AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #421 - March 1997

 

And Death Shall Fly Like a Dragon!

Credits:  Tom DeFalco (writer), Steve Skroce (penciler), Bud LaRosa (inks), Bob Sharen (colors), Comicraft (letters)

The Plot:  Angela Yin’s cousin Meiko is ambushed by a group of ninjas called the True Believers at a charity carnival.  Spider-Man intervenes, but Meiko refuses his help.  Soon after, Meiko explains to Angela that her former fiancée Karsano is now a True Believer.  Under the tutelage of Madam Qwa, he’s been ordered to kill Meiko in order to earn the title of Dragonfly.  Spider-Man spots the True Believers while spying on Angela’s apartment.  A battle soon erupts, and Spider-Man destroys Karsano’s family sword.  Karsano wills himself to disintegrate as penance.  Later, Meiko meets in secret with Madam Qwa, who labels Meiko the Dragonfly.

The Subplots:  Madam Qwa says that their “current employer” wants Spider-Man dead.  We’ll discover in the backup story this is a reference to the Black Tarantula subplot.

Web of Continuity:  The True Believers are said to be an offshoot of the Hand.  As many fans will mock for years, the True Believers wear green uniforms, earning them the nickname of “Green Ninjas.”

I Love the ‘90s:  Within the first few pages of the story, we have references to Mortal Kombat, “Hammer Time,” and Hard Copy.  Spider-Man also blames the resurgence of ninjas on Jackie Chan’s popularity in America.

Review:  And, once again, we see that Asian Supporting Cast Member = Ninjas.  I don’t know if any effort was placed into developing Angela Yin as a character by this point, but I have read a lot of Amazing Spider-Man from this era, and she’s still a blank slate to me.  Using her as an excuse to introduce a hackneyed ninja storyline doesn’t do a lot to make her endearing.  At least when Opal was used to as a means for some cyber-ninja insanity in X-Factor, she was already a fleshed out character that had been established for a few years in the book.  Angela Yin’s just a cipher introducing more ciphers, so it’s impossible to care about any of this.  Also, I’ve always hated the name “True Believers.”  It’s pretty inexcusable for any non-comedy story, but attaching it to band of ninjas from the Orient is even worse.

Hidden Agendas

Credits:  Tom DeFalco (writer), Geof Isherwood (art), Paul Becton (colors), Comicraft (letters)

The Plot:  Peter arrives at ESU in time to make his tuition payments with MJ.  They begin their first day of school, and run into Paul and Jill Stacy.  Peter’s professor, Dr. Howard, warns Peter to drop his class if he has any doubts about doing the work.  Meanwhile, the True Believers follow the Black Tarantula’s orders and attack the Rose’s operation.

The Subplots:  Peter runs into Jacob Connover, who is teaching Journalism at ESU after being laid off from the Daily Bugle.  The story emphasizes his grudge against Robbie Robertson, but I don’t think anything comes of it.

Web of Continuity:  For the record, Peter says he’s going to school to complete his graduate studies in Bio-Physics.  

Review:  Apparently Steve Skroce was already having deadline problems, leaving Tom DeFalco to tell the story of Peter and MJ’s first day back at school as a separate backup story.  It’s a sad forecast for what’s to come -- I don’t think anything memorable ever emerges from the Parkers’ return to college.  I can understand why the creators assumed that reviving the ESU setting could introduce some new story possibilities, and provide an easy way for the Parkers to interact with the editorially mandated return of the Stacy family, but no one writing the books during this time seems too invested in the idea.  I do like the art, though.  This is the most stylized I’ve ever seen Geof Isherwood, as he pulls off a strange cross between Mark Texeira and Gene Colan.  I wish he could’ve done more work on the books during this era.

