We had a recent Daredevil post, that tied into an old post from way back; and we're doing the same today with the issue after an old team-up...not quite classic: from 1996, Spider-Man Team-Up #4, "Webs of Time" Written by George Perez, art by Steve Geiger and Chris Ivy, Darick Robertson and Andrew Pepoy, Dan Jurgens and Tom Palmer, and Brandon McKinney and Chris Ivy.
This series was from during the Ben Reilly Spider-Man days, which had the virtue of Marvel trying something new that nobody at all wanted. (I think. Maybe people loved it, I don't think so, but I don't recall.) That would probably be a strike against it; two more would be this month's guest-stars, the Avengers! The virtually unrecognizable, 90's Avengers! Mutated Wasp, extreme Hawkeye, shirtless Thor, teenage Iron Man. (It would be a few years before Marvel would have success with shirtless Thor...) Teen Tony gets a lot of page time, as the Avengers are trying to train him up to adult Tony's level, even though his new armor is far more dangerous than his early suits. Tony also has some records delivered, by "dark condiment." Bwah? Oh, it's Pepper Potts! Who is...aggressively hit on by teen Tony. It's borderline.
The plot's a little confusing, with some time-travel flashbacks, people getting aged, a mysterious pyramid, and another Spider-Man! Ben isn't thrilled at the notion of yet another clone out there, but that's not what this is. It has a couple bits that seem unrelated, like the opening; like it maybe needed another draft to settle down. And the bad guy ties in to both Spidey and the current Iron Man storyline, so read out of that context it might be a bit to puzzle through. (Spoiler after the break, if you're curious!) One big selling point: this issue does feature Black Widow punching Henry Peter Gyrich!
(The villain is Kang the Conqueror's Spider-Man robot from Avengers #11! Reactivated after the most recent final battle with Kang, Timeslide; it had been draining time from its victims, to power up a time machine, for his "master," Iron Man! The older Tony had been a pawn of Kang's, so the robot thought it was helping by grabbing the younger one, but it may also think it really is Spider-Man. After Quicksilver beats down Ben, Gyrich immediately realizes he isn't the Spider-Man they were after, because his costume was different: Gyrich forced the Avengers to go after Spidey, but may have wanted to cover up the robot, so he misled them into thinking Spidey had gone bad.)
Huh. Robot Spider-Man eh? I thought he was taken out back in the day, but apparently not. Is he still around now, or has simply been forgotten?
ReplyDeleteMan that period in the mid-to-late 90's was not kind to the MU was it?
For the reasons you listed and more. Thank Harambe Busiek and Perez were allowed to bring the classic Avengers back. Otherwise Marvel might've stayed in bankruptcy and might not have gotten out.
But hey anytime Gyrich gets punched out, it's a bonus.