Comics Corner: Web Of Spider-Man 50

   

Title: Web Of Spider-Man
Issue Number: 50
Release Date: May 1989

Highlights

• First appearance of Ernie, Maggia member Winston Walker III, and  Daily Bugle employee Nick Katzenberg
• Also the first appearance of The Outlaws: Silver Sable, Sandman, Prowler, Puma, Rocket Racer, and Will O' The Wisp
• First appearance of the West Side Marina, and Greenpoint locations
• Nick Katzenberg brings photos of Spider-Man appearing to be a thief to J. Jonah Jameson showing him to be a menace, and is hired as staff to the Bugle (after negotiating hard with Jameson for the position)
• A comedic moment occurs when Jameson returns home, and greets the door man by the name of Sam, and asks how his wife is
• The man responds that his name is Ernie, and that he's not married
• Jameson simply continues on, telling Bert he's sorry to hear that because every man needs love
• As Jameson steps off the elevator at his building, a mysterious figure gases him, rendering him unconscious
• The photos are front page the next day, and those who would become The Outlaws see it, reacting in their own way to it, either believing it, or wanting to prove it wrong
• Winston Walker yells at his security team, furious that he was allegedly robbed by Spider-Man, and he only finds out about it by the paper which has led to the police calling him for a report
• Spider-Man has gotten away with stealing millions in negotiable bonds from the Maggia criminal
• A mysterious figure takes photos of the home from across the street
• As Aunt May's home bustles with breakfast time, and Peter leaves for class, Mary Jane sees the headline
• As Robbie reads the headline from prison, his visiting son Randy is pleading for him to take a potential guilty verdict series, as this could put him in prison for a long time
• As Randy's wife scolds him in the hallway, there's a familiar looking character being escorted by police

• The dialog from The Joker is actually taken from The Killing Joke, which hit store shelves prior to this issue

• Reference is made to recent issues of The Spectacular Spider-Man, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 104, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual 7, and The Amazing Spider-Man 235
• The Arranger arrives on scene of another slew of murders of the Kingpin's men, and another note scrawled in blood, "wolves take revenge"
• As the detective questions him, the Arranger is told he has a call on his car phone
• The call is from Carlos Lobo, who informs him that he and his brother are town, and that the Kingpin not only disapproving of their drug running, but thinking they were after part of his city will cost them both their lives
• Carlos asks his brother, Eduardo about Gloria Grant, and he responds that she is not only his, but will do everything he tells her to
• Peter is awoken by Dr. Swann at school, and finds out he was asleep for three hours
• Peter also apparently has a beeper, and it goes off, causing him to bolt from the room
• As Peter heads out on the roof, he's attacked by Puma
• Peter states that he thought they were pals now, and that Puma owed him a debt
• Puma informs him the debt was paid when Peter declined his offer to come work for him
• Puma further explains his reason for attacking is because his honor was shamed when he learned Spider-Man was a common thief
• In an unexpected turn of events, Spider-Man admits he did actually rob Winston's house
• Spider-Man drops his beeper while escaping the fight, which Puma retrieves
• Prowler arrives at Winston's home intent on finding evidence that Spider-Man isn't a thief
• He's met by Rocket Racer who too is there for the same reason, but mistakes Prowler as the thief returning to the scene of the crime
• Naturally, they fight, but it's broken up by the cops who think they're both the thieves
• The two finally come to their senses and escape together
• They spot the mysterious figure, and after grabbing him find out Silver Sable hired him to keep tabs on the house, and inform her when Winston leaves
• Spider-Man heads across the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, finding Winston's car, and informing the readers that the beeper he had was provided by Silver Sable, and the device went off to inform him when the Maggia had left his home
• He follows the vehicle via a spider tracer he planted on it at a time not shown in the story
• The vehicle stops in a secluded area, and Winston unearths a cylinder of documents from a hidden safe underneath a fake rock
• Spider-Man makes his presence known, and the fight begins
• Spider-Man is able to get the cylinder, but the fight is interrupted by Will O' The Wisp who is there to confront Spidey on the report of him being a thief
• Spider-Man is able to break lose by tricking Wisp into running into some power lines
• Spider-Man meets up with Silver Sable and gives her the cylinder, but the meeting is interrupted by Rocket Racer and Prowler who seeing this are now convinced Spider-Man is a thief
• Though they try to attack, Sandman hits them from behind
• Spidey tries to intervene, and stop everyone from fighting
• Silver Sable, intent on her mission leaves them all there to duke it out, only to be attacked by Puma who has tracked her through the beeper he picked up
• As Spider-Man attacks Puma to get him away from Sable, Will O' The Wisp joins the fray, exploding Sandman into particles of sand, but he soon recovers
• Frustrated with nobody listening, Spider-Man pulls the dock down around everyone, giving him a moment to toss the cylinder to Puma, and telling him to read the documents for himself, which he does
• After everyone finally learns that Winston is part of the Maggia, and that Sable and Spider-Man were working together to uncover this, cooler heads prevail
• Silver Sable gives them all her card, and tells them to call her if they ever want freelance work
• Spider-Man set up his camera during the fight (apparently), and Peter now has photos that prove him innocent
• Peter takes the photos to Jameson, who is mysteriously at work, and no mention of the gas incident, but something isn't right - Peter's spidey sense keeps going off
• Jameson says he won't publish the photos because he needs the public to believe Spider-Man is a criminal
• As Peter and Mary Jane get interment, Aunt May bursts into the room with hot cocoa, only to be told the two are already warming each other up
• Embarrassed, she races out of the room
• Jameson returns home, talking to himself about his plans to overthrow the US government, and that phase one is already complete by taking over the Bugle
• As he enters the home, we find the real J. Jonah Jameson tied up, and the fake Jameson morphs into the Chameleon
• Fantastic issue!

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• Happy with his photos, Jameson leaves the Bugle on cloud nine, kissing Gloria Grant on the cheek on his way out - I know times were different, but could you still do that in 1989?

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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