PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #49

"ENTER: THE SMUGGLER!"
Writer: Roger Stern | Penciler: Jim Mooney | Inker: Bruce Patterson
Letterer: Rick Parker | Colorist: Ken Feduniewicz | Editor: Denny O'Neil
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Saturday afternoon at Empire State Univerisity, Peter Parker has trouble concentrating on grading papers. When fellow teaching assistant Phil Chang spots him in the office, Phil takes Peter out for a day on the town. But Phil soon spots Tommy Li, a member of the White Dragon gang, which Spider-Man had supposedly shut down some time before. Suspecting Tommy is up to something, Peter and Phil pursue him. But when Tommy hops into a van and drives away, Peter ditches Phil, changes to Spider-Man, and gives chase.

The wall-crawler loses Tommy in the Holland Tunnel, but later that evening tracks him down at the White Dragons' old hideout, where he has gone to ground. Spider-Man forces Tommy to lead him to his new gang, a group headed by "The Smuggler", a super-strong, super-durable criminal. Spider-Man takes out the Smuggler's gang and then battles the villain himself, eventually winning. But as our hero attempts to web up the Smuggler, his web-shooters run dry and he is left holding his foe by one strand of webbing, unable to reload one-handed.

PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #48

"DOUBLE DEFEAT!"
Writer: Roger Stern | Penciler: Marie Severin | Inker: Bruce Patterson
Letterer: Rick Parker | Colorist: Ben Sean | Editor: Denny O'Neil
Funeral Arranger: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Spider-Man manages to smash his way out of Belladonna's trap, but finds that she is not on the other side of the glass porthole as he had believed -- it was only a video screen with which he was speaking. The Prowler attempts to kill Spider-Man, but Belladonna's monitor explodes, wounding the villain. Spider-Man turns the Prowler over to the police and heads home. Soon after, the Prowler escapes from Bellevue Hospital and sets out to find Belladonna.

The next day, Peter Parker heads to a property manager's office and learns that the loft where Belladonna's trap was set is leased to Desiree Vaughn-Pope. Spider-Man heads to Desiree's apartment but finds her sister Narda in residence instead. After he explains to Narda that he believes her sister to be Belladonna, Narda tells the web-slinger that Desiree is on her way to Roderick Kingsley's office for a meeting. Worried that Belladonna will strike again, Spider-Man departs immediately.

However as soon as he has left, Narda reveals that she is actually Belladonna, and calls Kingsley to tell him Spider-Man has joined forces with her and is en route to kill him. She then orders her men to meet her at their hideout for a new assignment. Spider-Man soon drops into Kingsley's loft, and the forewarned designer guns him down. Meanwhile, Narda heads for her hideout, but is trailed by the Prowler. She attempts to pay him off, but he prepares to kill her anyway before escaping with her money. Spider-Man arrives and saves her, having used a dummy in a fake costume to trick Kingsley, then takes out her men when they arrive moments later. Narda and the Prowler are arrested and Spider-Man departs, considering that perhaps he's actually won for a change.

THE SUMMER OF DANGER GIRL

In my DANGER GIRL/G.I. JOE review last year, I said:

"Danger Girl has been a bit of a guilty pleasure for me since it first appeared, back when I was in college. It was the only series from the Cliffhanger imprint that I picked up, and I guess I made the right choice because I seem to recall it was the only Cliffhanger series to reach its conclusion (even if it did take something like two years to get those seven issues). The series is not high art, though it has never pretended to be. It's simply the comic book equivalent of a big, dumb summer popcorn blockbuster, which is something you just want to read once in a while."

Now I'm about to put this assessment to the test. I'm going to spend ten consecutive Fridays looking at ten DANGER GIRL mini-series and one-shots, to decide if they're actually big and dumb, or if perhaps there's more there. The series I'll be reviewing are:

• DANGER GIRL (1998)
• DANGER GIRL SPECIAL (2000)
• DANGER GIRL: KAMIKAZE! (2001)
• DANGER GIRL: HAWAIIAN PUNCH (2003)
• DANGER GIRL: VIVA LAS DANGER (2004)
• DANGER GIRL: BACK IN BLACK (2006)
• DANGER GIRL: BODY SHOTS (2007)
• DANGER GIRL: REVOLVER (2012)
• DANGER GIRL: TRINITY (2013)
• DANGER GIRL: THE CHASE (2013)

DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON

"ON THE RUN" | "AND THEN THERE WERE TWO"
"CAPES, LIES, & MICROCHIPS" | UNTITLED | UNTITLED | UNTITLED
Script: Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray
Penciler: Khari Evans | Inker: Jimmy Palmiotti
Colorist: Christina Strain | Letterer: Artmonkeys' Dave Lanphear
Assistant Editor: Nathan Cosby | Editor: Mark Paniccia
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada | Publisher: Dan Buckley

The first three issues have titles. The remaining three don't. The final issue is also missing credits! In a way, these production peculiarities symbolize the unevenness of the entire series. It starts out strong -- Palmiotti and Gray have given Colleen Wing and Misty Knight a new profession. Their company is still called Nightwing Restorations, but rather than being simple private detectives, they now work as bail bondswomen for the super-powered criminals of New York. It's a pretty neat idea; after all, assuming there aren't different laws for supervillains in the Marvel Universe, one would figure the lower level types who only do things like breaking and entering and robbing banks probably would be able to get out on bail after an arrest.

