By Joe Kelly, Dan Slott, Fred Van Lente, Max Fiumara, Marcos Martin, Javier Pulido, Michael Lark, Nick Dragotta, Barry Kitson& Stefano Gaudiano (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3872-3
Outcast, geeky school kid Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider and, after seeking to cash-in on the astonishing abilities he’d developed, suffered an irreconcilable personal tragedy. His beloved guardian Uncle Ben was murdered and the traumatised boy determined henceforward to always use his powers to help those in dire need. For years the brilliant young hero suffered privation and travail in his domestic situation, whilst his heroic alter ego endured public condemnation and mistrust as he valiantly battled all manner of threat and foe…
During this continuous war for the ordinary underdog, Parker has loved and lost many more close friends and family…
During a particularly hellish period a multitude of disasters seemed to ride hard on his heels and a veritable army of old enemies simultaneously resurfaced to attack him (an overlapping series of stories comprising and defined as “The Gauntletâ€), before Parker’s recent tidal wave of woes was revealed to be the culmination of a sinister, slow-building scheme by the surviving family of one of his most implacable foes – and one who had long been despatched to his final reward.
From that tirade of terror and collecting material in whole or in part from Amazing Spider-Man #617-621 and Web of Spider-Man #3-4, (November 2009-April 2010), this powerful and portentous tome opens with ‘Gauntlet Origins: Rhino, written by Fred Van Lente and illustrated by Nick Dragotta, which reveals how – decades ago – Russian hard man and mercenary Aleksei Sytsevich was bamboozled into becoming the test subject for an illegal procedure which made him immensely strong and fantastically durable.
Sadly it didn’t make him any smarter or less stubborn and over the years The Rhino was too often a tool for clever men and a punching bag for weaker heroes…
The parade of foes queuing up to take on the Amazing Spider-Man resumes as ‘Rage of the Rhino’ (by Joe Kelly & Max Fiumara) sees a worn out Peter Parker co-opted by agonisingly bright and breezy journalist Norah Winters as her personal “photo-monkey†even as, in a dark hole, a fully redesigned and more deadly Rhino listens to a pervasive voice suggesting who to kill if he wants to “ascendâ€â€¦
Hot for fun and a possible scoop, Norah drags Peter to a casino where his spider-sense goes berserk as he sees hulking old enemy Aleksei Sytsevich working as a bouncer… Bracing himself for another blockbuster brawl the Webslinger is astounded to see the ponderous Russian attacked by a new and far more deadly Rhino, proudly intent on becoming the “one and onlyâ€â€¦
The undercover hero is even more gobsmacked to see Sytsevich refusing to fight and even trying to convince his assailant to quit his pointless life of mayhem. Despite every pacific effort the scene soon descends into shattering chaos before the brand new heavy escapes and in the aftermath Spider-Man learns of Oksana, the simple waitress who turned his most intransigent and hard-headed foe into a reformed and law-abiding citizen…
However in a dark den the new Rhino, manipulated by the voices of hidden provocateurs, transfers his thwarted hatred to a new target…
This tale is ably augmented by a charming peek into the first meeting of Aleksei and Oksana where the freshly paroled super-thug decided not to take up the offer of criminal scientist and thorough bad influence Dr. Tramma and instead went on ‘The Walk’ (by Kelly & Javier Pulido).
Before the main event begins, ‘Gauntlet Origins: Mysterio (by Van Lente & Barry Kitson) discloses the supernatural close shave – complete with cameo by Doctor Strange – that finally turned conman and Hollywood SFX guru Quentin Beck into murderously malevolent menace Mysterio, after which ‘Un-Murder Incorporated’ (Dan Slott & Marcos Martin) offers a quick reprise of Maggia history to reveal that, with most of the family hierarchy recently rubbed out, hapless “Baby Bruno†Karnelli is rapidly losing the latest turf war with enigmatic Asiatic upstart Mister Negative.
