Mary Jane and Black Cat: Dark Web Review

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Hello everyone, TF2 and Mike here from the GeekCast

Radio Network. You are inside the pull bag. This

is episode 562, and the only reason why you're

hearing my voice before the episode is because

this episode, along with 563, was supposed to

be out months ago. But, uh, I don't know. Things

just kinda happened and did whatever. In this

episode, you're gonna hear myself and JT from

Saskatoon discuss Mary Jane and Black Cat Dark

Web. So that's what's coming up here inside the

pull bag. I will be giving you a plan for what

The Pull Bag will be doing at the end of 2024

and almost all of 2025, probably at the beginning

of episode 563 or 564. For now though, Mary Jane

and Black Cat Dark Web coming up next here inside

The Pull Bag, only on the GeekCast Radio Network.

Hello and welcome to The Pull Bag. This is episode

562. We have got 28 episodes to go until we hit

something. I don't know. 90 or 700 or 600 or

whatever the hell it is. I don't freaking know.

I'm of course TFJ and Mike and returning from

the Batcave is JT from Saskatoon. How's it going?

Jesus, it's dark in here. Yeah. No, right? It's

great. Alfred hasn't played. Oh, wait. Alfred's

dead. Hey. Wait, no. Really? Yeah, it was a whole

thing and That that that's Yeah, that's a whole

thing. We'll have to talk about that some other

day. Yeah Yeah, when we're not in the other universe,

which is we're in Marvel today folks and one

six Is it really I couldn't tell? But comic 616

not movie 616 Is it I couldn't I don't this is

the first Marvel book I've read in like forever

long long time Yeah, the only reason why we're

reading this and I blame slash thank him, but

I mostly blame him This is all J. Scott Campbell's

fault Him and his exquisite covers of black cat

and Mary Jane it's like ooh cover ooh Cover yay,

and Mike's like do pretty Yeah. And then I read

the story and I'm like, oh, this again. And it's

not because of, it's not because we're going

to get into it and JT is going to give us a little,

give me more of the soul than anybody else. A

little back history here in a minute, but it's

not so much about, it has nothing to do with

the characters of Black Cat and Mary Jane that

I find this story to be just, it's what the story

is. And I want to run down the creative really

quickly. First of all, the writing. Jed McKay.

I don't think I've ever read anything by Jed

McKay to this point in the almost 12 years of

The Pull Bag. It's not a name I remember. I don't

know. The Art? Good. I'm just looking at his

wiki on one of the fandom Wikipedia sites, which

I find are a whole lot more thorough than actual

Wikipedia. Yeah, Big Daddy Wikipedia. From just

looking at the covers here, he's Worked in the

last few years, definitely looks like he was

doing a lot of X -Men work during the Krakoan

age, which was, you know, what they call the

last five years worth of X -Men where all the

mutants are living on the island that lives as

a man. Yep. And that so, uh, he's done some good

stuff. Um, he didn't do power house and powers

of X, did he? No, that was, Oh, thank God that

was Hickman. Yeah, that was I almost scared myself

Yeah, see no no that was all hickman, but he

worked He was one of the many creators that worked

on, you know x -men the last few years before

the current from the ashes Reboot quote -unquote.

