The Collected Works of Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu

Karen: We have frequently spoken here of our frustrations about not being able to get reprints/trade paperbacks of Master of Kung Fu. Marvel has had legal problems with reproducing the original issues of the series due to the appearance of the Sax Rohmer Fu Manchu characters in the stories. But something has been worked out with the Rohmer estate, and Marvel is publishing Master of Kung Fu in omnibus form! In fact, there will be four of them reprinting the entire run. Volumes 1-3 will reprint the Master of Kung Fu series, along with Giant Size and Annual issues and other assorted stories, and a fourth volume will print the black and white magazine Deadly Hands of Kung Fu. Based on Amazon's listings, volume 2 should be out in September, and  the Deadly Hands omnibus (which is not using the same numbering as the MOKF volumes) will be out in November. I'm not sure when volume 3 of MOKF will be out but presumably after that.

Karen: While this might not be the ideal format for everyone, at least we are getting the stories collected. It seemed like it might never come to pass, so it's a pretty big deal.

Karen: The first omnibus debuts this Tuesday, the 14th. The MSRP is $125, but In-Stock Trades is selling it for $68.75! Below is a description of what is in volume one:

SHANG-CHI: MASTER OF KUNG FU OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC

Written by STEVE ENGLEHART, DOUG MOENCH, LEN WEIN & MORE
Penciled by JIM STARLIN, PAUL GULACY, AL MILGROM, KEITH POLLARD, JOHN BUSCEMA, SAL BUSCEMA, ROSS ANDRU & MORE
COVERS BY TERRY DODSON & JIM STARLIN

One of the most groundbreaking Marvel Comics of all is collected for the first time! Born to be the world’s most fearsome fighter, Shang-Chi’s life takes a major turn when he discovers the truth about his father, the villainous Fu Manchu! So begins the epic story of the Master of Kung Fu! On a quest to end the reign of his pernicious patriarch, Shang-Chi pits his deadly hands and furious feet against incredible foes like Tiger-Claw, Razor-Fist, the mysterious Midnight — and even the macabre Man-Thing! But will his mastery of martial arts be enough in a throwdown with the Amazing Spider-Man? Collecting SPECIAL MARVEL EDITION #15-16, MASTER OF KUNG FU (1974) #17-37, GIANT-SIZE MASTER OF KUNG FU #1-4, GIANT-SIZE SPIDER-MAN #2 and material from IRON MAN ANNUAL #4.
696 PGS./Rated T…$125.00
ISBN: 978-1-302-90129-5
Trim size: oversized

Who's the Best... Comics Artist?

Doug: Back on May 22 Karen hosted a conversation about Marvel Team-Up #70, featuring Spidey, Thor, the Living Monolith, and the art of John Byrne. Some comments were made along the lines of Byrne being the consummate comics artist, really mastering all of the characters at Marvel and DC (as well as in his own output for Dark Horse). So, knowing what we do around here with inspiration, today we'll chew that fat some more. Who, in your own esteemed estimation, is the best comic book artist. And if you want to define that feel free. My take on it is more along the lines of figures and faces. But if you heard "storyteller" when you read today's title that's fine, too. You all know we can keep a few plates spinning in a day's talk.

This Cover Made Me Buy This Book

Doug: Always a sucker for Batgirl covers...

Arc of Triumph? Amazing Spider-Man 176-180

Doug: Here's a little run of comics that I actually just sold about three weeks ago. What recollections do you have of this 5-parter? I recall it being very exciting, and especially liking the redemption of Harry Osborn. The Ross Andru art was just very steady throughout the 1970s, and this arc was no exception. I'd have to read this again, but overall I have fond memories.

Arc of Triumph? Nova 12 and Amazing Spider-Man 171

Doug: We've obviously discussed Spider-Man a bazillion times around here, but I don't think we've ever reviewed an issue of The Man Called Nova. Today, hopefully our readers are going to take care of that! What's the collective memory of this 2-parter featuring Marv Wolfman's pet creation and ol' Webhead? Decent yarn, or merely a hopeful cross-pollination?

Doug: Just in -- Idris Elba and Tom Hiddleston will reprise their roles as Heimdall and Loki (respectively) in Avengers 2: Age of Ultron. Now isn't that good news!

