The Last Act of Vengeance Credits: Gerry Conway (writer), Alex Saviuk (penciler), Keith Williams (inker), Rick Parker (letterer), Bob Sharen (colorist)
The Plot: Spider-Man attaches his webline to an airplane, riding it back to land. Meanwhile, the villains return to Chameleon’s headquarters to collect their bounty, only to discover him missing. Trapster finds a note, planted by Chameleon, which implicates Kingpin in his scheme to rip them off. The villains travel to Kingpin’s headquarters for retribution. Spider-Man follows, and knocks out Graviton while he’s distracted by Kingpin. One by one, Spider-Man defeats the remaining villains. The Chameleon is thrilled, believing that Spider-Man’s interference has made Kingpin appear weak in the eyes of the Maggia.
The Subplots: Following Graviton’s upheaval, the Daily Bugle building is declared condemned. While babysitting Normie Osborn, MJ discovers a Green Goblin costume hidden in his father’s closet.
We Get Letters: A letter writer commends Marvel for avoiding profanity in its comics, unlike DC. The editorial response is “you can rest assured that the regular Marvel and Star Comics will always be free of curse words.”
Review: More fight scenes and not a lot of plot development, but that’s forgivable given the number of villains Spider-Man’s dealing with this issue. Allowing Spider-Man to defeat so many foes in such a short amount of time is a copout, but it’s obvious that Conway has put some thought into the execution and wants to give the conclusion some credibility. The most powerful villain, Graviton, is KO’ed while he’s distracted, which makes the fight exponentially easier for Spider-Man. Trapster and the Brothers Grimm aren’t much of a threat, and Goliath is defeated by his own weight when Spider-Man uses his webline to trip him. That leaves Titania, who’s taken out when a bus runs into her. If Titania’s strong enough to face She-Hulk, I think it’s really the bus driver who would come out the worst in that situation. Considering the difficulty she caused “Cosmic Powers” Spidey just a few issues earlier, it’s a letdown to see her so casually dismissed. Still, this is an entertaining two-parter with a good hook, and the subplots introduced are intriguing enough to keep interest up for the next storyline.
I loved this two-parter when I was a kid. I don't know how many times I read and re-read it. For me, it was right up there with Spidey single-handedly taking down all of the X-Men in Secret Wars #3.
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