(Cover Date: August, 1988)

Summary: Looking for Tombstone, the Punisher is drawn into an ambush by his henchmen, after which he encounters the mutant Persuader. Tombstone tortures MJ in order to learn the location of Peter along with Robbie's tape in his possession.

(Cover Date: August, 1988)

C&D = 7.5
DS= 7.5

C&D Summary: While Cloak is forced to watch while being held in Mr. Jip's mystical chains, Dagger is herded by Night's shadow-slaves to her.

DS Summary: After having been restored to his normal self, Strange returns to his Sanctum Sanctorum in the city, & after some doubts due to their prior traumas, returns the memories of his associates, Wong & Sara. more

I rate this an “oh, brother.” B takes J to Leslie Thompkins’ clinic. Leslie lives there, talk about dedication to mission. No wonder Bruce is so neurotic. His great inspiration never leaves the office.

So Leslie’s clinic has surgical facilities, but is not open 24/7 - strike one. Leslie and Bruce argue but she saves Joker - strike two. Because Bruce doesn’t trust any other medical family in the world to save Joker, including JLA ones, he brings J to the Batcave, which is apparently sterile enough to offer post-op care - strike three. Strike four is Bruce shooting Jason in the head (flesh wound, not fatal, great shot for a guy who hates guns). This is done because Jason wants to kill the Joker. Bruce gets knocked out again and Jason takes Joker away because he is working with Hush. Meanwhile Riddler has crashed Batgirl/Oracle’s hq because he is just that smart. Strike five. Bruce should have a terrible concussion, but oh, well.

So many questions, like how does Bruce get the Joker’s body to the cave after Leslie’s surgery? An ambulance, a Batambulance, strapped to the passenger seat of the Batmobile?

I ask these questions because it’s like the old “South Park” bit about underwear gnomes who say “one steal underwear, two blank, three profits.” Steps are skipped, and the story reminds me of so many in the past. That’s the problem with Jason, he is a character created in a corner surrounded by wet paint. There is one story you can do with him, and that story has been done to death, pun intended.

And don’t get me started on Bruce’s no kill rule being greater than his no gun rule. Batman Beyond answered that question, and to have him shoot Jason in the helmeted head just to save the Joker? Talk about a bridge too far. Loeb is going back to a plot that is 20 years old, but that train left the station. The result is a story that ignores character progress while repeating plots that have been repeated over and over again in the last two decades.

Not a good story. Art is even pedestrian. Or I could be wrong. more

(Cover Date: June, 2025)

(Cover Date: August, 1988)

Summary: After the Skrull Surfer (Bartak) defeats the real SS, he fools Nova into thinking he is the real one, then imprisons her in a refraction matrix to be delivered to his emperor. A more powerful Ronan appears & kills the imposter. Freed, Nova finds the real SS alive & well, thanks to her solar energy infusion after he was defeated, being unsure if he was the real one or not. more

(Cover Date: August, 1988)

Summary: After Frank tracks down the creep who has been putting cyanide into store medicines & is about to kill him, DD shows up, & the two get into a fight, which DD wins.

(Cover Date: August, 1988)

HE = 7.0
HC = 7.0

HE Summary: Gang leader Speedo lures Hawkeye & Blind Justice into an ambush, with the intent of killing them both, but Hawkeye gets unexpected & unwanted assistance from the Shroud.

HC Summary: While being interviewed about her new book, Patsy Walker (Hellcat) is kidnapped by her former husband, Mad-Dog, who is angry at her for writing "lies" about him.


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Let's start with the obvious.

The art is amazing. Just so beautiful. Welcome to ASM Pepe Laraz, I hope you are staying for a long time.

As for stories? Kelly did good. This is so much better than #61 was and I think it is because it feels like there is a direction here. We are actually going somewhere and not just waiting for plot to happen. That is great and Kelly uses his time here well. I have seen comparisons to Big Time and it certainly feels like that.

First backup is great. I love that Kelly continues to work on Norman's redemption. And it won't be easy.

Second one is... I do not like it. I hope this isn't a random magical hell-related bad guy that has zero connection to Spider-Man like Cyttorak or The Blight, or a friend turned demon like Kindred (that is actually a demonic AI controlling cloned bodies made from DNA of your nemesis and your former love with memories from your friend). Because neither of them worked. Kindred especially was bad.