Well, yeah this This comic came out, you know

during the Krakow in age The and the current

run of spider -man and so if you haven't read

x -men the last few years about and it's about

six years ago at this point they rebooted the

entirety of the x -men line in In the Marvel

comics by if there's a bit of a time gap and

then there's the Krakoa the island that lives

as a man, which is a classic Marvel thing that's

was involved in Giant Size X -Men number one,

where the new international X -Men went to rescue

the OG team. And all the mutants on Earth lived

there, all the bad guys, all the villains. They've

got their own society, their own language. They're

struggling to get recognized by the world. And

some of the people who weren't included in that

was Madeline Pryor, who is the Clone of Jean

Grey created by mr. Sinister was part of the

inferno event back in the 80s and her current

lover or not current lover Sorry, and then there's

spider -man in the current run of spider -man

Started off with Peter and Mary Jane getting

sucked into this alternate dimension Through

this villain that no one had remembered since

the early days of the dance lot run when they

post one more day and They get sucked in this

guy with this godlike powers trying to sacrifice

MJ to, you know, complete the ritual. And Peter

figures out a way to get back to earth. But at

the last second, Mary Jane pushes him through

and says, look, it's more important you go back,

get help. And that'll be all good. But time moves

differently. So by the time. Peter gets back

who in his effort to get back has alienated the

entirety of the Marvel superhero community And

it would take too long to explain how but you

know once again spider -man's on the out with

everybody because Spider -man just can't be happy

He gets back. He finds Mary Jane. She's fallen

in love with this dude named Paul and they have

two kids Oh my god, I don't believe she actually

gave birth Again, that's something would take

too long to explain but they get back to know

I mean we could explain it fairly easily two

people get together No, I mean like I don't think

they actually have kids and these kids were just

found there because there's a bunch of other

people It's a whole it's like an alternate earth

that they got sucked into. It's just it's a whole

thing so Peter Mary Jane broke up And at the

end of the last run of Spider -Man comics, there

was this thing called the Beyond Corporation,

which is like Lexcor on crack in that they're

trying to control all this stuff involving super

villains and superheroes to the point that they

hire Ben Reilly's Peter's clone who Don't remember

how but he should have died during the clone

conspiracy Storyline, but didn't they hire him

and they secure the copyright to spider -man

which is a thing in the comics because when During

superior spider -man auto trademark autos. Yep.

He trademarked as spider -man and the costume

and a whole bunch of stuff So they buy that copyright

Ben gets this decent new costume. It's It's similar

to the one he wore when he took over during the

clone saga and he goes and lawyers go after Peter

and Ben goes after Peter and everyone goes after

Peter and Miles is like look we own the copyright

cease and desist and By the end of that beyond

is revealed to be like evil Big shock. This is

my shocked face and they're using this they call

it a psychoactive goo to destroy their skyscraper

headquarters and Ben is swallowed up by this

stuff and it turns out he survived he gets these

He's called chasm now because he's got this chasm

in his brain cuz at the end of it They were mind

wiping him after like every mission to make sure

he doesn't like lose his shit and this caused

his mind to fracture and he was trying to use

this device to Suck out Peter's memories and

put them in his head because you know, I deserve

blah blah blah. I'm not a real boy and When he

comes back as chasm, he's got this 90s AF it's

like purple and black in this teal like teal

green Highlights kind of tron lines and he still

got like spider strength and speed and stick

to walls But now his because of the goo his when

he feels stuff with his spider sense He can generate

essentially hard light constructs like a green

lantern of sorts. That's the best way I can describe

it and The Dark Web is him hooking up with Madeline

Pryor, who isn't considered a real person under

the laws of Krakoa. They don't allow psychics,

they don't allow AI, they don't allow clones.

So she wants to burn the world down and then

bends a clone who Doesn't feel like a real boy.

So he wants to burn the world down. They're like,

hey, let's burn the world down together That's

the main thrust of the dark web crossover between

spider -man and x -men comics okay, mary jane

and black cat dark web is tied in it I have to

do my own research. I I do have the research

done already by the way, I have to look at my

research that There's a way to read all the individual

issues and include Mary Jane and Black Cat, but

it is essentially tangential. It's like every

tie -in miniseries to 2015 Secret Wars, you can

literally not read any of those and it doesn't

affect the story. But just like this, a lot of

those miniseries are very entertaining, I found,

but this comic, while tied into dark web, doesn't

affect a whole lot of the main story. It's essentially,

it's its own thing. Yeah, that's what I thought.

So I knew nothing. Because again, folks, I haven't

been in the Marvel camp in a long ass time. I

think the last time we did a Marvelous March

here inside the pull bag was 2015. And it was

none of anything that you just mentioned. It

was like... Don't know. What did we do that month

that we did 2015? We did something with the Punisher

We did something with spider -man something else.

Maybe we went back to like spider -man blue or

something. I don't remember but yeah, it's been

about Forever seven eight nine ten. Yeah, how

long it's been and I looked at this and again

I looked at, first and foremost, was the covers,

because when J. Scott Campbell makes an announcement,

folks, you listen to the man. You look at his

art, and you're like, ooh, OK, good. You sit

up and pay attention. That's right. That's right.

You stand and salute. And I thought this was

just a one -off story. I didn't realize it was

tied into 50 years and the last 10 years of stuff.

