THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #148

"Jackal, Jackal... Who's Got The Jackal?"

• Writer: Gerry Conway
• Artist: Ross Andru
• Inker: Mike Esposito & D. Hunt
• Print Date: Sep., 1975

Featuring:

Plot Summary:

We open where last issue left off. Spider-Man has been bound in chains and thrown off the Brooklyn Bridge by The Tarantula and The Jackal as the clone of Gwen Stacy looks on.

As Spider-Man tumbles towards the water and certain doom, he blindly fires out several web-lines in an attempt to rescue himself. Unfortunately, he's bound too tightly to aim his web-shooters, but in a final last-ditch shot, he manages to snag the underside of the bridge. He starts swinging to burn off his inertia, but on the back swing slams into the bridge and knocks himself unconscious.

As Spider-Man dangles in a daze, the Jackal assembles a portable jet pack concealed in Gwen's coat. The Tarantula dons the jet pack and flies himself, the Jackal, and the Gwen Stacy clone off into the New York skylight while the police watch on in frustration.

Soon, a police boat is dispatched to arrest Spider-Man as he hangs helpless from the bridge. After loading Spider-Man on board, a police lieutenant spots the police commissioner and the press waiting for them on the dock. In his excitement over his potential fame for being the police who brought in Spider-Man, the lieutenant decides to forego removing Spider-Man's mask, so they can have a more dramatic revelation. In order to avoid bad publicity, he also orders the rest of the police to remove the heavy chains binding Spider-Man for more conventional handcuffs. As soon as the chains are off, Spider-Man reveals that he was playing possum, fights off the four officers, and dives off the boat as the lieutenant screams in frustration and fires a Tommy-gun uselessly at the water

One-half hour later, Peter Parker returns to his apartment building to find Mary Jane waiting on his stoop. Mary Jane confronts Peter Parker about his spending so much time with Gwen while Peter wanders up the stairs in a stupor. As Mary Jane recounts her conversation with Aunt May last issue, and declares to Peter that she's not giving him up without a fight, Peter makes several comments indicating that he's not hearing any of it. The conversation ends when Mary Jane makes an "It's her -- or it's me" ultimatum and Peter cluelessly slams his apartment door in her face. When Peter gets into his apartment, he realizes that he just blew off Mary Jane. He decides that a bath is in order to forget this miserable day.

As Peter settles into his nice hot bath, the doorbell rings. Peter hops up thinking Mary Jane has return, but is disappointed to see Ned Leeds at the door instead. Ned has come over to discuss the mystery behind the Gwen Stacy clone with Peter. Ned has come to the conclusion that the real Gwen is still dead, the second Gwen is obviously a clone, the person behind the appearance of the clone has it out for Peter or Spider-Man or probably both, and whoever cloned Gwen Stacy must have had access to her cell tissues when she was still alive. Peter recalls that a university assistant collected cell samples from Professor Warren's Biology class at Empire State University. Ned and Peter hurry out the door to talk to Professor Warren (or as soon as Peter changes out of his bathrobe)!

One hour and twenty minutes later, Ned and Peter talk to Professor Warren. They tell the professor that a clone of Gwen Stacy appears to be wandering around, and ask Professor Warren if he still has the cell samples taken from the class. The Professor opens up the refrigerator where the samples are stored and is shocked to find the samples are missing. He suspects that his old assistant Anthony Serba might must have stolen the samples but that Serba disappeared many months ago. Ned decides to head back to the Bugle to see if anyone has located Gwen, and Peter runs off to find Serba's last known address from the university office.

Transition to Spider-Man swinging towards Midtown East: He locates Serba's apartment in an old factory that's converted into apartment. As he wanders around in Serba's dark apartment using his Spider-Signal to see, he realizes that there is no furniture or any indication that anyone lives in the apartment. Suddenly, he Spider-Signal falls on the form of The Tarantula waiting to ambush Spider-Man. A fight begins in the darkness of the apartment until Spider-Man throws both himself and The Tarantula out the window. He fires a web line to lower the both of them to a dock where the fight continues. Spider-Man ends the fight but goading The Tarantula into trying to impale him on his spikes. Spider-Man dodges out of the way at the last second, and The Tarantula shoes become impaled and stuck in a water tower where Spider-Man easily dispatches him with a single blow.

