Happy Birthday, Justice!

I thought this issue was going to fall under my "three times" rule, since, um, I'd bought it twice from separate dollar bins in the last month or so; but I'm not sure I had this issue when it came out! Which is weird, since I had a subscription at some point, and I remember the cover, but that might be from the New Universe house ads. It is memorable, you have to give it that. From 1988, Justice #22, "Hide and Seek" Written by Peter David, pencils by Lee Weeks, inks by Mike Gustovich.

We mentioned some time back how the first fourteen issues of this series were retconned, because somebody decided the fantasy elements weren't in keeping with the New Universe's mission statement of "the world outside your window." Instead of being Tensen, a "justice-warrior" from a magical land; he was now John Tensen, an undercover narcotics agent and paranormal who spent the better part of a year tripping his head off, his mind warped by another paranormal, Daedalus Darquill. Oh, yeah, like that name spells world-outside-your-window...This issue, after being captured and drugged at a Live-Aid style concert for victims of "the Pitt" disaster (not that one, Timmy! Or that one either.) John was again in la-la land, seeing the world as a Dungeons & Dragons medieval hodgepodge: he takes down a police helicopter, seeing it as a dragon with mounted riders. In remembrance of his beloved "Endolina," who may or may not have existed, I don't recall; John refrains from killing, using his shields to keep the fallen "dragon" from crashing down hard.

Meanwhile, back at the police station, where John had blown a hole through the building in escaping; the cops, the army, and the National Security Council are getting into a pissing match over jurisdiction, while also not making any effort to search for the escaped "justice killer." John had killed a lot of bad guys, sure; but I'm not sure how many they would be able to pin on him: not because he was crazy at the time, but he usually disintegrated his victims, so...no habeas corpus, right? John's college age daughter Angela is there as well, as well as the psychic Playback, and the perpetually sniffly Mr. Pasko. As night falls, John gathers with some bums around a fire: their bully of a leader tries to shoot him, but John's shields bounce the bullet back, killing him. The other bums, who had been ordered to find more fuel for the fire, wonder how their boss would burn... 

Back at the station, John's lawyer had about had it with him, before realizing bricks from his escape landed on her car. Then, John shows up, thinking she was Endolina: she maces him a bit, which only makes him think she wasn't Endolina, and he takes off again, ranting at nothing. The lawyer bails, and we cut back to the bums, who receive another visitor, wearing a shirt like John did in his early issues, and carrying a flamethrower. Next issue for him! This next bit doesn't quite line up, but I see what they were trying to do: Playback sees the recent past, and the scene with John and the lawyer; but John's powers are such that he can see Playback watching him! Which isn't great for his already dubious mental state, but Playback knows what direction he took off in. Updike, the NSC man, wants to tranq John; Angela angrily points out drugs don't go well with her dad, and seemingly shouts him out of using it. The army gets there first, although John sees them as wolfmen, and their leader Col. Browning as Darquill. He tears through the soldiers, again showing mercy, although he doesn't intend to show any to Darquill...

Then, for little reason, John sees Angela as a hideous monster: I don't know if there's an in-story reason why? It could be he never wanted kids; or perhaps Darquill put that in him to make him turn on his loved ones. Trying to talk her dad down, Angela braves the danger and hugs him, snapping him back to reality, or closer to it. Updike does get to use his tranquilizer gun, though: on Col. Browning, to keep him from backshooting John, and probably Angela. (Browning may show up later, or in other New Universe titles: I think he had been Spitfire's government contact, and not a great guy.) Updike wants John for the NSC; but the story ends with the return of the bums, who gather up weapons and ammo from the downed soldiers, so they can go feed their fire? OK, that punchline didn't quite land, and the bum bits cut into Angela's monster-reveal, even if the cover sells it.

Also this issue: Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe-style entries for Justice, Playback, and baddie Seraph; the latter of whom I'm not sure had appeared yet! Also, the entries give birthdates, since another New Universe tenet would be the characters aging in real time; so Justice would be 75 today! Well, it's not like his hair's gonna go more white...wait, he would've been just shy of his 38th birthday when this issue hit the stands, but Angela's at least 18 and probably closer to 22? Not impossible, but it doesn't seem to add up! We'll close with that aforementioned house ad: the New U. was down to four regular books, and I think Star Brand was even bi-monthly. Although, Nightmask was still making guest-appearances; and the back cover has an ad for the upcoming the Draft, which would also feature him.

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Feels like this should be "Spider-Man 2099 Forever."

Hey,  a recent comic! From 2024, Symbiote Spider-Man 2099 #1, written by Peter David, art by Rogê Antônio.

