Random Back Issues #118 - Amazing Spider-Man #501

Careful, man. Doc Ock gets mean if you mess with his lady.

Been a minute since we looked at the JMS/JRJR Amazing Spider-Man run. This issue is mostly from Aunt May's perspective, as she talks with an unseen person about how she's adjusting to knowing Peter is Spider-Man.

The answer is, it's a process. She likes seeing Peter and Mary Jane back together, but she still leaves when Peter gets ready to change into the costume. It's easier if she doesn't have to see him directly, though she doesn't get much of a choice today, because her trip across town is disrupted by Spidey fighting the Shaker!

No, not the Shocker, the Shaker! In flashback, we see Peter reading about an experimental suit to go deep underground and mine with vibrations. The suit was stolen, and Peter figures if the thief is smart, he'll sell it overseas. But as he notes, 'smart and this guy dine at separate tables.'

We don't see any more of the news article because Peter clearly has more important business.

Unfortunately he couldn't spend all day making out with MJ, and he's not having much luck stopping Shaker. The suit's vibrations almost shake Peter apart when he lands on the guy, and it can vibrate webbing right off. Plus, the suit's tough enough that when Peter keeps a section of an apartment building from landing on the street by swinging it into the air and dropping it on Shaker instead, it doesn't do any good. Granted, the guy is too stupid to notice even if he got any damage.

Back with May, she admits it's difficult to adjust to the notion of how strong Peter is, when she spent years freaking out every time he got a cold or went out in the rain without an umbrella. Probably better  Peter never mentions all those times in the Silver Age getting the flu somehow neutralized his powers, but he went out in costume anyway.

So she's tried to focus on doing little things to help others, like Peter would. In this case, making some loud, obnoxious guy drop his cellphone before he starts cussing in front of children. Well, it's something.

Meanwhile, Peter's fight with Shaker has moved into a gymnasium. They hit a waterline and Spidey gets an idea. Risking the internal damage, he picks up Shaker and chucks him into a pool, then explains to a nearby kid? employee? something, that the vibration of the suit, in a confined space filled with water, will create a miniaturized series of tsunami-like waves, that will just keep rebounding off the pool walls to pummel Shaker until he shuts the suit down.

Shaker says he surrenders, but Spidey lets him get battered a bit longer. Although if the waves are still going, the suit's probably not turned off. Wouldn't surprise me if Shaker didn't know how. Guy says stuff like, 'disburse your moleculars.'

Battle over, Peter makes sure he's the first to call Aunt May on her new cellphone and invite her to dinner, and we see May was seated at the graves for Uncle Ben and Peter's parents. Well if that story about Richard and Mary posing as double agents for the Red Skull's still in continuity, he probably has the tombstone bugged. Great work, May.

{1st longbox, 114th comic. Amazing Spider-Man #501, by J. Michael Straczynski (writer), John Romita Jr. (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Matt Milla (colorist), Cory Petit (letterer)}

Random Back Issues #27 - Amazing Spider-Man #58/499

I don't know what to focus on there. That Reed expects us to believe he says, 'In for a penny, in for a pounding,' or that Cyclops showed up in business casual. To be fair, it's not his worst uniform by a long shot. That blue one from his early X-Factor days, with the yellow X that went from the shoulders all the way down his body? Hideous.

It's Peter Parker's birthday, so of course New York is under attack by the Mindless Ones. A bunch of heroes tried to devise a science solution, but only succeeded in allowing Dormammu to reach their universe. Whoops. Dr. Strange shows up, outright tells them they got played, and declares he must face Dormammu alone. If he doesn't want the science heroes to mess things up, maybe he should try getting there on time. You'd think he'd be more alert to incursions by Mindless Ones.

Spidey is mostly trying to civilians clear of danger, but can't leave Doc to face it alone, especially when Dormammu's guys try to run interference. Unfortunately, this leads to the webslinger landing smack in the middle of whatever spell Strange was building up, and the two of them end up outside space and time. Double whoops.

Strange is a little snippy here, written with a kind or exasperated arrogance that makes me think JMS was watching a lot of House at the time. Strange is more polite than Hugh Laurie, but only slightly. He gets them back inside the universe, but the time side of things is still fluid, as they're moving between moments before Dormammu arrived, and after he's killed all resistance. Strange says they have to stay together, but Peter hears Mary Jane calling for help and rushes off.

He's unable to keep her from getting her neck snapped by a Mindless One - what is it with Parker's loves and spinal trauma? Felicia better watch out - and when he lunges forward, finds himself in a different time. Or times. He's both in the past, watching his high school self about to get bitten by the spider, and sometime in the future, watching an older version of himself await some special law enforcement team that's going to take him down for killing someone.

The next issue is the one where Peter has to fight his way back to the present through his entire life as Spider-Man, which leads to the double-page splash of him fighting a whole mess of his enemies over the years. The last few pages of that issue are drawn by John Romita Sr. In a couple of issues, he meets a guy who does tailoring for the costumed set who shows him a possible redesign that just so happens to be what his future self was wearing. John Romita Jr. has about 10 more issues to go before he moves to, actually, I'm not sure what he moved on to. World War Hulk eventually, but that's three years away. There was something else in there I'm sure. Mike Deodato is going to take over as artist from JRJR, and his first story will be Sins Past. Yikes. Nowhere to go but up from there, I guess.

[1st longbox, 108th comic. Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #58/499, by J. Michael Straczynski (writer), John Romita Jr. (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Dan Kemp (colorist), Randy Gentile (letterer)]

Sunday Splash Page #16

"Mephisto Looks On With Interest", in Amazing Spider-Man #491 (or #50 of vol. 2), by J. Michael Straczynski (writer), John Romita Jr. (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Dan Kemp (colorist), Richard Starkings (letterer)

It's notable how much more common splash pages are by this point in time versus all those earlier runs. I had a lot more options for this. I considered the double-page splash of Spidey vs. all his foes from issue #500, but I liked this happy reunion.

