Post by shlocko on Nov 29, 2012 20:51:32 GMT -5
#314 (“Down and Out in Forrest Hills” April 1989)
Peter and MJ are evicted from their condo, thanks to Jonathan Caesar’s machinations. Aunt May offers to let them stay, but Peter says that they have somewhere else they can go. MJ is curious about where they are gonna stay, but Peter says that he just doesn’t want to go back to Aunt May’s house. After visiting Uncle Ben’s grave and foiling a mugging in the park, Peter asks around to people he knows. He finally asks Flash Thompson, who offers up the back room at his Gym. Spider-Man stumbles across a robbery attempt, as a guy who works for a Scrooge-like boss has decided to cut himself into the profits. This is foiled by Spider-Man and Santa Claus (well, a guy in a Santa suit.) Peter is changing back to civvies when he sees Aunt May at Uncle Ben’s grave; he realizes that he should stay with Aunt May. The End.
Bottom Line: It’s Christmas; of course, the story is going to end well. I especially liked “Ho-Ho-Ho, Dirtbag!” when Santa walloped the guy with the bag of money. 3 out 5 here.
#315 (“A Matter of Life and Debt” May, 1989)
Venom escapes from the super-villain prison, The Vault. Spider-Man, meanwhile, is fighting Hydro-Man, who is easily defeated by hitting him with some bags of cement, forcing him to take off. The real story in this one is Nathan Lubinskey’s gambling problem. Peter follows him a couple of times, first preventing him from “borrowing” $500 from Aunt May, and then saving him from a bunch of thugs to whom he owes money. Mary Jane was supposed to have a modeling gig, but they changed models on her at the last minute. Nate can’t stop gambling after talking to Peter, and buys a dozen lottery tickets.
Bottom Line: This is an interesting take, that sometimes our compulsions get the best of us, and there’s little we can about it without help. I like that the magic talk didn’t work, and Nate continued to be a gambler. 4 out of 5
#316 (“Dead Meat” June, 1989) and #317 (“The Sand and The Fury” July, 1989)
Venom has made it to New York, and is hiding out in tunnels apparently undiscovered by the Morlocks. Spider-Man stops a crime in progress, and goes to the Daily Bugle to get some change of address forms made. MJ has been dropped from another modeling job, and Decides to go apartment hunting. Black Cat arrives at the Bedford Apartment to find Venom there, and she takes a shit kicking. She’s also surprised to find out that after all these months, Spider-Man is married. MJ sees him swing away, and tells Peter, who calls the Vault. They give him the runaround, and he goes looking for Venom, finally encountering him at a meat packing plant. Venom wins round one by dumping a vat of blood and fat all over Spider-Man, who freaks and leaves, leaving behind his clothes and (dramatic pause) change of address notices.
Eddie Brock, Venom’s human identity, shows up at Aunt May’s house in Forrest Hills. He says he’ll leave Peter’s family alone, as long as he plays by the rules. Peter says screw that and hightails it to Four Freedoms Plaza to enlist the aid of the Fantastic Four. When he returns home, Brock is there, and warns him again, having seen him go to the FF. Peter shows up at the appointed place, but beforehand, he talks to a psychologist about Venom. Cute. Get into his head. (He should have gone on network TV and cut a wrestling promo on him. That’s how I would taunt villains if I were a superhero.) At any rate, they brawl for a long time, until Peter strips off his costume and tells the symbiote that if it wants him, it can have him. The shock is too much, and all three pass out. He comes too, and the costume couldn’t break its bond with Brock.
Bottom Line: This is the definitive Michelinie/McFarlane Spider-Man. Best story they told on the book together, and a nice innovative way to defeat the villain. 5 out of 5.