The story follows Colleen and Misty chasing down four criminals who have skipped out on their bonds and joined forces to carry out a robbery. Their target is Celia Ricadonna, a media and fashion mogul who, we are told, rivals Oprah in both popularity and net worth. But she's also a major player in the underworld, and has come into a posession of a computer virus which she plans to auction off to the highest bidder for billions of dollars.

And that's when the story goes irrecoverably off the rails.

PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #47

"A NIGHT ON THE PROWL!"
Writer: Roger Stern | Penciler: Marie Severin
Inks & Letters: Bruce Patterson | Colorist: Glynis Wein
Editor: Dennis O'Neil | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Peter Parker is out with Deb Whitman when he sees a news report implicating Spider-Man in a robbery/murder at a luxury apartment in the Powers Arms apartment building. After seeing Deb off, Peter heads to the scene of the crime. Using his Daily Globe press credentials to get in, he learns that the burglar surprised the apartment's owner and killed her bodyguard as he escaped. The police find webbing on the roof, the remnants of Peter's makeshift backpack left only moments before when he arrived at the building, leading them to further believe Spider-Man's guilt.

Peter, however, thinks the clues add up to his one-time rival, the Prowler, and heads to the apartment of Hobie Brown, the man behind the Prowler's mask. But Hobie declares he has sworn off costumed activity. He tries to show Spider-Man that he has mothballed his outfit and gear, but his storage locker has been robbed. The next night, realizing a new Prowler is on the loose, Spider-Man combs the city in search of his quarry. He soon falls into a trap in the garment district, where the new Prowler lures the web-slinger into a sealed, gas-filled room prepared by his employer, Belladonna -- who promptly closes the door on both Spider-Man and Prowler.

PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #46

"DEADLY IS THE COBRA!"
Writer: Roger Stern | Penciler: Mike Zeck | Inker: Bruce Patterson
Letterer: Jim Novak | Colorist: Petra Goldberg | Editor: Denny O'Neil
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: The Cobra escapes from Ryker's Island on a stormy night. The next day, Barney Bushkin of the Daily Globe assigns Peter Parker to get some photos of the villain in action. Uncertain how to track Cobra down, Peter simply changes to Spider-Man and swings across the city that night, and eventually comes across his quarry robbing a jewelry store. The web-slinger and the Cobra duel on the rooftops and Spider-Man emerges victorious. But no sooner does he turn the villain over to the authorities, than Cobra escapes into the night.

The Sub-Plots: This issue features a return to classic Spider-Man sub-plot form. Peter attempts to make amends with Deb Whitman following a failed date in the pages of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, and they agree to dinner the next night at Wesner's Pub. Then, their group one teaching assistant short, Peter is given his own cubicle after sharing one with Steve Hopkins for some time. Soon after, another T.A., Marcy Kane, shows up for work with her hair inexplicably tied up in a scarf, piquing the curiosity of Peter, Steve, and fellow T.A. Phil Chang.

Also, Peter briefly reflects that Barney Bushkin is, in a way, worse than Jonah Jameson as an editor -- and notes that the Daily Globe is a much less reputable newspaper than the Daily Bugle. Both these thoughts are presumably meant as set-up for Peter's impending return to the Bugle in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.

THE UNCANNY X-MEN OMNIBUS, VOLUME 2

Hardcover, 2014. Collects 1980-1982's UNCANNY X-MEN #132 - 153, UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #4 & 5, AVENGERS ANNUAL #10, MARVEL FANFARE #1 - 4, material from MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #26 & 27, MARVEL TEAM-UP #100, BIZARRE ADVENTURES #27, and PHOENIX: THE UNTOLD STORY #1

A while back, when I listed by Top Twelve Comic Book Runs of All Time, UNCANNY X-MEN #94 - 176 made the number one slot. And since this book contains issues 132 - 153, I can't complain about what's between the covers... much. The inclusion of annuals and bonus content like AVENGERS ANNUAL #10, MARVEL FANFARE #1 - 4, and various short stories from BIZARRE ADVENTURES, MARVEL TREASURY EDITION, and MARVEL TEAM-UP are much appreciated -- in particular the Nightcrawler story from BIZARRE and the Storm/Black Panther adventure from TEAM-UP -- neither of which, to my knowledge, have been collected before (outside of the ESSENTIALS format for the latter, at least). The book also contains the letter columns from all included issues, which is always a nice touch.

However there is one glaring absence among these supplementary tales. I don't clamor for every little guest appearance to be included in these books. I don't like the flow of the main narrative to be interrupted that much. But I would argue that the X-Men's appearance in SPIDER-WOMAN issues 37 and 38 are integral to the group's continuity and would fit nicely among the issues presented here. That two-parter is written by Chris Claremont, the X-Men's regular writer, and is a direct lead-in to UNCANNY X-MEN #148, presented herein. It features X-villains Juggernaut and Black Tom Cassidy, and introduces Banshee's daughter, Siryn, to whom Banshee is introduced in 148. The story's exclusion from this book is an utter, inexcusable shame.