Bret Blevins is back to inking himself this month, giving his linework the surprisingly wispy quality I’m used to. His stuff feels very light and airy, and quite different from the heavy handed approach quickly gaining popularity across the medium. I wonder why I have this. Like I said, #6 is a recent acquisition, but this one is vintage. Maybe I just bought it off the rack, but being 13, I didn’t exactly have a lot of ready cash. But I had read issue 3 and thought it was cool, and this one does have Spider-Man, so who knows? At any rate, I even remember this one pretty well. It begins right as the last one left off. Like the last one, Blevins does a splash page-to-two-page splash intro, like Jack Kirby favored in the 70s, as he sets up where we are and has Spider-Man recap last issue while Crimewave taunts Kingpin about being ready to kill an enemy Kingpin never could.
Distinctly recalled and still enjoy the maniacal laughter bit. Who saved Sleepy? It’s gotta wait…
Gotta give you what the cover promised. To that end, we find Crimewave talking into a video camera about how he’s gonna kill Spider-Man as Spidey is lowered into frame in chains. But, he says, first he’ll unmask him.
That’s fun. Another 2-page spread as the boys start taking out goons. Spidey chases down Crimewave, but he’s rigged up the various arts of this factory as traps, and both Spider-Man and Sleepwalker run afoul of them, allowing Crimewave to escape. Spider-Man finds the money from the heist and calls the cops, and then the heroes head back to Manhattan, Sleepy saying he holds a note that will lead them to Crimewave. But, unfortunately, the sun’s up now, and Rick wakes up. Sleepwalker vanishes, and Spider-Man is left alone with no idea what to do. So…
Speaking of Kirby, the Spidey up top, to me, seems like a deliberate reference to this somewhat famous Kirby Spider-Man sketch…
…which serves as more evidence that The King just didn’t get Spider-Man. Rick tries his best to go to sleep, but he’s not very tired, leading to Spider-Man hanging outside his place for hours until Sleepwalker finally comes out the window. Spidey’s pretty mad, but also in too big a hurry to let Sleepy explain. And then we see Crimewave’s… extremely unorthodox plan…
I mean, this is weird. Also, coulda used Roderick Kingsley if they were slick.
The one calling another one “Cindy” seems pretty intentionally based on Cindy Crawford. It’s 1991, after all. Sleepwalker rips open the roof before Cindy can get any money, and then, rather improbably, Crimewave activates the van’s defenses, which makes a bunch of Doc Ock tentacles and machine guns emerge from the sides. The heroes dive into the van after fighting some tentacles, only to find Crimewave and his boys have gotten out, and he’s gonna blow up the van for his camera to kill Spider-Man like be promised, models and Sleepwalker included.
Oh no, what happened to Rick? No idea, this is the last issue of the series I bought. Looks like Brett hung in there til #17 and the book made it to 33. Lots of guest stars, tie-ins to both Infinity Gauntlet and Infinity War, seems like they tried a lot to keep it afloat, but it’s pretty weird. Sleepy teamed with Deathlok, Ghost Rider, Darkhawk, Mr. Fantastic and Spider-Man again. He fought Nightmare, that seems like a gimme. Gotta give it to ‘em for trying out such an unusual hero concept. One more oddity before we get back to regular programming… one I’m kind of excited about.