THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #123

"...Just A Man Called Cage!"

• Writer: Gerry Conway
• Artist: Gil Kane & Johnny Romita
• Inker: John Romita, Tony Mortellaro
• Print Date: Aug, 1973

Featuring:

Plot Summary:

Our issue opens shortly after last. Norman Osborn is dead, and his body is being loaded into a hearse while Robbie Robertson and Jonah watch on. It should be noted that Norman is not wearing the Green Goblin outfit where last issue we saw him die wearing it. Of course, Jonah blames Spider-Man for Norman's death (not knowing that Norman was really the Green Goblin) because of the webbing around the crime scene and ignoring the remains of the pumpkin bombs in the area as well. Vowing to make Spider-Man pay for this crime, Jonah climbs into his limo to return to the Daily Bugle. As Robbie remains at the scene, the police mentioned that someone moved Norman's body before the cops arrived. Overlooking the scene is a shadowy figure carrying the Green Goblin outfit. Our mystery man thinks about how Norman's death will cause a public outcry for justice and revenge whereas no one would care if the Green Goblin died. Plotting Spider-Man's death, the figure walks off over the rooftop.

Meanwhile, other minds are concentrating on that end, as well. One mind in particular concerns us here -- the labyrinthian brain of J. Jonah Jameson -- who even now broods on the death of his friend and fellow financier, and ponders a way to remove the threat of Spider-Man! Perusing the Bugle, he sees an ad for a "Hero For Fire". "To catch a thief, use a thief" the ad reads. "This could be just what I've been looking for," Jonah says.

Dawn comes pale and unpleasant to a long island cemetery three days later. The service is over Gwendolyne Stacy. Now all that remains are the tears. Attending her funeral are Peter Parker, Mary Jane, Ned Leeds, Betty Brant, Aunt May, Aunt Anna, and Robbie Robertson. Everyone offers their condolences to Peter (Gwen having no family present), and eventually Robbie, Mary Jane, and Peter are left at the grave alone. Jonah sends his condolences to Peter through Robbie. Finally, Peter and Mary Jane leave to grab a cup off coffee.

Meanwhile, on the island of Manhattan, in the section of the city known as Times Square, the details of a certain "business" appointment are about to become clear. Jonah approaches the office of Luke Cage, Hero for Hire. As he climbs the steps towards the office inside a crumbling movie house, a body flies through the door and past Jonah down the step. Luke Cage is telling another man NO in his own unique style. Insisting he doesn't work on weekend, Cage tries to send Jonah off to return another day. Persistent to a fault, Jonah steps into the office holding out a large wad of cash. Seeing the money that Jonah is offering, Cage decides that he can rest on Monday. When Cage asks Jonah what the job is about, Jonah replies "I'll give you five thousand dollars if you capture Spider-Man dead or alive!"

Later, Spider-Man is out swinging trying to get out of his mood and stop thinking of Gwen constantly. Feeling terribly alone, he finally decides that it is time to retire Spider-Man. At that moment, Cage attacks leaping up and grabbing the web-spinner out of the air. Getting in a couple of quick punches, Cage gloats that he knew Spidey would return to this neighborhood sooner or later. Retaliating all out, Spider-Man lays into Cage pretty hard stating that he never could stomach a mercenary. Now that Spider-Man's made it personal, Cage gets angry, and the two trade blows and toss each other into convenient walls and chimneys until the fight comes to a temporary end as Cage falls through a skylight. Unable to get back up on the rooftop before Spider-Man swings off, Cage vows to get him next time.

Thus, a few minutes later, at the apartment shared by Peter Parker and his roommate, Harry Osborn, Peter swings in through the window and changes into some regular clothes. Wondering how's Harry doing, Peter exits his room to find Harry sitting in the living room. Instead of responding to Peter's inquiries to his health and father's estate, Harry chooses to simply glare and remain mute. Feeling the cold shoulder, Peter takes off for the evening.

The evening's only begun, but for Peter Parker, it already seems almost over as Peter and Mary Jane attend a school concert. Peter just isn't feeling relaxed and can't get out of his head even for an evening. As Mary Jane tries to bring Peter out of his funk, Cage shatters the entry way demanding that Spider-Man show himself. Not realizing that Cage is simply bluffing and playing a hunch, Peter ducks into a room marked "Men" and sixty seconds later, he reappears as Spider-Man.

Knocking Cage out of the gym and onto school grounds, Cage and Spider-Man trade blows. Cage is upset that Spider-Man insinuated that he's a thief and some sort of bum, and says that he and Spider-Man have a lot to talk over on his terms! Again the two trade blows until Spider-Man realizes that it's just a matter of time until one or the other gets killed. Getting smart, Spider-Man tosses Cage off of him and webs him down to the school steps. Webbing Cage down gives Spider-Man the opportunity to actually chat and apologize for the cracks he made at Cage. To his credit, Cage takes the opportunity to listen.

