The Pulse #4

Background

Jonah Jameson recently set up "The Pulse", a Daily Bugle supplement covering in-depth stories related to the super-hero crowd. Featuring Bugle Staff Writers Ben Urich and Kat Farrell, it also employs former private eye (and ex-super-hero) Jessica Jones as a consultant.

The happenings at The Pulse are quickly overshadowed when new Daily Bugle reporter Terri Kidder goes missing. Those of us who read last month's issue know that she got wind of some mysterious disappearances at Oscorp, and tricked her way into an interview with Oscorp CEO Norman Osborn, with fatal consequences. Her body washes ashore the next day. Jameson is not pleased, and sets his own staff to finding out the truth, unwilling to trust the police to do the job.

Ben Urich, however, knows a little something about Norman Osborn. Remember, Ben's the guy who wrote the book on the Green Goblin. So, Urich decides to call in the big boys on this one. He calls Peter Parker. The question is... does he also know that means calling Spider-Man?

Story Details

Look, let's not go through this blow-by-blow. There's no way I can tell this story like Bendis and Bagley do. But let me just go through the big points. Firstly, Spidey turns up, and he and Urich have a big heart-to-heart. They agree that if this is Osborn knocking off these innocent types, that he has to be stopped - whatever it takes.

Then Urich has to go persuade Jonah that the Bugle needs to make a stand too. Remember that the Bugle got burned way back when Ben published his "Legacy of Evil". Back then, Osborn called in the laywers, Ben's book got recalled and pulped. Then Osborn even bought out the Bugle! Jonah loves the Bugle, so it's a big call for him to stake it all against Osborn.

There's a bit of background stuff between Jessica and Luke Cage. I kind of feel that this is Bendis furthering a private agenda. Jessica, Luke and Co. turn up in all Bendis's Marvel stuff. Fair enough. He's the boss. It's all good stuff.

But back to the main plot... the Bugle guys and the NYPD head up to Oscorp to speak to Osborn. Instead, they find devastation, and the biggest danged in-yer-face double-page Bagley draws Green Goblin spread you're gonna see ever, unless they start bringing out those "Treasury Edition" books once more. Wall to wall Green Goblin! To be continued, need they say?

General Comments

Ah... dammit. What the hell else do you WANT from this comic? If Stan Lee was around to day, he'd slap a "This one has it all!" blurb on the front cover, and he sure as heck wouldn't be lying. Well, OK, to be strictly accurate, I guess there's no actual ACTION. But I can feel so much action welling up in the upcoming Issue #5 that it practically overflows back into this issue!

Bother, I did forget one thing. Bendis, if you're out there... Gwen was thrown off the Brooklyn Bridge. Not the G.W. Bridge as is occasionally mis-quoted. Yes, an erroneous line of text did suggest the G.W. Bridge, but a picture tells a thousand words, and I assure that numerous evidential panels quite clearly show that Norman actually hiffed Ms. Stacy off the afore-mentioned Brooklyn Bridge. Honest!

Overall Rating

Let's give this one four-and-a-half, and save the five for the slug-fest that must be just over the horizon! Two months to wait... that's just not fair!