Ok, now we can get on with normal business. Sort of. Not much normal about these 2 months of comics. Each issue this month had 2 covers, one of Spider-Man, one of his new alter ego in each series in the same general pose & composition. The ones with the new hero were labeled #1 and everything, really leaning into the gag. This is actually Sensational 27.
It’s also somehow the only one of the 4 I didn’t buy new, and thus the only one of the 4 I have the alternate cover for because that’s all I could get. Both versions have the opposite cover inside, on cover paper stock, 2 covers per issue. Very weird! We’re back with Tod DeZago & Mike Weiringo, now sharing a plotting credit, inker Richard Case and colorist Gregory Wright. And they start out really going in… a direction…
This take on Looter is, at least, entertaining.
And there he is, kind of blowing his cover from jump. We flash back to Spider-Man’s visit to Hobie Brown in issue 26, recapping how he basically can’t go outside as Spider-Man anymore, and then asking Hobie if he could maybe help him become someone else. Hobie shows him a jetpack he’s been working on, but talks about how it’s way too heavy for anyone to wear before remembering how strong Spidey is. Meanwhile, Spidey’s seen an old newspaper headline in Hobie’s workshop about Swarm, presumably from Sensation 9 & 10, and has an idea. Spidey tries out the pack and is very eager to try to use it for heroing.
That ridiculous segue takes us to Looter seeing Osborn announce the bounty for Spider-Man on TV and deciding to steal it, and then a caption saying that’s not what they meant to flash back to. Really just going for it, they are.
It’s a joy to watch Ringo refining his style and becoming the all-timer he was meant to be. The honking turns out to be geese, who crash into the couple and leave some feathers in the intake of the backpack, so they begin to plummet. Then there’s an add for the Adjectiveless part of this event. I forgot that they did all these adds saying “If Spider-Man is really [one of the 4 heroes], then who is [one of the other ones]?” You can’t deny they were having a great time with this. Peter has MJ take his gauntlet off, revealing his webshooter underneath, which he uses to save them. MJ is not pleased, but Peter remembers he’s late to meet quasi-partner Billy Walters. Billy is annoyed that his new friend who’s never on time for anything seems to have ghosted him, and then a big shadows passes over him. It’s The Vulture, who I just can’t seem to get away from in these last blocks of the Vol. 1 era. He is, of course, searching for Spider-Man to get revenge for his lost youth. This finally concludes the flashback, so we’re back to Hornet and Looter’s standoff. He tricks Looter by telling him his fake gun is on the wrong setting, getting him to look at it a for a sec, which is all Hornet needs to close the distance and hit him in the face.
Flash walks Hornet out to a gathering mob of press, announcing who he is and how he saved the day. Osborn is on hand to offer his own thanks, and to quietly say there was never actually $5 million in a briefcase on the premises.
Mike Weiringo was from Charlotte.
It’s gonna be flying guy vs. flying guy next issue! This issue features a letter from comics writer B. Clay Moore. It’s so rare to see a pro or future pro’s name in the letters after the 60s, and I find that strange considering there were so many in the 60s. I guess they’re getting a lot more mail after that. Maybe all the future pros just weren’t getting printed. You might think, given that this stunt is 2 months long and each title starts a different alter ego, that you’d wind up with 4 clean 2-parters. And wouldn’t that be nice? Instead, the books more or less happen in order, each title leaving a gap for the others to take place before its second issue… But SOMEbody had to mess that up. And if you looked at the 4 current writers and had to guess which one insisted on making his story too long, I bet you could figure it out pretty easily.