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by Dave Scrimgeour & Kevin McCluskey   Cover Date- September 1988 Price- 50p Script- Gerry Conway Art- Sal Buscema Lettering- Rick Parker Colour- Bob Sharen Editor- Jim Salicrup Editor-In-Chief- Tom DeFalco Publisher- Marvel Comics synopsisPeter dons the red and blues and swings across Atlanta to face Tombstone for a showdown. Meanwhile, at the behest of The Arranger, The Persuader attempts to break the will of the kidnapped Frank Castle, whilst Robbie Robertson begins his comeback against his personal demons and a familiar looking blonde woman suddenly finds herself being pursued by mysterious forces. (K) Dave Issue 142's cover is such an iconic image to me. Kev Yeh, man. It's a classic. I absolutely love this cover. I suppose that's why they used this one for the trade collection. Although, it's been re-coloured to make it look more modern, hasn't it? Dave It has, yeah. Kev I love the vertigo inducing use of perspective, the silhouette of Tombstone, the limp, lifeless nature of Spidey's body. I love it all. Dave This issue just makes for compelling reading. It's got great dynamics and it's visually striking. I like how the opening page is always a full page spread. This one is another high altitude Spidey shot, with him swinging through Atlanta.  The Atlanta tourist board blurb needs a bit of work. Kev Definitely. These splash pages are becoming a bit of a trademark of this run and this is another superb image. Perhaps my favourite of these pages thus far. I also really like the 'Please be seated. Thank you,' sign as Pete & MJ race into each other's arms. I love that each line is in a different font. Ha, ha! Dave It is excellently drawn. Once again we are given a quick up-to-speed with what's going on over the next 3 pages. Sort of a fill-in-the-blanks again. Kev Every issue could be someone's first, right? Dave True. Because this story has so many different sub-plots going on, if this WAS your first issue, you'd need something. It really is quite layered. Kev Yeh. Conway's not afraid of threading a bunch of different plots together and he seems to have enough faith in the reader to get up to speed with minimal recapping. Dave Yeah, there is a lot of rapid jumping back and forth, bearing in mind the limited number of pages theses issues have to cover all this. Kev Conway plays around with timelines as well here, with the flashbacks being woven into the main plot and it's all pretty seamless. Dave It's cleverly written as well. The build-up to how much damage Tombstone did to MJ and Peter's initial reaction, it's like we are expecting her to be in a hospital bed. Kev Yeh. Tombstone was just sending a message here. This was merely a little warning to Peter that he better do what's asked of him, or there'll be a lot worse to come. It's a great setting for the big showdown; the tenth floor of a construction site, at "sundown." What is it with Tombstone and his obsession with the setting sun? Dave It's a bit of a modern day western setting. Kev Definitely. I like it a lot. Dave Tombstone doing the ol' Clint Eastwood quiet talk as well. Kev Right enough, yeh. That hadn't occurred to me. Good spot. Dave You can see why this issue is titled "Will," as it really is a battle of them between Spidey and Tombstone, Punisher and Persuader and also Robbie against his own fear. Kev Yeh, that's definitely the theme here, alright. I like the doctors in the scene with The Punisher and The Persuader. There're some funny lines in there. "Keep this up, Arranger and he'll have a stroke," and "Yo! Watch it!" Dave "Blood pressure 280 over 140", Kev Ha, ha! Dave Ten hours of this as well.  Yeah? Kev I know. Frank's got "a will like alloy steel," alright. I love that first panel on page 9. Just the stance of The Persuader. It's brilliant. Plus, the fact that Frank is largely obscured by the back of the chair he's strapped into makes you, as the reader, use your imagination as to the pain Frank must be in by this point. Dave Yeah, that's a good image of him standing over Punisher, using his powers to full capacity, with the very bright background. It's a dominating image. Kev It's great, isn't it? Again, it's the energy that Sal Buscema manages to convey. It just leaps off the page at you. Dave But finally, he successfully manages to break the Punisher's will, and again, this adds another thread to the ongoing story. On the plus side though, Robbie makes a breakthrough for the positive here. It looks like his anger has overcome his fear. Kev Definitely. And like Frank, Robbie's will had been broken. He'd completely given up on himself. "I can't do this." This is Robbie at rock bottom and then bouncing back. It's interesting that Robbie's battle isn't really with Tombstone himself, but more with his subconscious manifestation of him and even in there Tombstone still refers to Robbie as his "friend."  "Piss-off, ghost! He's gone." Dave Tombstone has tapped into that part of Robbie psychologically and he relives the torment in his own mind. Kev He certainly does. This is the beginning of Robbie's redemption though. The comeback is on. Dave Then all of a sudden the story jumps into completely new territory with this, seemingly unrelated, Gwen Stacy story. Conway is setting-up for future issues, I guess. Kev Yeh. I think this is the beginning of the much derided Gwen Stacy clone saga. I loved the ongoing, never ending saga, soap opera elements of Spidey comics back then, but I'm not sure I'd enjoy revisiting this particular one. Dave I wasn't sure if it was Gwen to begin with, but then again, I don't remember any of the stories about her clones.  