An Obscure Ant-Man Story - Iron Man 44

Iron Man #44 (January 1972)
"Armageddon on Avenue 'A'" (Ant-Man back-up story)
Roy Thomas-Ross Andru/Mike Esposito

Doug: Hi, friends. It's another solo review from yours truly to greet you on a Monday. At the BAB, we've had several editorial meetings over the past few weeks, and we need to be up front in telling you that our partner reviews may be on an intermittent basis for the foreseeable future. Personal and professional considerations for both Karen and I are necessitating an evaluation of our present schedules. As most of you know, the partner reviews require a longer commitment of time than a solo review does, due mostly to the wait time involved in someone writing up the plot summary, tossing it to the partner for color commentary, and then back to the originator to clean some things up/make it sound more conversational/add the artwork. Rest assured that our partner reviews are not a thing of the past... but your getting a steady, consistent stream of our partner reviews may be. Of course we will keep you in the loop of any developments of which you need to be aware.

Doug: It was a Saturday evening, 24 May 2014 to be exact, when I became aware that this story even existed. I was laying in bed reading through Back Issue #71 when I came to a summary of the life of Marvel Feature. In that story, as the author (Dewey Cassell) detailed the Ant-Man strip replacing the Defenders after their 3-issue run, it was stated that Ant-Man was featured in a back-up tale in Iron Man #44. So, possessing the Iron Man dvd-rom I hurriedly (well, honestly 15 hours passed in the wake of this epiphany) brought that issue before my eyeballs and hey -- what do you know? There it was! So, since I reckon that many of our readers either a) are like me in this ignorance or b) are like me in that even if they did know they forgot, I figured we'd give it a look. I'm a first-timer on this, so you are getting the emotions raw, baby! Let's roll...

Doug: Ross Andru isn't the first guy I'd expect to draw Ant-Man, and I really have no idea why this story was created in the first place. I'm assuming it was one of those stock stories that Marvel kept handy. It's anyone's guess -- did George Tuska take ill and fault on his page count for the main Iron Man story? At any rate, we open with a splash page that sort of summarizes Ant-Man's career and to a note from Roy Thomas at the end basically telling us to ignore the page! So alrighty -- this 8-pager just became a 7-pager. Now that's weird. So on the real first page, we're introduced to a fella named Wilbur Grabowski. Wilbur seems to have been infected with whatever the Black Cat metes out -- a lifelong case of bad luck. Wilbur's a doofus. We see several panels of him, throughout his life, moving from one screw-up to another. But tonight, Wilbur's going to change his luck. Wilbur owns a candy store that's been failing. But, thinks Wilbur, with money from the insurance policy his life could turn. So, he ponders a little arson and...

Doug: Outside the candy store, riding a flying ant in the beam of a street lamp, is one Dr. Henry Pym. He's dressed as Ant-Man. To give you a little temporal compass, Neal Adams famously drew Ant-Man in Avengers #93 (cover dated November 1971); this story was sold only two months after. Coincidence? Roy Thomas was the author of both tales. Or was this, again, already in the can so to speak? I have no clue. Ant-Man seems to picking up some strange emotional waves through his cybernetic helmet. His "steed" apparently does, too, and begins to drop toward the candy store. At first I thought all this was coming from Wilbur, but upon entering the store -- and hearing Wilbur go on about how he's "going to do it, going to do it" -- the ant flies Pym down to the floorboards, and in between to the crawl space (my guess -- really no idea here). Pym now feels some really bad vibes, and immediately spies some big nasties. Can a brother get a can of Raid?? It's so bad, in fact, that he orders his steed back to the anthill.

Doug: As Hank ascertains the subterranean situation he can still hear Wilbur muttering to himself upstairs. But guessing that Wilbur is harmless, Hank allows himself to get caught by a cricket. He calls it the oldest trick in the superhero handbook -- "take me to your leader", so to speak. But when the cricket begins to spirit Hank toward a light, our hero suddenly becomes quite alarmed at the bug he sees ahead. *Editorial interlude: I am having a really hard time taking this story seriously. Not a reader of very many Silver Age Ant-Man/Giant-Man books, but this seems in that vein.* It turns out that Ant-Man's foe is an old nemesis, dating all the way back to Tales to Astonish #39! We're in the presence of the Scarlet Beetle. I can feel you trembling as you read this. Apparently the Scarlet Beetle wasn't just any old beetle -- nope, this dude had radiation-based powers (it was the 1960s, after all). But the Scarlet Beetle assures Pym that his powers are back. Indeed, the beam that drew Pym to this spot is the same transmission that will draw insects to him. We get a scene reminiscent of Hitchcock's The Birds.

