Behind that slick Dave Hoover cover lurks… Herb Trimpe. I thought I’d seen the last of him. The rest of the team from last issue hangs on, but Alex musta been too busy with Web. Apparently by this point, the powers that be had told Trimpe to start drawing like the Image kids. On top of that, you have Chris Ivy trying to apply a contemporary sheen to the proceedings. The results vary wildly from page to page, panel to panel. Spider-Man has just stopped a mugging on the splash.
You see Herb Trimpe in it, but sometimes you really have to look. Looks like The Chameleon in that last panel. Next page, he impersonated Carnegie to get into Beth’s hotel room trying to find her notes. Somewhat preposterously, he thinks that she’s “unwittingly created a process worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to certain criminals.” Uh huh. He comes up empty, tho, and sneaks off to try his luck elsewhere. He changes to a kid and tries to befriend Beth, but then another kid falls off a balcony, only to be caught by Spider-Man. Why was Peter already in costume? Chameleon wonders why Spider-Man is here. Both of them coming to the same science fair in Canada is rather beyond the pale, but here we are.
Herb Trimpe is still Herb Trimpe after all. And now, the reason we’re here:
Later, Beth returns to her room to find Charlie rifling through it, wacked out. He says one of the kids traded him a whole handful of pills for her notes. They argue for a bit, then Charlie storms off, past the arriving Peter Parker. Beth won’t tell him what happened, but he sees some pills on the dresser and has an inkling. Back in the arcade, Chameleon gives Charlie a whole bunch more pills, and then later, Charlie goes to Beth to apologize. Beth does, too, and tells him he doesn’t need drugs, he’s smart and cool, etc. Then someone interrupts them.
Another great Spidey bit.
I just really love McDuffie’s Spider-Man banter. It’s pitch perfect. Chameleon pushes a kid over and he flees, and Spider-Man has to stop and assure people it wasn’t him. That gives Chammy enough time to turn into a kid again and get away.
I continue to think it’s very cool that McDuffie’s angle on drugs is “you have to make smart choices” rather than the usual hyperbolic fearmongering that any kid can see right through. I think this is much more effective anti-drug material than most I’ve ever seen. Anyway, next morning, we learn Beth & Charlie have made it to the final round, and a shifty looking judge of the science fair swipes Beth’s notes and takes off. But Peter senses him and, ducking into a booth, emerges as Spider-Man. He spotted the judge making off with the notes, and now recognizes the kid from yesterday carrying the same.
Suddenly, all the exhibits go crazy. It’s like on the cover, which is pretty absurd, all these monsters as “exhibits.” Spidey tries to make sure no one gets trampled and contain the damage, getting banged up pretty bad in the process.
Spider-Man finishes wrapping up the various items on a rampage, sees Chameleon carted off by cops, and tells Charlie he somehow heard what he did during the fracas and is proud of him.
All’s well that ends well-ish. I wish they’d taken the chance to pit Spider-Man against some more unusual foes since he’s in Canada. Maybe some guys Alpha Flight normally fights, or just some people outside his usual rogues gallery. Ah, well. 2 more to go, maybe they’ll surprise me. Who knows who’ll be drawing the next one?