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Posted by Sam Holland
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02:08 PM Thursday, 09 August 2007 |
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In comics, superheroes threaten villains like a parent on a long road trip- “If you don’t settle down back there I’m going to leave you on the side of the road.” It’s a ploy used to attract attention and inform to the seriousness of the request, but everyone knows there is no weight to it.
So when Spider-Man told Wilson Fisk aka the Kingpin that he was going to kill him, I, being a jaded long time reader, didn’t really pay it much mind, even if Peter did say it with a furrowed brow and gritted teeth. We all know that Spider-Man is a hero and although he may get awfully close, he would never cross that line.
Don’t we?
Part 4 of “Back in Black” challenges that notion and shows us that this isn’t the same character we’re used to seeing. Peter’s been pushed to the edge after a sniper, on Kingpin’s orders, shot Aunt May and put her in a coma.
Fisk paid the prison guards to open all the cells and take the night
off, turning the cell block into a cage match. Prepared for battle
dressed in his Sunday best, he opening salvo against Spider-Man is
verbal, mocking his moral compass and calling him a “chump.” There is
some truth to his words, but it doesn’t distract Spidey from
systematically softening up the Kingpin. Things don’t get too serious
until he sheds his mask and takes on the Kingpin as Peter Parker. What
follows is a good old fashioned beat down at the end of which, you
realize that Peter truly has turned a dark corner and isn’t kidding
around anymore.
The writing is strong in this issue, not a surprise with JMS handeling
the chores, but there’s an extra flair that has been missing over the
last few issues, almost as if he couldn’t wait to get to The Big Fight-
and who could blame him? Kingpin has been making life miserable for
Spider-Man for decades. It’s about time the wheel came around.
Ron Garney’s pencils are good as always, but his real strength is his
layout. Everything from the monologues to the fight flow easily and
evoke power and weight. There’s no confusion no “what’s happening
here?” on any page or panel.
Big confrontations like this are usually left for the final issue of an
arc, but there’s still one issue of “Back in Black” left, and I can’t
wait to see it.
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