OK, I really shouldn't come in on the end here.

I consider myself a Moon Knight fan, but there are stretches of his books I haven't read. (Or don't recall, which I suppose is pretty much the same thing!) I hadn't read this crossover with him, either; but that was because I thought he would be more central to it: from 1992, Amazing Spider-Man #358, "Out on a Limb" Written by Al Milgrom, pencils by Mark Bagley, inks by Randy Emberlin.

Hmm, I didn't know this was written by Milgrom: he has so many inking credits, but I didn't know he wrote any. I knew the basic plot and I think it was published every two weeks, but that was about it. Moon Knight's former sidekick, Midnight--actually, that right there is why I'd never read this, I couldn't get past that! You wouldn't give the Punisher a Robin, MK doesn't need one either. Still, I think Midnight pushed himself into the role, when he wasn't ready: believed killed by the Secret Empire, he was taken and made a cyborg, and wanted revenge on his mentor, and Spider-Man and the Punisher, since he felt they left him to die. By this point, his plot was going fairly well: he had taken control of the Secret Empire, alongside his nurse Lynn, who was also a cyborg; and the juiced-up Thunderball. He also had the armored mercenary brothers, the Seekers, one of whom hated super-heroes since his son died trying to imitate the Human Torch. (The footnote references Fantastic Four #342, which was a fill-in during Walt Simonson's run. I think I had a subscription and I'm still not sure I've read that one; but I think the Seeker's kid died in FF #285.)

On the heroic side, along with MK, Punisher, and Spidey; Darkhawk, Night Thrasher, and Nova had joined up: I'm not sure everyone is really given something to do in this issue, but okay. Fighting Lynn and Midnight, Spidey does the ol' webbing in the face bit, and is mildly dismayed when she tears it off, with her face. Midnight also had the Terminator-thing going, but his face had been blown off; he couldn't believe someone would do that voluntarily, but Lynn sees herself as a superior, godlike being now. When he falters, Lynn reveals she still has the "pain-inducer" remote to keep him in line, until Thunderball makes a grab for it, intent on taking over himself. Unwilling to be a slave, Midnight starts blasting the supports, and all three are buried. The heroes grab the unconscious baddies that they can and get out--noticeably, the Punisher and Moon Knight aren't carrying anyone out.

In the aftermath, Night Thrasher gives Punisher the heads-up that the cops were coming, so he could clear out. Spidey tries to comfort Moon Knight, who isn't distraught or anything, but does feel eh, bad. And Thunderball pushes his way out of the wreckage, but exhausted, surrenders: he had dug his way out with Midnight and Lynn's severed arms, crimped together in battle. Of course both would return, because Moon Knight really needs a deeper bench of bad guys. Still, this seemed like a plot that should've been in a Moon Knight title instead of Spider-Man's: imagine if one of Batman's sidekicks went bad, and multiple heroes had to team-up to stop him, and it didn't even rate showing up in his book!