As Spider-Man drags an unconscious Tarantula to the local precinct, he is ambushed from behind. Somehow, The Jackal has managed to sneak up close enough to Spider-Man to scratch him with his drugged claws. As Spider-Man falls into unconsciousness, he sees the Jackal is holding both Gwen Stacy and Ned Leeds prisoner with him. Finally, right before Spider-Man succumbs to the drugs, the Jackal dramatically removes his mask and reveals himself to be... Professor Warren!

Comments:

Wow, it's hard to believe that this issue and the last were written by the same write.

Plot Analysis:

Part of the reason I really liked this issue is that it focused more on Peter than Spider-Man. I really enjoyed that he recruited Ned and was actually doing some investigation into the Gwen Stacy mystery. In too many comics (see last issue), the villain just drops into the hero's lap, and they focus too much on the fighting. This issue we see the hero having to investigate the mystery, and track down the villain.

This issue is a lot stronger than the last. Again, I question why the Jackal is using the Tarantula when he's so hopelessly outmatched, but even that niggling detail didn't seem to upset my enjoyment of this issue. Of course, twenty-six years after this issue was published, the Jackal's identity is known, but this issue built up well to the surprise ending of having him unmask in front of Spider-Man.

Ok, well, one detail bothers me. How was the Jackal able to sneak up on Spider-Man at the end? The Jackal explains that obviously the spider-sense won't be alerted by Spider-Man's friends, "and haven't I always been you friend???" That's a poor explanation. Personally, I prefer to think that the Jackal's split personality probably confused Peter's spider-sense enough to allow him to sneak up and strike.

Now, for a dramatic ending, I thought Peter fading into unconsciousness (again, 2nd time in two issues!) and The Jackal unmasking would've been dramatic enough. However, the writer chooses (poorly) to extend himself and show that not only does the Jackal still have Gwen Stacy hostage, but he's captured and blindfolded Ned Leeds as well! Which is all well and great, but how did he both of them on the rooftop, and how did he know the right rooftop that Spider-Man would finish the Tarantula off on?

Art Review:

Again, Ross Andru does a decent job with the art. Between this issue and the last, I have grown to appreciate his detailed backgrounds, and particularly his city skylines. The facial expressions of the cops on the police boat were good as well. One minor detail, towards the end of the comic, The Tarantula puts a hole in a billboard, and over the course of several panels, this hole seems to float around and increase/decrease in size. That was a minor distraction.

Action Factor:

Much better action this issue than last. Spider-Man escaping from the cops made for a fun (though not particularly action-packed scene). And even though much of the issue was focusing on Peter's personal life and Peter's investigation into the Gwen Stacy mystery, the final fight against the Tarantula was done. Despite the fact that the beginning of the fight was in a dark apartment, the artist does an excellent job balancing the darkness of the apartment with the reader's desire to see what's going on. Another thing I like is that Tarantula came off much less of a threat this issue and more like the wanna-be that I always considered him to be.

Babe Factor:

Mary Jane is cute when she's angry, 'nuff said.

Spider-Villain lessons 101:

A couple of very important lessons, boys and girls.

Tip #1:
If you're planning on throwing the hero off the bridge, it's good to pack that extra jet pack with just in case the cops corner you on top off said bridge. Apparently Gwen Stacy's long coat was deemed the perfect place by the Jackal for storing a mobile jet packs (some assembly required). Although, why it needed to be concealed in the first place is beyond me.

Tip #2:
If I'm waiting to ambush the hero in a dark apartment (or any other building), I will not wait until the hero spots me to attack, and this goes double if I'm hopelessly outclassed by said hero. This goes even if I'm feeling particularly "macho" or that I'll damage my honor by striking from behind. My honor will recover much quicker from a victory than a long jail sentence.

Tip #3:
Finally, no matter how much the hero taunts or angers me, if I'm being baited into taking a mighty shot that looks too go to be true, it probably is.