Face Dancing
Credits: J. M. DeMatteis (writer), Luke Ross (penciler), John Stanisci (inks), John Kalisz (colors), Comicraft (letters)
The Plot:
The Chameleon takes advantage of Dr. Kafka’s kindness and knocks her
unconscious. Disguised as Kafka, he convinces John Jameson to give him
his gun, and then shoots him. Later, he disguises himself as Peter
Parker, pitting him against a holographic Dr. Octopus, which attracts the
attention of Spider-Man. When he touches Chameleon’s clothes, the
chemical coating knocks him unconscious. Spider-Man wakes in a padded
cell, being told by Dr. Kafka that he’s actually a writer named Herbert
Fillmore Smith.
The Subplots:
Jonah Jameson is still being stalked by Mad Jack. Flash Thompson’s
alcoholism subplot begins, as he spends the issue beating himself up for
not accomplishing as much as Peter. Spider-Man takes him web-slinging
across the city in an effort to cheer him up. A new Kangaroo also makes
a brief appearance as a quick throwaway villain in the issue’s opening.
Web of Continuity:
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Flash Thompson identifies his age as twenty-five. In just a few years, John Byrne will be adamant that his classmate Peter Parker couldn’t be any older than twenty-two. (Marvel’s obsession with Peter and his supporting cast being as young as possible hadn’t set in when this issue was published.)
-
Chameleon knows of a “connection” between Spider-Man and Peter Parker, as revealed in the “Lifetheft” storyline in Amazing Spider-Man. That’s why he disguised himself as Peter when trying to attract Spider-Man’s attention.
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Jonah Jameson’s wife Marla makes an appearance. As many readers will point out, Luke Ross has totally ignored her established appearance and just draws her as MJ's twin.
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This issue marks the first time Flash Thompson and Foggy Nelson meet. Foggy’s dating Liz Osborn at this time, a relationship springing out of the Daredevil title.
*See _________ For Details: The original Kangaroo died in Amazing Spider-Man #126.
I Love the ‘90s: Spider-Man remarks that Flash looks as happy as “Bob Dole at a Hollywood party.”
Review:
It’s not the creative team’s fault that Ashley Kafka has been keeping
Chameleon in the basement for the equivalent of twenty issues, that’s
just the way the chronology worked out. One problem with the line
during the post-clone era is the sheer amount of material being
produced. Even Spider-Man Team-Up
was still around during these days, a book that only the hardest of the
hardcore completists even knew existed. (Yes, I’m making fun of Spider-Man Team-Up
again.) It’s hard for any title to gain momentum when it seems as if
Spider-Man’s life is headed in four different directions at once, in
addition to all of the random one-off adventures he’s having in the
lower-level spinoffs and miniseries. Dr. Kafka hiding Chameleon in
Ravencroft’s basement is quickly forgotten when it’s just one of a
thousand Spidey continuity points existing simultaneously. Eventually,
Marvel does recognize this problem (Bob Harras specifically, I believe)
as almost all of the spinoffs are cancelled and the focus returns to two
“main” Spider-Man titles in 1998. Those books turned out to be awful,
of course, but I think the tighter continuity did help the relaunched
Spider-Man titles maintain some momentum in the early months.
Speaking
of the relaunch, one of the most controversial elements was Marvel’s
determination to turn back virtually all of the supporting cast’s
character development, leaving Peter’s friends and family with the same
personalities they had back in the early Stan Lee days. Fans especially
hated the return of bully Flash, which is why it’s so surprising to see
that J. M. DeMatteis went down virtually the same direction years
earlier with nary a peep from the readers. In J. M. DeMatteis’s
defense, there is an in-story explanation for Flash’s behavior (he’s
partially drunk), and Flash does at least correct himself after
insulting Peter, but it’s a little odd that Peter is so accepting of his
behavior. Rather than recognizing that Flash is putting him down
because he’s been drinking, Peter acts as if Flash always talks about
him this way. That hasn’t been the case since 1970 or so, which does
make this scene rather annoying from a continuity purist point of view.
I also question if Flash really needs an alcoholism storyline,
considering that they were probably already overdone in comics by 1996.
Plus, Flash’s lack of direction in life had already been addressed a
few years earlier by David Michelinie and Gerry Conway, and even earlier than that by Tom DeFalco, so this subplot
isn’t off to a great start.
The
main story works better than I expected, thankfully. I’m not a fan of
DeMatteis’s portrayal of Chameleon as a shell-shocked mental patient, so
I’m glad he’s dialed it back and just allowed him to be a fairly
straightforward villain again. A particularly ungrateful one at that,
as Dr. Kafka has risked her entire career to keep him out of custody and
continue his treatments, and he responds by knocking her face against a
brick wall. Dr. Kafka is obviously a pet character of DeMatteis’s, one
that you would expect him to always treat as being right, so the
story’s automatically more interesting when she turns out to be dead
wrong. Chameleon also comes across as more menacing than he has in
years, which is a step that needed to be taken after years of him talking
to himself in a padded room. I do think the drama, and some of the
character moments, are hindered by Luke Ross’s inconsistent art, but
overall this is an entertaining issue. Definitely more exciting than
some of the tepid plots we’re seeing in the other titles.
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