Doug: The S.B. tells Pym that insects will eradicate humans from the planet and again dominate the world. And then to hammer his point home, S.B. grabs Pym's belt away from him -- he says that a man's dominator ought to be larger than life. Pym says go ahead, dude; the gas had been perfected to only work on Pym. S.B. says no big deal -- he really wanted the cybernetic helmet anyway. Now Hank started to get nervous. But suddenly, he smelled something -- yup, Wilbur was about to do the dirty deed upstairs! With chaos reigning beneath the floor, Pym strikes the Scarlet Beetle across the mandible. S.B. flips onto his back and Pym makes a break for it. He thinks to himself as he races for the main floor that the S.B. is super-dangerous and humanity is at risk. Not buyin' it, but anyway... Roy has some uncomfortable dialogue for some African-Americans in the proximity of the fire, but maybe it was just a sign o' the times.

Doug: As Hank had paused to survey the growing fire, the Scarlet Beetle caught up to him and grabbed him. But Hank, still possessing his full-grown strength easily flipped S.B. back onto his topside again. And wouldn't you know it -- right in the path of Wilbur's dropped kerosene can. S.B. was crushed, killed -- because one of Hank's ants had crawled up Wilbur's leg and irritated him. And wouldn't you know, ol' Wilbur's luck didn't change after all. As he went to run out of the burning candy store he was met by the police and firemen. Bad luck again. But as Hank mused to himself, maybe that guy had saved the world!

Doug: This was a decent-enough story; it certainly was a heritage sort of tale in that it looked back to Marvel's monster days and the dawn of the Marvel Age. The art team of Andru/Esposito was steady, but I have to declare that I didn't always get that "Ross Andru Amazing Spider-Man" vibe from his work here. Occasionally I could see in a face the Andru tendencies, but the figurework didn't to me evoke his Spidey work. As has been well-documented around here, I'm a big Hank Pym fan. So although this was a quirky story, it was nice to see Hank star in a strip where he was actually the hero, and with no clay feet. How about that?

Just a Sociopath and His Little Green Dog: Amazing Spider-Man 129

Amazing Spider-Man #129 (February 1974)
"The Punisher Strikes Twice!"
Gerry Conway-Ross Andru/Frank Giacoia/Dave Hunt

NOTE:  Doug apologizes in advance for some of the distorted images.  For whatever reason, when converting the .pdf files to .jpg files, the full pages always turn out boxy-looking.

Doug:  After that somewhat-clunker of a tale last week, we're back in familiar territory.  In case you missed it, we spent five weeks in August (and the first Monday in September) wall-crawlin' with Spidey.  Here we find ourselves again, and in a significant issue no less!  Our theme this month is "Invaders and Anti-Heroes", and today we feature a fellow who is perhaps Marvel's ultimate anti-hero.  You want a vigilante?  Frank Castle's your guy.  Oh, and how about the other major introduction in this yarn, the Jackal?  I know, I know -- many of you loathe the Spider-Clone storyline.  I happen to like it.  Someday, maybe, I'll twist my partner's arm into reviewing those issues.

Karen: Hey, you never know, if we do this long enough, we just might wind up reviewing those issues! But there's so many other books to do first. Like, nearly any others. That's a little joke...  Anyway, let me say I really love this cover. It's certainly iconic now, being our introduction to one of the few characters created in the 70s that has managed to rise up (at times) to the upper levels of popularity. The Romita-designed costume is a beaut, and the layout, with the cross-hairs and upside down Spidey, is quite memorable.


Doug:  The cover is attributed to John Romita and Gil Kane.  My assumption is that Romita did the Punisher figure solo, and then inked Kane's pencils on the Spider-Man figure.  Any thoughts or arguments?

Doug:  Right from the splash page, there's just no doubt at all what we're dealing with here -- a couple of wingnuts.  The Jackal sits cross-legged on some machinery while the Punisher takes dead aim at a statue of Spider-Man.  The Jackal cackles as he goads the Punisher, telling our skull-chested warrior that he does like the killing.  Right away we get a hint of the Punisher's twisted honor code:  He doesn't enjoy killing, and kills only those who deserve it.  Spider-Man is one such person.

Karen: Never understood why the Jackal was green. Just throwing that out there. I don't really feel that the Punisher is crazy though. Obsessed, sure, but a psycho, no. You do wonder why the Punisher would ally himself with such an obvious weirdo. Everything about the Jackal screams "madman" and even a guy like the Punisher, who may be a vigilante but not a nut, should be able to see that.

