Now this just seems egregious. Did Spider-Man really need a miniseries spinning out of the new team book he’s a member of? I guess so! This means, for 5 months, the Amazing Spider-Man was headlining 3 monthlies and one miniseries while also starring in New Avengers and SMU, Vol. 2. And get this, that’s not even all, he appears in an event series and a 2nd mini during all this, and that’s not even taking USM into account. We are back to 90s-style glut. And this book really feels like it, as it is both unnecessary and not brought to you by A-List talent. No offense to anyone involved, mind you. They got the gig, I’m sure they did their best, and they got to do Spider-Man for 5 months. Not too shabby. But seriously, this is hard to justify. And yet, it worked on me. It was a Spider-Man thing. I like Spider-Man. And it spun out of New Avengers. I like New Avengers. So I bought it. At bat, we have writer Tony Bedard, penciler Manuel Garcia, inker Raul Fernandez and colorist Chris Sotomayor, whose name is misspelled in the credits, for shame. First off, in an extended flashback, we find several villains, including the Hulk villains the U-Foes, the Corruptor (I think he’s an Iron Man guy?) and Crossfire (No idea, honestly) were planning to break out of the Raft with the help of a guard, but management found out and thwarted their escape. The U-Foes think Crossfire betrayed them, but did he? I don’t remember. Then we flash forward to the Raft breakout in New Avengers, and specifically to Spider-Man getting torn to bits by the mob.
Then we flash even more forward to the present…
We then check in with the U-Foes, holed up and watching the new talk about the prison break. The U-Foes are 4 people who tried to replicate the event that created the Fantastic Four and wound up with a bunch of totally different powers. Vector, X-Ray, Ironclad and Vapor. A smart guy, a flying guy, a strong guy and the requisite woman. An evil FF, sort of. Not exactly the most famous villains. We learn Crossfire’s gang is hunting the U-Foes, and they’ve fought in public twice already since the breakout, so these guys are running from Uncle Same, the Avengers and the other villains, too. Tough life. Why would you stay in New York?
The U-Foes were created in 1980. Relatively recent as comics characters go, but also long enough ago that this page feels a bit odd. They’ve been like this for a while, but he’s acting like it’s still new. Anyway, they pack up and prepare to sneak out, but Crossfire’s gang has found them again. Somebody launches a rocket at their van, and the explosion gets the attention of a passing Spider-Man. Bad luck for him.
I like that Spidey. There’s a lot of characters in this! The Amazing Adventures of the U-Foes And Other D-Listers isn’t exactly gonna set the world on fire. I guess that’s why it’s called “Spider-Man: Breakout” even though he’s not really the lead. Sort of a “Deadly Foes of Spider-Man” situation.