Always fun to see these two together. This is Claremont’s last regular issue as writer on MTU, with pencils by Mike Nasser for most of the issue and Rich Buckler for the last 4 pages, both inked by Joe Rubenstein. This one gets started from Nightcrawler’s perspective, as he picks up his girlfriend Amanda Sefton from her job as a flight attendant.
That smooch panel is funny. The plane has the distinctive logo of Arcade on the tail. Arcade, the unusual X-Men villain who builds complex murder theme parks for people to get rid of their enemies. Arcade is such a broad and absurd concept for a villain. I’ve always liked him. Kurt decides to get a closer look and just sneaks right onto the jet. I’m not sure what he’s trying to accomplish, but all he has time to do is flashback to his last encounter with Arcade.
You might this this means this comic will feature Arcade as the villain. It’s a pretty reasonable assumption. Also: wrong. Nasser is doing really unusual layouts on every page, and I have to assume that’s going to make it extra jarring when we switch to Rich Buckler. Check out the very next page, how it tells two stories in the same space really fluidly.
Pretty cool! But who on Earth abbreviates “Amanda?” That is so Claremont-y. “That first ‘A’ Takes too long!” Kurt & “Manda” hang out in the trunk as Jardine’s car drives into Manhattan. Kurt explains that, when he was a kid in the circus, Jardine bought the show and moved him from the highwire act to the freakshow, so he really hates this guy. But Amos Jardine has a run-in with Spider-Man back in MTU 68, so that explains his beef with Spidey. To my shock, that issue hasn’t gone up on the blog yet. I am so confused, at this point. Jardine has waited quite a while for this random attempt at revenge. When the car stops, Kurt & Amanda hop out the trunk and learn they’re at Madison Square Garden, where Jardine’s circus is performing tonight. Kurt is intent on stopping the attempted murder of Spider-Man, so…
That is a verrrrrrry flimsy plan, Jardine. Also love the name tag on the camera. As Kurt does his thing, missing his days as an acrobat, we’re told an assassin named Cutthroat is trying to make his rep by killing Spidey here tonight (Cutthroat will go on to be a really lame goon for The Red Skull in the 90s). He shoots a rocket (!) at Kurt, but Spider-Man is on the scene now, and pushes Kurt to safety. The explosion knocks them both off balance, though, and they go falling through the air.
If I thought Jardine was dumb before, it’s only getting worse as we go… “I thought a dude getting murdered at my circus, his guts showering my patrons after he exploded, would be great for business, but this is terrible!”
That’s a good joke. The fleeing Cutthroat somehow gets to the ground really fast, and sets the animals loose to cause a stampede (Not Claremont’s first stampede in these pages) to cover his escape. Also, a guy in the fleeing crowd is clearly wearing a Superman logo t-shirt. That’s a much harder little joke to get away with these days. And suddenly it’s Rich Buckler, and while Rubinstein does his very best to keep things consistent, the much more conventional panels give him away easily.
Oh, hey, Claremont even references the last stampede, also not up on the blog yet, even though I read those before this. Ah, well. Kurt is tired from all his teleporting, and hurt, so he’s not doing as well as he should be, but he’s holding his own. Cutthroat blinds him with a flare, and is about to execute him when Spidey shows up, plugging the barrel of Cutthroat’s gun right as he was about to fire it. Cutthroat has taken himself out, but down in the garage, Jardine is armed and using Amanda as a human shield as he tries to flee the scene.
So no one’s gonna pick up that thread? Really? Ok, guys. Guess we’ll never know. Unless this somehow becomes relevant somewhere, but I doubt it will. It was interesting that this was a Nightcrawler story featuring Spidey instead of the usual Spider-Man story featuring someone else. In the letter page, debate continues to rage about whether or not Sal Buscema sucks, talking specifically about the 4-part Spidey/Black Widow, et al team-up recently. The greatest praise is for Steve Leialoha, which is sort of a slap in Sal’s face. But there’s also a letter from this ridiculous caveman:
Yes, I’m putting one Frederick Scoblete on blast 30 years after the fact for being an idiot. Too many lames are like you even today, Frederick. If you’re still out there, you gotta be pretty old, and I sure hope you’ve grown up by now.