Spider-Man Heroes & Villains Collection (UK) #8

Background

This is a 60-part weekly series being pumped into the market by Eaglemoss publications. They don't know much about Spidey, but they know that 60 * $8.99 = quite a lot. And I'm the kind of idiot who will spend that sort of money without doing the math.

There's an original 7-page story in every issue, and collectible trading cards too. Sure, the stories are terrible, the art is ghastly, and the price is far, far too high. But there's glossy paper, trading cards, and an original Spider-Man comic strip series that 99% of the U.S. collectors will never own!

Story 'When Falls the Tower!'

The Oscorp Tower contains a mysterious cross-dimensional portal built by the Green Goblin. Following an early battle, the tower and portal are under the control of Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. However, an assault by the Sinister Five (Ock, Lizard, Sandman, Mysterio and Electro) and their team of weirdly-dressed green skin flunkies wants to change all that.

Spider-Man and the Tough-Talking Wolverine put up a good fight, but can't keep the baddies out of the portal chamber. But there's a surprise there too, for inside the chamber, Nick Fury has rigged the portal with a belt of explosives. He threatens to blow the portal sky-high if the do-badders don't back off. As heroes and villains struggle over the portal, suddenly the portal autonomously leaps into action, teleporting Fury and Wolverine to a distant tropical island... along with their explosives. BOOM! The theory is that the portal has become alive and took action to defend itself. Really? Whatever you say.

But that's not the end of the surprises, as one of the green-skinned henchmen rips off his bandages and reveals himself to be the Green Goblin. Having released himself from hospital, Norman has reprized his role as the master bad guy just in time to kick a weakened Spider-Man into the portal!

With Spider-Man zapped off to goodness-knows-where, now begins... The Age of the Goblin! Muahahahaha!

General Comments

Credit where credit is due - this issue does answer a lot of the questions from last issue that I didn't expect to ever see resolved. Norman was the mastermind behind the plot, while the mysterious minions were hired by Doctor Octopus. But that still doesn't explain why Ock would have painted his minions green. Sure, it gave cover to the undercover Green Goblin. But as Ock clearly didn't know about Norman's disguise, that still makes no sense.

It also doesn't explain what the Lizard is doing in the Sinister Six, or why Ock would kowtow to the Green Goblin. It doesn't explain why the portal is variously described as "sentient", "magical" and "technological". It seems rather that the portal is "whatever it needs to be at any given time in order to fit the plot".

Overall Rating

This is still unadulterated silliness. But at least this time writer Glenn Dakin managed to tie a couple of plot points back to the previous issue, so I'm going to recognize that by offering a two web rating this time, double last week's score!

Mind you, it's still mostly rubbish, but at least it's a step in the right direction.