Right after the hallucinations of Kraven’s Last Hunt comes another hallucination trilogy, this time by Ann Nocenti. A very wild ride, that seems to have been forgotten by fans, but it was actually pretty cool. Nocenti is such an offbeat writer.
Marvel is really working to tie its three Spidey ongoings together and I have to say I don’t like it. I thought each book had a distinct reason to “live” and this dissolves that. Amazing was supposed to be the flagship title with the big events and a constant creative team, PPTSS was supposed to focus more on Peter Parker, and Web was supposed to give other creators a shot at using Marvel’s best-known character. Not only that, but after the last multi-issue crossover, Kraven’s Last Hunt, we have another very serious, very dark story. Spider-Man isn’t supposed to be this bleak. I would have preferred for this all to appear in one of the titles, or to be a standalone. Lots of potential in this story, but it’s never realized in the future.
Here’s how it goes: The wife of one of Kingpin’s corrupt corporate puppets threatens to expose her husband’s money laundering, so Kingpin takes the woman out by having her committed to a mental hospital. Through a very unbelievable turn of events, Peter Parker is brought there, too, after he’s injured in his Spider-Man costume. Of course the ward, called “The Mad Dog” Ward, is run by a mad scientist (Dr. Hope) to create super-powered bodyguards for Kingpin.
It’s annoying that everyone seems to be able to get a hold of ways to create super-powered beings. If it’s so easy, then having powers becomes very un-special. Anyway, I did find a lot of interesting things in this story–as I always do with Nocenti. She always swings for the bleachers in a different and unique way–and it usually works pretty well, but it’s not for everyone.
Peter Parker doesn’t appear in costume for the tale, and keeps calling himself “The Spider,” so naturally the staff at the asylum think he’s nuts. There are other crazies there…
That’s Captain Zero above and Brainstorm below.
They are two of the powered lunatics.
Once Peter Parker frees them from the evil Dr. Hope…
…A nurse figures out he’s not delusional–he really is Spider-Man.
The powered asylum lunatics will return in 1993’s Spider-Man book, so I’ve tagged them. I don’t think they ever do anything else with the “nurse who knows.” It would have been cool if they did.