Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #59

Story 'The Future Is Now'

Judas tells Peter that this will happen because Traveller's bunch of misfit hangers-on are out of control and are planning to destroy a geothermal power station. Traveller will guarantee M-J's safety, but is Peter willing to risk his life to save Manhattan? Well, what do you think? Spider-Man heads off to save the day.

Problem is, when he stops Traveller's goons from popping the geothermal station, he discovers that Judas goofed, and it was in fact Judas's fooling around with reality that was going to cause the destruction. A vortex in the space-time continuum appears - threatening to suck up Traveller. Peter risks his own life again to save Judas, and Manhattan too.

General Comments

Some attempt is made in this story to provide JT with a motive for all this mindless stuff he does. Supposedly, he's on some sort of mission to understand the workings of Evil(tm), and of those who would prevail against it. He hopes in the end to become one with God(tm) and bring about the end of the human journey. Something like that anyway.

I say Baloney! None of this works for me. Let's see an end to this hogwash and get back to a well balanced story-line. I can handle the occasional over-powered meddler for an infrequent story - but who needs this amateur soul-searching demi-god meddling bit? Obviously someone drained the think-tank, and this was the sludge left at the bottom.

As for the bunch of losers that Judas gets around with. If I was as powerful as Traveller I'd be embarassed to be seen hanging around with has-beens like them. Scrier is OK, but the rest of them - well, I can't even be bothered remembering their names.

Overall Rating

The art is average, but the covers are mediocre. The plot is just inane.

Footnote

In hindsight, Judas was revealed to be a psychologist whose powers were simply mid-level mutant psionics. This makes a mockery of this entire story. What, Judas used his psionics to take Peter into a fake future, only to demonstrate that he - Judas, was an incompetent meddler? How stupid is THAT?

I originally gave this story two webs, but in hindsight a few years on I had to reduce it to one web, since subsequent events made the plot even more laughable.