SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #248 - August 1997

From the Shadows

Credits:  J. M. DeMatteis (plot), Mark Bernardo (script), Luke Ross (penciler), Dan Green & Al Milgrom (inks), John Kalisz (colors), Comicraft (letters)

The Plot:  John Jameson is released from custody, as Jonah recovers in the hospital.  While Spider-Man ponders the case, he’s attacked by jungle animals sent by Kraven.  Later, he visits Jonah in the hospital and is shocked when Jonah refuses to let the guards arrest him.  Meanwhile, Ashley Kafka uses hypnosis to discover what happened to John.  They realize he was mesmerized by Mad Jack.  While touring his subconscious, John faces Man-Wolf.  At the offices of Norman Osborn, Mad Jack refuses payment for torturing the Jamesons.

The Subplots:  Flash Thompson visits his parents and has an argument with his bitter father.  

Web of Continuity:  

• Lots of vague Mad Jack/Jameson continuity established this issue.  Jonah tells the police he doesn’t know Mad Jack; they assume he’s lying.  When Mad Jack later visits him in the hospital, Jonah asks him, “doesn't the past count for anything?”  Mad Jack reveals that he showed Jonah his face in the elevator before beating him.  Jonah still doesn’t believe it’s the person he saw.  Later, Mad Jack sneaks into the Jameson’s home and stares longingly at an old photo of Jonah’s wife Marla.
• Jonah has an unusually emotional connection to a book of poems by (who else?) Percy Bysshe Shelley.
• I believe this is Norman Osborn’s first appearance following his second death in Peter Parker, Spider-Man #75.  Mad Jack tells Jonah that the price that must be paid is the Daily Bugle, which sets up Osborn’s next move.
• Ashley Kafka claims that she’s worked with Spider-Man “for years.”  Later, Spider-Man remarks that Kraven committed suicide “years ago.”  More evidence that no one was under the impression that time had stopped moving in the Marvel Universe during these days.

I Love the ‘90s:  The police compare John Jameson’s evasive answers to Bill Clinton’s.  While leaving the police station, John is asked by a reporter if he hates his father and if this is a “Menendez brothers thing.”  Later, while being attacked by jungle animals, Spider-Man makes a comment about starring in Jumanji 2.

Review:  So, Spider-Man’s role in this issue mainly consists of him being attacked by an ape and a lion for three pages.  The rest of the story is devoted to the Mad Jack plotline, which is now being used as a setup to reintroduce Norman Osborn.  That’s probably not the best way to use your protagonist, but it could be forgivable within the context of a larger storyline, assuming the ultimate payoff is worth the effort.  Knowing how the Mad Jack/Jameson material ends, or “ends” should be in quotes I guess, that does make the zoo pages slightly more annoying.  Plus, the new Kraven being teased never really amounted to much, anyway.  Ignoring all that, there is good material this issue.  Jonah and Spider-Man have another memorable scene together, as Jonah exonerates him of the crime and actually tells the guards to leave him alone.  I’ve always liked the scenes that humanize Jonah without taking the idea too far.  Leaving Jonah alone with the book of poems, reflecting on…whatever the connection between Mad Jack and Marla is supposed to be, is a strong way to close the scene.

There’s an interesting wrinkle to the old Jameson/Spidey feud since we now have John Jameson romantically involved with Ashley Kafka, which means there are now two Spidey supporters within the family.  When Marla reverts to Jonah’s old standby of blaming Spider-Man for everything, it’s not so easy for her to get away with it.  John knows that if Spider-Man says he saw him suffocating Jonah, it must be true.  This leads to a session of hypnotherapy that you’re only going to get in comics, as John and Ashley both (somehow) enter his subconscious and face very literal representations of his fears.  Man-Wolf even makes an appearance, and while I can totally understand why DeMatteis has selected him to represent John’s dark urges, it does seem like an odd continuity reference to throw into an unrelated story.  (Just a few issues ago, the editorial responses in the letter column seemed openly dismissive of ever bringing Man-Wolf back.)  Luke Ross’ Man-Wolf does look pretty intimidating, though, so that could be enough justification for the cameo.  Overall, I have to give Ross credit for continuing to evolve on this title.  He’s usually able to find the right balance between cartooning without hindering the drama at this point, and he’s been doing a great job with the villains lately.  His interpretation of Spider-Man still feels off to me, though.  It seems as if he’s trying to merge a McFarlane-style Spider-Man with a more traditional look, and the results don’t do either style justice.

X-MAN #31 -#33, October-December 1997

The Last Innocent Mind

Credits: Mark Bernardo (writer), Rick Leonardi (penciler), Dan Green (inker), Comicraft (letters), Mike Thomas (colors)

A fill-in issue by Marvel editor Mark Bernardo and Rick Leonardi, who’s actually a better artist than any of the regular pencilers ever assigned to this title. Bernardo uses the fill-in to create a sequel to, all of things, the ROM storyline that guest-starred the X-Men. (Check out Siskoids' look back here and here.) X-Man follows the trail of a young boy he sees in his dreams to a hospital in upstate New York, where he learns that the boy is actually Hybrid, the unholy child of a human and Dire Wraith. Hybrid uses X-Man’s psychic power to reconstitute his solid form, but X-Man defeats him after he finds the tiny fragment of an innocent child that still lives inside the monster. The execution of the ending is actually much better than it sounds on paper, and I’ll give Bernardo credit for having X-Man use his powers in a few creative ways in the issue. (Everyone remembers what psychometry is, right? Well, X-Man can do that, too.) Bernardo also has more of a knack for natural dialogue than many of his editorial co-workers who are called upon for quick fill-ins. Perhaps he should’ve replaced Ralph Macchio as the X-office’s routine “guy across the hall” who’s brought in at the last minute.