#318 (“Sting Your Partner” August 1989) and #319 (“The Scorpion’s Tail of Woe” Early September 1989)
Scorpion has been given a new tail by Justin Hammer, who normally just supplies the bad guys in exchange for a portion of their profits. He is charged to kidnap a General who is speaking at ESU. Peter of course, wants to get pictures of this for J. Jonah Jameson, who isn’t buying anything of Spider-Man. (It’s because he’s been replaced by the Chameleon, over in Spectacular or Web) Scorpion decides that instead of kidnapping the General, he’s going to hold him hostage. He wants JJJ to replace the General, or he’s gonna die.
The next issue, Spidey brings him a pizza, and Scorpion decides to take off, with the general in tow. He hijacks a helicopter, and Spider-Man tags him with a tracer, and then tumbles into the river. MJ finds out that the reason that she won’t get another modeling job is because of Jonathan Caesar. Meanwhile, Scorpion still has the General, and Hammer has sent Blacklash and Rhino to take care of him. They have a huge brawl, and Spider-Man rescues the General, and Rhino and Blacklash take Scorpion’s new tail back and get away.
Bottom Line: I like the look of this story, and it really is a ton of fun. I like that they let McFarlane update everyone’s look a little bit. 3.5 out of 5
(McFarlane had gotten so hot with the fans that the Powers That Be at Marvel decided that he should have his own Spider-Man book. Therefore, following the end of his stint on Spider-Man with issue #328, Marvel gave him “Spider-Man”. It became the highest selling comic book of all time, breaking the record set the previous month by Rob Liefeld’s “X-Force”. He had some business to finish up with the regular Spider-Title, though.)
The Assassin Nation Plot
#320 (“License Invoked” Late September 1989)
#321 (“Under War” Early October 1989)
#322 (“Ceremony” Late October 1989)
#323 (“Assault Rivals” Early November 1989)
#324 (“Two’s Day” Mid November 1989)
#325 (“Finale in Red” Late November 1989)
It’s a six parter for the summer! (I hated that only the “cool” titles like Spider-Man, Punisher, Wolverine, and X-Men were the ones that got two issues a month during the summer. It was BS. What about Fantastic Four? The FF was my favorite title as a kid, and I was always pissed that it wasn’t more popular among the fan boys. Probably because Tom DeFalco fired Walt Simonson and gutted everything that Simonson and John Byrne before him did.) At any rate, in this story, we see McFarlane’s replacement on the title, Erik Larsen, who is one of the most creative minds in the history of comics; make his Amazing Spider-Man debut. I include that issue here because the story would make no sense without it.
Peter, at the beginning of the story, is testing out a new, stronger formula for his webline. Later, he is swinging home, he sees bodies lying on a loading dock, and going inside the building, he finds Paladin knocking over a catering business. Guards show, and a firefight ensues. Paladin escapes, but Spider-Man finds out that there’s a party scheduled, and that’s where Paladin is going. Peter gets MJ to score an invite, and while there, he sees Paladin. He trails him, and Paladin is kidnapping a guy named Chakane for someone. Spider-Man thwarts him, but it turns out that Paladin is working on the side of the angels this time. Chakane, and the guy he was with, Drake, both escape. Paladin, it turns out, is working for Silver Sable. It seems that this Chakane is a member of the Symkarian defense department, and he’s plotting a revolt against the King. At the end of the story, Peter learns that Aunt May might only have six months to live.
Part two opens with Spider-Man and the Paladin trashing more goons on a loading dock. It seems that Drake is the same Drake that was head of the Life Foundation in issues #298 and 299. They don’t find out what the Life Foundation has to do with the Symkarian government, and Peter returns home. It seems that he picked up the phone late, and it was not Aunt May, but Nathan who had six months to live. MJ tells Peter that they have to help Harry and Liz Osborn move into their new apartment. While there, Harry offers to let Peter and MJ live in the loft upstairs. Spider-Man goes with Paladin and Silver Sable to a Life Foundation setup in the mountains. It seems that they have to have protection for their clients, and Spider-Man and Paladin fight the Protectors. While this goes on, Sable tracks down Drake and Chakane, and uses drugs to find out what they know. Chakane was trying to bring in an assassin for the 500th anniversary of Symkaria so he could kill the king and the kings fiancée. Paladin has another contract, but Sable offers Spider-Man $1,000 a day to come with him to help with security.
