BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #188

David Steckel wasn’t the only new person I met during those weeks in the Sachem Gifted Program that I went to every Friday. I also made the acquaintance of Frank Torres, who was similarly a comic book reader. While I was never quite exactly as tight with him as i was with Steck, he remained a fixture in my circle of comic book friends for several years. He went to a different elementary school than either David or myself, and he lived a bit of a distance away from us, which is part of why we didn’t hang out more often. He wound up becoming a police officer later in life and I still hear from him from time to time on social media. He’s still paying some attention to the comic book scene, though I think he’s one of the many who wandered away from it at some point and then checked back in later in life, probably as all of those comic book movies started to get released. We talked comics a bunch, but I don’t recall any instances where we swapped issues or anything.

I would have bought this issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN at my regular 7-11 hookup the week following my first Gifted class. It was written by Marv Wolfman with breakdowns by Keith Pollard. The title had been running behind of late, so it’s no real surprise to see Pollard switching over to doing just breakdowns here. What is more unfortunate is that the finisher was Mike Esposito, and he really wasn’t quite up to the job. The finished pages look too open, too empty, forcing the coloring to do a lot of the lift here. It’s fine, it’s a full issue’s worth of work, but that’s about the best I can say for it. I was liking Pollard’s work on the title, mostly for how he was evoking (or swiping) Steve Ditko’s Spider-Man in his figures. In that regard, this cover is another take on the one Ditko did for AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #28, though executed here by Dave Cockrum and Terry Austin. The conceit of rendering Spider-Man as a reversed-out figure in the blackness remains a very cool idea.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN worked best when it was a soap opera, and that’s exactly how Marv steered it. There’s no sign of the wall-crawler at all in the first half, which is dedicated to Peter Parker and his supporting cast as well as the villains of this and a future installment. The story opens showing a team of masked goons abducting John Jameson from the hospital during the blackout Electro created last issue. John is there hoping to be cured of the affliction that transforms him into the Man-Wolf, but these bad guys and their boss have another use for him in mind. That boss isn’t Jigsaw, however, who is the major antagonist of this story. Since his one previous appearance, while still a ganglord, Jigsaw has developed a pathological fear of super heroes–not a great thing to have in his line of work. But pressed by his gang for some action, he decides to target a midnight cruise around Manhattan for a smash-and-grab.

But wouldn’t you know it? It’s exactly the midnight cruise that Peter’s circle of friends has decided to go on. Pete himself is dealing with the unwanted advances of the married Betty Brant and has recently had his proposal to Mary Jane Watson turned down, so his social life is a mess. And that’s why Liz Allan intercedes, theoretically on Pete’s behalf. She invites Mary Jane to join them for this adventure at sea as well, hoping that sparks will once again fly between her and Parker. But all doesn’t go as planned, as MJ shows up with a date, the muscleheaded Brad Davis. So it’s back to the drawing board for Liz. But before she can start to cook up a Plan B, a grappling hook gets tossed over the side of the boat, and is is boarded by Jigsaw and his gang.

Peter is able to slip away and change into his Spider-Man gear, of course, and he hits the gang hard. Jigsaw just about jumps out of his skin when the web-head shows up, his crippling fear showing through. Disregarding the heist, to say nothing of his gang, he grabs Liz and Harry Osborn and uses them as a shield to get away from Spidey. Now Spidey has too problems–he’s worried that the stress of the situation might trigger a change in Harry, turning him back into the Green Goblin. The web-slinger has no choice but to let Jigsaw and his captives depart unmolested, but is able to discretely plant one of his spider-tracers on Harry’s shirt before this happens, so that he can track them once their boat gets to shore.

By the time can reach shore and pick up his pursuit of Jigsaw, the crime-boss is losing it, so terrified is he of being hunted by the wall-crawler. he winds up releasing Harry and Liz once he’s gotten to safety, reasoning that he’s got no further use for them. So when Spidey eventually does catch up with the pair, they’re already safe and free. But they’re able to point the web-slinger in the direction that Jigsaw fled in, and that’s enough for Spidey to give pursuit. He swiftly comes upon Jigsaw’s car, shining his spider-signal on it to announce his presence. Jigsaw is so unnerved by this that he promptly crashes, and thereafter attempts to flee on foot, firing indiscriminately into the shadows.

But it’s all for nothing. Inexorably, Spidey corners his foe, and realizing that Jigsaw only has one bullet remaining in his rifle, he offers the criminal a clear shot at him. By this point Jigsaw is so panic-stricken that his nerve has shattered, and he can’t take even this easy shot at his nemesis. So Spidey webs him up for teh cops pretty effortlessly and swings off into the night–musing in Stan Lee fashion about all of the problems he is wresting with in his personal life while the police comment on how easy his life must be. And that’s the issue.

The Spider’s Web letters page includes a long missive from future Marvel writer Kurt Busiek opining on the possibility of a permanent Peter Parker/Mary Jane union in response to the proposal a few issues earlier. He was in favor of it, and disappointed when Marv had Mary Jane turn Peter down. His letter here is relatively pointed in its criticism–I’m surprised that some of these sentiments saw print at all, to be honest.