Issue(s): Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #117
Cover Date: Aug 86
Title: "Dinner hour"
Credits:
Peter David - Writer
Rich Buckler - Breakdowns
Dwayne Turner - Finishes
Bob McLeod, Dell Barras, Keith Williams, & Josef Rubinstein, - Inker
Adam Blaustein - Assistant Editor
Christopher Priest - Editor

Review/plot:
The Amazing Spider-Man issue of the Where Is Spider-Man?/Missing In Action event definitely was a shift of focus, with the regular Spider-Man cast (even outside of the missing Spider-Man) relegated to cameos. This issue, however, continues seamlessly from the previous Spectacular issue, thanks to the fact that it stars the Black Cat, who has recently been reintroduced to the series.

We find that the Cat has gotten a new costume for herself, and a haircut.

She says the new mask is designed to hide the fact that her nose was broken. I don't really like the new costume (and they went with the old one for the cover), but i guess it's admirable to get her out of the slinky cat suit. Although she is the Black Cat, and nothing about the new costume suggests that.

Those shoulder pads, we'll learn, are made from the gold from the notebook that Peter Parker hocked and that Felicia stole from the Foreigner last arc. And the second half of this issue has Black Cat dealing with the continued repercussions of that.

The first half, however, is a fun bit with the Black Cat attempting to extract some vengeance on Dr. Strange for (inadvertently) removing her powers last arc.

When she finally gets to him, she's more befuddled than angry and leaves without letting him try to help her.

It's at that point she returns to her apartment to find the Foreigner waiting for her.

Foreigner proves to be the vastly superior fighter.

And this despite the fact that some new powers manifest for the Black Cat.

However, when he's got her defeated, he doesn't kill her. Instead, he has a proposition for her. He wants her help in defeating Spider-Man.

Black Cat agrees, seemingly because she's still upset with Spider-Man over breaking up with her.

Also in this issue, Alex Woolcot, having run away after killing his father last issue, is accosted by a pair of pedophiles, and uses his powers against them (he's lucky no one calls X-Factor on him)...

...and Randy Robertson finally brings his white wife, Amanda, home to meet his parents. Joe Robertson comes around when Amanda saves him while he's choking on an apple. Odd that the Robertsons sit around at a table with plates and silverware and eat apples.

The power outage is due to Alex's actions, and that's also when the Black Cat discovers her new powers.

It's always a little annoying when some new character is introduced and proves to be just so much more awesome than everyone else, but this was nonetheless a fun issue.

Quality Rating: B+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This takes place more or less concurrently with Amazing Spider-Man #279 during the period where Spider-Man is missing. The last page of this issue is reprinted from Web of Spider-Man #17. Spider-Man shouldn't be appearing anywhere between Web of Spider-Man #17 and Web of Spider-Man #18.

References:

• Foreigner says Spider-Man has become a bother after defeating Chance in Web of Spider-Man #14-15.

Crossover: Missing In Action

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

How does that mask disguise her broken nose? It's just hanging out there uncovered...maybe it's a false rubber nose at the mask bottom?

I don't see how gold would make good shoulder pads, especially armor-type. It's too soft a metal. You never hear about people using golden knives in real life, for example...

Agreed, the new costume is horrible. It won't last long though.

The blackout hiding that it wasn't Martha but Amanda doing the heimlich is a bit... convenient.

In other news: I really like the way this series does end credits.

Don't get Robbie as any kind of racist; just didn't work.