Avenging Spider-Man #3

Background

Defeated and a bloody mess, Red Hulk lay on the ground with a massive sword buried deep in his chest. Now the leader of the subterraneans, Ra’ktar has seemingly no one left to stand in his way of claiming the surface. Meanwhile Spider-Man attempts to return his former boss and current mayor of NYC J. Jonah Jameson, back to the city above, but will he be able or willing to just walk away from the Red Hulk’s slaughter? Where, rescuing Jameson was once the priority, Spidey stumbled upon an entire race of molean creatures being oppressed and terrorized. How will this development affect Spidey’s sense of responsibility?

Story 'Red Dead'

On the road to safety, Spidey and Jonah are doing some social bonding on the back of a bipedal creature when Spidey decides to turn around, much Jonah’s dismay. The humble Morlocks are persuading Spidey to bring back their former leader Mole Man while Jonah is selfishly bickering about himself. Spidey informs him that he cannot walk away from a comrade just the same as he can’t leave Jonah to fend for himself in a dangerous circumstance, so just as Spidey’s about to leave to get Rulk, the bad guys show up. King Ra’ktar and his soldiers along with the Moleman as their prisoner, confront Spidey and the Morlocks. Spider-Man takes to the defense of the weak Morlocks by landing a solid fist onto Ra’ktar. Every one seems to be laughing at the clearly outmatched Spider-Man, who proceeds to take a severe beating from the big guy.

Off in the distance, Rulk pulls the sword from his chest. Spidey gives his best effort but comes up short against the mighty monster Ra’ktar, who asks him if he’s ready to die. Right about now you would think Rulk or some other hero would come to the rescue but..) Spidey makes one last attempt to save himself by webbing a sharp piece of stone and swinging it over his head round n round until it hits and shatters the chain link on Ra’ktar’s belt. Fully exposed and humiliated, Ra’ktar begins to defend his honor from the jeers of his own soldiers, however they overcome him and bind him with chain. Spidey is ready to call it quits, when the Moleman informs Spidey that according to Molean law he has defeated Ra’ktar in combat.

Finally an angry bloody vengeful Rulk has gotten to his feet and joins the crowd. Spidey is seen making nice with the enemy and asking Rulk how he survived. Rulk so elegantly and poignantly explains that healing isn’t much of a problem. Rulk tries to settle the score with Ra’ktar but, Spidey holds him back explaining that they already worked out a peace treaty, However Rulk has a really hard time accepting this due to his badly bruised ego.

Up above, Jonah is rambling on to Captain America about how he should be down there fighting off the morlock invasion. Emerging the hole in the ground, Spidey and Rulk convey that the day has been saved. Cap expresses his surprise that Rulk was taken down, and Rulk insists that Spidey did all the work and begrudgingly leaps off reminding Spidey to never ask him for a ride again. Iron Man informs Spidey he may have a concussion. (big ouch) Jonah is quick to jump on Spidey’s case questioning him how he was able to do it all himself and wondering what happened to the Moleman. Spider-Man describes why he decided to let him go free. This is a decision that could very well come back to haunt him as the Moleman is then shown underground smiling and sneering while planning the future.

General Comments

So that’s it? They all just walk away and go home? Hold on here, Spidey might have a concussion just how long does that take to heal? I’m grabbing at anything here, because well ,this was kind of a disappointment, with the rather anti climatic ending and no Hulk action. Yah, disappointing. So this is what we are left with? A silly little David and Goliath tale? Talk about your insignificance. Spidey saves everyone, yet Jonah is still mad at him for letting the Mole Man go. Am I supposed to believe that Jonah is going to hire a team to hunt down mole man and fish him out? The story just doesn’t give me anything to go on. How is this even a team up story ? Furthermore I’m disturbed by the low brow humor that led to the seemingly premature and overly simplistic ending. Well at least Spider-Man was well portrayed, brave and lived up to his always do the right thing persona.

Overall Rating

If not for the wondrous art this title really wouldn’t be worth picking up. There was some good action and fighting and I was honestly invested in seeing how Spidey would take this guy down but, I’m a tad embarrassed by the fact that Spider-Man avoids death and defeats his opponent by accidentally exposing the monster’s genitals, its like did that really happen? Is this the Bugs Bunny comedy hour? But how can it be when you include censored swearing and graphic violence. The mighty monster Ra’ktar, leader of the morlocks, the brave warrior that defeated Rulk 1 on 1, will be remembered as the King who was beaten by a wardrobe malfunction. That’s just great. Uh Ggggggg uh that’s all folks!