Part three opens with Spider-Man and Silver Sable beating down some paramilitary types who were planning to rob a Government payroll. The Prime Minister, a man named Limka, keeps feeding Sable bad intell, and she decides to stay with the King. The PM is working with ULTIMATUM, a revolutionary force trying to destroy all national barriers. Back home, MJ is at an audition for a small part in a soap opera. At a party in Symkaria, Spider-Man looks silly in a tuxedo. ULTIMATUM shock troops attack and this is supposed to be a distraction, so that the PM can kill the king and take over the country. He is, instead, murdered by a shadowy figure whose identity we can only guess at. The King’s fiancée is murdered by the bad guys, and the leader of the unit of ULTIMATUM, Major Weil, escapes, leaving behind evidence that the CIA is responsible.
Part Four starts out with anti-terror guy Solo is engaged in a battle with ULTIMATUM soldiers, killing them all to get information. Captain America arrives in Symkaria to help with the investigation, as does the American ambassador. They track Weil to his hideout, and Solo is already there, killing every bad guy in sight. Weil manages to get away, but Sable pulls the identity of the assassin out of a computer, and it’s Sabertooth.
Part Five has Spider-Man taking out more ULTIMATUM bad guys, and Solo just casually kills them all. Cap and Silver Sable are looking for Sabertooth while Spider-Man searches for Toller Weil. They track Sabertooth down, but in the process of fighting him, they accidentally kill him. Spidey and Solo, meanwhile, track down and finally capture Weil.
Part Six has Spider-Man being rejected from helping Cap and Silver track down whomever is behind this. The military won’t accept a vigilante. Spider-Man breaks back in to the Pentagon (he is Spider-Man after all) and listens in on the briefing. He breaks Weil out, allowing him to escape to…the National Archives? There’s all sorts of bad nastiness going down, and there are Ultimatum guys, Sweatshop Goons, and Resistants. This all points toward one man, the Red Skull. He’s not going to steal the documents; he’s going to destroy them. Spidey, of course, stops the bad guys, but the Skull gets away. He’s managed to tape record the explanation of the whole plot from the Skull, and takes pictures of it as well, proving America had nothing to do with the plot, and preventing war.
Bottom Line: This is a good story, although it was clear that they were nearing the end of the partnership. The art kind of limped a little in spots, most notably at the end of the story. McFarlane was looking kind of rushed. (Probably because it was, coming out every two weeks. 23 years on, and we know McFarlane can't get a book out more than eight times a year, let alone every 14 days.) All in all, it was a good read, and there are just plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. 3.75 out of 5 for the whole thing. This whole story was collected into a trade paperback some time ago, but I’ve never seen it. Recommended reading, yo.
A special bonus:
Amazing #328 (“Shaw’s Gambit” January 1990)
This is McFarlane’s last issue on the title, before he took six months off to give us Spider-Man. As a bit of explanation, Marvel’s big, company-wide crossover, “Acts of Vengeance” put villains against heroes that they hadn’t normally fought. This led to Spider-Man getting the powers of Captain Universe, and becoming unbelievably powerful. He took out Graviton in issue #326 and Magneto in #327. Sebastian Shaw recruits the Hulk to attack Spider-Man in New York. Spider-Man is attempting to foil a hostage situation at the Statue of Liberty, and does so with panache. After stopping all the bad guys, one of them says, “What are you?” “I’m Bat - - I’m Spider-Man.” (It’s cute, and it was right after Batman came out in 1989, so everyone got the joke.)
Huge fight with the Hulk, and at this point, Spider-Man can control his webbing, change its molecular structure, and even fly. He eventually knocks the Hulk into ORBIT with a punch, and then flies up to get him, winning the battle.
Bottom Line: This was a great issue, and McFarlane's Hulk is so defining that almost all artists after him aped it. Much like his Spider-Man. I digress. This issue was one big fight, much like a wrestling spotfest. But it was done right, with the right guy going over, to expand the metaphor. 4 out of 5.
