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collecting issues #51 through to #56 of the monthly series
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski (with Fiona Avery)
Artists: John Romita Jr (p), Scott Hanna (i)
Publisher: Marvel
Two storylines form the core of this book - one more grounded in reality and one quite fantastic in scope, yet rather more dissatisfying because of this. The first storyline - forty-plus years ago, thirteen mob bosses and trusted aides are killed by another, dumped in a huge pit in the Nevada desert and never spoken of again....until, in the present day, the US government drops a gamma bomb on the site as part of a limited test range and...something rises from the mass grave. Something called Digger, and it wants revenge on the mob boss who arranged it all. Said mob boss calls upon Spidey to protect him...after offering a stipend of $10K per day. Spidey's reasons for accepting this assignment - and the pager that comes with it - are not wholly convincing, but we let that ride, especially in light of later events and actions from the webbed wonder.
This Digger thing, then. An amalgamation of various dead men, given their consciousness by the bomb, also has Hulk-like strength. The books stops for Peter Parker's thoughts on how the Hulk works - JMS has obviously given this a lot of thought - and this provides him with the solution to taking Digger down...if Spidey can go toe-to-toe with this guy for long enough, it will gradually break down and dissolve back into nothingness.
Several things in this storyline give one pause for thought - how could this consciousness really survive forty years in a chemical pit...especially as the guys were dead before being dumped in the pit, some chemical thing kept the consciousness alive? That could revolutionise medical science in the Marvel Universe as we know it. More - Spidey kills Digger at the end...if we are to buy that this consciousness was real, then Spidey is a killer? More - he can't spend more than a few days on this case, at $10K (or $12K) per day - yet this is enough to buy and dedicate an entire library? Is real estate in NY really cheap nowadays? All these are minor, picky points - yet they stay with you after the story is over.
The second story deals with the consequences of Spidey sending a kid to jail - how his family are affected by the guy's incarceration, all the knock-on effects of this as they affect not just Spidey, but Peter Parker as the teacher of the kid's younger sister. A nice, touching story - co-written by Avery, one suspects - featuring the return of Ezekiel in a funny little twist at the end...when the guy is out of jail he disappears, and only Ezekiel knows where and why...and just as last time, he drops a thoughtful bombshell into Peter's head and goes on his merry way.
It will be interesting if this thread is picked up in later issues, if it actually changes Spidey's attitudes to the people he catches and the way he operates ... how can Spidey prevent crimes from occurring BEFORE they happen, rather than just react when the crimes occur? That's the big question facing Spidey in the 21st century - pro-active vs. reactive - and I hope it's dealt with and not brushed under the carpet.
Some very nice scenes between PP and MJ - his nervousness at the pair of them getting back together prevents him from having sex with her for quite some time...what???? - and JMS shows a nice touch in PP's babbling when nervous.
So, it's not brilliant...just very, very good.
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