Acts of Vengeance tie-in, whooooooo! This is the issue where Spider-Man breaks his own logo on the cover by punching the Hulk into, though I'm kind of fixated on how they colored Hulk's tongue green, while the rest of him's grey.
Anyway, Joe Fixit's trying to get some peace and quiet in the Nevada desert to mope about current circumstances, Banner being in control during the day. He's interrupted by Sebastian Shaw, while wondering if he's got to go to the Moon for a little privacy. Some mysterious group promised to take revenge on the Hellfire Club Inner Circle (including Magneto) if Shaw destroys Spider-Man. Spidey's suddenly a lot stronger so, get somebody really strong to fight him. The Hulk's game, for a price.
Back in NYC, the Statue of Liberty's been seized by terrorists with hostages. Spidey - who flew out there - is crouched on the torch, dwelling on his new powers and if they're too dangerous to use (he almost killed Erik Josten in the most recent issue of Web of Spider-Man), but figures he might as well deal with this. The terrorists are easily corralled, and he's able to alter his webbing's molecular structure to make it adamantium and encase the bomb.
Day saved, he and Mary Jane are off to a double date with Flash and his latest girl, who is a total Karen. Keeps having her steaks sent back as undercooked or overcooked, complains the waiter will hassle her for smoking - in the "No Smoking" section. Fortunately, MJ has to get to a location shoot for her soap opera before dawn and Peter's tagging along, so early bedtime spares us any more of Amber's charm.
While Peter's hanging around the shoot, he senses trouble. Hulk drops from a helicopter and decides to create a disturbance by chucking a Red Cross truck at a building. Look, I know the Red Cross is irritating with how much they hound people for blood, but that's uncalled for. Spidey catches it with webbing, and Hulk, while admitting that's a nice trick, says he's here to fight Spider-Man for money.
Sick of being attacked by random dickheads, Spidey tackles the Hulk and knocks him down an alley, to Hulk's surprise. Before the fight can continue, Hulk remembers he crossed a bunch of time zones and is about to change into Banner. He wrecks an ambulance - Hulk smash insufficient American health industry! - and bails, telling Spider-Man to meet him on Roosevelt Island tomorrow. The medics are OK but their ride's trashed, leaving Spidey to fly the patient to the hospital.
A confused Bruce Banner wakes up in an alley and manages to bum a quarter to call in sick, though he thinks a cop's eyeing him for panhandling. It's probably the fact you're walking around in torn pants, no shirt and no shoes, genius. Weirdly, the Hulk has a shirt (part of one) in both fights with Spider-Man, but Banner doesn't. Forget the incredibly stretchy pants, I need to know where these shirts are coming from!
That night, Round 2. Roosevelt Island's a deserted spot, which is why Spidey showed, figuring it was better than having Hulk come looking for him. The fight's inconclusive early on; Hulk can't hit Spider-Man, but even with the emergence of eye beam powers, Spider-Man's not doing much more than irritating Joe Fixit. But two kids, Stan and Steve, snuck out to the ruins to smoke, and Steve's not going to stand for anyone trashing Spidey! Hulk hefts a girder, just intending to scare them, but telepathy isn't one of Spidey's new powers - or he has no reason to give Hulk benefit of the doubt - so he punches him into orbit.
Literally. It's not the Moon, but plenty of privacy. Until the Sun rises, Hulk reverts to Banner and goes 'ker-pop!' Fortunately, Spider-Man flies up and brings him back to the surface, though Hulk of course insists he had everything under control. Still, as a favor, he won't kill Spider-Man. Spidey doesn't respond, wondering if he can even die. Later, commiserating with MJ, Peter wishes the power would just go away, while Shaw puts a very confused Banner on a helicopter and makes other plans.
Reading through this, I never realized what odd postures McFarlane gives Spidey. I knew about the hips that can seemingly dislocate at will when he's webswinging. But even when standing, Todd Mac gives Spider-Man these odd, hip-cocked stances, or he's webbing up the terrorists while standing on spread legs and bent at the waist. Strange, but maybe in keeping with Ditko's approach?
{1st longbox, 75th comic, Amazing Spider-Man #328, by David Michelinie (writer), Todd McFarlane (artist), Bob Sharen (colorist), Rick Parker (letterer)}
No comments:
Post a Comment