"THE BRAND OF THE BRAINWASHER!"
Writer: Stan Lee/Breakdowns: John Romita Sr./Penciller: Don Heck/Inker: Mike Esposito/Letterer: Artie Simek/Editor: Stan Lee/Cover Art: John Romita Sr.
Synopsis: With his memories returned, Peter re-unites with his friends and family, but danger is around the corner, as the mysterious Brainwasher has designs on the city's top officials, including Gwen's father...
Review: And so we begin the next multi-issue storyline, and it's...fine? I don't want to get too ahead of myself as we're only just on part one, but the Brainwasher Saga has never been one of my favourites, although it's far from bad; it's just kind of middle of the road, and this issue is pretty indicative of that. Nothing you could call terrible, but nothing you could really call great either.
One big hurdle facing Stan and John with this issue is the fact that they still have some wrapping up to do regarding Peter losing his memories and becoming a missing person. The issue begins with him visiting Aunt May in the hospital, before heading down to the police station, where we get a two-page scene of him being questioned by police officers who want to know everything he knows about Spider-Man. Obviously he spins them a false story, and is escorted out of the station by Captain Stacy - more on that soon - before meeting up with Gwen and Harry, so the whole gang is back together, minus Flash, who has returned to the army by this point. You have all these wrap-up scenes to wade through, so that you get to almost halfway through the issue before any kind of plot begins to present itself. As I say, I don't really envy Stan and John the task of wrapping up every loose end they've left hanging from the past couple of issues, but that doesn't change the fact that this issue loses out on telling a new story for several pages, as it's so busy dealing with previous ones. We do get the first kiss between Peter and Gwen, though, so I suppose that's something of significance.
When the plot does arrive...oh, boy, where do we begin? So, the unseen, Machiavellian Brainwasher has opened up a nightclub called the Gloom Room A-Go-Go - you'd be hard pressed to find a groovier name than that - and plans to invite important city officials there, whereupon they will have their photographs taken, which will put them under a hypnotic spell, leading them to wander down to the nightclub's basement where they can have their minds altered using a brainwashing machine. The first question I have is: why does the Brainwasher think that all these fusty middle-aged to elderly men will want to go to a nightclub? My second question is: why does the Brainwasher think that all of these fusty middle-aged to elderly men will want to have their photograph taken? He's pretty adamant that nobody can resist having their photograph taken. Sorry to burst your bubble, Brainwasher, but I wouldn't allow a nightclub to take my picture - I wouldn't be seen dead in a nightclub to begin with - even if the service was free. It's a plan that feels pretty weak on the ground, but surprisingly, it works, because I guess if it didn't, we wouldn't really have much of a story here, would we?
The one element that I do like in all this is that Mary Jane has been hired by the club and is the one chosen to take pictures of the city officials, though she has no idea of their sinister purpose. This could have been a good chance to get MJ more involved with the plot for once, but sadly, this doesn't happen; all she gets to do besides act as the bad guy's patsy is briefly get held hostage before Spider-Man saves her, in an admittedly lovely moment; he quip to him, enquiring if he has any brothers, always makes me laugh. In fact, the issue in general improves greatly once Peter decides to investigate proceedings as Spider-Man, and the action begins to kick off. There is a nice scene earlier on where Peter meets Captain Stacy for the first time, and we get the first glimpses of Stacy's suspicions that Peter knows more about Spider-Man than he's letting on, but generally, the issue doesn't really get going until it's nearly over, with some fun scenes of Spidey running rings around the Brainwasher's henchmen. With all this extra muscle, I have to wonder: why didn't the Brainwasher just arrange for the city officials to be kidnapped and then brainwashed? I suppose his current plan is less conspicuous, but as said, it's hardly believable.
At this point, I'm going to stop calling the villain of this story 'the Brainwasher' and start calling him by his true identity: the Kingpin. The final panel reveals that it's really been Kingpin behind this scheme the entire time, and much as I love the character, I have to say that this is my least favourite of all the Lee and Romita stories featuring the villain. The plot is way too out-there and sci-fi to really feel appropriate for the Kingpin, who generally stars in more grounded stories rooted in organised crime, although to be fair, this was only his second appearance, so the hallmarks of what a Kingpin story usually entails wouldn't have been quite so fully formed at the time, but in hindsight, it just looks a bit strange having Wilson Fisk paired up with a mad scientist type with big goofy glasses babbling on about a brainwashing machine. Also strange is the fact that throughout this issue, the Kingpin's henchmen constantly refer to him as 'Brainwasher,' as if they were aware that his reveal at the end of the issue was meant to be a surprise, and they don't want to give the game away.
ASM #59 is by no means a bad issue, but it can't help but feel like set-up. This isn't helped by the fact that a third of the issue is taken up with a resolution to the story threads left over by the previous few issues. The plot is pretty contrived, as I've said, but once things get going, I can at least be entertained by all the usual Lee and Romita brand of action and thrills. Not bad, but nothing spectacular.
Rating: 3/5
Next time, Peter discovers how truly dangerous the Kingpin's brainwashing procedure is, when he has his second meeting with Captain Stacy...
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