Big finish for the Electro portion of our show. I think?
Alrighty. I think Electro has lost the plot. Don’t get high on your own supply. Meanwhile, firefighters dig Spider-Man out of the wreckage of the Thinker’s hideout. They question him about the blaze, but then a call comes in saying to let that place burn out and get to The DB!. Hearing it, Spider-Man gets moving.
Inside, Electro is zapping around, monologuing, blowing up light fixtures. He finally corners Bennett, who is indignant that giving a deranged career criminal blackmail money didn’t solve all his problems, when Spider-Man smashes through the window. They do us the solid of showing his Spider Sense going off to explain how he knew which one.
This is basically “Instantly Dated References: The Comic” for the last 3 issues. Indignant at the sight of his precious Daily Bugle getting zapped, JJJ grabs a flashlight off a cop and charges inside over his protests. That’s helping. Inside, the battle and quipping rage on. Spidey is slowly tricking Electro into draining his battery, but he’s still more powerful than he’s ever been, and when he connects, it’s bad news.
Spidey and JJJ run for it, and the building begins to come down around them.
Why… is he the most hated man in the city? He did what he said. He destroyed the DB(!) and crippled Bennett. Did the peoples’ inexplicable bloodlust not hold up to the real world? The Bugle was all-but demolished back in Spider-Man #98 and things were fine. But that was stupid, I think we’re too indebted to realism for it to just come back now. Pretty lame! I realize the newspaper biz is a harder and harder sell as we move forward, but that’s just burning down Aunt May’s house all over again. Nothing is gained, something is very much lost. Well, at least Sasha Kravinoff finally wandered into this story she’s allegedly orchestrating. This bit had a pretty tenuous connection to “random new villain makes our hero fight all his classic foes.” Also known as Batman: Knightfall. But, what do I know? Maybe it’s fine.