In 1989, Marvel released the crossover event called Inferno. This was a crossover that mainly centered around Marvel's mutant titles at the time: Uncanny X-Men (The main book), X-Factor (The title that focused on the reunited original five X-Men, I reviewed the first issue here), Excalibur (An offshoot team based in England), New Mutants (A book focusing on the "next generation" of mutant heroes), and the four-issue X-Terminators miniseries (A mini focused on X-Factor's own mutant wards). Yeah, in the 80s, the X-Men got so big that there were five books focusing on them.
Unlike, say, Crisis on Infinite Earths, this crossover didn't have a main mini-series with tie-in issues. This event stuck to the X-Books, but it did have tie-ins with other books. This made sense, as one of the plot points of Inferno was a demonic invasion of New York City, and many of Marvel's heroes tended to be situated in the Big Apple. Spider-Man was no exception. He would have to deal with the raging Inferno as well. So let's take a look at Spectacular Spider-Man #146, and see how Spidey's world handles the demonic madness.
The cover is pretty cool. You got Spider-Man grappling with some snake-like living pipes in a factory, and some of them have got Harry Osborn in their grip. They don't want to hug him. It's a great cover.
"Demon Night"
Writer: Gerry Conway
Penciler: Sal Buscema
Inker: Sal Buscema
Letterer: Rick Parker
Colorist; Bob Sharen
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Editor-In-Chief: Tom DeFalco
The story begins with Spidey swinging around Manhattan, feeling pretty good.
He has had a great day today. His class at Empire State University was fun, his relationship with Mary Jane has never been better, and J. Jonah Jameson actually paid him early for his photos of his battle with Mysterio. However, Peter is aware of his "Parker Luck", and feels like something is going to wreck it in some way. He makes a landing, when he gets attacked by some sort of monster.
Peter is shocked at the sight of this metal snake-like fanged beast, as his Spider-Sense didn't warn him of this thing. Spidey wonders if this is something Mysterio cooked up, as he had just battled him in Amazing Spider-Man #311 (January 1989). Spidey is able to easily kill the monstrous fan vent by ripping it out of the building.
He examines it for mechanical components, but finds only...air vent. It's literally just an air vent. As Spidey arrives home, he notes that he heard about weird things happening like the fan vent monster, and that there's a strange feeling in the air, like there's a big storm on the way. Yeah, unknown to Spider-Man, the events of Inferno are causing the city itself to suffer from demonic corruption, causing inanimate objects to turn into monsters and attack people.
At Columbus Avenue, Mary Jane and her young cousin Kristy are out getting dinner. Mary Jane believes that Kristy is staying with them because her parents want her to stay with family while they're out traveling Europe. However, Web of Spider-Man #58 (December 1989) would eventually establish that she actually came to MJ on her own. MJ is in awe of Kristy's appetite, as the teenager appears to easily pack away food and not seemingly gain weight. Kristy explains that she is just lucky. In actuality, Kristy is struggling with bulimia, as will be revealed in Web of Spider-Man #54 (September 1989). Kristy is curious about MJ's modeling work, but MJ thinks she's just being overexcited. Kristy is also really enjoying staying with Peter and MJ. Nearby, the effects of Inferno are continuing to show themselves, as a nearby streetlamp mutates into a monster.
Night falls, and we go to Jackson Heights, in Queens. Mr. Joseph "Robbie" Robertson is walking home with the aid of a cane. He's feeling proud of himself as he managed to make it around the block on foot. He was injured by Tombstone in Spectacular Spider-Man #139 (June 1988), which I recently reviewed here. His body is healing nicely, but his wife Martha's heart is not. JJ called her this morning, saying he's given up trying to convince Robbie to not plead guilty on an accessory to murder charge. But Robbie is steadfast. He saw Tombstone kill a man, and didn't say anything.
Martha points out that Robbie is not the bad guy here. Keep in mind, Robbie was terrified of Tombstone growing up, and the man had become more of a monster over time. He also had a family to protect, and reporting Tombstone's killing would have put them in danger. Despite this, Robbie remains steadfast, breaking her heart.
The scene shifts again to Hicksville, Long Island. It's midnight, and Harry Osborn is trying to get some sleep...emphasis on trying. He wakes up from a nightmare, screaming about faces. He was dreaming about his father's face, then his own...the face of a monster. His wife Liz Allan-Osborn assures him that he's alright. She then remarks that they should have stayed in their place in New Jersey. They moved to the old Osborn homestead in Amazing Spider-Man #311 (January 1989). The commotion also woke up their baby: Normie Osborn. Harry agrees with Liz that moving back to the old Osborn home was a mistake, and they'll go back to New Jersey this weekend.
Liz is grateful for this, as she fears Harry's past is coming back to haunt him. After all, he's been through a lot, like witnessing his father apparently die in Amazing Spider-Man #122 (July 1973). She thinks the old house gives her the creeps. It's like there's some evil permeating the house, waiting for Harry to lose it. Unknown to her, the Hobgoblin (the Jason Macendale incarnation) is flying by.
The next morning, Peter is getting a morning shower in. He gets some soap in his eye, and asks MJ to give him a towel. He gets one, but not from MJ.
Heh heh, poor Peter. The Parker Luck can get him in ways that are hilarious. MJ teases Kristy about flirting with her man. Anyway, after that little bit of embarrassment, Peter gets a call. It's Harry Osborn, and he wants to talk to Peter at his chemical plant in Manhattan. He doesn't sound good. We next go to the Starlight Room down in Midtown Manhattan, and Ben Urich is checking out a rather gory scene.
