THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #140

"...And One Will Fall!"

• Writer: Gerry Conway
• Artist: Ross Andru
• Inker: F. Giacoia & D. Hunt
• Print Date: Jan., 1975

Featuring:

Plot Summary:

Department of Redundancy Department: Last issue, Spider-Man tracked the Grizzly to a Washington Square townhome, and as Peter Parker, was capture by the Grizzly and that mystery-man, the Jackal. This issue picks up with the Jackal keen to use Peter Parker to capture Spider-Man because "wherever Peter Parker goes, Spider-Man is not far behind!" To that end, the Grizzly knocks Peter unconscious again by crushing in his powerful bear hug, and the Jackal raves about 'the operation'.

For a time, all is dark. Then, the darkness begins to clear, faces form, and they're the faces of friends: Betty Brant and Ned Leeds. Peter recovers in the lobby of the Daily Bugle building. Betty and Ned are concerned over Peter's grogginess and as they stop for coffee to clear Peter's head, Peter notices something is odd about his arm. A quick trip to the men's room, and he discovers the Jackal has attached a harness to his arm. The recorded voice of the Jackal reveals that the harness is a combination tracking device and booby trap. If Peter attempts to tamper with it in any way, it'll vibrate itself, and Peter's arm, to dust!

Jumping ahead a few hours, Peter and Flash get Peter settled in his new apartment. Stopping in to welcome her new neighbor, we introduce long-time guest start: Gloria Grant. After introductions are made, Flash takes off to campus, and we jump a few more hours to find Peter up late in the college chemistry lab. He has no choice but to pray that the Jackal was bluffing, and in an attempt to foil the harness, he jams a acetylene torch into the harness' wiring. Luckily the harness shorts out, and Peter is able to remove and dispose of the harness safely.

Back in action, Spider-Man returns to the scene of the Grizzly's attack and finds Jonah catching a nap on his office couch. After jolting Jonah awake, Spider-Man gets the low-down on the history of the Grizzly and his interest in Jonah Jameson.

Origin: Jonah heard of the Grizzly eleven years ago when he was still a professional wrestler. Shocked by the violence and brutality the Grizzly showed, Jonah began an editorial crusade which ended with the Grizzly being kicked out by the wrestling commission. Confronting Jonah outside the commission's hearing, the Grizzly is enraged to learn that Jonah was simply interested in starting a crusade to sell more papers.

Angered at Jonah's callousness towards ruining a man's career, Spider-Man takes off and returns to the place where he saw the Grizzly last: the Washington Square townhouse that was serving as the Jackal's hideout. Easily breaking in, Spider-Man finds that both the Grizzly and the Jackal have flown the coop and left nothing behind. Running out of leads but not giving up yet, Spider-Man tracks down the gym where the Grizzly used to hang out. In a coincidence that only occurs in comics, Spider-Man arrives just as the Grizzly has started busting up the place.

Spider-Man challenges the Grizzly to a rematch, but this time, eh fights with his head and not with his hands. Instead of trying to beat the Grizzly into submission again (a tactic that failed last issue), Spider-Man uses his agility to stay out of the Grizzly's hands while using his webbing to tear apart the Grizzly's powered suit at the seams. Finally, the last of the Grizzly outfit has been trashed and at that point, Max Markham is no match for Spider-Man. A quick toss and a liberal coating of webbing and the former wrestling is washed up and ready for the police.

Comments:

Wow, it has been awhile. This is where my hiatus began, and now I can't remember a thing of significance about this issue. Anyways, I'm back, and picking up right where I left off. Today's review is being written to My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult's "A Crime For All Seasons".

Plot Analysis:

All right, so Peter has been captured by the Grizzly and the Jackal. Because, of course, their combined intellect and strength are obviously superior to Spider-Man's. Ahem, now that I've got the sarcasm out of the way, well, I like to think that Peter was just having an "off" day when he was capture. Maybe he was suffering from hay fever or something. God, it is good to be writing again. You wouldn't believe how therapeutic this is.

Regardless of how much suspension of disbelief we needed to get here, Peter's been capture, and the Jackal has obviously been awaiting his arrival. The Jackal's lab is all set up here to attach a combination tracking harness and combination bomb to Peter's arm in order to try to link him to Spider-Man. Now, you kids might not appreciate this, but back in the 70's, when you wanted a all-in-one tracking harness and booby trap, you had to go through and wire it together yourself. Nowadays, I suspect many of these villains simply do their shopping online. There isn't like having explosives shipped to your home overnight.

I am confused about what the Jackal is trying accomplish here though. I mean, for starters, the Jackal is Peter's college professor Miles Warren. I hope I didn't just ruin someone's surprise here, but that's what you get for not keeping up with the past 30 years of continuity. And at the end of the comic, Bruce Willis realizes he's Spider-Man. Oh wait, mixing my entertainment here. Anyways... Professor Warren in issue #150 knows Spider-Man's secret identity, and I assumed due to his cloning and blood work on Peter, that he knew all-along who Spider-Man was. However, in this issue, he apparently is either playing dumb or doesn't honestly know that Peter Parker and Spider-Man are the same person. Is this an editorial mixup, a plot point that I've missed, or is the Jackal more diabolical than I give him credit for? My vote goes for editorial mixup. Hell, at the point, the writer might not have even decided what the Jackal's secret identity was.

Well, assuming the Jackal didn't know at this point who Spider-Man was, what's the point of the tracking device? The Jackal is planning on tracking Peter's movements to find Spider-Man's secret identity? Does he think they are roommates or something? I mean, even if he suspected that Peter and Spider-Man knew each other, does he think that Peter is just going to go out to the bar and have a beer with Spidey with this explosive tracking device strapped to his arm? I suppose with 1975's technology being what it was, he might've been able to pass it off as a new-fangled pager device.

Note to you future bomb-technicians: I'm pretty sure that opening the lid of an explosive device and that firing an acetylene torch into its innards is NOT a commonly approved method of defusing bombs. Don't try that at home kids.

Well, I've had enough fun for this issue. Spider-Man tracks down the Grizzly who JUST HAPPENS to be tearing up his old gym at 2 AM in the morning (and beating up on those night-shift weight lifters who can't work out during the day). At some point, Peter gets his intelligence back (I'm thinking this happens off-panel after his defusing the bomb trick), and instead of taking the Grizzly on hand-to-hand (cause we all KNOW how good real-life wrestlers are in a real fight *wink wink nudge nudge*), he simply goes the surprising easy task of dismantling the Grizzly's outfit one piece at a time. Eventually, a stripped down to his boxer Markham is left hanging around for the cops to show up, and we all live happily ever after.

Art Review:

Oh man, my brain is fried just trying to follow this plot. The artwork is pretty good. Not as good as last issue, but still pretty good. A chubby Markham standing around in his boxer was pretty cute though.

Action Factor:

The most suspense and action came when Peter fired up the tracking harness which probably says all you need to know about the fight. I'll recap though: Spider-Man breaks in. He bounces around the Grizzly staying out of grappling range but using his webbing to peel of the Grizzly's costume one chunk at a time. Eventually a half-naked and powerless Markham pounces at Spider-Man but is quickly put out of his misery. In the costume, this took one page and less words than it did here to recap./"::

Spider-Villain lessons 101:

Tip #1:
Everyone needs a break no matter how much you enjoy what you do. :) I'm back, expect more updates soon. Coming up is Mysterious, Cyclone, and Scorpion. I can't wait.