And that brings me to my biggest problem here. I am not excited for this run. I have been this down before, and I don't want to be burned for the third time. And it's all because of the editor.

Lowe seems like a nice guy. I have nothing against him personally and he seems cool in his responses on letter pages. But his work output has been mediocre or terrible for the past decade, with some standouts. If two last runs of ASM suffered because of poor editing and somehow opposite mistakes, I think that tells something.

From the getgo, Kelly seemed like a safe pic. And that he is. This is a solid introduction. But for me, not an exciting one because editorial stays the same. more

(Cover Date: August, 1988)

Summary: After the mutant girl Rebecca's house is fire bombed & the team rescues her, Rebecca is kidnapped by the flying Bogeyman (Carmody), who escapes with the girl from them. Later, Carmody attempts to reveal their identities as Power Pack to their parents.

(Cover Date: August, 1988)

Summary: Believing that Forge killed her brother, Magik, as Darkchilde, engages Forge in a magical duel to the death. Magik stops from killing Forge when she sees Mirage's illusion of her ultimate demonic form.

(Cover Date: August, 1988)

Hawkeye Summary: At the behest of Black Crow, Hawkeye must defeat the demon Cat in order to save the Earth Spirit & to prevent a seismic catastrophe from happening.

Moon Knight Summary: Moon Knight stops a terrorist with a bomb at the UN building by inducing an epileptic seizure. His alter ego, Jake Lockley, had given the terrorist a taxi ride earlier & had noted his sensitivity to bright lights.

Comment: In the Hawkeye story, the shaft of moonlight was colored brown?? more

(Cover Date: August, 1988)

Summary: While Tony is giving a demonstration to the press of the "new" Iron Man, Ant-Man fights a trio of armored terrorists hired by Edwin Cord to disrupt the demonstration & to kill as many spectators as possible.

(Cover Date: August, 1988)

Summary: Max the Fortisquian flies the FF in his comet ship to the Nuwali to find out who hired them to build the Savage Land. They confirm that it was the Beyonders, who they hold a grudge against for stopping payment for their work. When Ben determines what the Beyonders' artifact is used for (gateway to the Negative Zone), the Nuwali decide to kill them. An AIM agent reveals that the Nuwali are in league with them. The FF beat the Nuwali with the help of Steven Beckley's comet power. more

(Cover Date: August, 1988)

Summary: The Punisher slaughters all of the drug dealers working at a crack house. Both on the same trail, DD stops the Punisher from killing the Aspirin Killer. They engage in fierce hand-to-hand fighting. When the Aspirin Killer gets a hold of the Punisher's loose gun, DD knocks him out with his baton before he can shoot them. While shooting arrows together, Typhoid Mary assures the Kingpin that her plan to ruin Matt emotionally is working. more

(Cover Date: August, 1988)

Summary: The paranormals are sent to a special army boot camp. Jeffrey has nightmares of his family strapped to an atomic bomb, & he is unable to save them before it goes off. (This represents his guilt for not saving them before Pittsburgh was destroyed by Star Brand.)

(Cover Date: August, 1988)

Summary: The Black Knight suffers from the curse of his ebony blade after it was used to slay the leviathan. The female Kang (Nebula) creates an illusion of Dr. Druid defeating the Destructikon to save civilization. Captain Marvel returns to Hydro-Base in an emaciated condition & collapses. Nebula travels to Earth disguised as the woman in Dr. Druid's dreams. Dr. Druid uses his mental powers to have himself elected as the new chairman. more

(Cover Date: August, 1988)

Summary: Spidey is hired by Silver Sable to join her & Sandman in bringing down Franz Kraus & his band of Neo-Nazis. Peter decides to stay in NYC to support MJ's career & to go back to school to get a job locally someday.

(Cover Date: August, 1988)

Summary: Vindicator & Box have been summoned to appear before a Canadian Parliament committee to answer questions about their recent activities in Red China (last issue) & their resistance to government control. Hearing that their funding may be cut off, Walter/Wanda finds that he/she can't access his/her wealth due to being in Snowbird's body.

