhero Registration Act wasn't clearly defined or written down thus causing confusion for the readers and inconsistency among the tie-ins? Well, I have a similar question:
How long was this f***ing gap of missing time in Spider-Man?
Because during this gap--which includes Peter Parker being inactive as Spidey for three months-- you presumably have Harry's "return from the dead," him falling off the wagon again, divorcing Liz Allen, marrying and divorcing two other times, going back to Europe for rehab, meeting Lily Hollister and dating her long enough for him to get close to her family, and buy the Coffee Bean and start a possible franchise business. If it's too short a time, then it seems highly implausible all this stuff took place, and if it's too long, then it doesn't square up continuity wise with the rest of the Marvel Universe, unless everything moved forward one year and we weren't made aware of it. I would think that Marvel, for the sake of clarity, ought to say just how long this period of "missing time" was rather than just giving some vague generality. Even Lost, with it's periods of "missing time" with their flashbacks and flashforwards, at least gives one an idea of how long a period it has been.
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