I only own six issues of Amazing between Aunt May's death in #400, and JMS taking over as writer at issue #471 (or issue #30 as it was numbered at the time). One Onslaught tie-in, one from Howard Mackie's last few months on the book, and the Identity Crisis storyline. So I'm skipping that stretch.

JMS' run as writer was, especially in the stretch where he teamed with John Romita Jr., notable for adding more of a mystical element to Spider-Man's origin and powers. Drawing on spiders as a creature with a lot of mythology around them, and bringing in enemies that would prey on that, either the mystic aspect or the spider aspect. Some of it worked better than others. Each successive Ezekiel appearance was less effective than the one before.

JMS did reunite Peter and Mary Jane, after MJ had been "dead" for about 18 months our time, found, and then they separated. Although I've read Mackie was told to split them up after MJ was brought back, so JMS could write them back together again? Don't know if that's true or not. He made Peter a high school science teacher, although you could question how much he did with the idea. Aunt May learned Peter was Spider-Man, and there was a bit of time spent on her adjusting to that knowledge. (or re-learned, since she'd revealed she knew in Amazing Spider-Man #400). Other than Morlun, none of the villains JMS created semm to have any staying power. I thought a couple would have made interesting foils for other heroes, but oh well.

This is probably my favorite stretch of John Romita Jr's. art. He avoided that tendency he has to bulk everybody up. He got plenty of opportunities, as well as space on the page, to draw big fight scenes, with lots of rubble and smashed cars. He draws a pretty good bloody and tattered Spider-Man. The color work is also excellent, some lovely hues and shades of green and red at times. Especially during the chaos of some of the fights. There are images I can recall from those issues, I don't remember specifically what's going on, but I remember the colors of the scenes vividly.

After the two-part team-up with Loki, I only have two issues from the remainder of JMS's stint: One drawn by Mike Deodato Jr., the other by Ron Garney. The last year and a half of the book in particular, it was one long mess, going from The Other, to the seemingly endless and - thanks to Steve McNiven - frequently delayed Civil War tie-ins, to Back in Black, to One More Day. I am still extraordinarily glad I trusted my instincts and pulled the rip cord before OMD.

It All Looks So Good In My Mind

Now that I've read the final issue, I guess I can consider Batgirl canceled. Which is too bad. The book started slow for me, but I thought it really hit its stride the 2nd year. I would have loved to see stories about the things Stephanie saw under the Black Mercy's power.

Not so much her, Damien, and Oracle fighting Blackest Night zombies, but the others, absolutely. Fighting the Queen of Fables in a fairy tale world (I especially like Stargirl with the wizard hat, and Miss Martian as a pixie). Steph did say she hated magic, but her team-up with Klarion didn't go too badly, so perhaps she'd be more comfortable with it. If not, well, placing the hero in situations outside their comfort zone can be fun. Plus, I'd be curious to see who, if anyone, acted as leader of that quintet. None of them have much experience running teams.

Or fending off the Royal Flush Gang in civvies on Graduation Day. Nothing says "Booster Gold guest appearance" like the Royal Flush Gang! Not that they need to team-up to beat the R.F.G., but Booster, Time Master, showing up could segue nicely into the story I'd really like to see: The Batgirls teaming up with the Blackhawks in 1944.

I think there's a lot of potential there. I'd like to see how Miller would write Cassandra when he has more than 3 pages. How would he write a Barbara Gordon who hasn't become Oracle yet? She'd be less experienced obviously, but I think she'd been more cheerful. Not that Oracle is gloomy, but she's definitely more serious, because she's experienced so much more. It's kind of like the difference between Steph as Spoiler and Steph as Batgirl. We could have the first team-up between Barbara Gordon and Lady Blackhawk. Assuming Zinda isn't Queen Killer Shark at this point (which I wouldn't be as interesting).

One thing that could have been interesting is having Cass and Steph defer to Barbara. Even though both of them have faced their fair share of threats alone, they've both also had Oracle guiding them plenty of times as well. They might unconsciously defer to Barbara, which could be interesting if you pull her from early enough in her crimefighting career that she's less experienced than either of them. It'd be neat to see Barbara's reaction when she finds she's spawned a legacy*.

There could be some pitfalls, if the story devolved into whether heroes should kill during a war (like that Brave and the Bold JMS did with Barry Allen and the Blackhawks), which I don't think ever ends well. I'm sure there'd also be some issue of whether Steph and Cass can try to warn Barbara about the Joker. I'm sure Booster would have -grudgingly, and only because Rip made him - told them not to, and I'm equally sure they'd both ignore him. I don't think Miller would have them buy into the "it's predestined, so don't even bother trying to avert it" line of b.s. JMS had in that other issue of Brave and the Bold.

If they could have waited on the reboot, that would have been something. The Batgirls avert The Killing Joke, the timeline shifts, viola! Babs is still Batgirl. DC gets what they want. Maybe make the New DC be the result of multiple alterations made by different folks. The Batgirls change something here, Barry Allen changes something else there, Booster gives something a nudge off to the left, and Bob's yer uncle. Hey, it makes as much sense as "Flashpoint Universe was created because Barry Allen saved his mother."

* I know there was a Bat-Girl before Barbara, but she was the one who handed the mantle to Cass, and Cass gave the costume to Steph, with Barbara eventually giving her approval.

Late To The Party On Brave And The Bold #33

I've been thinking about Brave and the Bold #33 for a few days. If you haven't read it (or heard about it), Zatanna has a premonition in the form of a dream, rounds up Wonder Woman, and in their civilian identities, take Barbara Gordon out for a night on the town. Some time after that (the next night, I think) is when the events of The Killing Joke take place, and Barbara loses the use of her legs.