I had been behind on reading these, and just sat down to read like the last 10 Spidey 2099 issues the other day: the Miguel O'Hara: Spider-Man 2099 run is five issues, single-issue stories introducing new 2099 characters. (Or re-introducing characters in the 2099 setting, like Dracula and Terror, Inc.) Then, Peter David's Symbiote series, which picks up from 1996's Spider-Man 2099 #43, which was David's last unaltered issue of the original series. Get your back issues if you need to catch up! And while Antônio does a good job, it's a shame original artist Rick Leonardi couldn't come back at least for the opener, which recreates a scene from Spider-Man 2099 #1 and Spider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man, as a group of joyriding teens this time run into Venom 2099! It goes worse for them than usual; and this really isn't even "Venom 2099" as much as a venomized Sub-Mariner 2099, Roman. Miguel tricks him into riding a Public Eye skycycle, which explodes without its authorized rider; then returning to the Atlanteans, Roman casts the symbiote out. 

Back at Alchemax, which Miguel currently had control of, he gets the bad news that his half-brother, Kron Stone, had escaped from an ambulance; which Miguel put him in after a stout beating. A bloodied and swollen Kron returns to his apartment, while Miguel has a stern talk with a Dr. Hibby, who had been running a Super-Soldier program, with symbiotes. Which had spawned, for good measure. Miguel orders him to destroy the symbiote, then asks his holographic assistant Lyra to check on that:

Miguel suits up, to see if Dr. Hibby would maybe take Spider-Man's advice, but he sics the symbiote on him. The symbiote seems to find S-M more interesting, though. Meanwhile, a pouting Kron wonders how wimpy Miguel kicked the crap out of him, but is advised not to worry, he'll be dead in a few, courtesy of Punisher 2099! Who is so thrilled to have another chance to kill Kron, that he talks more than he probably did in much of his series; but is momentarily distracted when Kron's shower has "plumbing problems." Namely, the symbiote returning to Kron! Punisher is outclassed, and intends to get Spidey 2099 for help, but is instead murdered by the real Venom 2099. (This would be another break with previous 2099 continuity, as I'm pretty sure Jake Gallows gets got in Punisher 2099 #34? Or 2099 A.D. Apocalypse #1.) Venom then gets blown up by the Punisher's skycycle; it's a common safety feature! Meanwhile, back at Alchemax, the other symbiote has bonded with Miguel, which arguably would make him Carnage 2099, but I don't think we're going there.

If you like David's stuff previously, you'll dig this. Also, another 2099 character makes an appearance later in the run; and David maybe plants seeds for a later storyline, or continuing one from 1996: shades of the Hobgoblin, but the reveal of Green Goblin 2099's identity wasn't what he had planned, and he was maybe steering back to it. 

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Imagine an episode of the TV show, that ended with smoldering wreckage and zero survivors.

Funny, I would've been reading the book regularly; but I have no recollection of this issue, nor do I remember what happened to a character returning here: well, I guess that's why I have this thing, isn't it? To remind me to piece it together later. From 1996, Incredible Hulk #443, "Then and Now" Written by Peter David, pencils by Angel Medina, inks by Robin Riggs.

Rick Jones's granddaughter Janis from the future of um, Future Imperfect returns to the present, in Alaska, and starts tracking the Hulk. She was followed by a bounty hunter, Quarry; but the fight is momentarily delayed by a forest fire; set by a troubled young woman, Robbie. When she gets to a trapper's lodge, with her dad and fiancé, Robbie tries to shift the blame to Janis; who pretty quickly realizes the fiancé wasn't just quick with his fists with her. Quarry arrives and murders all of the trappers, with a little gun called a devastator. He takes a shot that Janis dodges, and the Hulk gets it directly in the face: Quarry had never seen anything survive a shot from that, but all it did was make the Hulk a little more irritated.

Quarry isn't particularly worried, since he had all the high-end gear, like some kind of sticky-flame; and the Hulk was dumb, right? Well, he was smart enough to grab the devastator when he was in close. (That's the trouble with a wee, Noisy Cricket-type gun: too easy to lose track of!) Hulk shoots Quarry a few times with it, ignoring his pleas for mercy: Quarry had thought he was a hard man, but getting repeatedly shot with his own gun changed his mind. Hulk then smashes the weapon, and starts to head out. Janis asks him for help, but he refuses, yet still lets her come with him as he leaps away. I thought Quarry maybe survived and appeared again, but I might just be confusing him with some of the other jerks the Hulk fought in David's run, like Trauma or Madman, that maybe didn't quite get to the same level of recurring baddie like the Abomination.