Doug:  After only four panels we cut away to our star, spinning webs across the Manhattan skyline.  Of course it's never boring when you're Spider-Man, and he soon spots a heist in progress.  Mounting his camera, Spidey swoops down and smokes the gang.  It's a scene full of typical Spidey bravado, and features some nice work by penciler Ross Andru.  At the end we get the familiar neatly-webbed packages hanging from the lamp posts for the police.  A quick scurry up the wall to retrieve his camera, and Spider-Man swings off toward the Daily Bugle.  On the way, there's some nice plot recapping by scribe Gerry Conway, as Spidey meditates on his troubles in the wake of Norman Osborn's death, and the effect on his friend and Osborn's son Harry.  As Spidey lands and changes clothes, we get a really odd Peter Parker panel.  I get what Andru was going for, but it's just weird looking.  Downstairs, we see the usual suspects in Betty Brant, Joe Robertson, and J. Jonah Jameson.  It's a nice two pages of familiar characterization, and as I always say when we do an Amazing Spider-Man review it's a warm fuzzy to see the supporting cast.  Of course Jonah has to berate Peter for bringing in photos of the botched robbery when the Punisher is waging a one-man war on the mob.  Peter's curiosity is more than piqued.

Karen: Spidey makes quick work of the thugs, as he should, and I was struck with the feeling that this was a nice way for someone new to the character to see just what he could do. I thought Conway handled Peter's inner struggles well -he was not overly gloomy about Gwen's death but it was still hanging over him, impossible for him to forget. I know what you mean about that series of panels after Peter changes into his civvies -it seems like Andru was trying to show Pete 'putting on a happy face' but it comes across awkward. JJJ is appropriately over the top. He was fun. I much preferred him as a goofball than as a serious threat.

Doug:  As Peter exits the Bugle he heads back to the roof and switches back to his Spidey duds.  While swinging through the city he's in the sight of a high-powered rifle... the same weapon we saw in the hands of the Punisher at the beginning of this story.  His spider-sense goes off like church bells and the spider-agility kicks in just in time to avoid a massive concussion blast.  Lighting on a nearby wall, Spidey locates his assailant and swings over to find that the Punisher was the shooter.  Spider-Man attacks, but the Punisher evades the assault in a nifty bit of tumbling I didn't know he could pull off.  Spider-Man attempts an interrogation, but Castle isn't much in the mood for talking.  Instead, he vaults over to a chimney and pulls out another rifle.  This one fires a wire that instantly encircles Spider-Man and pins his arms to his sides.  The Punisher moves in closer, calling him a criminal and a parasite, and lamenting that he won't enjoy killing our hero.  Well, if you thought a little titanium alloy wire was gonna hold May Parker's nephew, you'd have been mistaken.  A burst of strength, a little incredulity from the Punisher, and ol' Frank's head smacks hard against the chimney.

Karen: I've never been a big Andru fan, but he pulls off some nice work here. The scene where Spidey evades the concussion blast, and especially the panel where he punches the Punisher into the chimney, are just fantastic. That punch looks so fluid, and Punisher's reaction is as if he were hit by a wrecking ball. Great stuff.

Doug:  Even though the Punisher's noggin cracked some bricks, he's back on his feet and getting the business end of Spider-Man's fists (is there another end to a fist?).  But, unbeknownst to the Wallcrawler, the Jackal is hiding in the chimney!  With Spidey's back turned, the green-garbed villain rises from the shaft and uses his claws to rake the back of Spider-Man's head.  Spider-Man staggers, grabbing his wound.  He totters near the edge of the roof, and begins to topple!  The Punisher remarks that he won't see his enemy die in this fashion; the Jackal calls him a fool.  Spider-Man is able to fire off a web and make it across the street, but with his balance disrupted he goes right through a window, shattering glass among the startled office employees.  Moments later, he's back on the roof to pay the debt.  Of course by this time the Jackal and the Punisher are nowhere to be found.  However, the rifle that had fired the wire still lays on the roof!  Examining it, Spider-Man notices a label on the gun's butt.  Bingo!

Karen: The Jackal has "electro-prods" in his claws, whatever those are, so there's a reason Spidey goes staggering over the side of the roof. But here's villain trope #5 for you: they don't check to be sure he's dead after he falls! Oh well. The dialog here clues us in on the true natures of both the Punisher and the Jackal -Punisher upset about killing Spider-Man in such an "unjust" way, and Jackal having no problem with it.