Oh god, well and this is something coming back

from that the previous volume of spider -man

I forget what volume number they're on now Probably

like 14 or something the way Marvel restarts,

but I do like how you look at a lot of Marvel

comics they have its issue 15 and then they have

the LG why legacy number which is like spider

-man just celebrate I think 950 issues With its

last one, but during that last volume of Spider

-Man would during the Spider -Man Beyond arc,

because, you know, the Beyond Corporation, Mary

Jane and Felicia became besties because Peter

in one part of the story, I forget which villain

it was. It might've been the UFOs or some peer.

Got the snot kicked out of him and he's laid

up in the hospital and then he's got a retrain

because he's kind of lost his mojo just his confidence

and so Mary Jane gets black cat and Captain America

to you know whip Peter into shape and they just

stayed in contact, you know, they go for brunch

and stuff like that and as we start this story

like I've got the physical trade. Yeah Well,

sorry, I've got the digital trade not the physical

trade The the cover is like Mike said this sweet

J Scott camel art, you know Mary Oh, I one thing

I forgot to mention that and this was established

previous to this crossover Mary Jane has superpowers

now She's got this little kind of Power Rangers

-esque doohickey on her left hand that she spins

it like it's this roulette tile thing that Paul

made. Paul is a dick. We don't like Paul. No.

You got in the way of one of the best couples.

Damn you, Joe Casada, for putting this into writers'

heads. Stupid piece of data. And for the record,

folks, I prefer Spider -Man with Black Cat, but

that's just me. That's cool. I mean, I know some

guys that prefer Batman with like, you know,

Vicky Vail or Silver St. Cloud, but you know,

I think he goes best with Selena. But no, so

Paul is a scientist and he's from that alternate

earth, but he came over here and I think the

Paul over here is dead, whatever. He creates

this doohickey that when she spent it, it randomly

gives her powers. So the weirdest powers ever

It's not and I don't disagree but it's actually

kind of a clot. It's a Marvel taken a very classic

DC trope She Mary Jane has essentially become

Marvel's version of dial H for hero Versus you

know, whereas the DC had this actual phone dial

looking device that you know The forget the kid

Robbie something in the classic 60 comics that

would dial h e are these symbols He translates

it at a hero and he becomes some random superhero

Like one time he keep actually became plastic

man and they had they brought that back in the

80s and they did some Really trippy reinvention

of it in the early aughts with just dial H. It

was called and Yeah, so Mary Jane's got dial

H for hero Marvel edition I just, I don't know.

So really quickly, before we continue here, Vincenzo

Carrato on the art along with Michael Dowling.

Michael Dowling did the art for Mask of Dr. Doom.

The color artist on the book is Brian Reber and

the letterer is VC's Ariana Mare. Obviously multiple

covers by J. Scott Campbell. Erzula Moss did

a cover. and a bunch of other people did covers.

So yeah, Dark Web. We've got five issues for

Dark Web, and then we've got the Mask of Doctor

Doom, which, like, why couldn't you have just

said that was the sixth issue? Like, okay, so

we get the covers to each one as we go through

here. So we get one, two, three, four, five,

et cetera. Well, when we get down to Mask of

Doctor Doom, it's just like the Mask of Doctor

Doom. There is no... Well, it was a backup in...

Okay, that's why it's yeah, okay, that's why

Marvel's kind of brought that back which I think

is kind of cool that they brought back, you know

sometimes in not always consequential mostly

inconsequential stories like this and it's Well

when we get to it, we'll get to you know, but

it's Felicia pulling and oceans 11 on the monarch

of Ledvaria. Yeah, pretty much. I'm gonna say

straight up throughout all of this, I love the

art, I love the colors, I love the way the characters

are drawn, designed, colored, all that, I love

the backgrounds, I have no issue with any of

the art whatsoever. It's just the writing. And

it's not the writing to the point of that it's

written badly, it's just, oh god, another plot

in hell. Another Spider -Man comic in hell. Limbo.

Not hell. Not hell. Not hell. Not hell. Not hell.

Not hell. Not hell. Not hell. Not hell. Not hell.

Not hell. Not hell. Not hell. Not hell. Not hell.