Turns out that's what Zee's dream was about, so she and Diana decided to give Barbara a fun night out before a really miserable appearance. Rather than, you know, try and avert it. Apparently, if Zatanna dreams it, it must happen. Bet the Anti-Montior wishes he knew that back during Crisis on the Infinite Earths. He could have recruited some schmuck villain with dream powers instead of Psycho-Pirate, made Zatanna dream of A-M destroying all the remaining positive matter universes, and the heroes would have simply lain down and died. "Gee, it'd sure be nice to try and fight for the survival of ourselves, our loved ones, and everyone else, but Zatanna dreamed it, so trying to stop it will only make things worse! Shucks! *kicks dirt disgustedly*"

I believe Zatanna makes an attempt to avert it, by suggesting to Barbara (who commented she doesn't see her dad much) she ought to spend more time with him. So Babs had dinner with him, and wouldn't you know it? Joker chose that night to show up. The point being, I guess, this has to happen, and any attempt to change things only helps to make it happen. This is apparently a theme of JMS' run on Brave and the Bold, heroes being confronted with things they can't change, and being forced to accept it.

Still, it's a pretty half-assed attempt to change things. Granted, I don't think Zee knows exactly who the shooter is, or when it'll happen, but c'mon, you're heroes, put a little effort in. Have someone hypnotize Zatanna and see if she can pull up more details. Or what about a scrying pool? Can't one see future events with those? In the meantime, have Wonder Woman watch play guardian angel. Diana knows a few things about stealth, I'm sure she could shadow Batgirl for a short period of time without incident. Those are just ideas which don't involve actually warning Batgirl, which admittedly, might be futile if all they can tell her is "Hey, someone's going to shoot you soon! Not sure who, when, or where, though!" but that's why one tries and figure out more.

I guess I don't see the point in having them not even really try to prevent it. One can say it "has to happen", but they're heroes, aren't they supposed to scoff at those kinds of pronouncements? I think the point of being a super-hero is believing they can make a difference, even if the odds are slim. They'll find a way to succeed, because they never give up, or they're pure of heart, or whatever. Yeah, it's arrogance, the idea they can always come through, but it's the kind of arrogance that saves the lives of people who might die if the hero threw up their hands and decided there was no way to win.

Even when the heroes can't come through, we as the reader at least know they tried. The first time Spider-Man faced the Juggernaut, he failed to stop Juggernaut from reaching Madame Web, but he was still there trying. When Juggernaut learned her chair was a life-support system, so he couldn't bring her back to Black Tom, and dropped her on the ground to die, Spidey was there to keep her going until paramedics arrived. If he'd decided he couldn't win, so why bother, she'd have died*. Booster Gold couldn't save Barbara from the Joker, but he tried as hard as he could. Succeed or fail**, I'd prefer to see the effort.

Alternatively, don't tie the night out on the town in with that particular story. Just write a "heroes take one night off from fighting crime to have fun" story. I suppose that wouldn't work with the theme JMS is trying to work on, though. I'm somewhat surprised at that theme, why does he want to demonstrate the heroes are sometimes powerless in the face of larger forces? Is it to draw a connection between the reader and the characters? I'd guess most of us have moments where we don't feel like masters of our own destiny, where we recognize our ability to affect events is severely limited. Now he's showing us even these heroes who save all existence once a month, they have times they can't do everything they'd like either. Maybe it's meant to make the DC Universe seem bigger, that there are forces out there at work even the heroes can't comprehend/cope with. It leaves me worried about whether I'll enjoy June's issue, which I ordered because "Inferior Five meet the Substitute Legion" sounded like great fun. Hope for the best, I suppose.

As a final note, I have feel a little for Barbara. I know, she's a fictional character. Still, Rip Hunter used what happened to her to try and teach Booster a lesson, knowing all along it couldn't be changed***. Far as I know, Babs has no clue (though Bruce Wayne and Grayson both know, now). Now (assuming it's in continuity, probably be just as well it isn't) Zatanna and Wonder Woman knew and didn't do a thing, and presumably, Barbara doesn't know that's why they took her out on the town.

* Not a downside if you didn't like Madame Web, but work with me here.

** Fail, since DC's continuity wouldn't allow Diana and Zatanna to pull it off anymore than it allowed Booster

*** Or so he says. It's like, time can't be changed. Except sometimes it can, so time can be changed, but things go horribly awry. Except sometimes things can be changed with little consequence, or little enough Rip doesn't care, so things can be changed without ill effects. It's a slippery slope.

I Did Not Expect This

I was looking through Marvel's solicitations for April, and I stumbled across one that rather surprised me. Black Panther #3 says that Morlun is on his way to Wakanda. And here I thought nobody was going to use anything from JMS' run on Amazing Spider-Man.

I have to give it up for Morlun, though. This is only his 3rd storyline, but he already appears to have mastered the antagonistic art of appearing to die, only to reappear later. First time round he was clearly not enjoying absorbing the radiation coming off that sludge Spidey injected himself with, then he was shot, and seemingly decomposed. Second time around, he was stabbed with stinger things and had his head bitten off. But here he is again, assuming this isn't the story where we learn there are actually a whole species of Morluns all of which look the alike. I can't imagine it would be a very abundant species though. How many totems can there to go around?

Still, it's not a bad idea. It seems like the idea of the Black Panther being a representative of the Panther God has been fairly prominent in his run on the title*. That sounds like a totem to me, and Morlun has to drain the life of a totem every so often to keep going. While the Black Panther probably isn't the easiest target, she likely is the most easily found one, being a head of state and all.

Should be a diiferent sort of challenge for Morlun, going from hunting Spider-Man, the guy who fights alone, to someone who theoretically has an army at their disposal. I say theoretically for a couple of reasons. One, I'm sure the Black Panther is expected to lead the charge, so she won't really be throwing a wall of bodies in between herself and Morlun. Two, I'm not sure whether the people are going to be totally supportive of their new Black Panther. I don't know that they won't be, but this is the Marvel Universe. If all her citizens loved her, that would be too easy, wouldn't it?