Catching Up From Behind

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), Roger Cruz (penciler), Bud LaRosa & Wellington Diaz (inks), Comicraft’s Albert Deschesne (letters), Mike Thomas (colors)

Terry Kavanagh returns, as X-Man reunites with the three “bad girls” who rescued him after his encounter with the Brotherhood. This issue reveals their names as Bux, Jam, and Marita, and wouldn’t you know it, they’re into clubbing, piercings, and tattoos. X-Man spends a night at the club with them, attracting the romantic attention of a blonde woman who turns out to be one of the bad girls’ parole officer (a parole officer with a Playmate’s body and a penchant for wearing skintight jeans that are ripped in strategic places). Meanwhile, Roust, the former follower of the Abomination who’s been looking for X-Man, is stalked by Jackknife. The new villain is another homeless person taken in by Abomination, who’s now driven insane by his mutant powers. He’s on a killing spree, murdering anyone with a connection to X-Man. The story hints that Threnody was one of his casualties, but on the final page, we see her “feeding” off Jackknife’s other dying victims. Aside from the extended club scene, which tries so hard to show us how hip X-Man and these girls are, this is pretty unobjectionable material. At least X-Man doesn’t act like a total idiot, and the story’s even setting him up to play the hero in the next issue.

Blood Will Tell

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), Roger Cruz (penciler), Bud LaRosa (inker), Comicraft (letters), Mike Thomas (colors)

Jackknife continues to act irrational and insane, which may or not be a deliberate parallel to the way X-Man usually behaves in this series. He reveals that he was a bystander to X-Man’s earlier fight with Abomination, and his exposure to X-Man’s powers triggered his own. Now, he’s a powerful enough psi to counter X-Man, and his motivations don’t go any deeper than some vaguely defined revenge plot. X-Man protects the locals and finally defeats Jackknife by using power lines to shock him into unconsciousness. The police want to arrest X-Man, but all of the bystanders defend X-Man, which is apparently supposed to solidify his role as the Village’s superhero. Jackknife is rather lame, unless he really is an intentional parody of X-Man, then he’s great. I wholeheartedly endorse more Jackknife appearances if he’s used to make fun of X-Man. Roger Cruz is still sticking with the book, and his work on the lengthy, chaotic fight scene isn’t bad at all. Nothing else to say about this issue, so I’ll just recite the Statement of Ownership numbers. Average sales were 148, 203 for the year with the most recent issue selling 125,862 copies.

WOLVERINE #98 – February 1996

Fade to Black
Credits: Larry Hama (writer), Ramon Bernado (penciler), Napolitano/Milgrom/Morales (inkers), Joe Rosas & Malibu (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering)

Summary: Wolverine wakes up in a haze inside the Princess Bar in Madripoor. He’s surrounded by dead bodies with claw marks, including his friends Archie Corrigan and O’Donnell. He flashes back to his last meeting with Zoe Culloden. He opened the package she gave him and discovered a key and an address written on a sheet of paper. In the present, he discovers his friend Rose is also dying. Walking outside of the bar, he’s arrested by police chief Tai, who also confiscates the key and sheet of paper. He places Wolverine in jail, where Wolverine uses his enhanced hearing to learn that Tai has been bought off. The plan is to leave Wolverine alone long enough for him to be taken care of. Tyger Tiger throws a hacksaw and an old costume for Wolverine to wear through his cell window. A group of thugs enter with General Coy and the Prince. Two of the men with strapped-on claws admit to killing Wolverine’s friends. Wolverine fights off the men and confronts Coy and the Prince. Coy shoots the Prince in the back of his head, hoping that Wolverine will back off. Suddenly, Coy is shot in the back by Tyger Tiger. She gives Wolverine the key and paper that Tai took from him. They head to the address, which is the Madripoor office of Landau, Luckman, and Lake. Wolverine uses the key to open the Warp Chamber room, and enters a void where Zoe Culloden is waiting on him.

Continuity Notes: Virtually every Madripoor supporting cast member is killed in this issue. Archie Corrigan, O’Donnell, Prince Baran, and Rose Wu all die on-panel. General Coy is shot in the back, which presumably kills him, and Tiger Tyger infers that she killed police chief Tai by running him over. Wolverine comments that Prince Baran and General Coy were never this “bloodthirsty”, which acknowledges that some of the characters are behaving strangely (police chief Tai is also portrayed as corrupt, which I believe contradicts his original appearances). There’s no explanation given, outside of Wolverine saying, “It’s almost like someone was makin’ ‘em hurt people I know”.

Production Note: It’s another issue with only nineteen pages.

Miscellaneous Note: According to the Statement of Ownership, average sales for the year were 334,592 copies with the most recent issue selling 329,768.

Review: This is one of those “kill off those characters we never use anymore” bloodbath issues. There’s a lot of carnage and running around, but the story doesn’t really advance the ongoing plotline at all. In fact, this issue ends in almost the same place as last issue, with Wolverine meeting up with Zoe Culloden. They were already face-to-face at the end of the last issue, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense for her to give him a key and an address to travel to so that they could immediately meet again. Killing off the entire Madripoor supporting cast always seemed wasteful to me, since most of these characters at least have some potential, and the same point could’ve been conveyed by just killing one or two characters. As usual, Hama’s able to handle the characterization and action well, but Adam Kubert isn’t around to sell the story. The guest art by Ramon Bernado is capable enough (except for his bizarre rendition of Wolverine’s cowl), but it looks rushed and comes across as pretty bland for much of the issue. The feral regression storyline is starting to wear on this book, and it’s too bad it’s going to lead to the misguided “de-evolution” of Wolverine in issue #100.