Time to see what kind of wheel spinning this team can get up to. Can Spider-Man raid another safehouse? Can Chameleon hire another goon/and or goons? Probably! All I remember about this is how it ends. Al Milgrom again pitches in on inks. We begin with Chameleon in disguise, driving a prison transfer van. Sure are a lot of those in Spider-Man lately. He’s got a spider tracer in his pocket and he’s been making sure this drive takes long enough for Spider-Man to find it.
Him not being sure where the tracer comes from sure feels suspicious, but I guess the All-New, All-Angry Spider-Man doesn’t think like that anymore. But the plan backfires as Spider-Man sees the bus driver laughing hysterically (Very professional) and soon shocks Chammy into revealing himself. But he hits the gas and makes Spider-Man save people from being run over as he flees. He ditches the bus and runs for it as Spider-Man mops up the escaped cons. Then Chameleon… flies overhead in a jetpack. Sigh. And tells Spider-Man to “stick around in this area. I’ll be in touch.” Just in case you were afraid this might be going somewhere. The deranged Spider-Man takes out his frustration on the remaining cons.
I’m sure you do, sir. It’s very funny to me that Kraven’s Last Hunt forever put Kraven in a loincloth or speedo. Ditko had the decency to put pants on him. This month’s titles feature a 2-page ad for an X-Men video game that’s mostly a beautiful Steve Lightle drawing. Love that guy. They also contain a very annoying insert selling you one of the least appealing products I can think of. This year saw release of a Spider-Man trading card set made up of large, connected pieces of Mark Bagley art. But what, they ask, if you could buy… 3 of those cards in one uncut panel? Still with the dividing lines on them? For… some reason? A sample is bound into the comics, so there’s a big, folded cardboard square in the middle of your comic.
Great! Spider-Man is then led on a slow scavenger hunt toward Chameleon by a series of stupid, timed explosions meant to keep him trying to help people. Meanwhile, Kavanagh has the guts to do some subplotting. I’m actually impressed. It’s fallout from the whole Warrant/Lizard thing. Kafka’s still in Washington with the bloodthirsty idiots, and the Attorney General himself is trying to mediate their disagreement over what happened. Warrant says he quits, and Reynard says he’s got an idea: he’ll quit, too, and then the gubmint can hire them as “freelance bounty hunters.” The AG likes it, but Kafka has her own stipulation: ensuring this won’t happen again.
So, the dorks christen “Warrant, Inc.” as the name of their company, and Dr. Kafka calls up John Jameson to be her new security chief, and we’re all set for Ravencroft as we saw it way back in block 9. Back in New York, Chameleon’s next dumb trap hilariously has a piece of Kraven’s vest on it, so Spider-Man will know to go to his house. Insane. Chameleon’s all set, and we cut to MJ, thinking she always swore she’d never be reduced to “staring uselessly out the window for some sign of my missing husband,” like she hasn’t been doing that for, like, 2 years. She sees Spider-Man swinging up…
What a jerk, etc, etc, I’ve spent too many words on this over the last five years…
Boooooooooo. And with this, and all Chammy’s talk of “The Spider” and whatnot, guess who’s starting his run on ASM next post?