"The End" Week: Superior Foes of Spider-Man #17!

This was definitely a book more about the journey, than the destination; but where did it end up? From a couple of weeks ago, Superior Foes of Spider-Man #17, written by Nick Spencer, art by Steve Lieber, color art by Rachelle Rosenberg.

Previously, the increasingly misnamed Sinister Six—at this point, Speed Demon, the Beetle, and Overdrive-- had the series’ latest Macguffin, the cybernetic head of Mafia Maggia boss Silvermane; which they could use to catapult themselves into success, if they hadn’t all turned on each other and each sold the head to a rival gang. The Shocker had been double-crossed and left buried alive (for being a chump who believed in “honor among thieves”) but Hydro-Man digs him up, only to find Shocker’s a little steamed. The Six’s former leader Boomerang is on the outs with the team, but dosed former Thunderbolt/super-villain parole officer/series' punching bag Mach VII with the Chameleon’s shape-changing serum and left him to take the beating; while Boomerang disguises himself and replaces Mets pitcher Demang Pendak. Pendak was the rookie sensation on the verge of breaking Boomerang’s strikeout record, and Boomerang took his place because baseball was “the last time something meant anything.” And to impress a girl. Whom he maybe shouldn’t have told about the series’ other Macguffin, the portrait of an unmasked Doctor Doom…Worse, crime boss the Owl has also figured out Boomerang’s scheme, and now wants to muscle him into fixing the game.

So…what happened? We cut away to a plainclothes Boomerang in a crummy bar, telling his tale to an obscured figure. Well, if you must know, Speed Demon won a court case against Iron Fist, Mach VII got his team-up with Iron Man, Overdrive and Beetle try to get out with a copy of the portrait but run into its owner, and as the Punisher (!) is about to murder every gang member in NYC a not-unentirely-unexpected cavalry arrives.

Boomerang wraps up his story…sort of; with how he’s actually a little proud of how things turned out. OK, not great, but they had to fight like hell for anything they got. Probably not unlike the book’s creators! And Boomerang admits he may have made up half of it…probably not unlike the book’s creators. But did Boomerang throw the game--in the sense of cheating, that is--or did he win, in which case the Owl would be out for his head? It's up to you, but only Spencer and Lieber may know for sure. I still wonder, since I thought Boomerang was sleazy enough he might've bushwhacked Pendak specifically so Pendak couldn't break his record!