While Robbie had lost her abuser, she mourned her dad, and forgave him for not knowing she was being abused. She burns down the lodge and the bodies, waiting with a fire extinquisher until morning, then "...she turned and went into the woods. And was never again seen by the eyes of man." That...that's not a happy ending. Robbie didn't appear the previous issue, so this issue was all we see of her, and I'm wondering how much of her setting fires was a cry for help, and how much was a murder attempt, to get away from her abuser. But she seemed a little too into the fire, and too quick to make excuses and point fingers...Anyway, next month was part of the Onslaught crossover, of all things: I thought this was post-Heroes Reborn at first glance; since the cover said the Hulk was back, but just from a couple issues off; so I'm not sure why the Hulk was kinda surly here, or how long Janis's plotline went. Read more!

"I don't like huntin' kids. That ain't why S.H.I.E.L.D. is in business." Coming up next, S.H.I.E.L.D. hunts another kid.

I hadn't read this Iron Man Annual before, but maybe I had seen it referenced, by or maybe with another book that came out a week later! From 1986, Iron Man Annual #8, "When Innocence Dies!" Written by Bob Harras, pencils by Paul Neary, inks by Ian Akin and Brian Garvey. Cover by Walt Simonson!

This was set during the earliest version of X-Factor, where the original five X-Men had a front as mutant hunters. They get involved in the search for Willie Evans, a young mutant with reality-altering powers, who had a little frog in a suit named Grunt encouraging him to act out. Willie had gotten abducted by the government, and taken to Project: Pegasus to be experimented on. Current Pegasus security head Michael "Guardsman" O'Brien isn't keen on that, and neither is Iron Man when he sees some of that on a visit to drop off a new project. When the inevitable superhero fight happens, there are of course hurt feelings on both sides: while Willie was dangerous and had accidentally-on-purpose hurt some people, that didn't mean he was now a lab rat, he still had rights...I'm sorry, I can't even finish that sentence. Even good soldier Michael is sick of this, and thinks they've stretched the definition of "national security" too far. I have bad news for him, about every year since then.

Nick Fury and Reed Richards get marginally involved in the search for Willie later; neither of them happy about it but not seeing how to de-escalate the situation, either. (Willie had appeared in an earlier issue of Fantastic Four.) Anyway, Grunt turns out to be a manifestation of Willie's own anger, a way for him to vent the guilt he felt over killing his mother. Willie turns on Grunt, killing it and himself; although a sad Grunt spends the end of the issue on Willie's grave, promising to make them pay...He hasn't yet, to the best of my knowledge, but I'm more worried about how this reminded me of another book: from a week later, Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #118, "Ashes to Ashes" Written by Peter David, pencils by Mike Zeck, inks by Bob McLeod.

Because this was a Peter David book, there were more jokes here, starting with the Foreigner, disguised as a bum, stopping by to visit the Kingpin. They have a bit of lunch, and sniping with each other, as they discuss recent events in this title and Daredevil. ("Born Again" had just wrapped, I think.) They also hear an explosion downtown, which annoys the Kingpin, since he didn't have any scheduled: it was "orchids," to the Foreigner's ex-wife. I remain 100% convinced that was supposed to just be a throwaway joke, but later stories indicated his ex was Silver Sable!

But, the main point this issue, was young Alex Woolcot: his teacher catches up with Peter at the Daily Bugle. They had seen the boy was abused, and the boy's father had threatened them when confronted; and both had since disappeared. The teacher asks Peter to contact Spider-Man; snarkily, Peter asks, how? Signal-watch? This was 100% not his problem, he was trying to quit being Spider-Man, of course he's going to get involved. What they didn't know, though, was that Alex was right outside, and oh yeah, his dad was dead as hell. Monkeying around with his dad's weird science experiment ("What is your fascination with my forbidden closet of mystery?") Alex now had occasionally glowy-hands and disentegration powers. He gets spotted by the cops, who think he's a truant they can scare back to school, which of course leads to a blowed-up cop car. The cops call it in, with one suggesting X-Factor get involved, but someone else fields this one: some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, who seem to be looking for glory while Fury was away.

Following the explosion, Spidey finds Alex, and quickly gets a sinking feeling what happened to his dad. There is another fun bit, as Spidey perches on a building he thinks was "abandoned" and scheduled for demolition; a common cliche then; only to find the building packed! S.H.I.E.L.D. shows up on the scene, with a helicopter full of Mandroids: Alex stands his ground, and fries one of those "dumb robots" before realizing there was a guy in there. (The bacon scent would be a clue! Ah, he'll live.) Lethal force is authorized, and Spidey has to help Alex escape, even though he doesn't think he can control him. Spidey's a bit of a scold, too; telling Alex he shouldn't have run; but Alex tells him he almost got sent to jail when he was six for stealing a superball, and last week he disentegrated his dad; what would they do to him for that? (Thank you, Scared Straight.) After getting the Mandroids to shoot each other, Spidey nearly has Alex calmed down, just in time for a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to empty his gun into Alex's back.