Epilogue: Several hours later, in the offices of the Daily Bugle, Joe Robertson pauses outside the office of J. Jonah Jameson and listens quizzically to the sounds inside. As Cage steps out of the office, he makes a crack about returning some money Jonah gave him. It turns out he couldn't take the job after all. Taking a last look at two other components, as they meet outside an emptying concert hall, M.J. catches up with Peter. Peter tells Mary Jane that he just had a talk with someone and he realized that he's not really alone after all.

Comments:

After two back-to-back epic tales, it's nice to be able to relax with some 70's silliness and stereotypes. Introducing Marvel's answer to Shaft and other blaxploitation films, we have Luke Cage guest-starring this week in a blatant attempt to boost sales of Cage's book "Luke Cage, Hero for Hire". Actually, considering this comic came out after issue #11 of Cage's series (and introduction), the timing works out perfectly for Luke Cage being introduced to the Marvel universe shortly after the debut of Shaft in 1971 (Thank you IMDB!)

Plot Analysis:

So, the biggest development this issue is introduced right on the front page. Norman Osborn's body has been discovered, but he's not wearing his Green Goblin outfit. Now, it seems unlikely that Spider-Man would've stripped the costume off of him, so the only other culprit is the mystery man who went unrevealed last issue. A few pages later, this is confirm as our "still in the shadows" mystery man, carrying the Green Goblin outfit, watches Norman's body get loaded into a hearse from a nearby rooftop. Now, who would be so concerned about Norman's reputation, looking for vengeance for his death, and not be shocked that Norman is the Green Goblin. I have my suspicious, but we'll have to wait until a later issue to have my theory confirmed or disproved.

Jonah, in predictable fashion, blames Spider-Man for this. On one hand, Jonah makes a good foil for Spider-Man. A good focus point to express Spider-Man insecurities and to generalize the public's opinion of Spider-Man in the Marvel Universe. On the other hand, after so many issues of Jonah's knee-jerk "This must be all Spider-Man's fault!" reactions, he becomes simply a two-dimension characterization. And, unfortunately, that's how he's portrayed this entire issue. Jonah is so focused on Spider-Man, he excludes everything else this issue in pursuit. I much prefer later issues of Spider-Man where Jonah's rage is explored a little more, and he develops a little more personality than shown here.

I don't have a lot to say about this, but displaying Gwen's funeral here was a good bit of writing and really brought a bit of closure to the past couple of issues. Something that I didn't understand here was Doctor Octopus has a bodyguard following Aunt May. I'm sure this is probably explained in a previous issue, but they didn't even footnote Pete's comment to allow me to go back and look that issue up.

Ooooh... And with the introduction of Luke Cage, we get out first bit of 70's slang: "...and that, brother, is the end of it! Dig?" This is what I love about this issue. Anything Cage says comes up sounding like that "Do you speak Jive?" scene from Airplane!. I can just picture a bunch of pasty white comic-book writers sitting around watching Shaft and then writing dialogue for this issue. Cage freely peppers his speech with "Man", "Dig?", "Right on!", and "Brother". I have an urge to go out and rent Blackula or something similar all of the sudden.

Of course, this whole issue is simply a cross-over in order to try to get readers over to check out Hero For Hire which had been going for about ten to eleven issues at this point. Not having read that series, I can't comment on its quality, but seeing as how it only went for sixteen issues, it probably a safe bet that sales were lagging at this point. Apparently, it's not Spider-Man's year. He fails to save Gwen Stacy or Cage's own Hero For Hire magazine from dying tragic deaths at the hands of editors.

Ok, cut to the first fight scene. The writer's actually explain how Cage tracks Spider-Man down so easy. It's explained that Cage did a little research and discovered that Spider-Man is most often spotted in his home neighborhood, the Daily Bugle, and State University. Seeing that Jameson hired Cage, Spider-Man wouldn't be hanging around the Bugle, and its Saturnday meaning the State University isn't busy today. A nice bit of reasoning to get the two main characters involved with each other. Anyways, there is a whole lot of banter in both of these fights. I've read the whole issue a few times, and judging from the final scene, it appears that the writer is trying to make some sort of "We're not so different after all" point, but the message seems a bit strained. Anyways, Spider-Man recognizes Cage and makes an angry remark about Cage selling his power like some cheap-rate thug, and he also comments how much he hates mercenaries. This, of course, enrages Cage and makes the fight personal. All this is set against a pretty good fight scene. Spider-Man and Cage are shown to be very evenly matched in terms of strength and fighting ability. The only thing I might've done differently is showcased the differently fighting styles. Cage probably has more of a brute, overpowering, street-fighting with a bit of wrestling thrown-in style of fighting with his invulnerability. Spider-Man, being a bit more lean and agile, I would've imagined to have a little more finessed dodging while waiting for an opening. I don't know, maybe that's just me. Anyway, the slugfest goes back and forth with neither character getting an upper-hand until Spider-Man knocks Cage through a skylight and down into one of the building whose rooftops they've been battling across. Thus ends round one.