Not hell. Not hell. Not hell. Not hell. Not hell.

There have been reports of Chasm Ben Reilly seen

tooling around town with a redheaded accomplice

and Felicia puts one in five together and gets

eight. And she's high tailing it across town.

I do love some of the art. Essentially the demons

from limbo have infected New York City and there

are mimics like D and D style mimics like Mary

sorry Mary Jane Felicia is being chased through

the skyline by drooling Dagger teeth newspapers

and aspire like stoplight. Yep. And she's going

to check on Mary Jane because she's like, well,

redhead craziness and NYC. It's MJ. Yeah, where

where where is she? Where is that? That ginger

just oh Yeah, I guarantee you that's the thought

process that went through Felicia said she gets

there and Mary Jane is putting it's like the

cast of the brave little toaster By way of the

exorcist because all these appliances are attacking

Mary Jane and her family And Mary Jane's got

this energy pouring off of her, and I guess it's

like super strength or something. Something.

Yeah. And then she gets swallowed up by a water

tower. I thought, I saw the water, and I was

like, okay, Hydra Man decides to get his revenge

right now. Dude! Okay, so we're not there yet,

but later in this issue, in this first issue,

when she spins her little roulette bullshit,

and she gets... For Morpher. Yeah, oh god, you're

not wrong. And she gets green pudding. My first

thought was turn it blue, make it water, and

make it a Hydro Man reference, because that would

have worked. But not every spin you can win.

Yeah, and she actually says that too. But yeah,

she gets she gets taken up by the water tower

and and and it's not like she just spins it like

they Illustrated here very clearly that she has

to kind of have to feel it because the more for

essentially is just constantly It's like a morpher,

but it's also like the Omnitrix in Ben 10 where

it's just constantly scanning for superhero energy

and in Kind of replicate stuff from the I know

the city or something like that, but she gets

flame powers and a flame sword so essentially

archangel powers and She kind of has to give

Felicia a lowdown what that was and then Felicia

has given her the lowdown on you know the demonic

plague attacking New York City And they go to...

Well, they're going to find Peter and Ben, but

then they get sucked through a portal. And I

do like when they get sucked through the portal,

they got like these weird green balls and webs,

which is very reminiscent of classic Steve Ditko,

Dr. Strange. I thought that was a very cool visual

nod. Yes. That the artist did. Yes. And they

get sucked in the limbo. Yeah, and then Mary

Jane, you know, she she gets a power which isn't

the best power Okay, but I gotta take over here

because when she gets the power and she tells

She tells Felicia it's like slots every time

Okay, so we get that saying and then the next

part of the scene is hey earth girls In a minute.

I'm like, oh, yeah I can hear both the voice

actresses from 94. I can hear both. Oh, God.

That moment made me think of a moment from a

Dragon Ball Z abridged episode by Team Four Star,

where... What was it? Oh, no. It was Team Four

Star, but it was some of the side episodes where

Sel is beating up, like... the x -men and one

punch man and such like that and it's basically

uh dead he's going up against deadpool and deadpool's

on the phone with wolverine he's like i'm being

very patient i'm being very annoyed right now

and that's just what i saw when they're like

hey earth girls and then uh putting last in the

black cat uh i like how mary james is like Goosh

and it is just routing these demons in yep. I'm

guessing lime flavored pudding I don't know what's

pistachio pudding, but okay Okay, and they they're

like they're rescued quote -unquote by Belasco

who is the demonic Lord of yeah, he's the demonic

Lord of limbo who although I dig his design here

because normally he's just looks like you know

this dude with Pink skin horns and spock ears

in some fancy dress, but here he's drawn is like

everything below the neck It's just exposed muscle.

Yep, kind of like how they draw Lord Zed in the

Power Rangers comics and apparently that's what

he was supposed to be in the show But I never

thought that I thought he just had red skin not

that that's supposed to be raw exposed muscle

So so before we get to issue two here as this

ends issue one as with all most Marvel and DC

comics, when they do trades, they will do the

one variant cover to the issue you're ending

before they go on to the next one. I love the

Sabrina like thing with MJ. Oh, yeah. Peach.

I love that cover. Yes, I am a huge fan of hers.

She did this. It's kind of a trilogy of kind

of an a what -if version of Psylocke in Japan.

