DAREDEVIL #188

"THE WIDOW’S BITE”
Writer/Storyteller: Frank Miller | Penciler/Inker/Colorist: Klaus Janson
Letters: Joe Rosen | Editor: Denny O’Neil | Supervisor : Jim Shooter

The Plot: Black Widow fights her way out of S.H.I.E.L.D. medical custody and goes in search of Daredevil, but doesn't find him at either his brownstone or Heather’s apartment. Meanwhile, Stick speaks with Matt, who is in a sensory deprivation tank hidden in his basement, while Kirigi is given an assignment to kill Stick.

Widow is also unable to locate Matt at his office and continues her search. As Matt and Stick continue their conversation, Black Widow enters the Kingpin’s office but he, too, is unaware of where Daredevil could be. As the Widow fights Kingpin’s goons, he notices that she appears to be dissolving somehow.

Meanwhile, Kirigi enters Matt’s basement but he is defeated by Stick and his associates, Shaft, Claw, and Stone. As Matt emerges from the sensory deprivation tank, Black Widow arrives and collapses.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Black Widow visits with her friend and father figure, Ivan, before setting out on her quest. She notes that “…he's been through a lot lately,” but there's no footnote explaining the comment.

(However, stay tuned to this very site and we'll find out what she means in another month or so!)

FANTASTIC FOUR #248

"NIGHTMARE!"
Author: John Byrne | Colorist: Glynis Wein | Letterer: Rick Parker
Editor: Jim Salicrup | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Beneath the surface of the Moon, the amphibious Inhuman Triton discovers a strange crystal hidden inside a cavern. Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four arrive in Attilan for the naming ceremony of the daughter of Crystal and Quicksilver. But the festivities are short-lived as the Moon leaves Earth’s orbit to be hauled into an enormous spacecraft.

Inside the ship, a massive alien studies and dissects the Moon. The FF attempt to reason with it, but it sprays them as if they were pests. As his teammates perish around him, Mister Fantastic screams out in protest. A moment later, all of the FF and Inhumans are in Attilan once more as if nothing happened. As the group compares notes of similar but different experiences, Reed speculates that some outside force induced hallucinations based on their deepest fears, but something eventually shut it down.

Back in the underground cavern, Triton overcomes nightmares induced by the crystal and departs to warn his fellow Inhumans about it.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #234

"NOW SHALL WILL-O'-THE-WISP HAVE HIS REVENGE!"
Plotter & Scripter: Roger Stern | Artists: John Romita, Jr. & Dan Green
Letterer: Joe Rosen | Colorist: Bob Sharen | Editor: Tom DeFalco
The Light of Truth: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Late at night, Will-O'-The-Wisp destroys a Brand Corporation facility in Boston. Meanwhile, Peter and Ben Urich develop photos of their encounter with Nose Norton and the Tarantula, but find no proof that the Brand Corporation detectives fired on Norton before Norton shot at them. Elsewhere, Brand employees approach the injured Tarantula about joining them as their newest super-agent and he agrees.

The next day, Spider-Man finds that his photos of the Tarantula were bumped from page one of the Daily Bugle by an article about the Boston explosion. Suspecting that Will-O'-The-Wisp is involved due to the nature of the blast, the wall-crawler ponders a way to investigate Brand. At Empire State University, Peter learns about the company's internship program, and later that day arrives at the Brand offices in Queens for an interview, but quickly changes back into Spider-Man to search the campus.

The web-slinger tails James Melvin, the same Brand bigwig involved in his last altercation with the company, to a secret lab where Tarantula is about to be endowed with spider-powers. Spider-Man intervenes, but so does Will-O'-The-Wisp, leading to a conflict between the two vigilantes. Melvin wounds Wisp with an experimental weapon, then the tank holding the Tarantula explodes and he emerges, mutated into a spider-monster.

HERCULES: PRINCE OF POWER

"WHAT FOOLS THESE IMMORTALS BE" | "FOR THE LOVE OF GODS"
"WHOM THE GOD WOULD DESTROY!" | "NOT JUST ANOTHER GALACTUS STORY!"
Conceived and Executed by Bob Layton, Writer/Artist
Art Assist: Luke McDonnell | Embellishing Assist: Sam De La Rosa
Letterer: Rick Parker | Colorists: Christie Scheele with Bob Sharen
Editor: Mark Gruenwald | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

Before reading this story, I was only familiar with Bob Layton's writing via a couple of his early X-FACTOR issues. And those issues were, to put it mildly... not good. So I was prepared to encounter something ranging from anywhere between bad and mediocre when I opened up HERCULES: PRINCE OF POWER. Imagine my surprise, then, to find this a very fun, highly enjoyable little adventure!

The story begins with Hercules returning to Olympus following his recent years on Earth. But upon his arrival, Hercules immediately begins partying too hard for the liking of his father, Zeus. Zeus exiles Hercules from Olympus, but rather than sending his son back to Earth, where he is a god among men, Zeus orders Hercules to travel the wider universe, among beings who are closer to his equals, to teach him some humility.

Hercules begins his travels aboard a magical chariot, and soon meets the Colonizers of Rigel, a race of aliens who explore the galaxies in search of knowledge and habitable worlds. The Colonizers befriend Hercules and ask him to bring one of their recorder robots along on his journeys, to get a record of his adventures. Hercules gladly agrees.