Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1989-07-01 00:02:30 |
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Web of Spider-Man #52
Issue(s): Web of Spider-Man #52
Cover Date: Jul 89
Title: "Chains"
Credits:
Gerry Conway - Writer
Frank Springer - Penciler
John Romita Sr. - Inker
Glenn Herdling - Assistant Editor
Jim Salicrup - Editor
Review/plot:
Cool cover this issue. This issue actually focuses entirely on J. Jonah Jameson, who flashes back to his early days as a reporter while he tries to escape the bonds that the Chameleon has put him in. Perhaps because of the flashbacks, art is by Frank Springer and John Romita Sr..
This is all we see of Spider-Man this issue.
Meanwhile, the Chameleon taunts JJ by showing him the ridiculous headlines he's been putting out.
After the Chameleon leaves, JJ starts working on his bonds while thinking back to his early days. He was working for the Herald Journal Express at the time, and was working on a case involving corruption in the police department. But his boss wouldn't run his articles without substantiated facts...
...and the police had a vote in the matter as well.
He's later approached by William Walter Goodman, the owner of the Daily Bugle.
No idea if he had a brother named Martin.
JJ and Goodman have a conversation about heroes, obviously relevant to modern day JJ's opinion of Spider-Man.
Goodman convinces JJ to work for him and continue the corruption investigation. Unfortunately, JJ's copy boy sidekick gets killed by a bomb left by the police for JJ, but Goodman convinces him to keep going. And it's that persistence that eventually gets him to trick the corrupt cop's ringleader into confessing, and also eventually break out of his chains and try to escape his apartment. Unfortunately the Chameleon had forgotten something and came back early.
This time he locks him up in the closet. But JJ is still determined to escape.
Quality Rating: B-
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A
References: N/A
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
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Comments
I always loved how Chameleon morphed into the upc symbol (on the cover I had it was the upc symbol).
Conway demonstrates how as a young man, Jonah's arrogance and cowardice contributed to the boy's death. Jonah changed somewhat but not completely.
A later comic established that Jonah was raised by an abusive war hero, giving him *another* reason to hate heroes.
I like seeing what makes Jonah tick, but I wonder if it's much ado about nothing. My favorite explanation is just that Jonah is a blowhard who doesn't like Spider-Man; he doesn't really have any other problems with superheroes.
I wonder if Jonah's red-headed sidekick was intended as a Jimmy Olsen pastiche?
That's what I got from it, TCP.
Btw JJJ as someone whose opposition to Spidey stems from distaste for undue force doesn't square with more recent depictions. Not sure if there were other stories that corroborated the motivation here.