His Spidey-sense went off a little late there, but should it have gone off at all? He wasn't in danger! The agent driving is heard to say, Fury would have their heads; which feels like backpedaling: just a couple bad apples, right? And if you told me there was another comic that same month with another kid killed, I kinda wouldn't be surprised? Maybe at the scheduling, more than anything? I was thinking Fury might mention S.H.I.E.L.D.'s track record versus little kids, but that wasn't here, anyway. These were probably tapping into the times, the fear that kids were becoming killers; but Marvel maybe wasn't quite ready for that story with guns. Or, maybe kid death is a cheap and easy way to make your heroes feel bad, and not winning in the end was so adult, right? Ugh, I have to stop, before I find a Power Pack issue from that month with a double-digit body count... Read more!

I'm late, but a wordless comic should put me back on schedule...maybe.

Although I think I've mentioned it once or twice, going back through the blog, the only thing I see from Marvel's "'Nuff Said" month is from Busiek's Avengers, which was on a roll there. I know I was reading other Marvel titles at the time, but wasn't reading this one regularly: from 2002, Captain Marvel #26, "Quiet Miracles" Written by Peter David, pencils by Leonard Kirk, inks by Robin Riggs.

In a warm December, a young man hits a pawn shop and attempts to sell a bunch of watches that are pretty obviously stolen. When the pawnbroker doesn't go for them, the young man pulls out something else: one of Captain Marvel's nega-bands. How could he have gotten that...? Well, more easily than usual, I'll admit; as we cut away to Rick Jones, literally in the gutter. He's not quite himself today, though; older, scarred, and missing an arm: that was how he looked when he popped in from the future towards the end of Avengers Forever, but that future came much sooner than expected. Rick had aged in an accelerated manner, and a recent attempt at a cure had failed: worse, he remembers as Genis tries to reach him from the Negative Zone, Rick had gotten mugged at knifepoint, by the young man, who stole the band tied to Rick's waist. (Mugging a one-armed old man? Classy.) Still, the man dropped the knife, so...

Rick considers ending it all, which should feel way sadder, except he remembers all his friends, like the Hulk, Captain America, the original Captain Mar-vell, and ROM! Yay, ROM! I don't think he appeared anywhere for years there; I'm surprised they snuck him in--wait, Rick's suicide, right. With Genis unable to do anything but watch, Rick plunges the knife into his chest...where it bends nearly in two, it was a plastic toy. Ha, ha; but I think that was a serious attempt, and maybe shouldn't be just brushed off...? Wandering down an alley, Rick notices blood on the ground, and follows it back, to find a homeless woman, about to give birth.

Meanwhile, the young man makes it out of the pawn shop, before the guilt over what he had done stops him, and he goes back in. He misses his child's birth, though; as Rick has to deliver the baby, then give it CPR, all one-handed! In case you missed this was a Christmas issue, there's a star over them, albeit one that resembles Captain Marvel's chest symbol. When the young man sheepishly returns the nega-band, Rick uses it to change places with Genis, just as snow begins to fall. Genis and the cops get the couple set up at a local shelter, then flies home to Marlo. But, when he changes back to Rick, the transformation literally bowls her over, as Rick returns, young and whole again. (With killer sideburns! Mine never look that good, respect.) Delayed reaction, Christmas miracle, clearing up a continuity loose end...it could be three things in one! Also, pretty sure the pawnbroker was a Peter David cameo! Read more!

We saw his later fight with "She-Thing" some time back, but today we get to the second round of this particular slugfest: from 1988, Incredible Hulk #350, "Before the Fall" Written by Peter David, pencils by Jeff Purves, inks by Terry Austin.

I may have to trundle out to my garage to look for the first part of this one, "Pride Goeth..." from Fantastic Four #320, although I don't think most of Englehart's run held up that well. And the splash page catches you up just fine, anyway: Doctor Doom (or "Doctor Doom," 90% sure he was a Doombot!) has talked the grey Hulk into a fight with the new and improved spiky Thing. Smaller and not-as-strong as the classic "Hulk smash" version, the grey Fixit gets crushed by the stronger-than-usual Thing; but the fight is interrupted by the appearance of said classic Hulk! Old speech patterns and all! While they scuffle, Doom picks Fixit up, who perhaps for the first time, feels "puny."

