“Fine, you win. I’ll take a bath!”
The Adventures Of Spider-Man #10
Marvel (January, 1997)
“To Catch A Spider”
WRITER: Nel Yomtov
PENCILER: Alex Saviuk
INKER: Rob Stull
COLORIST: Kevin Tinsley
LETTERER: Steve Dutro
EDITOR: Mark Bernardo
Aided by the Tinkerer, the Beetle hatches a scheme to use drones to learn the identities of the New York-based superheroes. And the plan is funded by various supervillains, with the goal being to force the heroes into retirement or see their loved ones hurt and their identities exposed. Able to capture one of the drones, Spider-Man takes it to Reed Richards, who builds a device to track it to its source. Spidey is able to take down the Beetle, but Tinkerer escapes. With the help of an ex-con computer hacker whom JJ refused to give a job, any information gleaned by the drones is wiped out and the investors (which includes Kingpin, Doctor Octopus, and Shocker) find a nasty virus in their computers. Spidey even comes up with a way for the reformed hacker to get that job she needs.
What they got right: If this was Yomtov’s final story for this series (as his remark on the final page indicates) he picked a good one to go with. This series was more interested in action than character moments and he shows how those stories can work. The Beetle’s plan is actually a good one, and attention is shown to both his history and Spider-Man’s. References are made to Amazing Fantasy #15 (Spider-Man’s first appearance) and his attempt to join the Fantastic Four in the first Amazing Spider-Man comic.
What they got wrong: So does Beetle know Peter is Spider-Man or just that he’s an ESU student living in Forest Hills? That could be a problem later on, although there are only two more issues to go and the guy who came up with this comic plot is leaving, or perhaps just learned there are two issues left and said goodbye early. I don’t know.
Recommendation: A really good Spidey adventure that’s worth picking up.
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