THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #142

"Dead Man's Bluff!"

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

Featuring:

Plot Summary:

The deep blue hello: Spider-Man swims along the bottom of the Hudson river investigating the submerged wreck of the Spider-Mobile. As he returns to the surface, he questions whether he was hallucinating on his own or whether someone was making him hallucinate. The last person to make Spider-Man question his sanity was Mysterio, but according to Ned Leeds, Mysterio died in prison. Still, if Mysterio died, then who did Peter fight against last issue. A fight that his still sore and bandaged hands provide a painful reminder.

As Spider-Man returns to the pier, some answers are provided. The familiar shape of Mysterio appears out of the mists, and Spider-Man leaps at his confronter. A leap that carries him through the insubstantial form of Mysterio to land painfully on his hands on the dock. As Mysterio gloats, Spider-Man follows up by spraying Mysterio with his webbing, completely encasing his foe in a cocoon. However, when Spider-Man pulls the webbing off Mysterio's still form, Mysterio has vanished seemingly into thin air.

Peter returns to his new apartment in Manhattan's Chelsea district. As he sits on the floor of his unfurnished apartment, he checks in with Aunt May. As the two chat, MJ comes up and joins Peter on the floor. Without warnings, a strange mist collects behind MJ. As she sits unnoticed, the menacing form of the Kingpin reaches out of the mists towards her. Peter notices the form and, panicking, throws the phone through the Kingpin's form dispersing the mists and the image. Shocked, both Aunt May and MJ demand to know what's wrong with Peter. As he explains his mistake, his neighbor Glory Grant and landlord Mrs. Muggins show up to see what the commotion is about. Peter apologizes again, and makes introductions all around.

Within the hour, at a famous newspaper building uptown, Jonah speaks on the phone to a mystery man. From the content of their conversation, it seems that Jonah is in cahoots with the man claiming to be Mysterio. Whatever the content of their conversation, it has Jonah celebrate by leaping around, clicking his heels, and spreading raises all around. Peter and MJ show up at the Bugle just in time for Betty and Ned to announce their engagement and upcoming nuptials.

Later, on their way out, Peter sees a familiar blonde hairdo leaving the Bugle. He dashes outside, but by that time, the girl has disappeared. Peter stops, collects his wits, and decides it is another of Mysterio's illusion. In a fever, Peter leaves MJ behind wondering what he saw or didn't see.

The sun is bloody gold coin in the Western sky when we next pick up our harried hero. Spider-Man is angry as all get-out and looking to repay someone with a crack on the jaw. Not only does he realize that someone new has simply taken on Mysterio's identity, but he's also found the image inducer that Mysterio planted on him last issue. Spider-Man's developed a tracking device to find Mysterio at the source of the inducer's signal. He finds it in the Wall Street area, and the battle is on!

Mysterio is caught completely off-guard when Spider-Man crashes in through the skylight. Panicking, Mysterio tries fooling Spider-Man with his "missing head" illusion, but that trick is spoiled when Spider-Man's fist impacts the space where Mysterio's head is hidden. Mysterio tries to buy time by spraying Spider-Man with his drugged mists, but Spider-Man reacts quickly and puts Mysterio down for the count.

So, who is this new Mysterio? He's Danny Berkhart. He used to be a stunt man and worked with the original Mysterio. When Mysterio died, he left Danny all his gizmos, and Danny decided he owed it to Mysterio to get Spider-Man.

Epilogue: Jonah's office phone rings. Jonah answers, and on the other end is Danny Berkhart. Berkhart threatens to reveal his ties to Jonah if Jonah doesn't get him a lawyer. Instead of giving into the blackmail, Jonah runs out telling Betty: "I'm going to -- Paris, Miss Brant. That's right, Paris! I could be gone for months!"

Comments:

Today's review music: System of a Down's "Steal This Album".