Doug:  Back in his apartment, Peter uses two mirrors to inspect his head wound.  His hair seems to cover it, but his Spidey mask is tattered.  Peter thinks about how he was supposed to meet Johnny Storm to work on the Spider-Mobile, and about collecting rent from Harry.  I was a bit confused by that last comment, as I was always under the impression that Norman Osborn had footed the bill for Harry's digs.  Anyone?  Peter, still wearing his Spider-socks, sits on his bed attempting to sew his mask, when we are taken to a view outside the apartment.  Harry presses his ear to the door, and then worries that Peter is in there waiting to ambush him.  He frets that Peter knows he is the "Green Goblin", and is now his enemy.  Claiming to be all alone, Harry slinks away from the door and back down the stairs.  Cut to the Empire State University campus, where Mary Jane Watson has been accosted on the sidewalk by Professor Miles Warren.  Warren asks her if she's seen Peter -- Warren wants to apologize to Peter for misjudging him a few issues prior when the Vulture had shown up on campus.  MJ says she'll pass the good word.  As she departs, she thinks to herself about getting involved in Peter's life, and if she wants to deal with the baggage he's carrying from Gwen.  She convinces herself that Peter's not much fun, but she's only concerned for fun herself.  Except... she doesn't seem to do a very good job of convincing herself.

Karen: Regarding the rent comment, I assume Pete needs the money, however it gets paid. Man, that's just a bad room-mate situation! "My arch-enemy's son is my room-mate..." AND he's a pill-head! Oh boy! Loved seeing Petey trying to sew his suit. Can you imagine how ratty his costume would have looked after a few years of repairs like that? The Spider-Mobile -possibly the most ill-conceived thing to appear in a Marvel comic. Of course, Gerry Conway didn't come up with it, it was forced on him and he did what he could with it. Probably the best thing about it was it provided an excuse to have Spidey and the Torch hang out again.


Doug:  Back in the very lab in which we began our reading, the Punisher backhands the Jackal up against the wall.  Frank Castle is not at all pleased with the way things went down on the roof earlier.  The Jackal tries to do some damage control, hoping to keep the Punisher convinced that Spider-Man is indeed a criminal.  Castle gets his topcoat and storms out, saying he's going to the Mechanic to get his wire-gun replaced.  The Jackal, feeling that his union with the Punisher has run its course, makes a snide remark about what a great team they are.  A short time later we find Spider-Man landing at the Reiss Armory to inspect the lead he'd picked up back on the roof.  And, guess who is arriving at the same time -- yup.  Our guy in black.  Spidey enters first, and calls for any sign of life once inside.  What he finds, however, is a very dead Mr. Reiss, the proprietor.  The Punisher bursts through a large window and gives Spidey a solid kick upside the chops.  The battle is joined tooth-and-nail, with Spidey trying to talk some reason into a raging Punisher, who's just seen Reiss's corpse.  Now nearly possessed with anger, Castle won't listen to Spider-Man's query about the marks on the back of Reiss's head -- marks Spider-Man felt earlier in the week!  Spidey finally figures it's time to talk sense, so (in a nifty rendering by Andru) he launches his full weight into the Punisher's face, dropping him.  Just a head-clearing moment later Castle awakens to find his hands bound and Spider-Man sitting next to him.

Karen: Really no reason Punisher couldn't have used the door, but breaking through the window looked cool. And speaking of cool, I agree with you about Spidey's very acrobatic moves to a three-point landing on Punisher's face.

Doug:  Solving the crime, Spider-Man asks the Punisher if he left the tag on the wire-gun used the day before.  Castle scoffs at the suggestion, and Spider-Man tells him that they need to start putting two and two together.  Claw marks on the back of Reiss's head, a gun placed on the roof that the police would find, Reiss killed a short time before the Punisher would have arrived at the gun dealer, and Castle finishes it by saying that the Jackal had been out of sight for about an hour earlier that evening.  The Punisher is furious that he's been used as a pawn and swears revenge on the Jackal.  Earlier we'd learned that Frank Castle was a Marine; Spidey then asked him why he was Stateside.  Castle said is was none of his business, and left to fight his "lonely war".  With sirens approaching, Spidey exited the premises as well.  But as he swung away, he passed a shadowy figure who had watched it all -- the Jackal.  And the Jackal swore he'd get Spider-Man on his way to taking over the city.

Karen: I found this a satisfying read. The introduction of the Punisher just leaves us wanting more, which is a tribute to Conway's skills. You can feel a lot of threads being put in place for stories to come and you just know Harry's going to do something awful. The art was solid, even spectacular in a few places, which is saying something, as I'm not an Andru fan. All in all, time well spent.

Doug:  I enjoyed this issue a lot, too.  There was quite a bit of action and a ton of characterization crammed between the covers!  As I've remarked several times in the past, Ross Andru isn't my favorite Spider-Man artist, but he's "my guy", on board when I began reading the character regularly.  As you said, Gerry Conway does a nice job with laying some subplots in the Jackal storyline.  I think we all know how this will turn out (I won't spoil it here for those who haven't read the succeeding 20 issues of ASM), but it's sure not evident here at the start.  In fact, the line about the Jackal running the city seems a far cry from the resolution of his arc, doesn't it?  And what of the Punisher?  It's interesting to read this issue in such close proximity to our reviews of ASM #s 161-162 just a few weeks ago (which were around the 5th or 6th stories in the Punisher's development).  The "war journal" hadn't been developed, and it's interesting that we're only dropped a single hint about his background.  Overall, this issue was a nice piece of writing by Gerry Conway, who I generally regard as at the top of his game in this era of the magazine.