* Though I haven't really read his run, just going off general impressions I have.

Well, Marvel Is Big On Noir Stuff These Days

So why not a gangster-themed villain? I guess one could file this as another exercise in trying to find a use for a villain we haven't seen recently. Again, I'm drawing from JMS' Amazing Spider-Man, since he seemed to enjoy introducing villains, using them once, then moving on. I already talked about Shade, so I thought I'd take a whirl at Digger.

Digger was thirteen mobsters killed decades ago at a supposed peaceful meeting by an associate mobster, who had their bodies dumped in out in the Nevada desert. Flash to the present, a scientist wants to study gamma radiation as a potential starting point for life, uses a gamma bomb, and surprise, it some causes the various remains to merge together into a big green, angry conglomeration of thirteen mobsters, bent on revenge. Spider-Man ended up protecting the man responsible (while taping him admitting to the crime), and defeated Digger by keeping after him until he expended the gamma radiation powering him, causing him to basically fall apart, and drift away down the sewer.

OK, so he's dead right now. Big deal. This is the Marvel Universe we're talking about, there's gamma radiation allover the place there. Wouldn't be too hard for him to be exposed to sufficient amounts to allow Digger to reconstitute himself. Let's set aside Digger trying to get revenge on Forelli (the mobster that killed them), or Spider-Man. Those are obvious stories, right?

While he was around, Digger spent a little time reading whatever newspapers drifted by in the sewers, so he knows a bit about what's happened in the world during his absence, so he/it isn't completely "man out of time", but Digger certainly didn't adjust well to the times, very much a "things were better in our day!". I think there's some potential there, show Digger deciding to put together an "organization" and run it in what they would consider the "right" way, and how they conflict with modern rivals. Would there be difficulty recruiting people that met their standard? Would the way they ran things present a different sort of challenges for the heroes that would try and oppose them? Daredevil deals with organized crime a lot, so Digger might be a potential problem. Sure, Digger is probably way over Daredevil's weight class, but that's never stopped the Man Without Fear before*. Does the Falcon still focus on street crime, 'cause he could be another possibility.

The issue is that Digger basically fell apart once already because the gamma radiation powering ran out, so that would probably have to be an ongoing concern for them. There might be something in having what's left of Digger wash up somewhere else. Say in Africa, here's about this advanced country calls Wakanda, figures maybe they'd having something he could use, tries to barge in there, runs afoul of this new Black Panther. T'Challa fought the Hulk once upon a time, so this wouldn't be a bad warm-up for whoever is taking over the role. I suppose you could gear the stories towards Digger working to acquire/expose himself to sources of gamma radiation to keep himself going**. If he weren't busy running from Norman Osborn, it sounds like the sort of thing Iron Man might deal with. So maybe Hank Pym could look into it in his place. I'd suggest the Mighty Avengers, but they might be a bit much for just Digger. Other possibility: Digger joins the Thunderbolts, or some similar program in exchange for assistance with his problem. Probably results in him becoming Metallo-like, with a gamma power source stored on him somewhere.

Of course, the question arises how one convinces a body made of a baker's dozen of mobsters to work for the government. Here's one thought I've got: the minds/personalities/spirits the inhabit the body aren't static, frozen in time. They can learn, they can change, if they wish to. Maybe some of them have caught a glimpse of what's waiting for them, and would prefer to delay that day for as long as possibly, maybe even try and make amends for past misdeeds. Ideally, this would apply to some, but certainly not all of the personalities. In this way, you get an internal conflict in the character, and what desires are predominant depends on which one can gain control at a particular moment. I recall that Ellis' Thunderbolts had considerable infighting and politicking, mostly Moonstone trying to get more power, undermine Osborn, but struggling with Songbird, who doesn't trust her at all. Now you could get all that, in one character, with the different mobsters fighting amongst themselves, forming temporary alliances, things like. Remember, these guys were from roughly seven different criminal organizations***, and were sitting down to try and make peace when they were murdered. Their hatchets may not have been buried yet. That would make for a volatile, unpredictable character, whether operating as they head of a group, as a loner, or as part of a team.

Another thought: The death/decomposition while fighting Spider-Man, caused Digger to lose some personalities. Some of them had a lesser desire to survive/get revenge/whatever, and they've moved on. But when Digger reforms/resurrects, he/it gains personalities of any bodies that happen to be nearby. It would be a bit like Terror Inc., where he would add body parts as necessary from what was available around him, only personalities. This could potentially happen anytime they recharged, depending on their amount of damage they sustained previously, and whether there were any bodies nearby. Probably not feasible if one were to go with the "government provided constant gamma source" idea****. It would add a level of malleability to the character, similar to how Solomon Grundy isn't the same every time he emerges from that swamp. I don't think you'd want to change Digger too much, but it might be fun to add certain personality traits or interests, see whether they add something to the story, then keep or discard. If a personality wound up being disliked by the rest, there might even be the possibility of a story about Digger trying to reject that part, and problems that might cause depending on what it brought them.

So that's what I have at the moment. Also, I'm trying to come up with a good label for these posts, but I'm not sure what really describes it well, besides something like "fanwankery", thanks but no. I thought about "Villain Rehab", but that implies they're broken, or that I'm capable of rehabbing them, which which is more than a bit presumptuous. Any ideas would be appreciated.

* See battles with Ultron, Namor, Hogun the Grim, etc.

** I figure Digger can read up somewhere on what's put him in his current situation and work from there. Or he could go back to the site he was born at, and question some of the scientists that are probably still poking around their test site.

*** The six heads of the organizations, plus their lieutenants, plus Forelli's lieutenant, who arrived in his place, and was back-stabbing Forelli.

**** Though if you played Thunderbolts more like Suicide Squad, where anyone could die at any moment, you could have Digger deciding whether or not so and so would be worth adding to their little collective.