It's all done in this very light, there's no

hard lines, very light, water -colored style.

And she is currently the head creator on the

new Ultimate X -Men comic that Marvel's putting

out in their, the revamped Ultimate Universe.

Cool. So yeah, no, it's absolutely beautiful.

And then we get the second Jake Scott Campbell

arc where they're like, I just like the oh my

god that the pose they got and Felicia was like

oh shit and Mary Jane is like I can't even and

we get into it and I like how Blasco just how

the words he ended the last few you know A thief

I require and Belasco gets whatever it is that

Belasco requires. Now, I'm not necessarily saying

he is suave. He's sometimes, most of the time,

kind of a putz. But I do like it when villains

pimp onto the scene like that and do have a killer

line. And that was a killer line. Then we go

to, well, lavish for limbo spread. I love the

design on the cycloptic server. You know, he's

got his little loincloth apron and a little bow

tie on and uh, you've got what looks like the

eyeball stew from uh temple of doom and a bunch

of other probably not fit for human consumption

foods and He says, you know, i'll send you back

to earth, but he needs uh Felicia to steal a

sword now It's the soul sword. It's a It's been

around since, you know, it was really, I believe,

introduced in New Mutants where magic, you know,

Eliana Rasputin was a major character there.

She took it and got the demonic version of her

magic persona. And it's been a part of Marvel,

specifically X -Men, for a long time. So that's

the sword that Belasco wants. Basically says,

you know, it's his rule over limbo as part of

the dark web crossover has been usurped by Madeline

Pryor who the Goblin Queen Who at this point?

She's got legitimate demonic power and not just

the copied psychic powers that mr. Sinister originally

gave her got you and So he sends them to the

screaming tower, which sounds like So D and D

like it's so D and D it hurts. It's D and D AF.

Just looking at it. It's like a bunch of broken

stack blocks. This weird. It's like somebody

had an issue with putting the Legos together.

It's like HR Geiger made a Lego set. Okay. That

or Lincoln law. Oh my God. It's Lincoln logs

that aren't fitting together. Holy crap. Yeah.

This is the demonic Lincoln logs. There you go.

Yeah. So, uh, sends them in and he tells them

like what he's done to try and, you know, take

it back. And I see, you see like, uh, these like

biker babe looking, uh, angels with black wings

and leather and Hydra because it's always Hydra.

It's always Hydra and SIM who Looks like a Brooklyn

born demon like he's always just got the his

demonic BVDs and this leather vest and he's kind

of a character I've kind of always been a fan

about Because he's not necessarily Evil evil

like he's definitely evil but He can be worked

with, you know, he's he's evil. But yeah, like

you said, he can he can be bargained with. He

can be talked to. He's not completely effed up.

He's essentially I'm going to make another one.

Just like I said earlier, I'm going to make another

Sabrina. He's essentially the purple Salem of

this universe is what it is. I mean, you know,

even though he's not a cat. Yeah. But yeah, so

we end on. on sim here and i get that they that

most of the story from here on out and starting

with issue two here go goes through it's a demonic

heist yeah yeah no it's a demonic heist that's

fine but like my issue is like i really want

to see mary jane driving a taxi cab and black

head on that like i want the covers that's what

i want Unfortunately Mike, we never get what

we truly want. I know We do however get the screaming

tower and now with eyeballs Yeah, I could do

without the eyeballs. I had a problem as a child

with eyeball soup in kindergarten and I've never

Nope. Yeah, I just like I I just wish they would

have said something like do you get the feeling

like we're being watched? Yeah cuz Yeah, they

go and now Mary Jean's like, oh, Felicia's in

love. Come on, dish. Yes, you're in the middle

of a fucking demonic kidnapping. And you'd rather

get the deets on Felicia's personal life. I like

that, though, because it breaks up. And I'm going

to say it as hell, because limbo is something

you do under a stick. Anyway, limbo to me is

we're Oh God, what's his stupid name? You found

Hermes Conrad from future on? No, no, no, no,

no, no. I'm gonna say Brody, but it's not Brody.

It's Asriel. Limbo is where Asriel wanted to

go in dogma nothingness. That's limbo to me.

