I’m not sure if murder really means the Man-Wolf. Does that mean he is present at all murders? If I say “murder,” do you think “Man-Wolf?” Seems unlikely. But he’s here, in spooky castle action, no less. Same team as last issue, of whom the credits say “You may not have asked for it, but these folks gave it to you, anyway.” Seems legit. Man-Wolf attacks out hero as the various other folks from the end of last issue look on.
Spidey is taking a mean game for a guy about to get mauled there. Maybe it’s the print quality, but this is a lot more ink than I’m used to from a Vince Colletta job. Frankenstein’s monster yanks Man-Wolf off our hero, saying Man-Wolf is as much a victim as they are, but that he’s an animal that one understands one thing, so he throws him into a wall. That doesn’t slow him down much, tho, and then he spies last issue’s SHIELD agent.
He does have a thing for blondes, after all. Marv not bothering to look up when the previous Man-Wolf stories were is funny. Spidey & Frank wake up strapped to tables… again… this time with their feet also bound so Spidey can’t kick people. The Baron is about to use his “dissector ray” to “separate them into their component parts.” Spidey gets around to asking, you know, why, which cues the classic Villain Origin Flashback.
This is real boilerplate, all cliches, all the time stuff. Meanwhile, Man-Wolf has taken Agent Klemmer to a random clearing and put her down, seeming to regain some of his humanity for a second. but then real wolves attack, and he defends her from them in a brutal battle. It’s all very King Kong, only smaller. Klemmer has read about John Jameson in SHIELD’s files (What luck!). She “makes an eating motion” to show him she’s hungry, hoping he’ll leave to find her some food.
Sure thing. Back at the castle, Frank manages to dig his hand into the table, crushing some of the machinery and buying them some time. The Baron has, of course, left them to their fate. Boilerplate stuff. Spidey webs the nozzles on some of the “dissector” lasers and aims them at the metal things holding them down, cutting them free. Thusly…
So ends the brief, generic career of The Monster Maker. Literally in tears. That’s not something you see every day. Spidey swings around, saying he’s more worried about Man-Wolf than Klemmer, worried she’ll use her SHIELD training to kill him when his condition isn’t his fault. But when he finds Wolfy all alone, he assumes the worst and attacks him. The sudden scream of Agent Klemmer in the distance distracts Spider-Man.
The protection of the female! She’s being attacked by wolves again. Man-Wolf gets there first and has another brutal fight with them. During that, Conway makes sure you know Agent Klemmer is very formidable and wouldn’t normally need to be saved. Love him or hate him, he tried to treat his female characters better than a lot of writers. Man-Wolf is victorious,but badly injured, and about to pass out.
Aw, Frank. How great would it have been if he’d come back to New York and become Spider-Man’s new friend? That would be hilarious. I’d read it. Ah, well. As the caption says, our next stop is an adventure with The Beast.