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #8-#9, November - December 1985

Local Super Hero!/The Twilight Heroes

Credits: David Michelinie (writer), Geof Isherwood (penciler), Vince Colletta (inker), Janice Chiang (letterer), Bob Sharen (colorist)

The Plot: Peter Parker is sent by the Daily Bugle to investigate a small town superhero, the Smithville Thunderbolt, in Pennsylvania. He discovers the Smithville Thunderbolt, Fred Hopkins, lost his powers a year ago after decades of heroics. With the aid of cybernetic enhancements, Fred has been staging harmless “disasters” to maintain his image. Local reporter Roxanne Dewinter has discovered Fred’s identity and plans to reveal it, hoping the story will land her a job at a big city newspaper. Meanwhile, Ludlow Grimes, a simple farmer who last year found the other half of the meteor that powered Fred, arrives. Angry over the ostracizing he’s received since gaining powers, Ludlow lashes out at Fred. During the fracas, Fred saves Roxanne’s life, and Ludlow realizes that Fred isn’t the source of his problems. Spider-Man assumes Roxanne will now kill her story, but she reveals Fred’s identity anyway. Fred, fearing a public backlash, commits suicide, not realizing the town was gathering at his house to thank him for his years of service.

The Subplots: None.

I Love the ‘80s: Roxanne declares that when she’s a big city reporter, all of her vehicles will have cassette decks.

Review: We’re now in an odd stretch of the title, where neither David Michelinie or Danny Fingeroth seems to be the regular writer. I suspect this was written as a two-part fill-in, since it doesn’t contain any subplots or set up any ongoing storylines. This is a rather unusual story; along with its dark twist ending, it could be read as a nasty commentary on the superhero genre. Or maybe just Superman specifically. Fred works as a small town reporter, surrounded by Daily Planet analogues. After a meteor grants him powers, he becomes a rural equivalent of Superman, even though he usually doesn’t have a lot of crime to fight. Once the power fades away, Fred has no idea what to do, so he begins staging fake disasters. The story keeps Fred sympathetic, since no one is ever hurt in the “disasters” (he uses smoke bombs instead of actual fire, for example), but he’s clearly supposed to be pitiful.

While Fred basks in the attention, Ludlow gains powers and gets the “feared and hated” treatment. Even his family is terrified of him. He’s also a farmer, which parallels the Smallville portion of Superman’s canon. Adding to the cynicism, Ludlow isn’t a noble, salt-of-the-earth farmer like the Kents; he’s a simple-minded dunce in overalls. I don’t think Michelinie is actually saying this is what a real farmer with superpowers would be like, but that interpretation might not be too much of a leap. The portrayal of 1950s Smithville certainly seems like an attempt to shoehorn reality into old superhero tropes. When Fred gains his powers, he’s surrounded by racists and anti-Semites, which I guess was pretty edgy in 1985, but it’s now become the standard portrayal of the ‘50s. (“Hey, maaan. Life wasn’t really Leave it to Beaver in the 1950s, y’know.”) It’s possible that Fred becoming a beloved hero in the ‘50s and Ludlow becoming an ostracized freak today is intended as another meta-commentary on the superhero genre. The original DC heroes were universally beloved in their world, which obviously isn’t the direction Stan Lee would follow.

Finally, there’s Roxanne, the thinly veiled Lois Lane analogue. Her storyline mirrors Lois’ decades-long quest to reveal Superman’s secret identity, which I’m sure never got old. I’m not sure if Roxanne is intended as a ruthless parody of Lois, or if Michelinie is playing off the disdain a lot of fans had for old-school Lois. Maybe this is what the “real” Lois would be like.

The story isn’t all gloom, as we learn that Fred honestly wants to help people, in spite of his faults. Plus, Ludlow is recruited as a potential SHIELD agent, so he gets what appears to be a happy ending. The twist comes when Roxanne refuses to learn the traditional lesson secondary characters are supposed to learn from these comics and publishes her story anyway. Turning the screw further, we learn that Fred committed suicide over nothing, since the crowd just wanted to thank him. In the final panel, a remorseless Roxanne takes a picture of Fred’s body.

I think I’ve read the entirety of Michelinie’s Amazing Spider-Man run, and I don’t recall anything approaching this level of cynicism. In fact, I seem to remember fans criticizing his ASM run not being serious enough. Since the editor was also responsible for pushing Spectacular in a dark direction during this era, I wonder what role he had in shaping this story. Like most of Michelinie’s comics, this is well paced, has a few surprises, and the dialogue is pretty sharp. All of this has little to do with Spider-Man, but he’s worked into the story as naturally as could be expected. I just wish this wasn’t so dark. Of course, I’m saying this as someone who’s read years’ worth of gloomy comics with disparaging analogues of classic characters. I’m sure this felt appropriately daring when originally published.