Tuesday, September 19, 2017

All REET!


Well, we couldn't leave that "mistaken secret identity" plot thread just dangling, could we?


Considering he's basically got the powerset of Sinestro, I'm not sure why Lightmaster doesn't click.  But he doesn't.

But we've gone this far, so let's check in on his henchmen:


So, Ox doesn't want to answer any more questions.


He could have just asked for an attorney, but I suppose this works as well.


Okay, so we have a room filled with knockout gas.  Why is this important?


Because apparently Stark came up with a formula for gas that won't go through a large open area into an adjoining room.  Never underestimate the technology of Stark Industries.

But just in case we forget the real issue:



Well, he may be a being of pure, unstable energy, but there's nothing wrong with his mouth, am I right?  I'm not sure who he's talking to, but he do love him some recapping!


Oh, man.  It's art major Holly Gillis.  I thought we were through with her.


We can meet for coffee and talk about what an artist I am, even though I haven't been shown actually creating anything in the last several issues.


Thank you, Lightmaster, for interrupting that scene.


Whoops!  Losing those amulets is a problem. Considering they are directly tied into Hector's health, you'd think he might protect them by at least wearing them under his shirt.

Anyway...



Ah... Holly is playing games.  Gee, I've never seen a girl who played games with a fella's emotions before.  Only in comics, right?


Yup! Peter had not only seen them on the Sons of the Tiger back in Marvel Team-Up, but he had run into the White Tiger a couple of times... who again, wears the source of his power and his very life on a strand flopping around his neck.


This is actually a pretty good twist.  Let's watch it happen:





Don't make promises you aren't gonna keep, Holly.

So, Lightmaster has pulled off a rarity: Exposing a hero's secret identity to the world.  He's in the big leagues now, right?






Nope. He was taken out by nothing more than a power outage. Spidey and the Tiger didn't need to do a thing.  That's not quite as bad as dying off-panel, but still...  Ouch!

See you soon!

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Lightmaster Should Probably Just Change His Name to "Mysterious Mastermind" at This Point. I Mean, It's Been Twice.



Hey!  It's time for a mystery villain!


Spoiler: It's Lightmaster again.  Yeah, the same "mysterious mastermind" we met at the start of the series.  I guess any time someone seems to be working behind the scenes, Spidey should see if Lightmaster has an alibi.  It would probably save a lot of time.

Here's the title:


Read it with a Brooklyn accent: "AGAIN with the Enforcers!  Oy!"


Well, we thought he was at the time, having died more than once (it's complicated) here:


MUCH later, we would learn that the Ox survived because death is rarely fatal in comics except for Ted Kord which still annoys me.



This is the Ox's brother, although we aren't told that this issue.  I guess the powers that be decided readers were only paying thirty-five cents here, so they didn't have to cover all their bases.


Sooooo... Lightmaster is recruiting the enforcers to do his dirty work and he plans on betraying them once they've served their purpose?  Like he did with Kraven and Vanilla Chicken?

Now, in defense of the story, the Enforcers aren't a particularly bright group of people.  This was also before cell phones, much less an internet or a Yelp, so the Enforcers would be clueless of this unless they called Kraven or Vanilla Chicken to check out Lightmaster's references.

Oh, man... look who's back:


Still stewing over the Frisbee incident?  You know, it's not like she threw a buzz saw blade at them.


Okay, we now see that Holly's "this is one art major" is her thing.  A) It's a way of speaking of herself in the third person and B) it's a way of letting you know she's better than the rest of us because she's an artist and don't you forget it.

Wow.  Who came up with her?  She's more annoying than Ambush Bug.

So, anyway, they're at the Coffee Bean and the Enforcers take everyone hostage to lure Spidey there, giving us an excuse for a great full-page panel:


And then Holly starts her stuff again:




YAY!  She's gone!  Yes!  I hope she caught some friendly fire from the police surrounding the building.

And then this happens:





I think Spidey is at his best when his dialogue sounds like it came out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon like that, don't you?

PLOT TWIST!:


Um... Holly was also in the diner during the battle.  Clearly.  You could ask her about it instead of casually murdering the wrong guy.  I'm just thinking out loud here.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Spider-Man! Angel! Iceman! Assault with a Frisbee!


Howdy, my people!  Let's get back to PPTSSM:


You know, I was originally opposed to having the Angel retooled later as Archangel, but I'm starting to see that his role has been primarily to get his clock cleaned so someone with a more aggressive powerset can get the job done.  I've always like the character, but he ain't exactly Hawkman.

Anyway, here's some exposition:


Do you think the Angel hit his head on that ceiling a bunch of times like a bird would?  I'll be he did and it was just too hard to draw.


Okay, let's take note of what Angel said there: No sudden smacks because it might "totally unbalance" Iceman, whatever that means.  I don't think Angel picked up his M.D. in psychiatry at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, so I'm not sure why Spider-Man acquiesces that point.

Moving right along:


Oh, so Angel is also there to shout "look out!"  That's fair.  In addition to getting his clock cleaned, he shouted a lot from his vantage points, so I guess that's something.

But let's see if he can fight:




Nope.  No, he cannot fight for diddly.  To be fair, I think that hitting a guy covered in ice would be pretty difficult if you weren't at a higher power level.

Meanwhile:





Well, that was a pretty good sequence.  I mean, Spider-Man is all about saving folks.  But I'm thinking that was just to get him out of the way to pad the story.

I give you Exhibit "A":








See?  Boom.  Spider-Man shows up and the whole thing is over in less than 10 panels and that included rescuing the Angel.


And for no real reason, Iceman is totally fine now.  It's the"She falls down a well, her eyes go cross. She gets kicked by a mule. They go back. I don't know," method.

Because SCIENCE! (tm!)

And Angel deals with some middle-aged lawyers because that's really about his level:

  

Um... wait... they conspired to destroy the Champions building?  Why is this?  Who was behind it?

Eh, no one cares.  We never found out.

And then this happened: 


Okay, first: Doesn't it sound weird that Holly describes herself as an art major to her friends?  She must be really insecure about her talent.

And are people seriously over-reacting about the damage that getting hit by a frisbee is going to actually do?


Seriously... it's a plastic disc.  I'm not saying it would feel like a scalp massage or anything, but they're acting like they were almost hit with something out of God of War.

Comics... I do love ye.

See you soon!