Bring Lawyers, Guns, and Money: Amazing Spider-Man 162

Amazing Spider-Man #162 (November 1976)
"Let the Punisher Fit the Crime!"
Writer: Len Wein
Pencils: Ross Andru
Inks: Mike Esposito and Dave Hunt

Karen: Welcome to part two of our little tale -and what a way to start this issue! I love this cover! Comic Book Database credits both Ross Andru and John Romita Sr. - I definitely see Romita, particularly in the Spidey and Punisher figures. I like how the Punisher is facing both the reader and Spidey and Nightcrawler, guns ready. 

Doug:  One of the ideas we've discussed around here in the past is the obscuring of a cover's logo by the art.  Here the artists give us, the readers, a nice bit of depth by allowing the cables to extend to our own horizon.  The placement of the logo (still one of the best ever, by the way) "behind" the cable lines works great.

Karen: This entire issue is narrated by the Punisher in his 'war journal' style, but it's not over-bearing. The splash page is essentially the same as the cover -the Punisher facing our two acrobatic heroes, although he's inside the tramway car. But he's holding a gun on them both, convinced that one of them has been committing murders in an effort to set him up. Spidey and Nightcrawler, on the other hand, are convinced that the Punisher is the killer they've been hunting. Spidey in particular is ticked off, as he'd wanted to believe the police were wrong about the Punisher. The gun-wielding vigilante tells the two to stay put and not to try anything, but Spidey is too quick. He swings around the car, while his mutant companion jumps through the door, knocking the Punisher over. Spider-Man kicks the Punisher's rifle out of his hands  but the ex-Marine manages to pin the wall-crawler to the wall of the car with a pair of knives that he miraculously throws through his costume's shoulders, and not Spidey's skin! The Punisher pulls a gun on Spidey as the webhead tries to break free and demands to know why he's been impersonating him, when bullets begin tearing through the car. Nightcrawler clings to the underside of the vehicle and scans the area for the sniper, and realizes he's somewhere on the 59th street bridge, hidden from view. The shooting stops and 'Crawler teleports into the car, startling the Punisher.  He wants to question the mutant, but Kurt 'bamfs' away quickly -- he's trying to avoid revealing anything about himself, after all (the whole point of last issue's encounter with Spidey). He teleports a great distance and has to recover his strength; he can't go after the sniper.

Doug:  I always kind of enjoyed the "War Journal Entry #..." style of narration when the Punisher was on the scene.  That sort of self-absorption seemed to fit his dour personality, and also showed how meticulous he was in waging his one-man revenge war.  When Spidey and Nightcrawler move to save themselves from ol' Frank's potential attack, it gives us an extended view of what might have been had our two heroes continued to duke it out between themselves.  Take away Nightcrawler's teleportation powers, and the webhead and the fuzzy elf basically have the same power sets.  It would be a sight to see, and as you remarked last week, settings like the Ferris wheel really provided some neat visuals.

Doug:  Nightcrawler having to recover after a long teleportation was his own personal Achilles' heel, much like Johnny Storm overusing his flame, Iron Man's ongoing issues with his heart, etc.  It's just another perfect example of Marvel's characters and their feet of clay. 

Karen: Alone in the bullet-riddled tram car, Spidey and the Punisher realize that neither of them is the killer, and decide to work together to find him. They head off to the Punisher's 'war wagon' - in actuality, a souped-up van (this was the 70's, remember). They manage to drive right through a police road block and evade any conflict with the law. They decide to get back together the next night.

Doug:  "this was the 70's, remember" indeed!  Between reading this off the spinner racks, and my daily doses of Speed Racer and reruns of the 1966 Batman TV show, was there anything that cars couldn't do?  What a great time to be a kid with a hungry imagination.

Karen: The following day, we see Spidey in his civilian ID as Peter Parker, on the Empire State campus. Interestingly, this is the only time we see Peter in this issue -it was a bit light on his personal life this time around. peter sees Mary Jane getting a little too close to Flash Thompson on a grass lawn on campus. She's obviously trying to make him jealous -and she's also obviously annoyed with him leaving her alone last issue at Coney Island when they witnessed the murder.Pete's irritated by her displays of affection with Flash but he doesn't have too long to dwell on it, because he soon spies another member of his cast, J. Jonah Jameson, headed into a building on campus. We (but not Peter) discover that Jameson is there to see Dr. Marla Madison, an expert on "electro-biology" (??) and he has an offer to make her, the challenge of a lifetime: help him destroy Spider-Man! Boy, he never got tired of that, did he?

