Issue(s): Web of Spider-Man #103
Cover Date: Aug 93
Title: "Sin city"
Credits:
Terry Kavanagh - Writer
Alex Saviuk - Penciler
Don Hudson - Inker
Rob Tokar - Editor

Review/plot:
Ok, we are into the August books, so i want to say that we are on the homestretch. But it's still quite a long stretch.

So what's going on? Oh, this again.

Look, i get it. A group of evil super-villains, plowing through New York and killing indiscriminately is a pretty big deal. It's kind of a new idea, since we've never really had the case of a character being evil for evil's sake, at least on this scale and with this much death. The response from the heroes has been really ineffective, and, for whatever reason, there's been no response from the likes of Code Blue or SHIELD. I mean i would love to get a Marvels style retelling of this story explaining what the hell was going on behind the scenes, and how after this event was over New York didn't become a locked down police state. I guess that's part of my lack of enthusiasm here: i know that beyond this crossover there are no real implications, and it's really hard to believe that this is going on in the Marvel universe for this long and the only response is from a rag tag group of street level heroes. But even with all that, i am rationalizing. The real reason i've run out of enthusiasm is that this has been going on FOR TEN @!#?@! ISSUES!!!!

I should be thrilled about a full scale war between Marvel super-heroes and villains in New York City. But the pacing, and the sheer length, has killed it.

We don't get the Avengers or the FF or SHIELD or even Daredevil, but we do get Nightwatch.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: This is part ten of Maximum Carnage. Part eleven is in Amazing Spider-Man #380.

References:

• It turns out Captain America was alerted to return to New York when Spider-Man and friends tripped an alarm getting the sonic gun at the FF's building in Amazing Spider-Man #379. It's really kind of amazing that that's what it took to get an Avenger (and only one!) back to New York, not all the news reports of the mass slaughter going on by a team of super-villains.
  
• Cap followed Carnage's trail of destruction to hook up with the heroes in Spectacular Spider-Man #202.

Crossover: Maximum Carnage

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

And there's Nightwatch. My mistake.

Fnord, it's interesting that you note that your lack of enthusiasm comes in part from your realization that these events would have no lasting repercussions for the Marvel Universe... That's the feeling I've had when reading some of Marvel events from the last few years. For instance, world-wide destruction was happening during "Fear Itself" - and did it matter in the long run? No. Similarly, New York got destroyed during "Infinity" - and, again, did it matter? Not at all.

Superhero comics need to cut down on this kind of catastrophes that have no lasting repercussions - otherwise, the stories have no weight whatsoever...

I absolutely agree with that. That ruined my enjoyment of the Infinity trilogy of the 90's. Good stories but it had no effect on the MU. This is the same shlock

Why weren't the Punisher & Ghost Rider featured? They're usually the go-to guest stars.

I think their agents negotiated a brief hiatus.

I was going to ask that too, but I was going to wait for the end to verify that Punisher, Ghost Rider and Wolverine never appeared.

@Clyde: The reason the Punisher didn't appear in this crossover is that the instant he showed up he would have just shot Carnage dead on the spot, not spent 14 chapters uselessly equivocating over the morality of lethal force :P

No, Spider-Man would have spent 14 issues stopping him from killing Carnage alongside Venom while uselessly equivocating over the morality of lethal force :D

Not if Garth Ennis wrote it! Of course, if Garth Ennis had his way, we'd probably gte a comic book where the Punisher killed Galactus :P

Nightwatch is the only Spider-Man ally who fought in this crossover not to get an appearance in the Maximum Carnage video game. Can't imagine why such a compelling and unique character was left out.