Rich Buckler makes a much appreciated return to join The Bobs on art duties this month. Look at those straight up Todd McFarlane eyes on the cover. We pick up from last issue, with the big punk dude interrogating Black Cat about why she broke into The Foreigner’s place. Cat is in shock after having her nose broke.
TAC sure doesn’t have a history of treating Felicia very well. Riddled with bullets, routinely beaten and so on. Not great, Bob. Sadly, a lot of female characters have had it far worse, but it seems like sooner or later, they all got brutalized, especially from the 80s through the 2000s. Spider-Man swings on, whining about things, and realizes he’s near MJ’s place. He decides to stop in, thinking she’s the only friend he can count on right now, when he, as Peter, sees Roderick Kingsley coming out of her building. He already knows she works for him, but nonetheless storms into her place being a jerk about it, because we’re in a really terrible period for Spider-Man.
Ugh. Peter Parker sucks. So often throughout history, Peter Parker sucks. It’s hard being a Spider-Man fan. But, hey, we finally get a look at The Foreigner.
One wonders if Chris Claremont was onboard with this bit of backstory for Sabretooth out of nowhere. Foreigner reveals “some wino” was him in disguise, which is very silly, and ‘Tooth begins ranting about how he got out of prison and he wants work as an assassin. The negotiations don’t go too well, but we cut away from them for more uncomfortable junk.
I don’t know where the thing where a woman has to be violated before she can win came form, but it’s a potent mix of deplorable and everywhere in pop culture. At any rate, Felicia has her 2nd wind, and now that she knows she can’t rely on her powers, well, she’s fought supervillains, what’re these guys? But after dismantling several of them, the beating she’s already suffered begins to slow her down, and a knife-wielding goons almost gets her.
The 80s! While Felicia fights for her life, her former paramore is pacing the walls, quite literally, trying to decide if he can go see her. He doesn’t want to, but he feels either she cursed him, or it was an accident and now she’s lost her powers, and either way, they should probably talk about it. He doesn’t get anywhere arguing with himself as we cut away to the kid with the glowing hand from the last few issues. As usual, his dad is awful to him, and then he contemplates his glowing hand. One assumes this will go somewhere. Then it’s off to Foreigner and Sabretooth, on their way to look at that friggin gold notebook, when they instead discover the goons beaten up by Black Cat.
The answer is no. Back home, Felicia is bandaging her nose and thinking about the things she stole from Foreigner and her situation when she senses someone in the room with her.
That friggin gold notebook!
What a mess they are. Sabretooth has somehow broken in without alerting either Felicia or the guy with the danger sense. But Felicia thinks her apartment is full of traps (How? Where? Why?) and is about to lure him into one when you-know-who comes swinging back in.
Spidey lures his foe out into the night, away from Felicia and into camera range. Sabretooth mentions he works for The Foreigner, which is probably Spidey’s first time hearing that name, and eventually rakes the front of our hero’s chest, sort of like on the cover.
Good riddance to that guy! Spidey and Felicia more on the outs than ever. And The Foreigner about to make a move. I really don’t know much about The Foreigner, despite him being a background presence in some of the books I’ve read over the ages. But I guess that’s gonna change before this run is over. But enough messing around. Time to get back to ASM and the whole “Flash arrested for being Hobgoblin” thing.