Peter and MJ are evicted from their condo, thanks to Jonathan Caesar’s machinations. Aunt May offers to let them stay, but Peter says that they have somewhere else they can go. MJ is curious about where they are gonna stay, but Peter says that he just doesn’t want to go back to Aunt May’s house. After visiting Uncle Ben’s grave and foiling a mugging in the park, Peter asks around to people he knows. He finally asks Flash Thompson, who offers up the back room at his Gym. Spider-Man stumbles across a robbery attempt, as a guy who works for a Scrooge-like boss has decided to cut himself into the profits. This is foiled by Spider-Man and Santa Claus (well, a guy in a Santa suit.) Peter is changing back to civvies when he sees Aunt May at Uncle Ben’s grave; he realizes that he should stay with Aunt May. The End.
Bottom Line: It’s Christmas; of course, the story is going to end well. I especially liked “Ho-Ho-Ho, Dirtbag!” when Santa walloped the guy with the bag of money. 3 out 5 here.
#315 (“A Matter of Life and Debt” May, 1989)
Venom escapes from the super-villain prison, The Vault. Spider-Man, meanwhile, is fighting Hydro-Man, who is easily defeated by hitting him with some bags of cement, forcing him to take off. The real story in this one is Nathan Lubinskey’s gambling problem. Peter follows him a couple of times, first preventing him from “borrowing” $500 from Aunt May, and then saving him from a bunch of thugs to whom he owes money. Mary Jane was supposed to have a modeling gig, but they changed models on her at the last minute. Nate can’t stop gambling after talking to Peter, and buys a dozen lottery tickets.
Bottom Line: This is an interesting take, that sometimes our compulsions get the best of us, and there’s little we can about it without help. I like that the magic talk didn’t work, and Nate continued to be a gambler. 4 out of 5
#316 (“Dead Meat” June, 1989) and #317 (“The Sand and The Fury” July, 1989)
Venom has made it to New York, and is hiding out in tunnels apparently undiscovered by the Morlocks. Spider-Man stops a crime in progress, and goes to the Daily Bugle to get some change of address forms made. MJ has been dropped from another modeling job, and Decides to go apartment hunting. Black Cat arrives at the Bedford Apartment to find Venom there, and she takes a shit kicking. She’s also surprised to find out that after all these months, Spider-Man is married. MJ sees him swing away, and tells Peter, who calls the Vault. They give him the runaround, and he goes looking for Venom, finally encountering him at a meat packing plant. Venom wins round one by dumping a vat of blood and fat all over Spider-Man, who freaks and leaves, leaving behind his clothes and (dramatic pause) change of address notices.
Eddie Brock, Venom’s human identity, shows up at Aunt May’s house in Forrest Hills. He says he’ll leave Peter’s family alone, as long as he plays by the rules. Peter says screw that and hightails it to Four Freedoms Plaza to enlist the aid of the Fantastic Four. When he returns home, Brock is there, and warns him again, having seen him go to the FF. Peter shows up at the appointed place, but beforehand, he talks to a psychologist about Venom. Cute. Get into his head. (He should have gone on network TV and cut a wrestling promo on him. That’s how I would taunt villains if I were a superhero.) At any rate, they brawl for a long time, until Peter strips off his costume and tells the symbiote that if it wants him, it can have him. The shock is too much, and all three pass out. He comes too, and the costume couldn’t break its bond with Brock.
Bottom Line: This is the definitive Michelinie/McFarlane Spider-Man. Best story they told on the book together, and a nice innovative way to defeat the villain. 5 out of 5.
#318 (“Sting Your Partner” August 1989) and #319 (“The Scorpion’s Tail of Woe” Early September 1989)
Scorpion has been given a new tail by Justin Hammer, who normally just supplies the bad guys in exchange for a portion of their profits. He is charged to kidnap a General who is speaking at ESU. Peter of course, wants to get pictures of this for J. Jonah Jameson, who isn’t buying anything of Spider-Man. (It’s because he’s been replaced by the Chameleon, over in Spectacular or Web) Scorpion decides that instead of kidnapping the General, he’s going to hold him hostage. He wants JJJ to replace the General, or he’s gonna die.