You Can Never Have Too Many Good Villains

By which mean, interesting enemies for our protagonists to contend with, not villains that become protagonists themselves, though that's fine too, if not overused. Some villains are just better off staying as villains.

I thought what I'd like to try (and it may become a recurring thing, or it may not) is to discuss a villain that only appeared once, and see if they could become a viable recurring foe. Not necessarily for the person they originally fought, just some hero or group of heroes. I figured a place to start looking for possible reclamation projects would be JMS's Amazing Spider-Man run. He did try and introduce a few new enemies, but most of them were one and done, and the one that wasn't (Morlun) perhaps ought to have been.

I decided to start with Shade. If you don't remember him, he was a convict whose cellmate was working to develop a mystical portal to escape prison. When he was ready to try it, Shade, bopped him, and took his place. But the fellow managed to damage the mystical circle, so the portal didn't work quite properly. Shade is can only operate in "our" world for limited periods of time, and has to abduct other people and dump them in an odd cocoon in the Astral Plane to buy himself some free time*. He abducted one of Peter's students, and so Spidey was forced to enlist the aid of Dr. Strange to get to the Astral Plane and save the day, rescuing all the missing people, and leaving Shade stuck there.

So we know Shade has at least moderately enhanced strength, as he can trade punches with Spider-Man. When he's in the physical world, he can turn intangible, and create portals back to the Astral plane, either for himself or with at least one passenger. He thinks he's clever, but up to the time of his defeat, he was stuck working with small-time gangs, because he could remove problems for them, while buying himself sometime in our world. And he's kind of a cocky smart aleck, as he made fun of Spider-Man's intelligence in their initial encounter. I wonder, since he's stuck on another plane of existence, did the secret identity-obscuring deal affect him? He didn't know Peter was Spider-Man, but he knew Spider-Man was looking after some particular students.

So he's strong, has underworld connections, access to a difficult to reach hideout, and thinks he's clever. Also, he's been stuck in the Astral Plane for awhile now, he may have started to learn some things about it. Could he have found doorways to other realms, struck bargains with dark powers in exchange for a way back to Earth? There has to be someone that would be interested in his modus operandi. He's cocky enough to think he could reach an accord with a Dormammu or Hela, or even think he was pulling one over on them. So Shade could be the unwitting harbringer of some assault from a dangerous realm. His opening doorways between worlds could weaken the boundaries, which would certainly suit some people. That would probably draw the eye of Dr. Strange, but he might be a bit too high up the ladder for Shade.

Perhaps his movements could disrupt the Nexus of All Realities? Can someone who feels fear still burn if they're intangible? Though there has to be someone a bit more, um, intelligent to contend with. Hey, we could blame Shade for Zombie Deadpool showing up in Marvel Zombies 3! Oh! Shade tended to grab people he thought no one would miss, the homeless, strung out druggies, kids from poor neighborhoods. Could that get him mixed up with the Runaways? They have a magic user on the team, maybe Nico** can pick up on it. Do any members of the team have friends from before they were a group, that could be imperiled to draw the team in.

Maybe we could portray the Shade as a man desperate to escape this curse. He's seen things in that other realm he'll nevre forget, and he wants out. Naturally, he'd want to retain the powers, because that's money in the bank. So he starts ransacking mystic libraries, trying to find a clue before he has to grab someone else to buy more time. Because he is done going back there for any extended period of time, yessiree. Who else is there in the Marvel Universe, magicwise? Dr. Druid is dead, I'm pretty sure. I guess there's the Enchantress and Loki, but again, that might be outkicking his coverage there. There's Doom, but I'm not sure we should write Shade as being that stupid.

Daimon Hellstrom's out there somewhere, he might be a possibility. Busiek wrote Nighthawk as being interested in the occult after his return from the dead, so he might have some useful texts. Hmm, I'm sensing a Defenders reunion here, get Strange, or Hellstrom if the Doc is still in his pissy "I need to divorce myself from mortal affairs" mode, throw Valkyrie and Hellcat into the mix***, both with mystical elements to them as well. Maybe his activities can endanger the Heavenly Cities, get him a little run in with the Green Mist of Death?

I suppose there's always membership in the Hood's little cabal of super-villainy. The hood itself has a demonic presence he appears able to contact, maybe it could sense Shade and convince the Hood he could be useful. Depending on the level of control Shade has over his powers, that'd be a pretty easy way to get in wherever you wanted. And since he's working with a bunch of scumbags, he shouldn't have much trouble getting ahold of people to trade for more time. Heck, the Hood could use him to remove dead weight from their organization if he wanted. Just drop them in the astral plane, anybody asks, they went for pizza and got caught by SHIELD, the dummies.

I think the key is to not throw the Shade out there as the most super-cool awesome character ever, who is so impotant the event must completely revolve around him. Hopefully, one of these as a story would establish him as a interesting villain that other writers might think was worth using, because you can frame his desires to lead to conflicts in at least a few different ways. I'm envisioning Daredevil or Moon Knight trying to tangle with him right now. DD because I'd like to see how his senses would react, Moonie because I'd like to see if he could maintain his sanity pursuing a crook into the astral plane. Would Moon Knight be able to hold his sense of self together. It's a realm of the mind, so would he split apart? Could he get all his parts back on the same page, would all of them make it back out, and if not, how does that change him?

* Now I'm trying to figure out how he got back from the Astral Plane the first time. He would have needed to escape from it and send someone in to buy himself the time to get out to abduct someone to buy himself, uh, you get the point. Hmm.

** Nico is the one with the staff who can only use a particular phrasing for a spell once, correct?

*** Yeah, putting Patsy and Daimon together is just asking for trouble, but isn't that sort of conflict between the group a foundation of the Defenders?

