After trying to contain the fury of the alien known as Firelord and failing, while leaving Firelord so enraged that he now hunts his wall-crawling foe with the intent of ending his life, the amazing Spider-Man was on the verge of abdicating his responsibilities and slipping into his Peter Parker identity to avoid being found. Spider-Man--packing it in?? The realization brought an attack of conscience for our harried hero, who knew that Firelord, in the state he was in, might go berserk and lash out at innocents if he was denied his vengeance because the web-spinner eluded him.
And so Spider-Man, overmatched and on his own, prepares to fight the battle of his life!
(But somebody had better tell him it's hopeless!)
Now out in the open once more, Spider-Man weighs his options. But for Firelord, who has emerged from the East River after retrieving his staff from where Spider-Man hurled it, there is only one course of action, one goal--and one fate for his enemy.
And so once more these two meet in battle--only this time, Spider-Man has given up on punting to more high-powered help like the Avengers or the Fantastic Four and resolved to stand his ground against Firelord. As you might imagine, that's going to be detrimental to New Yorkers, who are likely going to be caught in the crossfire and whose safety Spider-Man must be mindful of; yet, while a man fighting for his life against a former herald of Galactus may not have much choice as far as how many innocents are at risk, Spider-Man's choices are surprisingly lacking in concern for those he might be endangering with his tactics.
Soon enough, Spider-Man realizes, as he once did against the powerhouse called Titania, that he's a more effective fighter when he has more room to employ his own powers of speed and agility against a superior force. But in terms of those he must protect from harm, the next tactic he attempts forces him to re-evaluate his methods and adjust his strategy to keep innocent people out of harm's way.
As we've seen thus far, it's Spider-Man's uncanny spider-sense that is carrying the ball for him in this fight, allowing him to avoid Firelord's deadly blasts which would otherwise incinerate him on the spot. The battle also proves to be a nice showcase for the alternate black costume that he wore in the mid-1980s, modelled after the alien symbiotic garb that he adopted from the Secret Wars series but discarded when he found it was both sentient and malevolent. It's fair to wonder if the original costume might have offered some measure of protection against Firelord's attack; yet for the reader, it makes for a more exciting Spider-Man tale to see the web-spinner rely on his own power and wits in what's turning out to be a fight to the finish.
True to his word, Spider-Man seeks out venues that are less congested and offer more isolation for the kind of resistance he must put up against Firelord. And with his next idea, his spider-sense will be crucial to keeping him from falling victim to the same trap which he arranges for his foe.
With Firelord's resurgence, Spider-Man has little choice but to keep fighting him with the weapons at hand. And his next improvised move may indeed lead to the end of this battle--though not in the way that he thinks.
Out of options, and forced to make a stand, Spider-Man is now committed--and no doubt surging with adrenaline, since he knows full well only one of them can walk away from this final clash. It's at that moment that help arrives at last--but not in the nick of time, and not before Spider-Man is able to step back and grasp what has been one of the most hard-fought victories of his career.
I don't know... If Spider-Man packs more punch than a collapsing eight-story building or an explosion that decimates an entire city block, it's news to me. But let's give him the notch in the "Win" column, nevertheless. As a wise giant named Fezzik once said, "Don't pester him, he's had a hard day."
As for our friend, Firelord...
NEXT:
Not to worry Earth's Mightiest Heroes--
but isn't he going to be waking up in a really foul mood??
AND COMING UP:
Did someone mention Titania!?
 | Amazing Spider-Man #270 Script: Tom DeFalco Pencils: Ron Frenz Inks: Bob McLeod Letterer: Joe Rosen |
2 comments:
Well, Firelord was a herald of Galactus, and as you pointed out, C.F., he had Cosmic power and could swat meteors around and race comets. I assume he had space-warping powers and he could go toe-to-toe with the likes of Thor. He probably could've destroyed the entire East Coast if he had cut loose.
On the other hand, as heralds go, he wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. He used to be a temperamental Xandarian junior officer in the Nova Corps whose buddy got press-ganged into being a herald for Galactus and then got himself killed and was replaced by a robot.
Firelord wasn't very effective against Ego, when Galactus conned Thor and Hercules into attacking the Living Planet. Thor, as usual, had to do most of the actual fighting. Galactus ended up getting the Destroyer out of that deal, which probably didn't make Odin very happy.
I suspect we're going to see the "reunion" of Firelord and Hercules here on PPOC and it might involve somebody getting punched in the jaw.
M.P.
Marvel-NYC civilians... not only the stupidest, least grateful people on the face of the planet, but they seem to be all but immune to collateral damage. I mean, those people on the subway train alone should have been cooked when Firelord melted his way through it.
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