The green Hulk was from Eternals #14, of all places; a robot rebuilt and repurposed by Doom. And the robot wasn't tagged in to help out Fixit, but to rectify the mistake of working with him in the first place: Doom was pretty sure Ben was gonna beat the Hulk robot as bad as he beat Fixit, and he was going to call it a day. Fixit claims he's not out yet, though. Meanwhile, Ben has realized, the "Hulk" wasn't getting angrier and stronger; it was a fake. Fixit watches Ben take the robot apart, and realizes his advantage: he knew his opponent. With the sun now down, Fixit was tougher; but also lighter and faster: he lets himself be seen, so Ben will chase him into Central Park. Fixit uses hit-and-run tactics, forcing Ben to run around--and badmouth Nightcrawler? Aw, what'd he do to you?

After forty-five minutes of chasing what he assumed was a robot, Ben is getting exhausted, but takes a running start at him...and misses, landing in the lake! He thinks he's got enough air to last him, until Fixit "heimlich's" the air out of him, nearly drowning him. Barely getting to shore, Ben asks how he got there so fast, and Fixit finally speaks to him: "I jumped." Realization dawns as Ben recognizes the voice, that he thought was dead and gone! 

 Doom is impressed with Fixit's win, or at least pretends to be; and assumes he can count on his support when the time comes to retake Latveria. Which might've been the plan, but FF writer Steve Englehart ended up burning that plot in a dream sequence in FF #330! Still, Doom doesn't offer Fixit a ride back to Vegas, so he's going to have to jump--except, he happens to pass the site of Avengers Mansion, which was more-or-less demolished at the time. Oh, well, not his problem--except, the Beast is there, called in on a major emergency that's called in the reserves. Worse for Fixit, the Beast realizes who he is, and quickly blackmails him into helping out: to be continued in Avengers Annual #17! Pretty good planning there.

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Let's see here: although I read Incredible Hulk #340, I didn't start reading the title regularly until #345, and would stay until Peter David's last issue. (Although I would read the Joe Casey issues some time later.) Yet I haven't blogged a lot of those, even though it was probably my favorite or second-favorite Marvel book for most of its run: this issue came out the same week as Excalibur #67, Alan Davis's last issue; so it was about to take back the number-one spot. From 1993, Incredible Hulk #407, "More or Ness" Written by Peter David, pencils by Gary Frank, inks by Cam Smith.

Marlo Chandler was alive and herself again, and cheerily makes a phone call to her mom; while her burly brothers don't hold (much of) a grudge against Rick Jones for trying to fight them off to keep custody of her. She seems fine here, but might not be, but no time for that, as the Hulk has taken off, through a largish hole in the kitchen. He left a note for Doc Samson and Betty; which, Betty notices, he signed 'Hulk' then scribbled that out and put 'Bruce.' Either way, he's well on his way, to scenic Loch Ness! Two years before the Simpsons made it, in "Monty Can't Buy Me Love," which I'm mildly surprised at.

Retired and aged semi-immortal Pantheon member Perseus had called for help, after a monster sighting. The Hulk opted to take the call, reasoning "set a monster to catch a monster," but wonders if there wasn't more to it than that. He's self-aware enough to know, he's probably there because he's dodging Samson's fretting treatment and Betty's judgey-concern: he felt good about where he was, why didn't they? But, no time for introspection, monster attack! On a page with its Red Skull-esque red skull miscolored. The Hulk had just come off a poor showing against Juggernaut, but throws himself at the monster like he knew he could take it and expected an easy win. Instead, he's surprised first by the creature copying his face and old speech pattern, then by a shot from behind, by returning villain Madman! Calling the monster "Piecemeal," he approaches it like you would a skittish loose dog...to be continued, since the rest of this issue was "Ulysses," starting the origin/backstory of the Pantheon member. It's not bad, but I don't know if anyone really wanted it? Despite a number of appearances, the Pantheon would be phased out around 1996's Hulk #448, and I don't think they would appear again until 2010's Heroic Age: Prince of Power #1? A brief search found an article confirming some of the dates, but not giving any particular reason. Could've been a whim, knowing Peter David. Or, narratively he needed the Hulk to have little-to-no support system there, so... Read more!

I didn't love this issue, but there's maybe one panel that'll do something for you.

Not the one where not-Peter Parker just coldcocks a not-little girl, hopefully. From 2018, Ben Reilly: the Scarlet Spider #15, written by Peter David, art by Will Sliney. 

My hopes were high from the cover: Mephisto looming over Scarlet, as he's about to crank the lever of a slot machine. I was thinking of dead heroes trying to win their way back to life, via the slots, from somewhere in Incredible Herc. Nope! Ben was in Vegas, still trying to redeem himself after some recent bad decisions; and still had a weirdly scarred eye that made him look like Pete the Pup from Little Rascals shorts. Ben notices "Aunt June" wasn't at her usual machine today, and while checking for her, is approached by a little jezebel. I mean, a little girl that introduces herself as Jezebel. (Is that term still used as an insult? I don't know if I've ever actually heard it spoken in real life!) She knows he's the Scarlet Spider, and her "employers" have Aunt June, and they need him to... 