Setting Aside The Spider To handle Things As A Man

I recently thought about the Back In Black arc in Amazing Spider-Man, specifically the sequence when Spider-Man has arrived at the prison and confronted the Kingpin, who hired the assassin that shot Aunt May. The part that was sticking with me was after the Kingpin has blah-blah about how all these killers and arsonists in the prison have 1 person they all look down on: the chump, meaning Peter Parker. Spider-Man responds by punching Fisk repeatedly, but without saying a word. After a bit of this, Fisk demands of Spider-Man something to the effect of "Well, you said you were here to kill me, so are you going to do it or not?" At this point we get a lovely 4-panel sequence by Ron Garney, where Spider-Man responds 'I'm not here to kill you', removes his mask and the upper half of his costume, drops them to the floor, and then Peter Parker says 'I am'. The next page is Peter charging towards Fisk*. There's something about that sequence I've always found interesting (I even alluded to it when I reviewed the issue last year), but I never got around to discussing it. Now's as good a time as any though. So first, here's the page in question. Sorry it's not too large, it was the biggest version I could find online. Discussion continues below.

So I think it's clearly meant to be significant that he removes the mask to settle this, even though everyone present already knew who he was under the mask. Spider-Man has often been Peter's way of escaping his problems. How many times over the years has he gone out web-slinging in an attempt to clear his head? How many times has he been moping about some problem in his life, only to see a crime in progress and actually be relieved that he has something to do? Peter Parker, at least occasionally, uses Spider-Man (and the responsibility he feels to use his powers to help others) as a way to avoid dealing with his problems. If Gwen Stacy hates Spider-Man, and is angry at Peter for trying to defend him(self), punching out the Gibbon doesn't solve that, but it does let him ignore the problem for awhile.

Besides that, Peter also uses Spider-Man as a way of dealing with things that bug him in his life, in ways Parker can't. Peter Parker finds himself flailing with the ladies? Well, Spider-Man's never at a loss for a clever line. Flash Thompson picking on him? If Spider-Man shows up, you can be sure Flash will be the first one in line to shower him with love and respect. Jameson using your photos of Spidey saving an old lady to portray him as an enemy of the elderly? Sneak into his office, leave him a little webbing surprise on his chair. He can do all those things because no one knows who is really doing it, so he gets his kicks without facing any responsibility for it**.

Here though, Peter hasn't opted for that. Partially because it doesn't matter (as I said, everyone already knows it's Peter Parker under the mask). Partially because it was Peter that Fisk struck at, not Spider-Man. Most of the time, Spider-Man fights people who want to kill Spider-Man, so it's only proper he fight them as Spider-Man. They didn't know who was under the mask, and he was just fine keeping it that way. It's the guy in the mask with the webbing and the jokes that vexes them, not the nerdy photographer. But this is a case where the villain has aimed at that nerdy (former) photographer, and so he's decided that's who has to respond. It's not the first time I've seen this response, either.

At the end of the Clone Saga, Spider-Man #75, as Spider-Man fights the Green Goblin, he removes both their masks and says it's about two men, named Osborn and Parker. And it is. They're fighting on top of the Daily Bugle, and Norman had tricked many people there to kill them, all because they were close to Peter (Ben Reilly saved them). Plus, Norman returned because he blames Peter for Harry's death, and since Norman knows, it is Peter he blames, not Spider-Man. I imagine on some level, Peter blames Norman for Harry's death, too. And of course, there was the specter of Gwen Stacy. It was about two guys who feel the other has hurt them, as a person, not as a costumed entity, and so it's proper that they end the fight as people.

Which brings us back around to Amazing Spider-Man #542. Fisk attacked Peter Parker. If he'd wished, he could have ordered the killer to go to the address they were given, then follow Spider-Man and try to eliminate him during the giant skirmish that in Civil War #7. He didn't. He wanted it so that even if only one of Peter, MJ, or May was hit, the other two would be present to see it, have it burned into their brains forever, the sight, the sound of that moment, even if "forever" was only the time needed for the sniper to pull the trigger again. Going after a man's loved ones demands that the man respond. It's especially interesting in light of the theme JMS played with through his run, about where Peter's powers come from, and the battles where Peter makes some internal distinction between the Spider and the Man, such as the conflict with Shathra. When he lost control in that battle, Shathra said that the man was gone, only the spider remained, which was what she wanted, since the "spider" was what would be fed to her children. But here with the Kingpin, Peter is completely under control, even though the hurt inflicted on his loved ones is even worse than what Shathra did***.

Nope, Peter isn't blindly reacting here, he's thought out what he's going to do to Fisk, and he executes that plan exactly the way he wanted. The Spider might have killed Fisk for encroaching on its territory, but the Man chooses instead to destroy Kingpin's most valued possession, by making him look weak in front of all these scumbag prisoners, costing Fisk their fear and respect. He leaves Fisk alive, but crippled, and with the knowledge that at the moment Aunt May dies, Peter will come back, and then, Fisk will die. And there's absolutely nothing he can do to stop it. That may even be the Spider showing through a little, striking at his prey, then sitting back and waiting until it can't fight to finish the job****.

The one thing I think would have made the story better is if Peter hadn't revealed his identity to the world. Rather, Fisk found out some other way, ala Born Again. Then the act of removing his mask in front of all these criminals would have real impact, because while they might not know his name*****, he's willingly showed them his face. Because he doesn't care, this has to be handled this way, and besides, he intends to make it very clear why they shouldn't try what the Kingpin did. If Fisk hadn't already mentioned his name, you could have a scene where Fisk does so as Spider-Man goes to leave, and the cons all act as though they heard nothing, simply figuring it isn't information they want to know anymore. Wasn't the hand JMS was dealt, though, so I feel he and Garney did pretty well with what they had.

* Preparing to deal a monumental and humiliating beatdown on Fisk.

