TAC 070

What’d I say? Dying would’ve made way more sense than becoming a cyborg! These two issues come to us via The Great Ebay Hysteria of 2018, and this one in particular came in a batch that all had super weird, too-tall comic bags. So the little flap you fold over and tape on the back is in fact the entire bag, and then it’s pretty well sealed shut and you have to work way too hard to open it, kinda like trying to open a produce bag at the grocery store. Never seen this before, but I got several of them in my house now. This issue picks up the moment last issue ends, with Silverman’s goons machine gunning the door to his room so they can get back in, and Spidey left dodging the bullets by himself by the escaping Cloak & Dagger. As Spidey engages the mob, one of them just runs to Silvermane’s bed, saying there’s still time for him to “be reborn” and lowering a screen over the bed. Last issue, I mentioned Hannigan channeling Steve Ditko, and I mean, look at this fight scene…

There’s no question. Spidey’s finally had enough, grabs his camera and swings away in a hail of gunfire. Silvermane is now encased in what looks like a Jack Kirby-designed robocoffin, which gets hauled into an ambulance and sped away just as the cops show up. They were tipped off by Kingpin, hoping to cause trouble for some or all of the evening’s combatants. Spidey gets home and thinks he needs to develop his film and then study for his exams, but instead just passes out. Elsewhere, the general vibe of Cloak controlling Dagger’s life continues…

But they’ve been having this chat on a roof above an alley in which a drug deal is going down, and you know how they feel about drugs, so they table the discussion to go do some punishin’. The next day, Peter delivers his photos to the Bugle, then catches a bus to ESU, while elsewhere, things are getting super-weird…

They say they’ve transplanted “his brain and most of his vital organs” into this body (HOW), and they’ll put him in a normal body again as soon as they find a “donor” (HOOOOOW), but Silvermane has no interest in going back. He starts hefting big machinery and throwing it around, and declares that he is now “Silvermane The Unstoppable.” I mean, whatever, it’s superhero comics, but they don’t even tell you where this happened or who did it. Some regular schlub of a doctor did a full organ transplant in to a robot??? I need more details to suspend disbelief sometimes. Silvermane just smashes through the wall and runs off to find Cloak & Dagger, while his doctor says his old organs are still gonna fail if he’s off running around (Why keep them, then? You can put his brain in a robot but you somehow still need his kidneys at this point?). But we’ll have to think about that later, we’re off to ESU, where Peter is being reprimanded by Dr. Sloan again, and Deb still wants to talk to him.

Poor Deb Whitman. Meanwhile, in the subway somewhere, three goons are talking about tonight’s drug shipment when crazy-ass robo-Silvermane comes stomping down the stairs, insane. He knows these guys ratted him out to Cloak & Dagger last issue, and he wants revenge.

As Spidey and Silvermane battle in, on and around a subway train, the 3 goons run into Cloak & Dagger, the latter of whom calls one of them “Rat-Dirt” for the 2nd time in as many issues, and I… man, is that his “street name?” RAT-DIRT? Or is that her idea of an insult? Because either way, who talks like this? Then the train speeds toward them, and Cloak pulls the whole thing into his, ah, cloak. And then spits them right back out? Good plan. Silvermane rips his way out of the train car to go get them, while Spidey stops the out of control train before jumping back in himself. Silvermane’s inexplicably managed to get a grip on Cloak and beat him up, so Spidey webs Silvermane’s eyes and gets Cloak to safety, while Dagger does her thing. Silvermane initially thinks it didn’t affect him, but…