Here we begin a 4-issue Spidey/DD team-up. My memory is not liking it, but I don’t know how much of that is just the art. Let’s see. Paul Jenkins writes, Phil Winslade draws, Tom Palmer inks, Matt Milla colors. Alex Ross did all the covers for the miniseries, which seems like a big deal at the time. He does tons of Marvel covers now, but he was far less active then, and possibly in higher demand at the same time.
I’m sure Phil Winslade has his fans, but I am not one.
It has struck me in the past that it seems like comic book artists who’re into wild layouts and unusual panel construction and comic book artists who can draw people well enough that Spider-Man’s head doesn’t look like an egg are almost never the same person, for some reason. Winslade clearly has a lot of skill, a lot of patience, and some ideas about trying to make his comics look fresh. But the end result just isn’t to my taste. Spider-Man continues to harass and terrify that guy, who continues to not tell him anything, and we go see Daredevil.
Sounds unpleasant, DD. Over a 2-page spread, he details his powers and then how various dealings of Wilson Fisk have been attacked this week. Then he arrives home to find Spider-Man waiting in his house, asking “Why are geese and lawyers exactly alike?”
One could be forgiven for thinking “Is this a different Paul Jenkins from the guy doing PPSM?” Everything from the tone to the characterization of Spider-Man just instantly feels off. Peter rattles off the exact same exposition DD did a few pages ago, now with his weird, uncharacteristic pseudo-film-noir snark, and Matt acts surprised, like he didn’t tell us this himself. Then Peter reveals the guy he was bothering told him he was recruited by a Jack Daniel Abbott, who Matt is defending in a parole violation next month.
Ok! Next couple pages, we see Gladiator, Stilt-Man and Copperhead all apparently working for some partially obscured creepy guy yammering about how they’re exiles and outcasts but will soon take over. Then Matt goes to see that Abbott guy.
Abbott gives Matt some coded messages that send him off with nothing to go on but the number 7 and the letters “MO.” Meanwhile, in a pretty ambitious series of 12-panel pages, the bad guys sneak into Kingpin’s building as he’s holding court with his flunkies. I guess he’s been blinded recently? You’d think I’d remember that. The baddies do various sabotage-type stuff as Fisk goes to the roof…
Man, I can’t believe they killed Kingpin in the first issue of some random miniseries! Wild! I might be reappraising Winslade a little. His figures are still often very wonky, but his pages are definitely unique. Well, tune in next time for Kingpin’s funeral, presumably. As is the case so frighteningly often, I don’t remember how this goes at all.