** Except for the possibility that his prank puts Jonah is a bad mood, which he takes out on Peter the next day at work.

*** For those not familiar with that story, Shathra assumes human form, and goes on TV claiming to be Spider-Man's mistress. She claims that he looks freaky, and has odd sexual interests, and that of course he's married, but he probably just uses the wife to feel better about himself. Both MJ and May see this report and get rocked by it - especially MJ - and it drives Peter berserk, to the point where's he basically an animal when he attacks.

**** That's a common tactic amongst sharks, for example. Get one good bite, then hang back until the prey bleeds to death, so that it doesn't risk being injured when it tries to feed. Venomous snakes exhibit similar tendencies, so I can imagine certain spiders might as well.

***** I can't recall whether Fisk uses his name in the preamble before the real fight, and if they didn't already know, Fisk might not use it anyway, preferring to keep that little tidbit to himself.

All Paths Diverge Eventually

So I'll be dropping Amazing Spider-Man tomorrow. It feels odd to be doing so, since it's one of those rare titles I've been reading throughout my comics-reading times. Late '80s with DeFalco/Frenz, '90s with Michelinie/Larsen/Bagley, even some of the Mackie/Byrne stuff. But, it's time to part ways, and Spider-Man dealing with Kingpin is a better place to do it than next issue, when it looks like someone dies.

But what I was really thinking about with this is how I've been reading the book for JMS' entire run, and just how long that is. It's been 71 issues now, almost six years worth (in 73 months). It should be more issues, but, well, Civil War delays.

It's been a weird run. Or maybe it's a typical run: starting well, so full of hope, only to stumble badly somewhere down the stretch. I didn't mind the possibility of mystical interference in Spidey's origin, because initially, it was just that: a possibility. Unconfirmed. And besides, Peter didn't care about the "whys" or "hows" of his getting spider-powers, because what matters is how you use those powers (power = responsibility, after all). And messing with magical foes could make a nice contrast for science-minded Peter Parker.

Yeah, Composite Gangster-Hulk was odd, but I still like the Loki story, and the issue with Dr. Doom in the airport, and the Doc Ock story, and some of the other small ones about Peter interacting with his students. I liked the idea of Peter being a science teacher, though I wish JMS hadn't felt it necessary to toss Peter's supporting cast out the window to do that. Jenkins and Mackie had used Glory Grant, Randy Robertson and Jill Stacy to good effect.

But things fell apart the way they often do. Maybe JMS stayed on longer than he should have. Maybe he'd finished the big character arc he wanted to tell, but Marvel showed him the cash and he stuck around, but without a clear idea where to go next. That's how you get the hammering of Spidey's powers being mystical, which removes ambiguity that let fans choose which origin they preferred. Then there's giant spiders devouring people, and the Parkers living in Avengers Tower, and The Other, and Gwen's kids. I know, JMS wanted them to be Peter's, not Norman's, but I'm not sure it was a good idea either way. If you want Pete to have kids, then bring back baby May Parker (except that would limit his stories even more, right Quesada? Already grown kids don't do that, they just provide some quick angst, right? Bugger).

The run helped me gain an appreciation for John Romita Jr.'s artwork, since I'd thought he previously drew Spider-Man too broad in the shoulders. I know, it's a little thing, but I thought it made Spidey look chunky. I wasn't as much of a fan of Deodato's artwork, but that might also have been the stories associated with it. I think Len noted, Deodato's work goes best with darker stories, so did they bring him on to match the tone of the stories, or did his art determine the tone? Ron Garney's done a good job the last year plus, especially given he had to draw Peter in that stupid Iron Spider costume for several issues. I think he could have been a good artist for some brighter, happier Spidey stories; maybe he'll get to draw some one day.

I'm not sure what aspects of the JMS Amazing run I'll remember most. Hopefully it'll be how awesome I thought the Morlun fight was, and how funny the hot dog scene with Loki was, as opposed to the whole The Other thing. I'm also curious as to what from his run is going to carry over and become part of Spider-Man's mythos. Is there something he introduced that won't just get brushed aside in a few years, something that has real staying power?

Because I Can't Let Things Go

It's been roughly a year now, since The Other showed up and did... some stuff to Peter Parker. But it's just now that I'm actually figuring out the answer to something I've been pondering since then.

Pretty much since that storyline ended, I've been wondering "What was up with Peter's mysterious sickness?" You know, the one that nobody - not Reed Richards, Stark, Pym, T'Challa, or Dr. Strange - could fix? It was a important part of the early issues, and then when Morlun showed up, it pretty much got thrown out the window and never addressed again. I guess eyeball-eating was more important.

I believe it was the recent What If? that Peter David wrote about The Other, that finally clued me in, when Uatu talks about how Peter was suffering from radiation poisoning (or something to that effect). Suddenly it made a lot more sense why they'd been so intent on finding the Hulk. Because not many people know more about radiation than Bruce Banner. Maybe they mentioned that in the story and I missed it, or maybe they never explicitly said it, either way, things started to come together.

The radiation is leftover from his first fight with Morlun, when he won by injecting himself with radioactive liquid, thus blocking Morlun from draining his life force (hey, don't blame me for how weird it sounds - it's JMS' story). Peter did a pretty good job, using enough to be effective, but not enough to kill himself. Unfortunately, when all is said and done, he still pumped radioactive liquid directly into his bloodstream, and you'd have to expect that sooner or later, he'd pay for that.

So that explains his odd malady. Of course, it still doesn't explain how Morlun - last seen decomposing in the nuclear facility - showed up again, but what do you want from me? I'm a blogger, not a miracle worker.

Destiny vs. Responsibility: Has JMS's Mysticism Destroyed Spider-Man?

I gotta confess, I kinda like it when my titles look like something you'd see on a dissertation, or at least a master's thesis. Anyway, this isn't about "The Other", so relax. If you remember, I did a post last month, right before Christmas, where I suggested Uncle Ben be reborn as a Green Lantern. At the time, I mentioned that train of thought came from a different inner monologue I was having, related to a discussion at Comics Should Be Good (kelvin probably remembers this), about whether Straczynski's recent stuff tainted his early Amazing Spider-Man. A fellow by the name of Matthew Craig had some opinions on that, which he shared, and I wasn't sure at the time whether I agreed. Here are the comments that stood out the most:

'It's (Spider-Man's story) about determining one's own identity in the face of the realization that the world is a cold and potentially dangerous place that might try to decide things for you. The World! Not a MYSTICAL SPIDER-GOD.'