(Cover Date: March, 1970)

Summary: A scientist, Jasper Whyte, attracts Thor using multi-colored orbs in the sky then knocks him unconscious with a hypno-stun ray. He uses a device to draw off half of Thor's power then transfers it to his android Crypto-Man. Thor wakes up & realizes that he lacks his full strength. Whyte sends Crypto-Man out into the city on a rampage of destruction. Thor engages the Crypto-Man in battle & is challenged by its level of power. Having watched the battle, Whyte brags to Thor that he is beaten during a lull when the android leaves. Thor & Whyte follow the Crypto-Man to the atomic power plant. When Thor mentions that Whyte's mother, who Dr. Blake knows, might be killed if the nuclear reactor is damaged, Whyte uses a control beam to destroy his Crypto-Man but which also kills him in the process. Thor's full strength then returns. Later, Blake tells Whyte's mother that he died during a scientific experiment. more

(Cover Date: March, 1970)

Summary: SS is woozy after being struck by a meteor & falling into the ocean. When he's back in the city, his board is accidentally struck by Spidey's webline. He refuses to fly lower since he doesn't trust humans. Spidey feels humiliated when SS utilizes a fire hydrant to save him from falling to his death. Angry, he seeks out SS to get even, so, of course, the two get into a scuffle. The fight draws the attention of the army, who distrust SS's actions, & start firing at him. SS recalls his board which has a kid on it. In order to save the kid's life, he leaves himself exposed to the army's fire. The army stops firing when they see the kid & leave. Spidey feels guilty for how he acted toward the Surfer.

Comments: Rolling out a Spidey appearance to boost flagging sales. more

(Cover Date: March, 1970)

Summary: IM sinks the ship that smuggled the Titanium Man into the country & leaves its crew for the authorities. A woman, whose husband was on the smuggler's ship & who had anonymously called Tony about it, tells Tony that the Mercenary is out to kill her. Tony takes her to his lodge in the Adirondacks, while the Mercenary listens to their conversation. The Mercenary enters the lodge shooting, but he finds IM waiting for him, thanks to the car's detectors. They fight until the Mercenary uses a device to drain the current from IM's armor. The Mercenary disguises himself as Tony in order to get the woman to open the bunker that she is in. IM manages to repower himself & hears shots being fired. He finds Sandhurst, who thinks he's killed the real Tony to get vengeance on him for exposing his embezzlement at Cord. Sandhurst falls over dead, after having been previously shot by the Mercenary for interfering in his hit assignment. more

This issue is all place setting but by the end the table is only a third set. It starts with the Joker planning on dumping laughing fish into the reservoir but Bat man shows up, they fight. Nothing we haven’t seen before. But this time the Joker clocks Bats with a crowbar because Bats had his back turned to obvious danger. Bats is tossed into the river and has to be saved by Talia.

Joker is clobbered by a giant henchman and is tied up by Hush. Hush creates slow cuts that will let him bleed out in a couple of hours. We see Babs and Dick talk about finding Bruce and they mention there are like nine Robins and six Batgirls. Bruce deducts where Joker is and J is surrounded by images of J killing Jason, humiliating Gordon and violating Barbara. Meanwhile Hush is taunting Batman and the story is written as if the Devil has returned to Gotham.

A couple of points. Talia is drawn so that we can see her breasts and her ass. A picture worthy of Nightwing. So to show just how dangerous Hush is, we see him easily defeat Bats’ greatest enemy. we see the daughter of his other great enemy, and Bruce learns Hush is back. Hush is presented as the ultimate badass who will test Bruce like he’s never been tested before.

Just one problem with that. We've seen it about 174,806 times in the past few years. Two, this reads like a greatest hits album. The laughing fish, images from Killing Joke and death of Jason. Hush.

And finally, the book mentions all the Bat family but Bruce goes after Joker alone. If this story line has Bruce learning the value of not being a loner - again - I will scream, well not scream, but really roll my eyes.

This issue was written as a gimmick to attract readers and comes off like that. It is not a story that builds on the most previous issues. It is its own separate thing that feels shoehorned into a book.

Not a great start. Or I could be wrong. more

(Cover Date: March, 1970)

Summary: After Reed & Sue leave, an android Johnny stuns Ben into unconsciousness. He is then replaced by an android Ben. At the shopping center, Sue is rendered unconscious by an android Sue. An android Reed abducts Reed from his car & apparently renders him unconscious. The Mad Thinker meets his androids at the Baxter Building. It's the real Reed though, who had overcome his android doppelganger. Reed finds the real Ben nearby, wakes him up, & the two fight against the three androids & the Mad Thinker. After the three androids are neutralized, they find the Thinker's hidden entrance shaft, at the bottom of which they find the sedated Johnny & Sue in capsules & their android guards. Ben throws the Thinker at the guards like a bowling ball to take them out. Sue is revived with a kiss by Reed.