A lot of these issues seem very formulaic. We start out introducing the story. Go to fight scene #1. Fight ends without resolution, and we cut to the supporting cast and sub-plot development. Finally, we hit fight scene #2 and the story is resolved.

Anyways, with the sub-plot and supporting cast, we stick to Harry Osborn. Harry is acting strangely and refuses to speak to Peter. Now, Harry's suffered through his LSD trip the past couple of issue and then through his father dying. It's not really explained why he's upset at Peter in this issue unless it's because Peter left him by himself at his father's last issue. Still, that hardly seems enough for the cold shoulder that Peter gets.

So, the love of Peter's life died a few days ago, and he decides to go out to a dance with Mary Jane. I wish my life was full of such cute women that I could so easily move onto the next in the event that one dies! Kidding aside, Mary Jane drags Peter out to the dance in an effort to bring him out of his funk. Despite her best efforts, Peter is resolved to feeling bitter, miserable, and alone.

Fight scene round #2... Ok, having Cage play a hunch and burst onto a university function in order to flush out Spider-Man seems really contrived. Obviously, for story purposes the two need to team up again, but having Cage run amuck on campus seems a poor way to do it. On the other hand, having Cage act so brashly doesn't seem entirely out of character. Peter Parker ducks into a restroom and re-appears as Spider-Man. Again the two trade barbs as the fistfight commences. Finally, at some point, Spider-Man starts using his head and realizes they have nothing to fight about. In the first intelligent move he's made all issue, Spider-Man webs Cage down so they can have a heart-to-heart. Spider-Man and Cage realizes their animosity is the result of unrequited love, and the scene fades out as they consummate their relationship...

Just checking to see if anyone is paying attention. :) Actually, Spider-Man explains to Cage that Jameson is the bad guy here, and sort of apologizes to Cage for calling him a thug and mercenary. Cage, taking Spider-Man's words to heart calls off the job.

We move the epilogues. Epilogue number one has a funny scene with Jonah choking down the money that he tried to buy Cage with. See my earlier comments about Jonah being simply a characature this whole issue. Epilogue number two ends with Peter explaining to Mary Jane that he realizes he's not really alone after all. I'm not sure why he feels so close to Cage though. It's obvious that for lack of space or talent, the writer wasn't up to the task of giving Spider-Man and Cage some reasonable dialogue and conversation rather than hurling insults and threats back and forth.

Art Review:

Gil Kane's facial expressions are still a sight to see. Everyone has their own unique and distinctive face, and their expression convey thoughts and emotions rather well. I raved enough about them last issue. This issue, I took note of his use of differently perspectives and angles to show scenes. I mean, he doesn't go overboard, but many of his scenes are framed really well, and his perspectives seem solid. His portrayal of Luke Cage seems to fit the character well. In his scenes, Cage is drawn as the physically imposing and over-the-top street fighter that he is.

Action Factor:

No lack of action in this issue. Cage and Spider-Man slug it out for a full eight pages. This fight takes place across rooftops and also across the campus grounds. The artist does an excellent job of including the location as part of the scene instead of just backdrop. Cage and Spider-Man slam each other into chimneys, knock each other through doors and walls, and even toss one another through skylights. The issue feels like a knock-down, drag-it-out fight in the city. My only complaint is that Spider-Man should've been thinking sooner and fighting smarter earlier. He tries to go one-on-one with Cage which isn't going to work. Spider-Man has the agility to dodge Cage's blows all day long, but with Cage's invulnerability, Spider-Man doesn't really have a good way to hurt him.

Spider-Villain lessons 101:

Tip #1:
When hiring freelancers to take down someone for you, make sure either they have no scruples, or you pay them enough that they don't ever stop to question your motives. Jonah fails on both accounts.

Tip #2:
Said freelancers should have the skills and ability to get the job done as well. Hiring a guy, especially for this sort of work, because his ad in the paper caught your eye might not be the best way to go about doing things.

Tip #3:
The old comic books rules used to say that you should never believe a man is dead until you see the body. Well, Marvel throws that out the window because we distinctly saw Norman's body this issue, and he's STILL not dead. It takes him 20 years, but he eventually returns to torment Spider-Man some more.