The Spidey take on 'Lunch Atop a Skyscraper'. Kev I'm not overly familiar with them either, but I seem to recall this being the start of a bit of a downward trend for the Spidey comics in a lot of ways. There were all the clones, the robot parents, 'Maximum Carnage,' too many symbiotes and reboots and so on and so on. I always felt a lot of that stuff pulled the character too far from his origin point. Dave Yeah, some of those stories were a bit ropey, to say the least. I do like that image of Robbie charging through the hallucination of Tombstone though. Kev That panel kind-of mirrors the panel where Tombstone charges at Robbie before he tries to break Robbie's back. Dave Also, I like the little touch of Spidey anxiously waiting for Tombstone, nervously throwing the tape up in the air and catching it. Kev I like that panel of Spidey too. Anything with Spidey hanging-out on girders or something is good by me. With the scenes like the Gwen and the Robbie ones, Conway is toying with the reader here, building tension. He's set up this showdown between Spidey and Tombstone and now he's delaying it with three separate sub-plots. Well played, Mr. Conway, well played, Sir. By this point, you're just itching to get to the big fight. Dave Tombstone is quick for such a big guy, catching Spidey off-guard like that. Kev He is indeed. He's fast enough and smart enough to get the drop on Spidey, despite Peter's spider-sense. Dave Yeah. Then this story keeps switching back and forth to different scenes where the Robbie Robertson element of this story is now drawing to its conclusion. Kev Certainly this chapter of it, yes. The cutting between Robbie's confession and the fight between Spidey and Tombstone's is very effective. It's Robbie conquering Tombstone on a psychological level whilst simultaneously, Spidey is defeating him on a physical level. Dave Tell you what though, Spidey doesn't half take some tanking off Tombstone, and Tombstone is relishing every brutal minute of this. Kev Yep. Tombstone goes to town on Spidey with that pipe. Totally taking advantage of the element of surprise. Dave You've got to laugh at that line from Spidey in mid-air, "We're falling! Are you crazy?!" Kev Ha, ha! Yeh, and Tombstone's response is equally amusing. "Crazy? Me? You're the one wearing the funny red-and-blue underwear."  Tombstone working up a sweat. Killing spiders with a pipe is an excellent workout apparently. Dave Interesting how they use Robbie's narration to blend his story with Spidey's fight, smartly rounding-up this story in a short space of time. Kev Yep. Conway is certainly wrapping-up this particular chapter of this story. Dave Spidey looks well done-in by this point. Kev Yeh, Spidey's done-in, alright, but now that Tombstone has lost the element of surprise and Spidey has composed himself, the tables are about to turn. Dave Shows you how tough Spidey is though, taking a beating like that, and now he has got himself composed, he goes to town himself. Kev Yeh, man. Spidey is nothing if not resilient. He can take a beating, but he just keeps on coming back. Tombstone gets off to a good start, but ultimately though, he's way out of his depth with Spidey. "And strong as you are, fast as you are----I'll always be stronger and faster!" Dave Spidey delivers a good combo of punches, then shows off his speed when he easily dodges Tombstone as he makes a dive for him and then cracks his head off a metal girder. That next panel is funny. Definitely seeing stars there, is Tombstone.  Oh! Spidey rocks Tombstone with the right cross.  Tombstone's seeing stars, right now and he's doing the chicken dance.  Spidey with the big overhand left. That's it. Tombstone's out. It's over. Kev Ha, ha! Yeh, right enough. So he is. I was thinking that myself about the combinations. This is a well choreographed comeback by Sal Buscema. Maybe Peter has taken boxing lessons at some point. Although, I suppose you don't get to be a superhero for as long as he has without picking up at least a little technique. Dave The next panel is what you call a power punch, it sends Tombstone flying, then Spidey catches him with his web again. The old Spidey sense of humour is present in here too, "Friend huh? Define your terms," then he just drops him into the cement. Which, by the way, was conveniently waiting in a truck below, with absolutely no-one else around. Plus, the cement has not hardened yet. Kev Ha, ha! Yeh. But worth it for the comedy, "Sploosh" sound effect alone, I reckon. I hope Spidey pulls Lonnie out of there quickly enough though, otherwise he's going to drown in there. It would seem that, in his own, twisted way, Tombstone actually believes he and Robbie truly are friends. Dave It certainly seems that way. And at the end of the day, Robbie ends-up getting his job back and Tombstone ends-up in cuffs. Kev Yep. There's actually some justice at the end of this issue and this chapter, unlike some of the previous parts of this story where the endings have been a bit of a downer. Dave But it's not entirely upbeat, because the end panel is actually similar to the end panel of 'Circle of Blood: Part 1,' with the Punisher standing, ready for action, in an office situation again. That certainly doesn't bode well. Kev That's a great catch, man. Frank's working for another shady organisation, only this time, it's completely against his will. You're right, the last page and a half are, at the very least, ominous in their setting-up of events to come. The scene with Robbie outside the courthouse is also one of the rare instances where Jonah is shown to be a good guy. His loyalty to Robbie here is admirable. Dave Yeah, just shows Jonah Jameson does have a decent side to himself after all. So, to summarise, this is a good issue again and leads in well to the final chapter of this story with the Lobo brothers and a showdown with Punisher and Spidey. Kev Indeed. One chapter closes and another one opens. I'm really fond of this issue. Conway gives us a satisfying enough conclusion of sorts, but with enough intrigue to keep us coming back for more next issue. The artwork is, once again, stellar from Buscema and it has a cracking fight scene in it. What more could you ask for, really? Dave Yeah, I think this story would make a great live adaptation for either TV or film. There's plenty of characters in the mix and the writing is great. Kev The ongoing nature of it would probably mean that it'd lend itself better to TV than a movie, but yeh, you're right, it'd make a great live action adaptation. Perhaps someday. (D) & (K) Next: 'Deadline In Dallas.' 
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