Even the psychotically loyal Hammerhead has switched sides and joined the Chinatown gang…
A clash between the opposing mobs at a gambling den draws in Spider-Man, and in the aftermath crime photographer Peter has an argument with chum and CSI Carlie Cooper: another girl who has suffered romantically thanks to the lad’s big secret…
He disappoints her yet again by suddenly dashing off to meet Aunt May – who is just returning from her honeymoon trip with new husband Jay Jameson – but when the old new bride accidentally stumbles into an execution by her friend Martin Li, the fiend who is Mister Negative uses his dark powers to befuddle her mind and transform her into a cold, ruthless bullying martinet…
Back at the Karnelli ranch, none-too-bright Baby Bruno is astounded to find that all nine of the Dons recently killed had actually faked their deaths and resentfully resumes his position as low man on the totem pole when cyborg Capo Silvermane takes back control of the Maggia.
The neophyte mobster has no idea his own ambitious lieutenant Carmine has gone into partnership with robotics miracle-worker Mysterio. More importantly, Carmine has no idea what kind of man Quentin Beck really is…
Carlie’s day gets worse too. When she returns to the crime scene, her dead hero-cop dad is waiting for her…
‘Re-Appearing Act’ turns up the pressure as Ray Cooper explains to his daughter that he was in the Maggia’s pocket all along, whilst elsewhere the resurgent Silvermane leads his forces against Mister Negative’s undead Inner Demons causing Hammerhead to take himself out of the game and alerting Spider-Man to the latest outbreak of gang warfare.
Plunging into the fray, the hero is astonished to be welcomed by Police Captain Yuri Watanabe who is happy to get some metahuman muscle on the hard-pressed cops’ side.
However the Arachnid only falls into Mysterio’s latest snare when he seemingly kills a mobster with a single punch…
Overruling her outraged squad, Yuri allows the horrified Wallcrawler to go free and quietly assigns Carlie to prove the death was a set-up…
Meanwhile across town, the formerly benign, negatively charged May Parker-Jameson cruelly evicts the “freeloaders†she let use her house, making Harry Osborn and many of Peter’s friends homeless…
Beck finally overplays his hand when he resurrects one time villain The Big Man whom Spider-Man unmasks as deceased cop George Stacy. Finally getting a handle on what’s really happening, the Webslinger recruits Carlie and puts his own scheme into play just as Silvermane/Mysterio kills Carmine and takes full control…
‘Smoke & Mirrors’ explosively reveals that the trickster was always about the money: using the gang war to manipulate the Maggia into putting all their cash somewhere he could relieve them of it.
Everything else was just perks, but thanks to Spider-Man and Carlie the plan is spoiled, even though Mister Negative further muddies the waters by unleashing his DNA-specific poison gas Devil’s Breath (specifically encoded to kill Spider-Man thanks to a stolen sample of Peter’s blood), almost killing the Wallcrawler at the moment of his greatest triumph…
This sterling slice of action and suspense ends with ‘Out for Blood’ (by Slott, Michael Lark & Stefano Gaudiano) as Spidey asks unstable old paramour Black Cat to help him retrieve his blood sample from Mister Negative’s Chinatown fortress. Sadly the stealth mission soon turns into a painfully straightforward clash of arms…
And elsewhere, as penniless Harry goes looking for a place to crash at old girlfriend Mary Jane Watson‘s place, Carlie has a final agonising confrontation with the inveterate criminal who might or might not be her cherished and supposedly deceased dad…
Fast, furious, and easily combining frantic action with heartwarming character vignettes and ferociously addictive soap opera melodrama, these tales are offbeat even by Spider-Man’s standards – which is no bad thing – but sadly suffer from a surfeit of unaddressed backstory… which rather is.
Nonetheless, the stories here are clever, compelling and beautifully illustrated throughout so art lovers and established fans have plenty to enjoy. Moreover, the explosive, if occasionally confusing, Fights ‘n’ Tights rollercoaster is graced with cool extras such as information features culled from the pages of the Bugle and a gallery of covers -&-variants by Jelena Kevic Djurdjevic, Fiumara, Martin, Ed McGuiness, Dexter Vines. Morry Hollowell, Pasqual Ferry, Fabio D’Auria & Joe Quinones to delight the eyes if not soothe those tired brain cells.
All in all, this is that oddest and most disappointing of beasts; a great story but an unsatisfactory book…
© 2009, 2010, Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.