Comments: Maddie has to be the most anal-retentive villain on Earth-616! more

(Cover Date: March, 1970)

Summary: As DD pursues two movie theater robbers, Nighthawk intervenes to take them down. Unknown to DD, Nighthawk lets them go afterwards. Nighthawk reveals that he gave DD a pinprick that made him dizzy during their encounter. Kyle Richmond recalls how he became Nighthawk due to the Grandmaster. DD finds Nighthawk stopping a robbery. Nighthawk tells him that he is no longer needed. Later, Nighthawk apprehends a jewelry robber, who is actually DD in disguise. When Nighthawk lets him go, DD reveals himself & the microphone he has with him. The two briefly fight, then Nighthawk attempts to escape. When DD pursues him into the subway, Nighthawk escapes on a subway train & vows to return to defeat him. more

(Cover Date: March, 1970)

Summary: Suprema uses her power to make men obey her by taking over several mob gambling operations. After tracking him down through the signal in his badge, Suprema commands Dum Dum Dugan to take her to Nick Fury, who is at a weaponry range with Cap. Suprema puts Fury & his SHIELD agents under her control. Cap fights through them to escape in Suprema's vehicle. Cap does some research on Suprema & returns later in the vehicle. He breaks Suprema's control of the SHIELD agents by generating an electrical field. The field disrupted the control disc worn by her brother, Scarbo. Suprema & Scarbo were formerly professional hypnotists.

Comments: I think Stan had too much on his plate at this point in his career. FF, Spidey & Thor were still good. Cap & Silver Surfer not so much. more

(Cover Date: March, 1970)

Summary: While the Black Panther is being held in chains by the Sons of the Serpent, an imposter has been attacking businesses that support the Sons of the Serpent. The Avengers feel compelled to go find their missing "teammate". The Wasp spots the "Panther" robbing a jewelry store & summons the others. When the Avengers are closing in, the "Panther" is rescued by a craft using gas grenades. The Avengers zero in on the TV studio that the Supreme Serpent is broadcasting from to the nation. The imposter Panther is unmasked & revealed to be a anti-white black man. The real Panther is freed by the Vision & takes a mask off the imposter to reveal he is actually white. It is then revealed that the there are two Supreme Serpents, who are the white host & black guest of the controversial TV talk show. Their plan was to create racial division in order to seize power. After threatening the team with guns, they are both taken out by the Panther. more

(Cover Date: March, 1970)

Summary: After Electro finds out that Spidey will be appearing on a late night talk show, he gets JJJ to agree to pay him for beating & unmasking Spidey during the show. At the TV studio, with JJJ in attendance, Electro attacks Spidey with his electric bolts. Spidey manages to web Electro's hands & feet together, causing him to short-circuit himself. Electro escapes after Spidey is stunned by the resulting feedback. more

(Cover Date: July, 1988)

Summary: After Colossus expresses his concern that Illyana may be in danger, Gateway teleports him to Limbo, where Illyana, as the Darkchilde, is facing off against S'ym & his demon horde. Illyana thinks that Colossus is a necromantic shade of her dead brother. She takes him to rescue the New Mutants, who are being held by characters out of a Russian novel due to some sorcery. Colossus' organic steel banishes the witch-crone, Baba Yaga, along with the others. Illyana saves the New Mutants from Baba Yaga's spell using a counterspell in Limbo. Colossus vanishes after encouraging his sister to strive to be good & to not succumb to evil. S'ym reforms after having been shattered by Colossus & reasserts his control over his horde. more

(Cover Date: July, 1988)

Summary: Infectia meets a policeman who blames X-Factor for the destruction in the city & turns him into an Anti-Body with a kiss. Infectia manipulates Iceman into protecting her from the Anti-Body until it disintegrates. Scott & Jean go to Dallas to find out if Freedom Force knows anything about Scott's son's whereabouts. Infectia asks Bobby to take her to the ship, claiming that she is also a mutant in need of training. more