Urich is horrified by this. He's witnessed his fair share of brutal stuff, but this is new for him. The detective, Frank Farrow, explains that some of the bodies were cut up badly, but they have managed to identify some of the victims as some local mob lieutenants. Evidently, they were probably having some sort of party, but someone decided to crash it.
The Arranger shows up, demanding to know who is in charge, and he and Urich snark at each other. Farrow wants to know who did this. Arranger only tells him that this building is one of Fisk's investments and he is a respectable businessman. Farrow thinks Arranger is full of it. There's a big-time gang war about to erupt, and he's not going to stand by and watch people die. While he throws some threats, Ben calls Joy Mercado, a fellow reporter. Glory Grant, J. Jonah's secretary at the time, says Jonah wants to talk to Urich.
Speaking of the skinflint himself, Jameson angrily bursts into the office, demanding to know where Kate Cushing is. She shows herself, and Jameson is not happy about the headline about poltergeists. He thinks it makes the Bugle looks like a cheap supermarket tabloid instead of a legitimate newspaper. Cushing points out that there are lots of reports of possibly supernatural events (as shown in the X-Books at the time), but Jameson writes it all off as crazies wanting attention. This part does not make a ton of sense, as Jameson lives in a world where superheroes and mutants and wizards exist. You'd think that a newsman like him would get the idea at some point that maybe something weird IS going on. This whole thing reminds Glory of an old dog her uncle Cal owned: More bark than bite.
Glory's heading out, wanting to pick up a teddy bear for her niece Yvonne at F.A.O. Schwartz. I went to that toy store once. It was so cool. She accidentally knocks into a man, and drops her purse. The man picks it up for her, and he offers to buy her lunch to make up for the inconvenience. Glory finds the man kind of cute.
Yup, Glory's caught the eye of Eduardo Lobo, one of the infamous criminal mutant werewolves known as the...Lobo Brothers. Meanwhile, at the Osborn chemical plant, Harry Osborn and Peter are doing some talking. Harry's feeling stressed, and he has no idea why. he should be feeling over the moon. The plant's doing very well business-wise, Liz and Normie are doing well, but Harry's been having nightmares ever since he and his family moved into the old house in Hicksville a week ago. Peter asks why he moved there, and Harry says he felt drawn there, like there was unfinished business connected to that house.
Peter is worried about this, as Harry's had his fair share of problems. He struggled with drugs in the past, and overdosed in Amazing Spider-Man #96-98 (May-July 1971), and relapsed in Amazing Spider-Man #121 (June 1973). This, alongside Harry witnessing Norman's supposed death fighting Spidey, would lead to him going mad over the course of Amazing Spider-Man #123-137 (August 1973-October 1974) and becoming the second Green Goblin. However, he would end up forgetting all of that after getting some help for his problems. This leads Peter to worry that maybe he's starting to remember all of that, including learning his secret identity as Spider-Man.
Peter tells him to move back to New Jersey. Sell Norman's old house, and go take a trip. I say Harry should go for it. Sell the old house. Have some fun, take Liz and Normie on a nice vacation. Hawaii's nice this time of year. But before Parker can be the helpful buddy any further, his Spider-Sense is going utterly bananas.
Thanks to the growing demonic influence in New York, the factory is literally attacking the workers. Peter is able to slip away and change into Spider-Man. The webslinger is able to save Harry from some pipes trying to hug him to death, but Osborn is unconscious. It has led to Peter having a theory, though. Could Harry's nightmares be linked to the weird happenings around New York thanks to Inferno? That certainly would make sense. The demonic influence could affect people just as much as it affected objects. Heck, the X-Men themselves suffered from demonic corruption during the event.
The chaos causes the factory to erupt into flames, and the people flee. Spider-Man's Spider-Sense goes off again, and he spots the Hobgoblin flying by.
The day is saved, but Osborn's plant is a wreck. Harry is understandably down about it. This plant was one of the only happy links between him and his father. All Harry had ever wanted was to please his father, and now this. Peter tries to assure Harry that the plant is insured, and they can rebuild it. Harry is still down about it because even though the plant can be rebuilt, it won't be the same. All Harry ever wanted was to make his father proud of him, despite Norman Osborn not being the best of fathers to Harry. That's the understatement of the century.
Peter is understandably worried about how Harry will take this. He's been in some bad states before, so it's understandable why people would be worried about his mental state after something like this. That night, Harry is having another bad nightmare. As he gets up to get a drink of water, he thinks that Peter is right about leaving. Tomorrow, he and the family are so packing up and heading back to New Jersey.
But as he looks into the mirror, he gets the fright of his life...
He sees his father Norman, taunting him as the Green Goblin. Harry will never escape his past, nor will he ever escape him...
This issue is really good. I do like that the issue tries to keep ambiguous whether Harry's nightmares are related to the demonic madness of Inferno or not. Spidey thinks so, but that doesn't mean that's the case. It could just be tragic coincidence. It would have been easy to just say Inferno is the cause of Harry's torment, so the idea of keeping it ambiguous was a very good one.
The one big complaint I have about the story is the whole thing with Jameson angry about the headline. Considering that numerous Marvel books about the time have shown that the demonic craziness is real, I feel that the whole thing with him acting like the craziness of Inferno does make Jameson look like a bit of an idiot. He lives in a world where people can literally be born with superpowers, and aliens and magic exist, but he can't believe tons of credible witnesses saying demons are attacking the city? Heck, I'm surprised he wasn't blaming Spider-Man for the Inferno! Still it's a minor complaint, but it does stick out to me.
If you want to read this for yourself, as I said in my review of Spectacular Spider-Man #139 (June 1988), I recommend getting the trade paperback The Amazing Spider-Man: Tombstone. It's a great trade that captures a fun era of Spider-Man. I love this trade.
Next time, the Crisis on Infinite Earths rages on!
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