Are you a fan of the “sassy girl” vigilante named Jackpot who has been popping up in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man? No? That’s OK. Nobody else is, either.
I grant that it’s hard to launch a new character in a universe dominated by heroes who have been beloved for decades. Still, Jackpot is dumb.
Boomerang is dumb, too. But he’s the fun kind of dumb. He’s directed by crime boss The Rose to kill her, and instead kills her husband–right in front of her.
So much for him being fun.
This story offers the full origin of Alana Jobson, which isn’t all that complicated: She became the third Jackpot when she bought the suit from the prior version, who was the second Jackpot. Unfortunately, Alana died and then the second Jackpot, Sara Ehret, got the costume back. In short, the big mystery (if you cared) has been the truth of Jackpot’s identity. (Spidey even thought she was Mary Jane Watson for a bit!). This mini reveals that her identity has changed, twice, over the course of her appearances. Only the Ehret version had super-powers, though, which she got in an “accident” at a lab.
By the end, the Boomerang threat is neutralized and the Rose’s identity is revealed, too: He’s the scientist who ran the lab where Ehret had her accident. After that, his lab got shut down and he got all angry at Ehret. That’s why he wanted to kill her.
Ehret testifies against him and then goes into witness protection, presumably retiring. So at least this series tries to end a character who was never all that interesting. For her witness protection identity, she adopts the name of the third Jackpot, who was killed. Also dumb: If you go into hiding to protect your daughter, why would you pull the name of an identity that someone might associate with the very identity you are trying to hide?