Issue(s): Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #55
Cover Date: Jun 81
Title: "The big blow out"
Credits:
Roger Stern - Writer
Luke McDonnell - Penciler
Jim Mooney - Inker

Review/plot:
Nitro's daughter has hired Emerson Bale, the Champion's former lawyer, who demands that Nitro be freed from Project Pegasus. Project Pegasus, which studies super-villains under captivity, is surely unconstitutional, even ignoring the fact that Nitro never had a trial. Adding insult to injury, Nitro is kept in a pair of gas canisters. So i'm sure Bale didn't have too much trouble getting the writ for his freedom. Bale is made to look like the obnoxious blustering lawyer in here, but he does have a point.

On the other hand, Nitro blows up the Project scientists as soon as he's freed.

And he's not very appreciative of the efforts of Bale or his own daughter.

Spider-Man runs into Nitro at a bank where as Peter Parker he was cashing his TA check. He tricks Nitro into merging himself with nausea gas, which makes him very ill.

The latest on the Marcy head-covering gag:

Luke McDonnell's a decent artist. I wouldn't have minded if they kept him on the book either.

Quality Rating: B-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This issue takes place after Amazing Spider-Man #216, when Peter met Debbie's hometown boyfriend Biff Rifkin. But ASM #216 is part of a three issue arc, and in ASM #218 it's mentioned that Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #56 occurs during a downtime interval. So i've got Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #54-56 occurring concurrently with Amazing Spider-Man #216-218.

References:

• Ducking his landlady, Peter thinks about the fire from Amazing Spider-Man #214 and suspects that there will be a rent increase.
  
• Peter is dealing with the fallout from his poor treatment of Debra from Amazing Spider-Man #215. And he's jealous of her friend Biff from Amazing Spider-Man #216.
  
• Nitro wants vengeance on Captain Marvel, who put him away in Captain Marvel #34.
  
• Bale tells him the last place Captain Marvel was seen was Denver in Marvel Spotlight #12 - a story that didn't actually get published until Marvel Super Heroes #3.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

i love the way that roger stern has spidey use his brains to defeat foes

This story raises an issue I'd love to see explored more. What do you do when you have a villain who is just flat out too dangerous to give a constitutional trial to? The kind where the only way to keep him restrained is to keep him unconscious. As soon as he wakes up, BANG, he's out of there.

It's interesting to return to this story after the "Civil War" crossover, where the New Warriors battling Nitro in a populated area is a) very destructive and kills lots of people an b) treated like proof that they are unusually stupid and reckless. Here, it's just superhero business as usual, even when Spider-Man deliberately draws Nitro to a chemical warehouse in hopes of blasting him apart; I guess it shows how much superhero comics have come to rely on undermining the genre conventions for story material in the last decade or two.

Or maybe it shows just how dumb Civil War was.