Issue(s): Marvel Comics Presents #127 (Speedball)
Cover Date: May 93
Title: "The big time"
Credits:
Danny Fingeroth - Writer
Don Perlin - Penciler
Rodney Ramos - Inker
Mark Powers - Assistant Editor
Terry Kavanagh - Editor

Review/plot:
Ah, a rare Speedball story.

Doctor Octopus is arranging a weapons shipment with a "Ms. Carlyle" when Robbie Baldwin runs into him.

Speedball doesn't really want to fight Doc Ock, and just tries to get away. But changes his mind when he gets a lucky shot in.

But Doc Ock was only briefly stunned. He recovers and tosses Speedball up in between two skyscrapers.

A random ricochet sends him back at Ock, who sidesteps and lets Speedball crash into some wet cement.

Doc Ock has Speedball at his mercy, but Ms. Carlyle wants to get on with her business.

And that's it!

Someone needs a pep talk from the Human Torch.

This story is something pretty unique, in that it ends with the hero losing. It's a very different type of story than the ones by Ditko. I don't even know if Ditko would approve of a story where the villain got away.

Don Perlin is a very different sort of artist than Ditko. I don't know if he was chosen because they were both artists from earlier eras, but it's interesting that unlike the Speedball stories by Ron Wilson around this time ("around this time" in the sense of when i guess these stories would have originally appeared if Speedball's book hadn't been cancelled), there was no attempt to mimic Ditko's style.

I wondered if i was supposed to know Ms. Carlyle, but i've never tracked such a character, and googling her leads to a lot of false positives because a Luke Carlyle will duplicate Doctor Octopus's powers in a 2002 storyline. Maybe this is Luke's mom.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: A footnote says that this story takes place before New Warriors #1. The script seems to hedge its bets, though. Speedball thinks to himself that he never fought a villain of Doc Ock's caliber "alone". I guess he did fight the High Evolutionary's troops and the Soviet Super Soldiers in his early guest appearances, so the qualifier would still be necessary. I may be thinking about it too hard, but i guess i'll also place this before Speedball's fight with the Absorbing Man in Marvel Super Heroes #14.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? Y (inventory story)

My Reprint: N/A