The Rise and Fall of Sam Bullit

 

An issue where a major, long-standing character unexpectedly meets their end, either tragically or through an act of malice, has more often than not made for high drama in a comics story--particularly for someone like Peter Parker, who depending on the circumstances would likely feel a mixture of guilt and rage over the loss of the person. In the pages of Amazing Spider-Man, it was the Stacy family who were victims of both tragedy and malevolence, as, first, Capt. George Stacy unhesitatingly sacrificed his life to save another, followed later by his daughter, Gwendolyn, meeting her end as the victim of the deranged Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin. Both deaths occurred just 2½ years apart, at least on our calendar; in "comics" time, we can probably assume that the loss of Gwen's father, a death occurring on Spider-Man's watch, resonated in his mind when Gwen was lost to him.

Each story, written respectively by Stan Lee and Gerry Conway, would share similarities in the issues which followed up, stories packed with their own high levels of drama yet tasked with moving on from the character's death. For example, thanks to his involvement, Spider-Man ends up being reviled--a man on whom, as far as certain parties are concerned, at least part of the blame falls if not all. Also, not surprisingly, each incident sees J. Jonah Jameson resolving to redouble his efforts to turn public opinion against Spider-Man (though it would take Osborn's death, taking place soon after Gwen's, to push him over the edge). In addition, Spider-Man becomes a wanted man, as a new figure would enter the picture to bring him to justice. In Conway's story, that would be Luke Cage (at Jameson's behest)--while in the earlier tale, Lee would turn to Sam Bullit, an opportunistic, morally bankrupt ex-cop who has his eye on the office of District Attorney and runs on a "law and order" ticket as a smokescreen to incite public support.

And, notably, each would be preceded by a crushing funeral scene--which, in Gwen's case, would unfortunately lead to Peter (if indirectly) being put in the position of becoming the most despised person in her life.

It's also worth noting that, knowing what we know now about the events leading up to the Civil War storyline, the death of Gwen's father appears to fall under the same umbrella in terms of where to assign blame for what befell innocent lives: Nitro or the New Warriors? Spider-Man or Doc Ock? "Whether he meant to or not, he killed my father." In both cases it was the resulting battle between the combatants which led to loss of life, with Ock and Nitro technically being on the hook for second-degree murder--but Gwen has chosen to lay the blame squarely on Spider-Man, perhaps because he was seen carrying Capt. Stacy from the scene (in a futile effort to help him).

And so, as if the deck isn't stacked enough against Peter, it's easy to see to whose door Lee leads Gwen next--resulting in a bizarre quid pro quo arrangement which puts a target squarely on the back of the web-spinner.

Nor do you have to be a brain surgeon to guess who else Bullit would find himself in a position to take advantage of:

With the endorsement of the Daily Bugle, a paper which the hard-working Jameson has made a staple of New York City news coverage, Bullit is able to move ahead with his campaign in earnest, adding napalm to the fire which Jameson has been relentlessly torching Spider-Man with since the wall-crawler first appeared on the scene.

Subsequently, Spider-Man is understandably apprehensive when web-swinging through the city. For Peter Parker, however, the effect is more pronounced, when Bullit looks to gain information from him on Spider-Man because of Peter's substantial coverage of him in photographs. When Peter proves to be uncooperative, Bullit leaves him to the tender mercies of two of his henchmen who proceed to rough him up as a prelude to when they'll come calling on him again--a mistake on their part, when Spider-Man soon appears to return the favor with interest.

Afterward, Peter decides to head back to his apartment and try to warn Gwen of the real Sam Bullit he's encountered. Yet it turns out those two people have reached there ahead of him--while Lee has primed a third party who will be compelled to join the effort to hunt him down.

More shocking to Peter might perhaps be the discovery that Gwen has somehow managed to snag a key to his apartment. (Though to make a purely tactless observation, in 2½ years the point would be moot.)

With the next issue's rather sensational splash page, clearly the stage has been set to escalate this situation, though why Bullit has either (a) brought Gwen or (b) accompanied her to Peter's place is curious, since at this point he has no reason to believe that his goons aren't still in the process of working on Peter's cooperation. If it's option (b) we're talking about, we also have to wonder why Gwen would have Bullit in tow for her visit. Regardless, Spider-Man must think on his feet and act to dispel any suspected connection to Peter Parker beyond what he's already told Bullit about their photographs arrangement.

As we see, Bullit only has eyes for what this abduction has handed him on a silver platter. But at street level, the young man named Bobby Drake also has eyes to size up the situation: a frightened girl in need of saving* from a figure who has apparently gone berserk.

*You'd have to read the scene in its entirety to discover how Bobby could give even Peter Parker lessons on ditching your date in an emergency.

With Bullit having summoned law enforcement to the scene, in addition to Iceman's interference, Spider-Man has run out of time; yet he's effectively done what he set out to do in keeping his secret identity intact. As for Bullit, he's Johnny-on-the-spot as far as not letting an opportunity like Iceman's rescue of Gwen go to waste.

Under the circumstances, Bullit must think he has this election in the bag. Spider-Man is now Public Enemy #1 as far as New York City voters are concerned, the incident with Gwen having proven to the public that the web-slinger is indeed a danger who must be apprehended--and with Bullit's camera-ready moment with Iceman, they've seen with their own eyes that he's aggressively on the job, to say nothing of being in the limelight for seeing to Gwen Stacy's rescue. (We'll have to assume that his introduction to Iceman was out of earshot of the media; after all, giving his name to Iceman wouldn't have been necessary for someone already in his employ.)

But Bullit's road to the D.A.'s office begins to fall apart in the office of Jameson, with Bullit having been unaware that Peter had reported Bullit's threats to him to both Jameson and Joe Robertson following the incident with Iceman. Jameson, a credit to his profession when he allows his better judgment to prevail, holds a tense meeting with the candidate and not only pulls his paper's endorsement of Bullit but also informs him he'll be acting on the evidence that Robbie has provided on Bullit's past activities and ties.

Bullit, not exactly the type to just roll over and die given what's at stake here for him, sends two of his thugs to quietly make off with Robbie from the Bugle, not realizing that Peter has spied the entire scene and suited up as Spider-Man to tail their car. But there is still the matter of Iceman on the lookout for him, and the timing couldn't be worse.

Afterward, Spider-Man picks up the trail and arrives in time to see Bullit join his men, stopping by to mainly assure that things will be taken care of with Robertson. As for Iceman, Spider-Man is happy to see that although the X-Man has tracked him to the site, he's witnessed the entire scene for himself and now offers an extra hand in taking care of the hoods--a more lengthy affair than what you'll see here, but again, the full scene will be a little icing on the cake for you should you pick up the issue.

In the case of Bullit, however, there's no way we're depriving you of any part of his fall.

Not to take the wind out of the sails of Lee's ending here, but he and artists Gil Kane and John Romita leave out one loose end still virtually staring us in the face: Iceman not having pulled Spider-Man aside once the dust has settled and said words to the effect of "Hold on. Before I'm letting you go anywhere, I want the reason why you kidnapped a frightened girl against her will--and make it good, man." Yet the moment passes--and as we've seen, the Prowler wasn't as accommodating.