...do something he probably would've had to do anyway. After Las Vegas was severely damaged in Secret Empire, Doctor Strange repaired the damage...why? Seems like he put a lot of teamsters out of work. Moreover, Strange unleashed something, which is underselling it: the Hotel Inferno, which looks a lot influenced by the Inferno crossover, run by Mephisto! Ben freaks out a bit, claiming this was out of his league and should be an Avengers problem, or Strange should fix it himself. Jezebel tells them they would be there...and absolutely no help, they'd all be turned into demons. The Midnight Sons might help, though. No, they aren't the Inferno's house band. Jezebel lets on she was working for something called the Diogenes Initiative, which Ben had heard of before; and she orders him to get out there and take care of it. Ben asks if she was really a little girl. No? Then it's okay to punch you across the room...actually, that's probably still not okay, Ben.

After saving a gun shop owner from a demon, Ben gets all kitted out...for reasons? I got nothing; and it looks ridiculous. Maybe he thinks he needs it, since when the Avengers show up, their heads are on fire, Ghost Rider-style. Which also looks somewhat ridiculous. But a proper Ghost Rider is also there, with the Midnight Sons! Who include, more importantly, Moon Knight! I think this came up recently when he saw Wong...was that in the regular series, or Death of Doctor Strange? I may have to read some issues to recollect! But, this issue was part of some crossover thing called Damnation. There was a Doctor Strange mini with it, maybe some other stuff; aside from Moon Knight offhandedly mentioning it, I would swear I had never heard of it until just now.

Moon Knight already looks like he's going to bag out, hit a buffet or something. (The cover in that entry looks pretty fun, though!) I don't know which Ghost Rider that is: if it's the 90's version, I just want to see him complaining about 'new' Midnight Sons the whole event. "...who the hell is Johnny Tracksuit? Iron what? Back in the day, we had proper Midnight Sons. That guy couldn't carry Frank Drake's lunch..."

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This feels like a court-ordered appearance, he probably has to do one every couple of years.

His sister has fallen into this same cycle: a writer takes them too far, then the next writer has to walk whatever horribleness they committed back, or at least try for some forgiveness. Pietro probably should have more one-shots under his belt, then. From 2008, X-Factor: the Quick and the Dead #1, "The Quick and the Dead" Written by Peter David, art by Pablo Raimondi.

It's rock-bottom time for Pietro, as he's lost his mutant powers as well as his Terrigen crystal-derived ones--is that a bit of a retcon, because wasn't Terrigen bad for mutants later? The recap page also seems to put House of M on him, which I had forgotten; but after that, Son of M, and Silent War he had burned a lot of bridges. The final straw was catching a beating from X-Factor's Layla Miller, leaving him in jail and twitching through what might be Terrigen withdrawal. (I haven't seen how he used the crystal, but from here I could make a guess...)

Two small-time criminals watch as Pietro hallucinates a little redemption trip, with visits from the Scarlet Witch, Magneto, Crystal, and Luna--all of whom seem to forgive him and want the best for him. They also appear slightly out-of-date, which seems to me how Pietro remembers them. I'm not 100% sure anyone has actually forgiven him anything, either. His final ghost visit is Layla Miller, who is unbothered about his attempt on her life: his heart wasn't really in it, and now that he's hit bottom, he can start coming back up. She advises him to "follow the butterfly" and he does, seeing a domestic violence incident on a nearby rooftop, with a man about to throw a woman over the side. Since no one there is about to listen to him, it's up to Pietro, and his powers return, first using super-speed to shake the wall down, then racing over to save the falling woman.

His speed seemingly greater than ever, Pietro is moving so fast it's crushing the woman, so he drops her off: in Montauk Point, a couple hours away from Manhattan. Tear-assing around the world, running across water, Quicksilver contemplates his folly, thinking he knew God's will, but in his high spirits accidentally overshoots off a mountaintop! Glancing off a passing plane, he takes a pretty big fall, skipping across the water this time, then sinking. While now at peace, knowing he was loved, Pietro isn't done just yet, as he's fished out by a passing cruise ship. A sailor promises "clear sailing from here on in" and Pietro can only hope so. 

I thought this was maybe to bring Pietro closer to his MCU incarnation, since the last page seems to resemble Aaron Taylor-Johnson, but this issue predated either of his movie versions. (Duhr, there's an ad for the first Iron Man on the back!) Has Quicksilver since crapped all over this redemption? Sadly, that would be in-character as hell...

