Issue #5 gave us a surprisingly introspective story, playing to the strengths of the series’s writing. Even with a lot of the structural and pacing issues of the early chapters, and often through some cheesy dialog, DeFalco has always had a grasp on Phil as a character. Giving his inner-conflicts the spotlight was a welcome change of pace for the series, better defining the motives of the new Goblin and the stakes of the series. But Issue #6 gets us back on track of the main series. The old art team is back. And Ben Urich is in trouble, which means a special appearance from a certain man without fear.
Written by Tom DeFalcoCover by Scott McDaniel
Pencils by Scott McDaniel
Inks by Derek Fisher
Letters by Jim Novak
Colors by Gregory Wright
Color Separations by MalibuGreen Goblin joins forces with Daredevil as Ben Urich’s investigation in Judge Tomb puts him in Purge’s crosshairs.
Gotta be honest, I wasn’t expecting Daredevil to be in the yellow costume. The cover shows him in his iconic red suit. Plus it’s the 90s, so I was honestly expecting him to show up in armor. Kind of hoping to be honest. I’m a sucker for 90s redesigns. It’s a nod towards the J.M. DeMatteis ‘Inferno’ arc currently running in “Daredevil,” which saw Matt Murdock donning the original Lee/Everett costume, while taking the identity of Jack Batlin. And while there isn’t much else about the arc particularly relevant to this issue, the misogynist villain Sir is revealed to be an agent of Norman Osborn in DeMatteis’s “Spectacular Spider-Man” run. That would be January 1998, just barely over a year after the final issue of this series, just to give you a hint as to how this all plays out in the end.
But focusing on the current issue, it’s a return to form. Not only in terms of basic plot, but with the regular art team too. While Scott McDaniel’s return is a welcome one, as is the energy he brings to the book, the flaws in his line work are more apparent. While Kevin Kobasic’s pencils weren’t as kinetic, they were better on a technical level. Characters had more weight and depth than they do with the regular team, looking more like actual solid figures in an environment than in the preceding issues. McDaniel’s lines are thinner and he relies more on his heavy shading and Gregory Wright’s colors. But the way his layouts and blocking gives his scenes a sense of motion necessary for a chaotic antihero like Green Goblin. That’s not even mentioning McDaniel’s exaggerated facial features versus Kobasic’s normal people faced-Hobgoblins.
Whichever you think is “better” ultimately comes down to personal preference, whether you prefer technical craft versus expressiveness. But regardless, you will notice the shift. Especially since there are a few panels that do look more than a little rushed. Lynn and Phil wave their flippers at each other on the last page. There are a number of weird art quirks this issue. The two prominent female characters (Lynn and Liz Allan… more on her later) don’t look overly distinguishable. And Judge Tomb has somehow aged 60 years in a couple hours, with his hair inverting from a Mohawk to wavy male-pattern baldness. I don’t know if there was a miscommunication between artists or if McDaniel just refused to use Kobasic’s design, but Tomb went from random Double Dragon bad guy to Count Olaf in one issue.
The actual story is relatively straightforward. Phil’s on the trail of the goons that beat up his uncle. Because his uncle is Ben Urich, Daredevil joins in the search. After a tracking down an informant and doing some good cop/bad cop’ing, they learn that the corrupt Judge Tomb has hired the assassin Purge to take out the elder Urich. In the ensuing battle, Purge falls off the rooftop, thanks to the force of an exploding pumpkin bomb. Phil fully intends to let the hired killer, until Daredevil talks him down, because he’s Daredevil. Phil does toss Purge’s signature machine gun through Judge Tomb’s parlor window, laughing his “lunatic laugh” as he flies off into the night. The issue ends with Harry Osborn’s widow Liz (Allan) looking for Ben Urich, because someone has stolen her husband’s property, and she wants to know who.
Continued belowAlso, there’s a subplot about J. Jonah Jameson demanding information about Spider-Man possibly stealing a body from the city morgue. This is more ‘Clone Saga’ stuff trickling in. The corpse was the original Spider-clone from “Amazing” #149. The one that fell into the smokestack in #151, which we all thought was Ben Reilly, but actually turned out to be a failed clone that was part of Norman Osborn’s years-long plan to– look, the ‘Clone Saga’ is a lot.
It’s a perfectly fine plot. Not anything we haven’t seen before. This wouldn’t be Daredevil’s first or last “don’t kill people” speech. Nor will this be the last time Ben Urich’s in over his head. But it doesn’t need to be anything groundbreaking. It just needs to resolve the left over plot threads from the last issue, and does so while expanding on the themes touched on in issue #5. The weird pacing issues that plagued the beginning of the series seem to have settled; so much that the series can handle ‘Clone Saga’ weirdness trickling in without too much confusion. My only real question about the plotting is Where’s Ricko? The series is introducing a new arc, but the previous major antagonist seems like he was dropped pretty unceremoniously. Maybe it’ll pay off a little further down the line. Because I honestly expect more than a couple burglaries from a guy nicknamed “The Sicko.”
To be fair, “How will this pay off?” is a question I find myself asking more and more while reading this. Next issue is the halfway mark of the whole series. “Green Goblin” is settling into his own comfortable corner of the Spider line, telling its own story even as its sister books struggle to figure out who the real Peter Parker actually is. But according to a blurb in the letters column, Phil and Lynn actually go on date next issue. So that’s one at least!