Doug:  You see, this is why I was never a big fan of the Peter/Mary Jane relationship.  I know that many of you will say that MJ's strong point was her independence and spirit.  I know Gwen would get mad at Peter for running off on her, but it always struck me that Mary Jane would seemingly dump Pete immediately.  Chalk most of this up to a wide-eyed 10-year old who didn't yet get the cat-and-mouse aspect of dating relationships, but MJ could seem cruel.  And what of Flash Thompson?  Does everyone recall that weird Mindworm story in ASM #138 where Pete moves in with Flash and they become fast friends after years of Flash tormenting Peter?  Fast friend here?  Nope.  BUT -- this was a necessary part of the Spider-Man mythos, and a peek into the alter ego side of things that I looked forward to (still do when reading these old stories).

Doug:  We've also gotten a hefty does of JJJ in this issue and last as well, haven't we?  Jonah is best when moving beyond the typical "Spider-Man's a Menace" headlining, and this is the beginning of a nice arc for him.  How about later when Dr. Marla Madison and he hook up -- inter-generational love, my friends!  By the way, at some point I'd like to see some sort of diagram, graphic organizer, or whatever that explains Marvel science/scientists and just what disciplines they are fluent in.  Electro-biology...  that's not part of your job, Karen?

Karen: Later that night, Spidey and the Punisher meet up as planned. I really like the way these two relate to each other. They don't quite get one another, but there's a respect there. Punisher has a tip that the gunman is going to show up at a block party organized to support a fire house in a poor neighborhood. Spidey takes to the rooftops in search of the shooter while Punisher checks out the alleys and streets. At one point we see a man in an overcoat speaking on a walkie talkie, watching Spidey and telling someone on the other end that he's there, when suddenly he's yanked into the shadows. But that's the last we see of him. Mysterious, hmm?  Next we see Spidey dropping down into an alley where he sees what appears to be an unconscious man. But surprise! It was a trap. The man pulls a gun on Spidey. Old webhead's spider-sense goes off, but thinking it's telling him about the danger he already knows, he ignores it -- and promptly gets hit over the head from behind. He's tough though -- it takes a few more konks before Spidey is knocked out. 

Doug:  The way Spidey's spider-sense worked in the rooftop/alley scene was sketchy at best.  Even though he was some distance from the guy with the radio, we've seen in the past that Spider-Man can have a feeling of being watched -- seems like that should have been the case here.  Additionally, shouldn't Peter have been alerted to the guy in the alley who was playing possum?

Doug:  One of the things I think of (now -- not back in 1976) when I read comics is how much punishment our heroes and villains take in the course of a story.  No way Spidey wouldn't have had a severe concussion after those three blows to the head.  No way.  And that would have affected him well into the next few storylines.  But the only thing we ever see him, or Daredevil for that matter, affected by is a cold or a wrenched shoulder.  Silly...

 

Karen: The party is still going on in the street when the crowd becomes aware of something terribly wrong. They see the limp form of Spider-Man, in chains, hanging from a lamp post. There are gun men in front of him, holding their weapons on the people. A figure in the shadows pulls out a bullhorn and begins calling for the Punisher. He says he knows he's out there, and he has his partner, Spider-Man. He says that the Punisher may not remember him, but he remembers the vigilante, thanks to being thrown through a plate glass window by him. He steps into the light and we can see him -his face is horrifically scarred. He says he's called Jigsaw now, and he's going to kill the Punisher. I thought Andru and Esposito did a an excellent job on Jigsaw's face -- he could have been a joke, a caricature like a Dick Tracy villain, but he really came across as terribly mutilated.

Doug:  I absolutely love the large image of Spidey hanging from the lamp post in chains.  Ross Andru must have looked at some old Harry Houdini images for inspiration!  You said it with your kudo about Jigsaw's look.  The only complaint I have about that page (well two complaints -- lavender body suits for the henchmen?  C'mon...) is the reveal of Jigsaw in the last page panel.  You know who was a master of "the big reveal"?  Jack Kirby.  I swear that man did a great job knowing where the full and half-page ads would be placed in magazines he worked on.  His reveals always seemed to be after a page turn.  Anyway, we really don't get cheated, as there are several more good shots of Jigsaw on the following page.  It's sort of like a trainwreck -- difficult to avert one's eyes.  And that Andru and Esposito did not keep his face consistently drawn only seems to add to the horror the guy went through.