Plot Analysis:

So, Peter is checking out the wreck of the Spider-Mobile. How is he managing to spend so much time underwater? Why, he's got one of Batman's rebreathing devices that is so common for super-heroes but is apparently unavailable to mere mortals. It seems stupid that the author would resort to such a dumb device to allow Peter to breathe underwater. Anyways, the Spider-Mobile appears to be a complete loss, so instead of taking responsibility for his problem, Peter just leaves it on the riverbed. Although, the cops last issue said that Harbor Patrol would probably take care of it. Peter also recaps last issue and shows off his bandaged hands for the benefits of those readers who missed last issue.

Enter the villain: the supposedly deceased Mysterio appears to taunt Spider-Man. However, he doesn't really appear to have much motivation for being here except to reiterate his vow for revenge. Mysterio demonstrates a new trick by lifting his helmet to reveal no head underneath. Oooh.. Scary. For some reason this seems to unnerve Peter despite the fact that Mysterio is the master of illusions. I would think that for someone who can make trucks appear to defy gravity and other villains to appear in thin air, a "headless horseman" stunt would be child's play.

Later, Peter sits in his empty, unfurnished apartment. I thought that showing the extent of Peter's poverty was a nice touch. Well, he does have a phone, and his call to Aunt May is interrupted by the appearance of the Kingpin coalescing out of thin air. Again, instead of going, "Hey, I bet Mysterio is behind this", Peter overreacts by throwing the phone through the illusion thus causing both MJ, Aunt May, and his apartment neighbors to wonder what the hell he's up to. Peter offers the usual lame excuses about making a mistake, and everyone seems to accept that without questioning Peter's sanity. I have a feeling if I started throwing stuff at my friends for no reason, they wouldn't let me off so easily.

Ahhh.. Jonah is cahoots with the new Mysterio. Why? Who knows. I mean, we can all understand Jonah's motivation for teaming up with someone to take down Spider-Man. What does Mysterio need Jonah for? Financing? Or perhaps to just make a buck while exacting his revenge. Jonah's so ecstatic about Mysterio's progress that he starts hanging out raises left and right. Judging from Jonah's mood swings, I can't tell if Robbie Robertson is the most overpaid or underpaid editor around. Ned and Betty also announce their engagement which actually shows some of Peter's supporting cast growing up and developing as people.

Oh, and Peter sees Gwen Stacy walking the streets. Now, this could be one of Mysterio's illusions, or it could simply be Peter cracking up. Or, going by the old comic book adage: No one ever stays dead in comics. Especially in Spider-Man. (See also: Green Goblin, Kraven, and the Jackal).

And, right on pace, we've reached the climatic conclusion. Peter has figured out how Mysterio has been projecting these illusions to him, and he's using his scientific skills to trace the signal to its origin. Now, this is something that I can support. Unlike the "re-breather" he's using earlier this issue, Peter actually has shown some aptitude in radio signals. At least, that's what I assume how he developed his Spider-Tracers.

Spider-Man finds Mysterio, and for once, he doesn't react to Mysterio's illusions. In a straight up physical fight, no Mysterio, past or present, can stand toe-to-toe with Spider-Man. After a short fight, the new Mysterio is unmasked as a former associate of the original Mysterio. All his tricks are revealed, and he's turned over to the authorities. Later, in one last plot twist, Mysterio calls Jonah to blackmail him into providing a lawyer for him. Instead of paying of Mysterio, Jonah takes off and on a whim, heads to France!

Art Review:

This issue was OK. Not as good as last issue. Mysterio had even less tricks this issue. Well, if you count the ghostly visions, there's a lot, but that's a one-trick pony that was used up last issue. Maybe I'm just spoiled by more modern interpretations of Mysterio where he goes nuts with the illusions.

Action Factor:

Not much for action this issue. We get a couple of scenes of Spider-Man diving through illusions or throwing things through illusions. Other than that, once he physically gets ahold of Mysterio, it's all over.

Spider-Villain lessons 101:

Tip #1:
Illusions are good way to put Spider-Man off his game. He will, eventually, figure out how to counter them, but to set him off-balance they are excellent. If a villain was physically able to hold his own against Spider-Man, some well-timed illusions leading into a confrontation would probably put Spider-Man down for the count.