The next issue, Spidey brings him a pizza, and Scorpion decides to take off, with the general in tow. He hijacks a helicopter, and Spider-Man tags him with a tracer, and then tumbles into the river. MJ finds out that the reason that she won’t get another modeling job is because of Jonathan Caesar. Meanwhile, Scorpion still has the General, and Hammer has sent Blacklash and Rhino to take care of him. They have a huge brawl, and Spider-Man rescues the General, and Rhino and Blacklash take Scorpion’s new tail back and get away.
Bottom Line: I like the look of this story, and it really is a ton of fun. I like that they let McFarlane update everyone’s look a little bit. 3.5 out of 5
(McFarlane had gotten so hot with the fans that the Powers That Be at Marvel decided that he should have his own Spider-Man book. Therefore, following the end of his stint on Spider-Man with issue #328, Marvel gave him “Spider-Man”. It became the highest selling comic book of all time, breaking the record set the previous month by Rob Liefeld’s “X-Force”. He had some business to finish up with the regular Spider-Title, though.)
The Assassin Nation Plot
#320 (“License Invoked” Late September 1989)
#321 (“Under War” Early October 1989)
#322 (“Ceremony” Late October 1989)
#323 (“Assault Rivals” Early November 1989)
#324 (“Two’s Day” Mid November 1989)
#325 (“Finale in Red” Late November 1989)
It’s a six parter for the summer! (I hated that only the “cool” titles like Spider-Man, Punisher, Wolverine, and X-Men were the ones that got two issues a month during the summer. It was BS. What about Fantastic Four? The FF was my favorite title as a kid, and I was always pissed that it wasn’t more popular among the fan boys. Probably because Tom DeFalco fired Walt Simonson and gutted everything that Simonson and John Byrne before him did.) At any rate, in this story, we see McFarlane’s replacement on the title, Erik Larsen, who is one of the most creative minds in the history of comics; make his Amazing Spider-Man debut. I include that issue here because the story would make no sense without it.
Peter, at the beginning of the story, is testing out a new, stronger formula for his webline. Later, he is swinging home, he sees bodies lying on a loading dock, and going inside the building, he finds Paladin knocking over a catering business. Guards show, and a firefight ensues. Paladin escapes, but Spider-Man finds out that there’s a party scheduled, and that’s where Paladin is going. Peter gets MJ to score an invite, and while there, he sees Paladin. He trails him, and Paladin is kidnapping a guy named Chakane for someone. Spider-Man thwarts him, but it turns out that Paladin is working on the side of the angels this time. Chakane, and the guy he was with, Drake, both escape. Paladin, it turns out, is working for Silver Sable. It seems that this Chakane is a member of the Symkarian defense department, and he’s plotting a revolt against the King. At the end of the story, Peter learns that Aunt May might only have six months to live.
Part two opens with Spider-Man and the Paladin trashing more goons on a loading dock. It seems that Drake is the same Drake that was head of the Life Foundation in issues #298 and 299. They don’t find out what the Life Foundation has to do with the Symkarian government, and Peter returns home. It seems that he picked up the phone late, and it was not Aunt May, but Nathan who had six months to live. MJ tells Peter that they have to help Harry and Liz Osborn move into their new apartment. While there, Harry offers to let Peter and MJ live in the loft upstairs. Spider-Man goes with Paladin and Silver Sable to a Life Foundation setup in the mountains. It seems that they have to have protection for their clients, and Spider-Man and Paladin fight the Protectors. While this goes on, Sable tracks down Drake and Chakane, and uses drugs to find out what they know. Chakane was trying to bring in an assassin for the 500th anniversary of Symkaria so he could kill the king and the kings fiancée. Paladin has another contract, but Sable offers Spider-Man $1,000 a day to come with him to help with security.
