Menu
  • Secret Origin!
Menu

The Jackal Files

Posted on June 30, 2021June 16, 2020 by spiderdewey

This is the kind of empty cash grab even I wouldn’t have touched back in 1995, but for 90 cents, I figured I’d look at it. Here we have a very common bit of fluff for the period. A sort of sourcebook where they can get various artists to draw pin-ups of characters and explain who they are. Ostensibly for newcomers to catch up, although between this godawful cover and the impenetrable nonsense in the actual titles at this time, good luck with that. This sort of product was produced pretty regularly for various properties. They got Todd DeZago to write the copy and the framing story (such as it is), and it’s narrated by The Jackal, so you know it’s gonna be painful. I didn’t really recall how utterly insipid The Jackal was when I bought this. The whole book is colored by Greg Wright, and the framing sequence is drawn by Roger Robinson and inked by Jim Amash. It explains the pinups by saying The Jackal is uploading memories into the 3rd Peter. So you get this profile of Ben Reilly drawn by Mark Buckingham…

Or this solid gold Spider-Man by George Perez…

…all with The Jackal’s perspective on who they are. It’s all downhill from George Perez in most situations, but especially this one. Most of this book is illustrated by people I’ve never heard of and Joe St. Pierre, who did the cover and is not great. He gets 7 of these,such as Gwen…

Up and coming New Warriors artist Patrick Zircher gets 3 of them, including this one…

Michael Bair ties him with 3, including Silver Sable…

Not exactly a player at this point, but you gotta fill those pages, I guess. Dan Lawless gets 2, including The Jackal’s, which is rendered unreadable by font choice & background texture…

Very 90s problems. Then there’s 1 each by Guy Dorian…

Jordan Raskin, whose page contains a spoiler I don’t want to show, framing artist Roger Robinson…

Contemporary Hulk artist Liam Sharp, clearly a cut above most of these guys (Who would go on to an excellent Wonder Woman run in the 2010s)…

…and Pat Oliffe, just weeks away from embarking on his own, very unusual Spider-Man title.

It’s a shame the text on Peter #3’s page is also illegible, because it explains he’s been given the power to control his body on a molecular level, and ludicrously claims he is what evolution would do with Spider-Man in 1000 years, because no one making these comics knows anything about science.

Spidercide. Apparently Tom DeFalco was dead set on this character’s actual, “appears on the action figure package” name being “Freakface.” He was overruled. But is this really any better? You know, being honest, yes, it is. If I had to choose between “Freakface” and literally anything, I would pick option 2. The remainder of the book is 4 pages of Eliot R. Brown’s famous schematics. He’s the go-to guy for cutaway views explaining inexplicable comic book technology. I think he overdoes it some here. For example…

There is no way on Earth Spider-Man’s mask is “reflectant mylar plastic heat-molded to head contours.” It’s cloth. It’s a mask a teenager with no money could make, or more recently, a mask Mary Jane could make, with regular sewing materials. He explains the webshooters, all Ben’s new gear, and Spider-Man’s belt & camera (Remember when Peter took pictures? He hasn’t even pretended to have a job for over a year at this point, even before going to jail). Well, that’s that. Not worth 90 cents. Now it’s time to reach as low as this clone crap can get.

  • Ben Reilly
  • Carrion
  • Dan Lawless
  • George Perez
  • Gregory Wright
  • Guy Dorian
  • Gwen Stacy
  • Jim Amash
  • Joe St. Pierre
  • Kaine
  • Liam Sharp
  • Mark Buckingham
  • Michael Bair
  • Pat Oliffe
  • Patrick Zircher
  • Roger Robinson
  • Scrier
  • Spider-Man
  • Spidercide
  • Stunner
  • The Jackal
  • Todd DeZago
  • Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recent Posts

    • TAC 185
    • TAC 184
    • TAC 183
    • TAC 182
    • TAC 181

    Archives

    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • April 223

    Categories

    • 1960s
    • 1970s
    • 1980s
    • 1990s
    • Uncategorized

    Tags

    Alex Saviuk Al Milgrom Amazing Spider-Man Aunt Anna Aunt May Ben Reilly Ben Urich Betty Brant Bill Mantlo Black Cat Bob Sharen David Michelinie Doctor Octopus Flash Thompson Frank Giacoia Gerry Conway Glory Grant Gwen Stacy Harry Osborn J. Jonah Jameson Jim Mooney JM DeMatteis Joe Robertson John Romita John Romita Jr Kate Cushing Keith Williams Kevin Tinsley Kingpin Len Wein Liz Allen Marvel Team-Up Mary Jane Watson Mike Esposito Nathan Lubensky Ned Leeds Roger Stern Ross Andru Sal Buscema Spectacular Spider-Man Spider-Man Stan Lee Todd McFarlane Tom DeFalco Web of Spider-Man

    Meta

    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.org
    ©2022 | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme