Hey, it’s Gang War time! Stop, come back, no more teasing about how “Gang War is coming!” – it’s finally here! And did somebody say “I want some one-shots in my comicbook events?” No? Well, you’re getting them anyway, you lucky dogs!
(Google defines “first strike” as “an attack with nuclear weapons designed to destroy the enemy’s nuclear weapons before their use.” Uh-oh.)
CREDITS
Writer: Zeb Wells with Cody Ziglar
Artists: Joey Vazquez with Julian Shaw
Color Artists: Bryan Valenza
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Variant Cover Artists: SWEENEY BOO? IS THAT A REAL NAME?
THIS ISSUE IS DEDICATED TO SHARI ANN MYERS – 1963-2023(1)
PREVIOUSLY IN AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
We had a three-part(2) story about Rek-Rap. No, don’t try to remember it, it’s best that you don’t. Pretend that it never happened and move on. But Gang War shenanigans were transpiring! Hammerhead was pitting the various gangs against each other, Janice decided to take her father Tombstone’s place and broke up with Randy, Silvermane and Count Nefaria were revealed to be the big bosses behind the scenes orchestrating everything … only to be immediately defeated (killed?) by a mysterious figure. Also, some guy got their letter printed in the letters page.
SUMMARY
(I’ve been reading Marvel comics for decades, and I admit that there are a bunch of names here I don’t recognize. Some of them must be fake just to mess with us.)
In the Bronx a bunch of gang leaders are meeting. One of them (I have no idea who this is but he’s got a lot of hair on his face and looks wolf-like so I’m calling him “Wolf-Face”) is arguing with The Rose (or is this the Crime-Master?), Lady Yulan, Shang-Chi, Mr. Negative, Shotgun (?), and Black Mariah. The Rose/Crime-Master has partnered up with AIM (and has one of the beekeeper outfit guys with him), while Shotgun plans to take over Madame Masque’s territory (since she’s dead). Hammerhead (who is at the far end of the table, away from the squabbling “kids”) reveals that Shotgun has partnered with HYDRA and accuses him of killing Madame Masque, but Shotgun says that he would not have killed Count Nefaria’s daughter. Also, Black Mariah wants Tombstone’s territory. Basically it’s like having Thanksgiving dinner with the members of your family that you choose to see only once a year – at Thanksgiving.
Suddenly the White Rabbit appears (it feels like forever since we saw her). Hammerhead says that she’s supposed to be watching “Tombstone’s girl”, which is when Janice enters and sits in Tombstone’s vacant seat. She says that she’s not going to let any of them take over her father’s territory. Hammerhead thanks Janice for inviting him to her wedding, which is where he met “what’s-her-name” (the woman hanging off his arm every time we’ve seen him since the wedding), but says that she has to earn her father’s seat by killing the guy who’s trying to get Fisk’s Law repealed: Randy Robertson!
(Janice: “Who?”Hammerhead: “I thought you might have forgotten him so here’s a photo of him.” Janice: “Who is this woman with him?” Hammerhead: “That would be you.”)
Janice appears shocked at first but tells Hammerhead to give her 24 hours to do the deed and tells everyone to not touch “that #$%&ing seat.”
Meanwhile Spider-Man is chasing Slyde(3) who is slipping away (I like wordplay) but Miles is also here to help. He says that he doesn’t have time for this and uses an energy sword (Miles can do that now?) to cut a walkway that Slyde is attached to, causing him to fall and get knocked out.
Spidey tries to joke around with Miles, but Miles is having none of it, and we get 2 pages of Miles reading him for filth about being gone for 6 months (and pretty much all of his actions during the Zells run). Miles tells him how he’s been working with Luke Cage, Misty Knight, and Randy Robertson trying to get rid of Fisk’s Law. Spidey admits that Cage asked him to help and he refused, and now admits that wasn’t a good decision. Miles tells him to get his act together and leaves.
(Miles: “You know where to find me … in a book where I am written well and consistently, unlike one of us.” Spidey: “Ouch … but true.”)
Meanwhile Randy is talking to Luke Cage on the phone, who says that he can’t repeal Fisk’s Law if he can’t force a vote(4). Randy says that he’s going to talk to some of his supporters, and Luke hears a noise outside Gracie Mansion, and we see that Randy has brought his protestors there.
(There are 4 (FOUR) “Iron Man Saved My Dad” protest signs here. What the hell is going on here?)
Hammerhead and What’s-Her-Name are driving by the protest and he says that he will find the one making the most noise and deal with this. Randy is practicing his speech to the protestors when he is confronted by the Beetle (aka Janice). She shoves him against the wall and asks if he thinks she’s a murderer – like her father – and Randy admits that he doesn’t think that, but he does think that of whomever sent her to threaten/kill him.
While all this is happening, What’s-Her-Name is telling Hammerhead that it’s not right to send Janice to kill her boyfriend, but he is sure that she won’t do it, and that he did this to let Janice realize that she’s not a killer. Janice realizes that she can’t kill Randy, unmasks, and tells him to get out of New York (not just the city but the state). But then three goons show up. Randy forgets that Janice’s Beetle armor is bulletproof(5) and throws himself in front of her just as the goons shoot.
Spidey shows up at Gracie Mansion to talk to Cage about Randy and his protest work, but Cage tells him that something’s happened to Randy.
Meanwhile Robbie Robertson is sitting besides Tombstone in his hospital room:
(This is kind of weird, right? Since when did Robbie care enough about Tombstone to sit somberly by his bedside? He got Robbie sent to prison in the 80s.)
A nurse enters assuming that Robbie was just admitted with bullet wounds, but she realizes it’s another Robertson – Randy. Joe finds Randy being wheeled in with multiple gunshot wounds. Janice is with him, crying, saying that Randy jumped in front of her, but Joe tells her to “get the hell away from my son”, causing her to leave in tears.
Hammerhead and What’s-Her-Name are at his place. She is holding Madame Masque’s mask(6) and saying that she doesn’t like that he ordered his men to shoot Randy. He yells at her and shoves her to the floor, saying that he’s the man got the “killers” and “psychos” to want to kill each other, and that he’s the only one keeping everything from blowing up.
(Hammerhead: “Hey baby, my head itches.” What’s-Her-Name: “Don’t worry, I’ll help you with that.”)
Suddenly, What’s-Her-Name reveals that she hasn’t just been eye-candy for the past few appearances, takes out an adamantium (and magic?) pole, and bashes Hammerhead on the head. She reveals that it’s an actually a femur (this is from Silvermane’s robot body, obviously) and proceeds to bash him repeatedly on the head, leaving him seemingly dead (F in the comments for Hammerhead, who I am 100% positive is dead and won’t come back later in this story).
Beetle arrives to see What’s-Her-Name covered in Hammerhead’s blood. Janice recognizes her as Hammerhead’s date at her wedding, and What’s-Her-Name reveals that she is actually … Madame Masque!(7) Sacre bleu!
Madame Masque reveals that she hired someone to pretend to be her at the wedding when she learned that Hammerhead planned to blow up her car, and then be his “floozy” on his arm while he monologued about all of his plans in front of her.
(So does this mean she was the mysterious figure at the end of the previous issue? Or is that someone else? There are no purple boots in this shot.)
Madame Masque tells Janice what is about to happen – the various gang leaders will learn that Hammerhead is gone(8), realize that the agreements that held everyone together were only effective when he was around, and everyone will move on the other gangs. We see Mr. Negative, RingMaster, and The Rose starting to make their moves against each other as Masque describes this. Masque admits that all the gangs want war – she’s just giving it to them.
Meanwhile at the McCarthy Medical Institute(9), Robbie is sitting by Randy’s bedside. Spidey arrives and Robbie says that Spidey should be out there fighting, not in here with Randy, and gives him a speech so inspirational that you would swear you’d hear patriotic music playing in the background.
They’re interrupted by multiple explosions outside. We get a great 2-page spread of various gangs attacking each other.
(Shang-Chi and Hulks and RingMaster? Oh my! Plus, more of Wolf-Face!)
Janice tells Madame Masque that if anyone comes after Harlem she will destroy them. Masque says that “they’re already coming after Harlem” and that she’ll be there to claim what’s left after. Beetle leaves; Masque contacts Shotgun and tells him “We’re go.” … which means that Shotgun was working with Masque all along! What kind of world do we live in when we can’t even trust a man named Shotgun?
Cage is telling his subordinates to mobilize everyone. Spidey arrives and tells him that he’s going to be doing a lot of super-heroing and doesn’t want any “distractions”. Cage confirms that he’ll make sure that he won’t be arrested for being a superhero in public, but Spidey tells him that it’s not just “him” – he’s putting together a team.
(I was really tempted to include an “I’m putting together a team” GIF here but I could decide between the Nick Fury one of the Batfleck one.)
TO BE CONTINUED!
INITIAL RESPONSE
Remember when this run started and, although we all hated the brand new mystery box mystery, we had some optimism because of the initial story with Tombstone? Remember how good it felt to read about a street-level Spidey story? It’s nice to have that feeling back here.
WHAT I LIKED
After months of teasing and setup, the Gang War is finally here!
Like the second half of the previous ASM issue, we got something from pretty much everyone involved in this story. There’s a lot of characters, and while we didn’t get a lot from everyone, we got enough from the main ones.
Miles shows up just long enough to tell Peter what the readers have wanted to tell him since this run started – how terribly he’s been acting during this entire run. I shouldn’t like another character coming into the book just to tell Spidey how bad he’s been acting, but considering this run, Spidey both needs and deserves it.
(It feels weird when a guest star criticizing the main character feels like a good moment, but Peter needed someone to tell him this.)
While I had more interest in the Randy/Janice relationship during the Spencer run than the Zells run, her realization that she couldn’t kill him and that she still cares for him was nice to see. I’m still rooting for those two crazy kids!
They got me with the Madame Masque reveal. There was nothing specific, but a few pages into the issue I thought “Hmm … I think Hammerhead’s nameless girlfriend is more than she appears.” But I never thought that she would be Masque – I thought maybe she was just a mole for Mr. Purple Boots. I knew nothing about Madame Masque before this run but I recognized the name, so when she blew up at the wedding I thought “there’s no way they’re going to kill off a villain that’s been around for years (decades?) like this”. So I suspected that she was still alive and her “death” was part of someone else’s plan (I assumed Hammerhead’s). So it was a surprise to see What’s-Her-Name rise up and beat (kill?) Hammerhead – to follow up on the Survivor analogy I made in the previous issue, if you get too much power and make yourself look too powerful too early before the game is over then you run the risk of someone else realizing this and taking you out.(10)
Not sure I like the idea of Spidey forming a team, but there seem to be enough crime groups to fight that he can’t fight them all at once by himself, so I guess it makes sense to gather some other New York heroes and divide up the groups amongst them.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Spidey doesn’t appear a lot in this issue, and he’s very reactive – he’s not driving the plot, he’s realizing that he hasn’t been doing enough – things he should have been already doing. Miles tells him that he’s been acting terrible to him and the city. Robbie tells him that he should be out fighting the gangs instead of visiting Randy. Spidey finally gets the message and decides that he needs to stand up against Fisk’s Law, and go out and fight this Gang War, but he should have already known that he should do that. I guess Zells might say that this realization is all part of Peter’s arc across this entire run, but it just feels like he made him act out of character for so long just to have this momentous moment of him realizing what he has to do. But it mostly comes off as the reader saying “Duh! Yeah, this is what Spidey should have been doing all along!”
I’m starting to get whiplash from the repeated introductions of the new person in charge of the Gang War plans, only for them to be removed and someone else to be revealed as the new big threat. That isn’t a problem with this issue specifically, more so how it’s happened a few times so far in the Gang War setup stories. But if we get Madame Masque removed/killed in the next issue by a new Big Bad I’ll start rolling my eyes and say “Whatever!”
What is Shang-Chi doing here hanging out with the crime gangs? Is this supposed to be an undercover assignment? Or he is anti-hero who acts as a criminal sometimes to maintain order? I knew next to nothing about him before his movie but had heard about him over the years – enough to know that he’s not supposed to be a criminal. Please let me know in the comics if this is out of character for Shang-Chi to be here like this, or am I wrong about him?
(Mr. Negative asking the question that I was.)
WHAT THIS ISSUE MEANT OVERALL
Gang War is here! It’s started, with a bang! Multiple bangs! There’s plenty of time for Zells to disappoint me as the story goes on, but right now I’m … excited? Is that the word? I’m optimistically cautious? Yeah, that’s the phrase.
Also, if you skipped this issue because you only read Amazing Spider-Man then you’re going to have missed a lot when you read the next ASM issue.
GRADE
B+.
This was almost an A-, but the reactive Spidey annoyed me, even though that seems to be over with this issue. It feels like Zells deliberately made Spidey act out of character for so long just to have this big moment in this issue when he realizes that he should be doing what he should have been doing all along. But at least Spidey seems to finally have his head screwed on straight about what he’s supposed to be doing, and this still a really good issue, setting up lots of Gang War shenanigans to come in the issues ahead.
NEXT TIME, IN AN ALL-NEW ISSUE OF AMAZING SPIDER-MAN …
(What’s a Marvel event without a checklist of tie-ins?)
What will happen in Luke Cage: Gang War #1 and Spider-Woman #1? Tune in to the Spider-Satellites patreon podcast to find out (I assume) because neither Mark nor I will be reviewing them here! You’re lucky you got a review of this issue – I asked Mark last week if he was going to review this issue and he yelled at me for 20 minutes about how he only reviews the odd-numbered ASM issues, and that I just wanted him to include this one-shot in our rotation to throw off that pattern so that *I* would get to review the odd-numbered issues in the future. Mark is really into numerology I guess.
FOOTNOTES
(1) According to her obituary (I assume this is her), she was married to Jesus Vasquez in 1988 but that marriage eventually ended and she remarried. I assume the divorce was amicable because the Vasquez family is listed among her friends and family. I mentioned that because I wonder if Joey Vasquez (this issue’s artist) is related to Jesus Vasquez. If anyone knows who she is and why this issue is dedicated to her, let us know in the comments.
(2) Actually it was a 2.5 part story.
(3) According to the Marvel Wiki, Slyde was killed when Underworld (?) shot him in the back of the head during Civil War (the first one), but later turned up alive with no explanation in Avengers Standoff: Assault On Pleasant Hill Omega #1.
(4) 
(5) Is it bulletproof? I don’t remember if we have been told/shown this, but it seems likely. Who wears an armor suit that is not bulletproof?
(6) Try saying that five times fast.
(7) Finally I don’t have to type What’s-Her-Name anymore in this review. Oh wait, I could have just copy and pasted it instead of typing it each time. Drat.
(8) I like to think that the other gangs found out about Hammerhead’s death so quickly because Madame Masque tweeted about it and tagged them all in her post. #HammerheadIsDead #GangWar #ThugLife
(9) According to the Marvel Wiki, this institute is home to the Maria Wheelock Cancer Center where Aunt May and Jane Foster both received their cancer treatments.
(10) I can finally reveal that I only took the job of writing these reviews to slowly start to discuss my interest in Survivor here. Eventually these reviews will be 95% Survivor, 5% Spider-Man review.
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@hornacek – That word does appear in crossword puzzles a lot — I have doing the LA Times crossword puzzle every day for several years now. Lately the word “sitar” has been appearing quite frequently for some reason. The last time there was a Spider-man-related clue, I got frustrated because the hyphen was missing. I think the answer was OTTO, but I don’t remember.
@Evan Berry:
Thank you! Glad I wasn’t the only one who looked at the character and did not automatically say “That’s the Owl.”
@Dark Mark:
I learned epee from doing crossword puzzles. Same as I know that edam is dutch cheese – also known as “crossword cheese” since it’s commonly used in crosswords.
Wait, wait, wait. That was the Owl? I guess it just took a few days for that to sink in.
@Hornacek and @RJB
Hornacek – epee – ha! Had to look that up!
RJB – I love the research! I was going to do that for my review next week, but if you don’t mind, if love to use yours (properly credit, natch).
@Michael:
Ok, he looks similar in this issue to how he looked in #31, and Hammerhead *did* call him the Owl in that issue. But it still looks nothing like how he used to look. I probably saw that word balloon and assumed Hammerhead was talking to someone else.
For what it’s worth, this is what the Owl looked like in Amazing 31:
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/the-gang-war-begins-in-todays-amazing-spider-man-31-spoilers/
Honestly, I don’t think that looks like the Owl either. The difference is, that in that case, Hammerhead refers to him as Owl, so the readers will know who he is. They should have done the same this issue.
(And I have to wonder if Paul and I recognized him as the Owl because we remembered he was in issue 31 in the back of our minds.)
@Michael:
Call me crazy, but I like when artists draw an existing character for the first time and they look like how they have been depicted in the past. And if their appearance is deliberately different then they (or another character) will reference it in dialogue, or an editor’s note will be included identifying them and why they look different. If you had given me a dozen guesses as to whom Wolf-Face was I don’t think I would have guessed The Owl.
As for Masque, I would forgive this if she *always* wore the mask and no one had ever seen her face under it. But based on what I’ve read I don’t think this is the case, so her not changing her appearance at all is kind of ridiculous – someone should have recognized her.
This was just the artist’s choice on how to draw him. But this is subjective. I thought it was obvious that was supposed to be the Owl (albeit a littlle off model). OTOH, I wasn’t sure if Masque was supposed to have had plastic surgery or not.
@RJB:
Kudos to you for doing the work that I was too lazy to do myself.
I don’t mind if there are players in the gang war that Spidey (and his readers) do not know. This would be true for Spidey – he should come across some of these players and say “I have no idea who this is.” But we really should be getting editor’s boxes above each of them in most of the Gang War issues the first time they appear in each issue to identify who they are.
For example, I know who The Owl, but did not recognize him at all in this issue. Is this because the Owl’s appearance has changed and this is how he looks now? Or was this just this artist’s choice of how to draw him?
Hi guys, long time lurker, but the map sparked my interest.
I have been reading Spidey since the 80’s and I also didn’t recognize a number of the gang lords.
The marvel wiki on this was surprisingly useful: (blame them if my info is wrong) https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Gang_War_(Event)
the fruits of my research in order of fewest marvel appearances (most obscure)
name then year created then # of appearances then commentary
the heat don’t yet exist,
bumbler created 2021/ 2 appearances both in Miles’ book [I don’t read him]
Menagerie created 2014/ 4 appearances White Rabbit gang
Frost Pharaoh 2019/ 4 a Miles’ villian again
Yulan 2022 / 4 created in moon knight
the 5th crime master 2021/ 11 (shocked this became a research rabbit hole)
Big Ben 1973/ 16 in 50 years! Luke Cage/DD
Black Mariah 1972/ 26 Luck Cage villianess
5 weapons 2020/ 27 Shang Chi (no clue what goes on there)
Diamondback (not Cap A’s) 1972/ 36 Luke Cage/Def /DD
Enforcers 1963 / 41 [underutilized]
Silvermane 1969/ 74
Count Nefaria 1964/ 76 iron man/ avenger Foe
Rose 1970/ 76 (I always liked the look)
White Rabbit 1983/ 77 (preferred her as a comedy character)
Ringmaster 1962/ 78 (why is he a NYC lord his shtick is the circus of crime is mobile)
Mr Negative 2007/ 85 only good post BND villian
Hobgoblin [Rod] 92 (why does he have territory he sells/franchises gimmicks)
Owl 1964/ 129
Madame Masque 1967/ 158 Iron man foe
Tombstone 1987/ 167
Hammerhead 1972/ 175
Maggia 1964/ 183
Kingpin 1967/ 628
so what did we learn from all this,
1 New Jersey, Staten I, & Brooklyn were not on the map
2 there are a lot of obscure recent creations in this (cannon fodder)
3 these characters are poorly established especially from the pov of
a spider-man exclusive reader.
No reader should need this much research to know who the players are (yes they are all mooks) but to care what happens we need to know who they are.
Why not spend the last 30 some issues setting them up and Peter’s dynamics with each then end in this big gang war that would have filled issues better than the horrible mystery box plot/ dark web stuff.
Market the mystery of who will rule NYC if you need a gimmick.
@Evan Berry:
Thanks for your feedback on my footnotes. I’d love to make the “(#)”s links but haven’t figured out how to do it in the editor. I use CTRL-F when I’m writing them and add a new one meaning I have to update all the numbers.
As far as Madame Masque attacking Hammerhead with that pole, she does say it’s adamantium (and also mentions magic?). Isn’t Hammerhead’s head also made of adamantium? I know it was originally titanium (?) but during BND wasn’t there a story where that was replaced with adamantium?
@Michael:
Accepting that different artists will draw characters differently, MM without her mask in that link looks like how Hammerhead’s girlfriend looked in this issue (and previous issues). Which means she didn’t try to disguise herself at all when she pretended to be Hammerhead’s date at the wedding, and was hanging off his arm while he was meeting with all of the other crime gangs. Which is pretty stupid, because at least one of them – or Hammerhead even – should have said “Hey, it’s Madame Masque! I thought you were dead!”
@hornacek – And foil is also what Pee Wee Herman made a large ball out of.
Great review! I especially loved going to the endnotes as I was reading to see your parenthetical comments. (I read your reviews on a computer, so it’s easy for me to search back and forth between the superscripts and the notes themselves.)
After reading Michael’s suggestion weeks ago that Hammerhead and Masque were working together I tended to agree with him, so this issue made me think, “Well — I guess Hammerhead didn’t know that was her at all.” Still, I’m surprised that anyone would think that attacking a guy named Hammerhead in the head (of all places) would be effective.
I absolutely love when all the commenters chime in with important details regarding lore and history. And literary terminology. (Especially because continuity and lore can be very confusing for me!) It makes these reviews feel cooperative and collective.
@Hornacek-I found a picture of what Madame Masque looks like unmasked (the lady in the bikini is Madame Masque):
https://www.echoesofthemultiverse.com/viewtopic.php?p=163379#p163379
The thing is, I’m not sure if Madame Masque is meant to have plastic surgery or if she just looks differently because different artists are drawing her.
The problem is, it’s not JUST Hammerhead. The other crime lords and Peter also saw her without the mask and none of them recognized her. And if Madame Masque’s plan hinged on no one recognizing her without her mask, not even her fellow crime lords, then Hammerhead isn’t the only one who looks stupid.
@Dark Mark:
A foil is also similar to an epee.
@Michael:
Yeah, the way we saw Hammerhead bending before Silvermane but the hidden look on his face made it look like he had plans to deal with Silvermane. But we never heard anything about that. I was waiting for him to say “Silvermane is no longer a problem”. Did he even know that Silvermane had been “killed” before Masque took him out?
Yeah, I don’t know what Madame Masque looks like under the mask – is this her real face? It would’ve made more sense if she had pulled off a false face after attacking Hammerhead to reveal that she was disguised, or that she had plastic surgery. Unless Masque’s true face is a mystery to everyone, Hammerhead looks pretty foolish here.
I was like 99% sure Janice’s armor was bulletproof, so it would have been more likely that *she* would have thrown herself in front of *Randy* at that moment. I guess Randy’s action here was to show us (and Janice) that he still loves her.
“Note that Masque says she’ll show Hammerhead where she got the femur later- that’s more evidence he isn’t dead.” Oh, you’re right, good catch. Still, the rest of that scene – especially the way she talks about him to Janice – makes it look like Masque thinks Hammerhead is dead now.
“I’m sure Dark Mark will use some fancy literature term to describe this when he does his review.” We can only hope.
“Maybe Robbie was at Tombstone’s bed out of respect for Randy, who was dating his daughter?” I don’t know, at this point Randy has pretty much called off the wedding being rescheduled so Robbie should think that the two of them are not getting back together. But even if he thought Randy was still in love with Janice, we’ve seen earlier in Zells’ run that Robbie still doesn’t like Tombstone. This guy bullied Robbie for years and was responsible for him going to prison. Robbie shouldn’t have any good feelings towards him.
“The mysterious figure WAS Masque- she’s worn purple costumes in the past.” I mean, I definitely think of Norman more than Masque if there’s a mysterious figure wearing some purple clothes.
@Dark Mark:
All kidding aside, I knew nothing about what was going to happen in this issue but I had a feeling that it was not going to be one of these tie-in issues that you could skip and not miss out on the main story. Anyone who is legitimately interested in the Gang War story in ASM should read this issue if they go straight from the previous ASM issue to the next one they will be wondering what they have missed.
Personally, I’d be happier if someone besides Kingpin was in charge at the end of this. We’ve already had Kingpin in charge of all the gangs many times. Give us something different.
Regarding Shang-Chi, thanks for the info. An editor’s note would have been very helpful saying something like “Shang-Chi is acting like a criminal because …”
@Paul Penna:
I know the Owl and remember fondly the Owl/Octopus War in PPSSM in the 1980s. That did not look like the Owl to me at all, but I’ll take your word for it.
I recognize the name Diamondback but would never have been able to identify him in this issue
I agree with you that captions above everyone’s heads in their first panel would have been helpful.
@Michael – The two characters are foils. Usually, but not always, we look for a foil against the protagonist, but it works here. A foil is a character much like the protagonist, but slightly different and it is that contrast that really highlights certain traits in the protagonist. For example, Peter Parker and Doc Ock share a similar childhood experience with their peers, but Peter had Aunt May and Uncle Ben, while Ock had far less to steer his path. Didn’t want to make you wait! 🙂
@Dark Mark- The Kingpin is currently the White King of the Hellfire Club. He was wanted for various crimes at the end of Devil’s Reign but he seems to be operating openly now.
I guessed that the mysterious woman was Madame Masque but I thought she was working WITH Hammerhead to fake her death.
It seemed like Hammerhead wasn’t content being Silvermane’s lackey but nothing came of that. Or maybe there’s another twist?
One thing bothers me- are we supposed to assume Masque had plastic surgery or was disguised somehow? Because it makes no sense for Silvermane and Nefaria to send Hammerhead to kill Masque without giving him a photo of what she looks like under the mask.
Re: the Beetle armor being bulletproof- we were shown many times that Abner Jenkins’ Beetle armor is bulletproof, so presumably so is Janice’s. Maybe Randy was afraid she’d get shot in the head?
Re: Shang-Chi- he inherited his father’s criminal organization, the Five Weapons Society, and is trying to turn it good.
Note that Masque says she’ll show Hammerhead where she got the femur later- that’s more evidence he isn’t dead.
Regarding Madame Masque, the important thing to know is that her background mirrors Janice’s. Both Janice’s father Tombstone and Madame Masque’s father Count Nefaria were crime lords. But while Tombstone tried to steer Janice into nonviolent crime because he loved her, Count Nefaria pressured Madame Masque into the family business because he saw her as merely a means to an end. Both Janice and Madame Masque fell in love with good men, Janice with Randy and Madame Masque with Tony Stark. But while Janice found that she couldn’t kill Randy, Madame Masque was capable of trying to kill Tony Stark. I’m sure Dark Mark will use some fancy literature term to describe this when he does his review.
Maybe Robbie was at Tombstone’s bed out of respect for Randy, who was dating his daughter?
The mysterious figure WAS Masque- she’s worn purple costumes in the past.
Holy moly! That last part was so good, it made me momentarily forget about the crappy Peter Parker parts! Madame Masque standing there splattered with Hammerhead’s blood after nailing him on the head of all places! I *almost* hate I didn’t take this issue – but I’m not giving up those odd numbers. Norbot used to always change up our numbering and had some weird system that used factoring and polynomials to figure out who had what issue. Not going back to that. However, I will admit that I did not foresee this issue being so good and so important to the story. I thought we might get a few important tid bits, but I really didn’t think it was going to start all out war here. Now I want to read the Luke Cage and Spider-Woman tie ins before ASM comes out.
I really appreciated the map. I don’t know all of these characters, but I don’t think it will be a problem to following the story. I also didn’t mind this happening without Spider-Man. There is no real reason he should be up on this considering what he’s been through the past few days (well, Rek-Rap days excluded). I didn’t get him saying that he’s been ignoring Luke Cage when he was just in his office in the last arc.
My initial thought is that when all is said and done, Kingpin will be back in charge, but I don’t really know where he is at the moment and if he can return to power considering where he was left (because I don’t know where he was left).
By the way, I’m behind on my Marvel Unlimited, but I believe Shang Chi has taken over his father’s criminal organization. I believe he is running it thinking that it is better that he is there controlling them than to let them go completely evil.
Nice review, Craig!
“Wolf-Face” is the Owl. Very old Daredevil villain, appeared in the Netflix series and has appeared in past Spider-Man comics too. Also the guy at the table who is working with Hydra is Willis Stryker, also known as Diamondback. Enemy of Luke Cage, also appeared in his Netflix series.
But, I get the confusion. Lots of different characters here. Would it have really been difficult using captions to name them? So many new readers are going to be lost.
Also, love the Madame Masque reveal. Very in-keeping with her character to use decoys. And loved seeing her beatdown Hammerhead. she’s a great villain. If you’re unfamiliar with the character, she’s an Iron Man villain who was partially adapted in Agent Carter Season 2. Her birth name was Giulietta Nefaria but it was legally changed to Whitney Frost.