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Two of these, and you know what I don't have? A Scarlet Spider #40!

Admittedly they've got different leads, different creative teams, and different directions; but god forbid numbering continue, ever. From 2013, Scarlet Spider #20, "Sibling Rivalry, part 2" Written by Christopher Yost and Erik Burnham, pencils by Pat Olliffe, Inhyuk Lee, Paco Medina; inks by Bit, Inhyuk Lee, and Juan Vlasco; and from 2018, Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #20, written by Peter David, art by André Lima Araújo. (Miscredited as Will Sliney!)

Our first SS#20 features Kaine, back in New York City, with Spider-Man against the Jackal! Except also against Spider-Man, since Kaine doesn't know it's the Superior Spider-Man, with the brain of Otto Octavius. They're both chained up in the Jackal's new, and very high-end, lab; and when a Gwen Stacy clone pays attention to Kaine, Otto is snottier than Peter Parker could be on the worst day of his life. (My headcanon remains: Superior Spidey sounded like Pete doing a Dexter's Laboratory accent.) Otto is also super-possessive of his new DNA, and doesn't want the Jackal to have any; so he's steaming that Jackal took samples while he was out. Kaine, on the other hand, is a disappointment--they can't all be Ben Reilly's, eh? But he manages to break his chains, then work one of Jackal's mutant-powered Spidey-clones to blast his 'friend' Peter loose.

While Kaine fights Carrion (and the monster in Kaine's head, figurative or literal, still defends him against Carrion's mental attack) Otto works the angles, to cause a massive hydrogen explosion. (Think the end of Quantum of Solace, with the world's most explodiest hotel...) Jackal goes back into the fire to try and save "my DNA! My babies!" while Kaine tries to save the Gwen, who doesn't want to be saved. Otto's feeling pretty pleased with himself, before Kaine shows up, angry that 'Peter' isn't acting like a hero. Later, back in Houston, Kaine is obviously drugged at the airport, but thinks it's one of "Houston's horse-sized mosquitoes." Still, later that night, he wakes up to find his scars have returned, and he may be degenerating again...!

Kaine does have some scars five years later, but they may be the least of his problems today: while Ben infiltrates an Air Force base in search of a scientist that had been working on a cure for Abigail Mercury (to save his soul, it was a whole thing) Kaine sees a Mindless One in Vegas, accidentally brought there in an earlier issue. He saves a young child from it, only to catch a kick to the crotch, then the Mindless One takes the kid again, having apparently bonded with him! And a ton of cops have now shown up to make things worse. Meanwhile, Ben finds the scientist he had been messaging, only to find out he had really been talking to his assistant, Karl. Karl? Oh, you may know him better as Sauron!

If it had any kind of Legacy numbering, Scarlet Spider would've been in the fifties; but of course comics aren't numbered like that anymore. And I think both Scarlets have shown up here and there since, even as recently as, well, now. A couple questions: had Ben fought Sauron before? I think both he and Kaine were often called 'Spider-Man' by bad guys, bystanders, whoever; and rarely bothered to correct anybody. Which sounds like a problem for Peter: "I swore I'd get even for what you did to me in Houston, Spider-Man! And Vegas, you bastard! How could you?" "...what?" And does Otto have a specific beef with clones? Did one sleep with his wife or something, he seems a little touchy about them.   Read more!

I would've enjoyed hearing DeForest Kelley read that line.

From 1991, Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Modala Imperative #1, "In Memory Yet Green..." Written by Peter David, art by Pablo Marcos. 

For the second time this year, I'm helping new hires at my work: not so much training, but helping them put it into practice. Like I have any goddamn idea what I'm doing half the time, but I really sound cheery and that helps. Still, if I'm not doing my regular job, who is? Well, they'll figure it out. 

This is more like issue #5, since "The Modala Imperative" was two mini-series, with the then-regular Trek writers trading crews. Michael Jan Friedman wrote the original crew, while Peter David tackled the Next Gen, although both have written a ton with both. David also gets to use two ringers, old McCoy and Spock: Kirk's fate would've still been unknown at the time. Both minis also had Adam Hughes covers. 

 Crap. Just looked it up, and I'm just slightly younger than William Shatner was when Star Trek II came out. Like Kirk in that one, I recently had to get glasses: I wore contacts when I was younger, then had lasik that held up pretty well for like 25 years. Now I need (and just got) reading glasses, and maybe they might help with some close action figure, craft type stuff. Maybe some of the photos will finally be in focus...Where's Bones with my damn Retinax shot?

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To her credit, I don't think Mary Jane asked Peter to bust guys up as often as she could've.

