Oh goody, Mysterio. Cover price: $3.95 in 1993 dollars. Your McKay’s price: 90 cents. An indication of quality, I’m sure. This month’s main feature is inked by Scott Hanna, Al Milgrom and Keith Williams. How do you run up against your deadline on a book that comes out 4 times a year? I guess that’s not fair, Lim is drawing Silver Surfer or Captain America or X-Men 2099 or like all 3 right now, in addition to this, I’m not sure what the timeline is. On page 1, Spider-Man leaps down onto some surprised hoods.
That Spidey quip made no sense at all. Love that that guy’s name is Snake. If it seems absurd that this would happen to Spider-Man, well, it apparently didn’t, because the guy revealed as Spider-Man in the next day’s Bugle isn’t Peter Parker. Peter sure is surprised by the story, though, and wants to be there when Spidey gives a press conference later that day. But JJJ says it’s Bannon’s story, so…
As promised, The Spider-Van. Makes more sense than the dune buggy from the 70s.
Is this guy’s press conference in the middle of the street?
I mostly included this page for that cool Spider-Man, but also, duh, it’s Mysterio. His wand destroys Spider-Man’s tracer right as he’s approaching the van (No trouble telling what car to follow), which causes Spider-Man a shooting pain in the head that almost makes him fall to his demise. That’s never happened before or sense when someone destroyed his tracer, but whatever, I guess. He’s only delayed for a moment, but that gives the Spider-Van enough time todrive into a garage, cover itself in Mysterio Fog, transform into a regular van, and drive back out. Sure, man. Why not. Mysterio built a transforming van as part of this act. We quickly learn “Phil” has signed a bunch of merchandising deals, and find him in a warehouse full of Spider-Man stuff, marveling at how much money there is in licensing, and saying the only way Spider-Man could disrupt their scam is to reveal his own identity. Uh… I think being in the same place as you and doing Spider-Man things might also work, buddy. Soon, he’s giving another speech, and JJJ appears in the crowd, demanding evidence that Spider-Man’s new charity will go to a good cause. Having him there is a really good touch. Especially when…
Coulda handled that better. Our hero vents his frustrations on a nearby rooftop, and soon, Phil’s cackling about how great this is while Mysterio, STILL hidden in shadow but shown with a perfectly round head in a comic with him on the cover, says not to underestimate Spider-Man. Later, at The Bugle, Ben Urich tells Peter if that’s the real Spider-Man, then he’s Daredevil. Peter agrees, but they haven’t got anything. Ben says he can’t find any background on this “Phil,” and even the hoods he busted in the beginning have all vanished since they were let out on bail. Ben says the only person who seems to know anything is Lance Bannon, but he’s not telling. In short order, “Snake” leads Lance to another crime before it happens, saying he always knows these things via a “trade secret,” and again, Spider-Man appears, in his van, to stop the robbery. He shoots webs out of his van to catch the guys. But the real Spider-Man followed Lance to the scene…
Well, now we settle into some Traditional Mysterio Violence, as all the Spider-Man products in their hideout turn out to be killer robots. Pretty standard! Our hero finds himself fighting a giant bobble head of himse and.. Just a big robot spider… kind of off brand, there, Mystie. But Spider-Man quickly comes up with a solution.
As Mysterio stories go, pretty entertaining. Way better than Spider-Man believing the ghosts of people who aren’t even dead are attacking him or a tiger is walking on a wall or whatever. But this comic’s not over, and our next adventure is courtesy of Kurt Busiek, Kevin West, Jimmy Palmiotti and John Kalisz. It finds Spider-Man escorting an unmarked police van transporting a felon who’s sure they’ll be killed in transit. And then someone shoots the van with a rocket launcher.
The guys in the van are somehow ok, and Spidey flashes back to let us know why this is happening. The con in the van is Bloodshed, last seen in Web 81, where he owed the Bazin mob a million dollars. And he still does, and they’ve been trying to assassinate him in prison. The feds were trying to get him to testify and enlisted his little brother, also from Web 81, to talk him into it.
Inside the room… somewhat absurdly… Bloodshed’s armor has been left with a note saying if he wants to settle this, “be where Paulie lives these days.” Room service is delivered, and while Spidey and a fed check it for poison, Wyndell sneaks his suit into the bathroom and escapes by smashing through the wall. With Wyndell running off to get himself killed, Spider-Man bids adieu to the feds and takes this case his way… but first…
(Also it’s raining) Fair point about the Bugle, MJ, but this is ridiculous.
Ridiculous! Spider-Man manages to arrive at the scene before Bloody, busting in on the villains and telling them no one’s dying tonight. Then Bloodshe comes running in.
Spidey and Bloodshed fight for awhile, which turns out to be just what Nico wants, and he blows up the building with them still in it. Spider-Man tries to lead Bloodshed out of the collapse, but they get separated, and with a whole building coming down on them, Spidey can’t really go back and look for Bloody. So the building collapses, and a guilt-ridden Spider-Man starts digging through the debris.
I am shocked to see that Bloodshed appears in 5 more comics. I don’t own any of them, tho. Well, there’s still room for more comic in this comic, and the 3rd story is by Carl Potts, Dan Norton, Keith Williams and Chia-Chi-Wang, and it has a funny title:
I think the title is going to be the best part. Big Guy won’t tell Spider-Man who he is or where Rhino went, so they fight a bit, but Spidey gets slammed into the ground and Guy is able to walk outside and spot Rhino, like Spidey should have, and by the time our hero’s on his feet, the 2 big guys are fighting.
I’ve seen some rushed endings, but wow. Wow. Well, I guess that ended positively. And that’s the comic.