The hits just keep on comin’. From the people who brought you The Spectacular Spider-Kid and Manslaughter (Mountain) Marsdale (Marko) comes… Slyde. This issue comes courtesy of a fill-in art team that’s it’s most interesting feature by far: Sal Buscema penciling and Kyle Baker on finishes. Kyle Baker is an excellent cartoonist who did a lot of inking in this period, and he really brought his own interests to an inking job. Put him together with Sal, who’s work really lives or dies based on who’s inking it, and you get something pretty striking.
Is this character really lame? Yes. Is that a great splash? Also yes.
So that’s Slyde’s deal. He slides. And if you’re maybe thinking that DeFalco’s sudden overuse of the word “dude” might be his way of indicating he’s black under that mask, you got it in one. While Slyde has fun robbing people, Spider-Man is making like Daredevil and roughing up dudes in a pool hall, looking for information about who beat up Nathan. But the goons know nothing, and the owner comes after him with a pool cue, and he realizes this isn’t getting him anywhere. He is yet again shown to be bad at the whole detective thing. He swings away, recapping last issue as he lands on a nearby rooftop and punches a chimney to bits out of frustration. A guy pops up from a nearby skylight and (Rightly, in this instance) says The Bugle is right about Spider-Man being a menace.
I mean, Sal is almost lost in these pages. Almost. There’s no mistaking his posing, but Baker’s just going to town. Also: Rappin’ Rodney! All that web lands on passers-by, who add to the rapidly growing number of New Yorkers who hate Spider-Man today. Spidey tries to leap and grab Slyde, but he slides on past him at great speed, making Spider-Man fall into a produce truck. Slyde escapes, The guy who owns the truck yells about suing, and a random ridiculous outfit in a store window makes Spider-Man think of The Beyonder, as he seems to do all the time during Secret Wars II.
We learn via flashback that Jalome invented a new, even-more-non-stick coating that what most frying pans are made of (Ok), but then his company got bought out by a cartoonishly evil man, who allegedly ruined everything and then fired him. Wanting to strike out on his own with his “miracle coating, but denied a bank loan, he has turned to crime. He plans to put his former employer out of business and get rich. That’s the whole bit. His supername shoulda been Teflon Don.
Rough. Meanwhile, Slyde breaks into his former workplace, busts up the joint and then steals a briefcase full of important papers out of his old boss’s hand on the way out. I don’t much care about that, I care about this:
Aw, May, come on. We literally just did this. Slyde calls the old boss and demands $25,000 for the papers back. The boss tells his goon to go hire more goons for the meet. Spider-Man is rousting still more guys in alleys looking for info on Nathan when he finds out about it. Yadda yadda. Later, as Slyde and the boss guy, Rockwall, make their deal, Spider-Man is stealthily taking out various hoods who were supposed to kill Slyde.
Spidey is internally fuming as Slyde is hailed as a hero, but Slyde never intended to give the money back and slides on outta there. Spidey starts to give chase and then decides he’s had it. “I’m tired of putting myself on the line for everyone else! From now on, number one comes first — and the rest of the world can go hang!” Yes, we’ve gotten to yet another “Spidey cops out” moment. And unfortunately, this one lasts awhile. But wait, this issue isn’t over yet:
Yes, it turns out the guy whose powers include “can smell things” and “not nearly as strong as Spider-Man” is supposed to stop a literal god. I’m sure that’ll go well, right? But according to that reading order from last issue, we’re gonna check in with no less than 4 issues of Web first.