Somehow, I've read a bunch of Peter David books lately, and more Web of Spider-Man than ever before. I usually enjoy the former but they occasionally land flat, and the opposite for the latter. Let's see how today's book does! From 1989, Web of Spider-Man #49, "Corner Business!" Written by Peter David, art by Val Mayerik, with a nice cover by Charles Vess.

David opens with a bit of narration suggesting that small business by-and-large was going the way of the dinosaur; except for one lone holdout of entrepreneurial individualism: the corner drug dealer. David doesn't seem thrilled about it either, but it's a weird pitch. This issue we follow one such small businessman/sleazy dirtbag as Spider-Man harasses him repeatedly, at the behest of his wife, and for profit! After a friend and fellow model nearly overdoses, Mary Jane asks Peter to put her friend's dealer out of business; and while repeatedly embarrassing him and throwing away his drugs, Peter takes pictures to sell to the Bugle. Spidey plants a tracer--in the greasy weasel's hair, so it's tough to feel any sympathy--and hounds him; while MJ tries to find a rehab clinic for her friend. This was before rehab had also become big business, so she's having a hard time finding an opening. Is that still the case? I feel like today, there'd be a surplus of places for treatment. Maybe not great treatment, true, but...

Mary Jane is forced to go to her more upscale friends ("the ones that always give Peter a rash") for cash to cover her friend's rehab, even getting her a job; but she's already cut out to look for a score. Meanwhile, Spidey has driven the pusher back to his source, who had told him in no uncertain terms, don't come by if Spider-Man's following you. Seems reasonable enough, right? The pusher gets shot, as Spidey arrives too late, then has to beat and web up the source and his goons. (Pre-Breaking Bad, they still mention cooking!) Spidey feels a little bad over the pusher's death, even though he didn't even know the name of MJ's model friend...which I haven't mentioned here either, but I don't think she appears again: she has a another overdose, and the story leaves it open if she would survive. And another dealer takes up on the corner...

On the plus side, Peter's boss Kate Cushing is really happy with pictures of a dead dealer. Like scary happy.
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Kaine would be like the Player-3 version, but I wouldn't say that to his face.

One of the last comics I picked up before the quarantine was Conan: Battle for the Serpent Crown #2 (which I may have to scan the cover for!) which featured guest-star the Scarlet Spider getting, to use the wrestling parlance, mercilessly jobbed by Conan. (Written by Saladin Ahmed, art by Luke Ross.) Conan's partner Nyla (a deep-cut from Ann Nocenti's Daredevil) hits Scarlet with a flare for the assist; but it's a cheap loss. Kind of feel like the Kaine Scarlet Spider might've done better, though. So let's check out a comic with them! From 2018, Ben Reilly: the Scarlet Spider #22, written by Peter David, art by Will Sliney.

I don't recall all his backstory, but Kaine was a meaner clone of Peter Parker, but was also trying to redeem himself under the Scarlet Spider moniker. He seemed to be doing a better job than Ben, though, since the recap page mentions Ben trying to avoid damnation, so...Kaine also had some bonus powers, like invisibility and maybe bone claws? We don't see those this time, but I seem to recall his figure had them. Trailing a military convoy to a secret base in the suburbs, Kaine is confused, then runs into a guard dog. A two-headed one!

Getting past the dog for the moment, outside a door labeled "work room," Kaine notices a strange smell: cotton candy, specifically from Coney Island. It's a fond memory the clone has from Peter's childhood, but they were in Nevada, why would that smell be there? The smell intensifies inside, as Kaine finds a white room filled with anachronistically-dressed office workers, before he's attacked by the dog again. The workers do not seem particularly bothered or interested, except for one woman who gives him a jab with a spear!

Weakened, Kaine realizes the spear--excuse me, naginata--was poisoned, and accuses her of cheating. Incensed, Nakano knocks Kaine out, but is stopped by her boss, a smiling man in a white suit with a bad haircut. Meanwhile, Ben Reilly takes an Uber, to threaten a little girl? I'd say this is what happens when you miss an issue; but I did have a couple of the issues prior, so I'm not sure what's up with this, except Ben does block the girl's mouth to prevent her using some power. Still, she appears to have the same boss, who introduces himself as Gabriel. The angel Gabriel. A bright light seems to convince Ben; and Gabriel explains he's there as a counter to the forces of evil in the world. He also gives him a vial of his blood, to save a sick girl; and gives him Kaine as well, teleporting them both back to Ben's surprised Uber.

Gabriel's organization was described as the Diogenes Initiative, and it seems pretty obvious there was going to be something more to them. This series had three issues left, so maybe it wrapped that up.
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