Part three opens with Spider-Man and Silver Sable beating down some paramilitary types who were planning to rob a Government payroll. The Prime Minister, a man named Limka, keeps feeding Sable bad intell, and she decides to stay with the King. The PM is working with ULTIMATUM, a revolutionary force trying to destroy all national barriers. Back home, MJ is at an audition for a small part in a soap opera. At a party in Symkaria, Spider-Man looks silly in a tuxedo. ULTIMATUM shock troops attack and this is supposed to be a distraction, so that the PM can kill the king and take over the country. He is, instead, murdered by a shadowy figure whose identity we can only guess at. The King’s fiancée is murdered by the bad guys, and the leader of the unit of ULTIMATUM, Major Weil, escapes, leaving behind evidence that the CIA is responsible.
Part Four starts out with anti-terror guy Solo is engaged in a battle with ULTIMATUM soldiers, killing them all to get information. Captain America arrives in Symkaria to help with the investigation, as does the American ambassador. They track Weil to his hideout, and Solo is already there, killing every bad guy in sight. Weil manages to get away, but Sable pulls the identity of the assassin out of a computer, and it’s Sabertooth.
Part Five has Spider-Man taking out more ULTIMATUM bad guys, and Solo just casually kills them all. Cap and Silver Sable are looking for Sabertooth while Spider-Man searches for Toller Weil. They track Sabertooth down, but in the process of fighting him, they accidentally kill him. Spidey and Solo, meanwhile, track down and finally capture Weil.
Part Six has Spider-Man being rejected from helping Cap and Silver track down whomever is behind this. The military won’t accept a vigilante. Spider-Man breaks back in to the Pentagon (he is Spider-Man after all) and listens in on the briefing. He breaks Weil out, allowing him to escape to…the National Archives? There’s all sorts of bad nastiness going down, and there are Ultimatum guys, Sweatshop Goons, and Resistants. This all points toward one man, the Red Skull. He’s not going to steal the documents; he’s going to destroy them. Spidey, of course, stops the bad guys, but the Skull gets away. He’s managed to tape record the explanation of the whole plot from the Skull, and takes pictures of it as well, proving America had nothing to do with the plot, and preventing war.
Bottom Line: This is a good story, although it was clear that they were nearing the end of the partnership. The art kind of limped a little in spots, most notably at the end of the story. McFarlane was looking kind of rushed. (Probably because it was, coming out every two weeks. 23 years on, and we know McFarlane can't get a book out more than eight times a year, let alone every 14 days.) All in all, it was a good read, and there are just plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. 3.75 out of 5 for the whole thing. This whole story was collected into a trade paperback some time ago, but I’ve never seen it. Recommended reading, yo.
A special bonus:
Amazing #328 (“Shaw’s Gambit” January 1990)
This is McFarlane’s last issue on the title, before he took six months off to give us Spider-Man. As a bit of explanation, Marvel’s big, company-wide crossover, “Acts of Vengeance” put villains against heroes that they hadn’t normally fought. This led to Spider-Man getting the powers of Captain Universe, and becoming unbelievably powerful. He took out Graviton in issue #326 and Magneto in #327. Sebastian Shaw recruits the Hulk to attack Spider-Man in New York. Spider-Man is attempting to foil a hostage situation at the Statue of Liberty, and does so with panache. After stopping all the bad guys, one of them says, “What are you?” “I’m Bat - - I’m Spider-Man.” (It’s cute, and it was right after Batman came out in 1989, so everyone got the joke.)
Huge fight with the Hulk, and at this point, Spider-Man can control his webbing, change its molecular structure, and even fly. He eventually knocks the Hulk into ORBIT with a punch, and then flies up to get him, winning the battle.
Bottom Line: This was a great issue, and McFarlane's Hulk is so defining that almost all artists after him aped it. Much like his Spider-Man. I digress. This issue was one big fight, much like a wrestling spotfest. But it was done right, with the right guy going over, to expand the metaphor. 4 out of 5.