Sometimes it feels like, anytime something important is going to happen, there’s first a deluge of random filler. In this case, Howard Mackie was a mere 6 months away from being removed from ASM at the end of our last block, and yet we’ve only managed to see 1 more of his issues in the last 18 posts. And here’s yet another random miniseries! And it’s not the last one in this block, even! Marvel was really pumping out the product again all of a sudden. Another Spider-Man/Daredevil team-up, even! Would you believe 2 issues each of this and SM/DD were released at the same time? Good grief. As you can see on the cover, it’s a Tom DeFalco joint, so that doesn’t inspire much confidence. Also along for the ride is the great Lee Weeks, the greater Bob McLeod, and Steve Oliff, who is perfectly fine. Weeks/McLeod should be an interesting pairing. As usual, I’ve owned this since it came out and don’t remember a thing about it.
Oooooh, right! This is the book where DeFalco tries to clean up DeMatteis’ absurd Mad Jack nonsense while also trying to clean up the recent Mysterio mess. This is what some people call “comics about comics,” books who seem to mostly exist to address continuity issues. We being with Randy waking up Peter, as he requested, so he can get out there and try to scare up some new photos. Soon, Spider-Man is swinging above the streets. DeFalco is trying to do Serious Grownup Captions because that’s becoming an in-demand thing, mostly about Peter being sad his wife died. Then we go find Matt Murdock losing a court case, but not sweating it because his client is guilty, and then Daredevil is swinging above the streets, being similarly maudlin about his own dead true love. Suddenly:
Weeks is now several years removed from a distinguished run on DD, and has become one of the great Daredevil artists in the minds of many people, myself included. But I gotta say, those billy clubs sure are tiny. Fun sequence, tho. Meanwhile, JJJ is heading home from the Bugle for the night when he’s accosted by Mad Jack. Written extremely out of character, surprise surprise. He hallucinated a giant jack o’lantern eating him and blacks out.
Why is this book on better paper than the main titles? That is so backwards.
“I was present when he committed suicide a few months ago.” “Yeah, man, we talked about it for like ⅔ of DD#8, remember?” Spidey then recaps his run-in with a Mysterio soon after that in ASM 7 & 8, not bothering to mention their many subsequent battles, then remembers the old friend writing a book about Beck from the Webspinners story, and they decide to pay her a visit. Continuity, and nothin’ but.
No more trying to seem mysterious and scary, no more intimations of an Irish accent. Why even do this if you’re not gonna write him properly? We go see Betty, Beck’s old friend, who apparently hooked up with “Some Guy Named Joe” in the 2 issues of that Webspinners story I happily skipped, and she’s trying to market action figures of Mysterio dressed as various superheroes. What? That’s so stupid.
I mean who would buy these toys? We know they make normal toys of the superheroes in the Marvel U. So stupid.
Meanwhile, Spider-Man and Daredevil are attacked by a bunch of mechanical birds and bats, an illusion DD “sees” right through. The a bomb goes off, delivering some kind of mist all over them. And you know how Mysterio’s mists tend to work…
“We must be hallucinating! But I’m gonna believe it even though I know that, don’t you worry!” I hate Mysterio stories. Well, come back next time for more of… this. At least the art is nice!