Spectacular Spider-Man #81&82 (1983)

This isn't one of Bill Mantlo's better stories. Mantlo really seemed to love his creations Cloak & Dagger, and they showed up again here, deciding to eliminate another crime boss in the Kingpin. I did like the scene where Spidey tried to warn them off, but they argue that they successfully took out Silvermane after Spidey tried to steer them away, so why would they fail now? Mantlo did keep away from his penchant for having Spidey sort of lusting after Dagger, maybe because Spidey was so wrapped up with his current gal the Black Cat. In most of the other appearances of C&D, Spidey was sure that Dagger is both hot and good, and that Cloak is responsible for every bad thing she does. It's a pretty simplistic view that I was happy didn't come up in these two issues.

The Punisher has a pretty big part here too, first in his escape from prison (with assistance from Boomerang!) and then with his own hunt for the Kingpin. There's all sorts of tricks to make the Punisher more palatable to the comics code, like his use of mercy bullets on drug dealers or his failure to actually kill anyone in this story. He does take some shots at a wife-beater and then goes further down the criminal ladder to target dangerous drivers and litterbugs. His internal dialogue/war journal is much more anguished and silly sounding than anything done recently. In the end, Punisher faces off against the Kingpin, who thrashes him. To make his defeat even more humiliating, the Kingpin decides that Frank "isn't worth killing." I bet Kingpin would regret that if he knew how many folks Punisher would gun down over the next 30 years of comics!

I haven't had a lot to say about Spidey in this, because he really is one of a ensemble here. I think Mantlo did his best work with the Spidey vs. 1 or 2 villain format, and this story is proof. Everything just got too confusining and by the end it seemed like nothing had been accomplished. No one learned anything, only the Punisher is in jail, and its status quo for everyone else.

I did like Spidey deciding that action is the best way to avoid thinking about girls though!
Al Milgrom penciled both issues, with some inking help from Jim Mooney. Mooney obviously loved spending time on Spidey, since he looked better than everyone else. Overall though, this does have quite a dated look.

Average