So, wait, is the DK thing not over? What’s going on? Whatever, look, cover credits! DC had been doing this for years before Marvel finally got on board. Cover credits are cool for the creators and also just good business. The business hung onto the patently false notion that it’s all about the character, that it says “Spider-Man” on it and people will buy it regardless of who made it, for a long, long time, but despite various artists becoming literal millionaires off their popularity in the late 80s/early 90s, Marvel still clung to the idea that personnel was less important longer than DC. Probably to wield as a cudgel against said personnel when they were negotiating rates. Comics is a gross business. But, anyway, that’s not the only change this month, as that one cover blurb states. This is also the beginning of a short-lived feature I really liked that they called “Your guide to The Marvel Universe.”
Each issue had this gatefold cover that gave you a bio of the main character, a cast for the issue, and a “previously in…” summary. Getting into comics had never been easier. And it wasn’t just helpful for new readers, it also made it easier for old timers to just try out a series they hadn’t been following, or to remember where a book was 30 days after last issue. It was just a cool idea. It was also no doubt more expensive to have the gatefold in every issue, and was implemented right after the company filed for bankruptcy, and obviously, it didn’t last long. And before the gatefold went away, its panels started to be just extra ads instead of useful info. And then, in the early 2000s, coming out of bankruptcy and refocusing on story over gimmicks, Marvel started having a text page in the front of almost every comic serving more or less the same function in a more efficient way, which continues today. Some ideas just have to find their moment. Anyway! This issue features fill-in penciler Jason Armstrong and inker Ron Boyd. Armstrong is a guy who’s popped up in a variety of places in comics over the years, but here, he’s doing a pretty solid Ringo impression. I guess editorial REALLY wanted visual consistency having all these people ape the main penciler. Kind of unusual. This issue opens with a pretty funny little bit of business…
Having Ringo bow out of the issue in-story is fun. We’re obviously saying the DK backups took place before the recent main stories. Speaking of which, a dazed Spider-Man is trying to get his head back together and recapping last issue as Vulture recaps his own deal and whacks our hero across the room.
Again, pretty serviceable Mike Weiringo impression. I suppose you could explain away the idea that Vulture feels he will will be free of his past by killing a Prowler he knows full well isn’t the one who defeated him previously by saying “He’s crrrraaaazzzzyy!” but that doesn’t really do it for me, personally. Anyway, Spidey swings fake Prowler to a hospital at top speed, and manages to save his life. But as he hears Lawson will live, we see the cops are there, know his deal and are gonna arrest him when they’re able. So he heads to tell Hobie the good news, and also that his detective work was the key to fixing things. He’s about to take off when Mindy asks if Hobie is going to tell Spider-Man.
Sorted that. But wait, there’s some good stuff on the next page…
I wonder what’s gonna happen to MJ’s college ambitions. Or Peter’s, for that matter. I know they don’t finish college (again) (Spoilers?), but I don’t remember why or when they quit. Aunt Anna wanted to talk to them because they have weird new neighbors, including a little girl who stands in the backyard silently staring for hours sometimes. No idea where that’s going. Meanwhile, Vulture goes home and complains that Spider-Man always beat him because he was old, but now he’s young, so he won’t lose anymore, even tho he’s been losing every fight as a young man. He also says killing Spider-Man will get rid of the last person who knew him as an old man, as if his entire plot these last few issues wasn’t about killing Prowler for the same reason, which he knows he failed to do. Messy, messy bit, this is.
Despite the big change in the 80s of making Robbie E-i-C and Jonah Publisher, everyone seems to have reverted to JJJ being the one making all the decisions despite keeping those titles in place. JJJ not having final say on anything was, like, a major plot point for awhile. Ah, well. That’s comics, I guess. Or it was. At the scene of the DK incident, young Billy says “This is so PHAT!” among other cringe-inducing things. While I appreciate DeZago largely taking these anachronisms out of Spider-Man’s dialogue, still have to see them, apparently. Billy wonders if Spider-Man will show, and Peter says he thinks it’s unlikely. He even says he’ll bet they won’t see Spider-Man, and holds firm when Billy bets $5. Guess Pete’s keen to lose $5… Seemingly learning from last issue, Billy says he’ll get the story from here, allowing Peter to go do his thing. Which is immediately changing to Spider-Man as Billy gets his first look at DK’s raging, dripping form. Spidey is soon on the scene, trying to be delicate with David, but…
And DK just collapse into a puddle ad he thanks Spider-Man for trying to help him. But our guy has no time to think about that, because his Spider Sense warns him as The Vulture divebombs him from above. Spidey deflects his attack and sends The Vulture crashing to the ground right where David just became a puddle, and guess what, tendrils of purple goo reach up and start wrapping around Vultch over Spider-Man’s protests.
Well, that solves that. Did Peter give up that $5 to try to protect his identity? Billy doesn’t seem like the type to put 2 and 2 together. Plus, DK was demanding Spider-Man show up, so it’s not as suspicious as it could have been. And that’s the end. Except… the next 2 pages are a “prologue.” Like all prologues, it’s at the end of a book…?
Not really a prologue! But definitely something happening in SSM 19. Be awhile before we see that, tho.