Also:

'If it (Peter getting bitten and receiving the powers) was meant to be, how is it a story about a fairly ordinary guy like the rest of us. If Uncle Ben was meant to die and the ability to save him taken out of his hands by Destiny, how can it be Peter's responsibility?'

So, is Mr. Craig right? Has Straczynski taken control out of Peter's hands, and in the process destroyed part of the core character? I went to Amazing Spider-Man #507 for some help. In the issue, Peter meets a roughly eight-foot tall mass of brown spiders called the Gatekeeper. Peter gets bitten several times and falls into a sort of dream state where the Gatekeeper explains things to him, specifically why Peter? A few excerpts:

'There were so many other on that day, in that room, together, there - with the spider.' That's certainly true.

'Because you were a hunter without teeth. You were chosen for your rage.' Ok.

'Why you? Because of all those who were there that day, there was only one hunter.'

Ok, I can see how one could interpret this to mean that it was destined. But here's the phrase I'm seeing: "there was only one hunter." To me that suggests, that on that day, Peter was simply the only qualified candidate present. Maybe it was that spider's job to pick someone to be the 'totem' as Ezekial described it, but there was nothing that said it had to choose that very day. At least not until it got hit with the blast of radiation. At that point, the spider had no time left to search for the person who best exemplified what the spider-god was looking for, so it chose the best out of the limited field it had available. And on that day, in that place, the field of candidates was one: Peter Parker.

And what was the qualifier? That he had rage. Specifically, that all these years Peter has been picked on and bullied, beaten and humiliated, and he's just had to take it, because he's too weak or there were too many of them. He lacked the power to do anything about. Well, I'll be honest, that description could fit any number of other kids in high school, probably millions, worldwide. Hank McCoy, the Beast, was a smart guy. Before his mutation emerged, there's probably a real good chance he got picked on, being a nerd and all. So couldn't he have sufficed? Maybe, maybe not, but it raises - to me at least - the idea that Peter just drew a good (or bad) hand.

So does all this mean it wasn't destined to occur? No, for all we know, a Celestial altered events so that the spider got hit with radiation leaving Peter to get bitten. Different force behind it, same result. But there's no evidence of that. Another thing there isn't any evidence of is that Uncle Ben was destined to die, at that time, anyway. We've got no proof that a spider-god with only enough power to have one true totem (or is it two? Does Arana count?) has sufficient power to twist things so The Burglar would wind up at the Parkers', so that he could shoot Ben. If you start saying that was predestined, then where do you stop? Captain America was destined to be trapped in ice for how ever many years before the Avengers found him. Bruce Wayne's parents were destined to be shot. I suppose it all boils down to how much control you want to believe you (or your comic characters) have over your (their) life.

One other idea: Who says the Gatekeeper is telling the truth? I brought this up in the original discussion, that spiders in mythology are typically tricksters, and when Spidey teamed up with Loki to fight the chaos goddess, Morwen, she states that Peter, not Loki, is the person she wants to enlist, because Spidey 'has much of the trickster in him'. And she's right. Peter does fight evil a lot, but webbing Jameson's pants to his chair? Playing pranks on the Human Torch? Making fun of the Vulture being bald, or those ugly green and yellow outfits Doc Ock used to wear? None of that is what I'd call fighting evil.

The Gatekeeper said Peter was given the power because once he had it, he would never stop fighting to protect those weaker from harm. He would fight to protect them from the evil. I said it in the original discussion, and I say it now: How does a being of chaos benefit from someone fighting evil? Now kelvin pointed out that chaos is not inherently evil, and he's right (and I've played enough D&D to have remembered that), but it isn't inherently good either. So isn't it more likely that the Gatekeeper told Peter what he wanted to hear? To someone like Peter, "We gave you the power because we knew you'd protect the innocent and fight evil" sounds a lot better than "We gave you the power because you will bring more chaos into the world", which is what you figure a being of chaos would actually be striving for. At the time, though Peter didn't know it, Ezekial was planning to sacrifice Peter, in order to save his own hide. But which one better represents what the spider-god would want? Peter fights evil, but does a lot of things that wouldn't be defined as 'good', because he finds it funny. Plus having enemies who want to keep striking back, or keep trying for world domination, introduces different variables into the world at large. Ezekial uses the power with one goal in mind: furthering his own power. Around Peter he pays lip service to trying to start charities and help people, but he moves with a plan, a definite purpose, not chaotic at all. He's like Loki, who for all his talk about being the God of Mischief, is still only interested in one thing: furthering his own power. Sound familar? Loki might occasionally just try to make Thor's life hard, or even aid Thor at times, but in those cases Loki is still just looking out for #1. Like Morwen said, not a true trickster.

So what does all this mean? Probably not too much, in light of the destruction they're wreaking on Spider-Man right now. But I think that there isn't really enough evidence to support the claim that Straczynski destroyed the idea of guilt and responsibility in Spider-Man by venturing into a more mystical realm. Oddly enough, I think JMS had the best way of putting it, during the conclusion of Spidey's first fight with Morlun, where Peter is pummeling Morlun, while wondering where his powers come from: the spider or the radiation? Was it fate, or not? Peter's conclusion: It doesn't matter, he is who he is. He's going to use the powers the way he always has, regardless of their origin, or of the intentions of anyone who may have had a hand in his getting them. Too bad JMS couldn't just leave it at that.

Hopefully, that's coherent. Thanks to samruby.com for having a complete Spider-Man cover archive, so I'd have some art to break up the long and boring text.