Karen: Jigsaw says if Punisher doesn't show himself his men will start shooting the crowd. He starts counting to three, but on three a knife knocks his gun out of his hands, and bullets begin to spray at his feet. However, he's not lying when he says he's been training- he springs away, rolls, and comes up with his gun pointed at Spidey's head. Before he has a chance to use it, Nightcrawler comes bursting out of nowhere to knock him over. Yes, it was Kurt Wagner who took out the man on the walkie talkie a few pages earlier. Apparently he'd been tailing the Punisher in hopes that it would lead him to the man who killed his friend (Kurt was reading about it in the paper Wolverine destroyed when they were in the Danger Room). Now, he's just in time to save our wall-crawling hero. 

Doug:  Had anyone else nearly forgotten that Nightcrawler was also guesting in this story?  I had.  This was really beginning to play like a typical Marvel Team-Up, where last month's guest only sticks around as a segueway to the next guest and the evolution of the plot.  I was happy, however, to see Kurt arrive to save the day!

Karen:  With Nightcrawler's appearance, Punisher decides to make his entrance. He comes down from the rooftops, firing rubber bullets (to protect the civilians nearby) and using special gas grenades. "Not exactly my regular style, " he muses. No indeed -- especially in his later years! 

 Doug:  As our readers have seen on our reading list on the sidebar, we'll be checking out Frank Castle's first appearance later this month.  This 2-parter, by the way, is the Punisher's 6th appearance (if I count correctly -- check my math).  Am I correct in thinking that it was Spider-Man who insisted that the Punisher use rubber bullets?  Or was that something Castle was doing all along?

Karen:  The Punisher blasts away at Jigsaw's thugs, making his way towards the main event. Speaking of which, Nightcrawler isn't doing too well against Jigsaw (we'd find out later he's wearing an exo-skeleton). Spidey comes out of his stupor just in time,and snaps his chains, saying "This looks like a job for Spider-Man!" (Cute.) With Spidey, Punisher, and Nightcrawler all together, the tide quickly starts to turn. Jigsaw sees this, and turns tail. He heads for the firetruck, of all things, with one of his thugs driving. The wall-crawler spots him and swings up onto the speeding truck but Jigsaw turns the high-pressure water hose on him and it's all he can do to grab on to a piece of equipment and not go flying off the truck. He manages to turn off the water supply, so Jigsaw tries throwing the hose at him. However, it catches around a tire and the other end wraps around Jigsaw's leg. The whole truck goes careening off the road and into a building, with Spidey flipping out of the way just in the nick of time. Nightcrawler and the Punisher catch up and see that Spidey has Jigsaw tied up in the hose. They tell him Jigsaw's men are "neutralized." Spidey goes to shake hands with NC, only to find a cloud of brimstone, and then turns to Punisher, but he's disappeared too! Old web-head decides he might as well leave himself, and swings off into the night.

Doug:  The half-splash of our three heroes kicking butt is pretty fun.  What did you think of Spidey's somewhat cruel goading of Jigsaw?  On the one hand, the guy was a mass murderer bent on some personal revenge scheme.  On the other hand, he had faced (pun intended) great personal loss/tragedy.  On the other hand (now we're venturing into Doc Ock territory with all these hands)...  Ah, nevermind.  The smash-'em-up of the firetruck at the end was a good way to finish the story. I really expected one of those Wile E. Coyote moments with the firetruck going under a viaduct and Jigsaw being decapitated.  It was sort of nice that he was just trussed up, so that we are fully aware that he'll be back.  I loved the Batmanesque exits by the Punisher and Nightcrawler!

Karen: I really enjoyed this story. It was simple and straightforward, it had great pacing, the action was fun and exciting, and Spidey sounded right to me. I much prefer this version of the Punisher -I suppose the original version - to what he eventually became, which was pretty much a psychopath. Nightcrawler really didn't have a lot to do, but was still fun to see. All in all, a very solid read.

Doug:  As I usually do with you -- I agree on your assessment of this 2-parter.  And I think we needed this one after the Marvel Team-Up story, which was uneven to say the least.  But hey -- over the past month we've read stories with Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Human Torch, the Inhumans, Nightcrawler, and the Punisher -- and by Conway, Wein, Andru, Mooney, Giacoia, and Esposito.  That's not a bad line-up.  And as we said a couple of weeks ago, it just goes to show that sometimes our memories of these 35-40 year old stories can be a little cloudy.  But when viewed through the eyes of a child, they were certainly pretty awesome!