So I'm still gonna call this out. You need to

break up the monotony of fiery demons and eyeball

soup in hell with finding out that Details about

don't even get me started on the laundry list

of hell adjacent dimensions and the devils that

I know Yes, well there is in Marvel. There is

Alaska. There is Mephisto. There is Lucifer.

There is Satan there is Satan ish Belial beelzebub

Satan ish. Yeah, it's a language. No, it's An

actual demonic entity in the marvel cosmology.

Yeah, I I know but all I I hear say tanish and

all of them spanglish What how do you speak that?

I don't want to know Uh, so I like a whole podcast

episode on the many models of hell that marvel

has But yeah, so they go to the screaming tower

they've got this little magical doohickey, which

is Piece of blasco soul that we see in a flashback

image where he Just ganks his own chest You know,

it looks it's essentially a demonic Where there's

original yeah, I was gonna say compass, but you

went to the kit it I could never read where there's

again. Thanks a lot. Yeah They get into the tower.

They're using the soul as a compass and Mary

Jane's I guess in addition to getting a power

and they're not always the best if you get a

skull You know, it's a less useful power at two

is worse She's had that before and she did have

that in the spider -man comics, but she hasn't

gotten three skulls and Well, yeah, she's telling

a Felicia all this cuz that's bad luck. And what

does the bat black cat do? Yeah, the black said

brings the bad luck and she says this thing,

you know, it's that's a one in 343 chance pretty

good odds, but I have two kids Felicia and one

bullet in 343 chambers is still a bullet. Oh,

yeah, it's doable. I love that lie. And then

they get charged by almost naked demonic cannibals.

Yeah. And for some reason I like to just kind

of the one that's like this hunchback with a

executioner's hood over his head It just for

some reason it made me laugh like I said In the

beginning of the podcast I'm loving the art and

the design and the characters It's just the overall

story when we get to the end you'll see why I'm

disappointed with this story But yeah, no that

design is just hilarious. That's fun Yeah, and

then Mary Jane spins and she gets she can shoot

feathers at them And then he's saying wouldn't

be so bad if you had the pudding power now would

it She's like, yeah if I fit the pudding they'd

make me their Queen And they go over an edge

because, you know, when you're running blindly

through a demonic castle, who has time to pay

attention to the directions on the wall? Exactly.

And, you know, Felicia saves them and they, we

got Sim. And then we get the cover that the third

J. Scott Campbell cover, which is Mary Jane.

Terrace and around New York City with a taxi

with Felicia on the hood, which yes would have

been a really cool scene But we didn't get it.

We're moving on unfortunately and I don't actually

know what Accent sim has I just imagine he's

got some Bronx or Brooklyn esque Accent because

he's like earth girls, huh in Trinidad and in

Trinidad This time I was waiting to betray you

you were betraying back you were changing Yeah,

I don't know what kind of he does the only disappointment

I have with the writing in this entire miniseries

that not one time does Sam say use Use girls

use girls. Yeah Yeah, so we get to issue four

here This is three. No, this is four. We were

just in three No, this is three Three is the

issue three cover is the taxi cab? Yeah, I thought

we were talking about that the whole time. Oh

god. I'm losing it folks Yeah, that's what we

were supposed to be talking about the whole time

Well, no that last ramble about them going in

the castle that was all in two Was it? Oh, okay.

Yeah, I'm losing my mind folks. Yeah, so yeah,

they meet sim they He's not He's like you're

here for the sword. Yeah. Hey boss was smart

sending earth girls, you know, yada yada and

I do like his bitching about it's like you know,

first we'll ask him who's originally from earth

and then Iliana and Madeline Why is it earth

people are always ruling? Well, why can't demons

rule limbo? I mean the colonialism of it all

That's funny Yes, it was a great character. Yeah,

and then Mary Jane's like your demon So what

why should that bar you from public office and

I was like? My god, she's empathizing with Sam

exactly But yeah, so he's he gives them some

specific details about why the Lascaux sent them

because The demons and all the bad guys outside

You know, they're scared to enter the tower Yeah.

And they're basically, we see this big lineup,

like they're all about to start rumbling and

it's they've just waiting for them to bring the

sword out so they don't have to go in after it.

Yep. And I like how, uh, like you said, you know,

I haven't betrayed you yet. You were betraying

me all these like, cause don't worry. You probably

won't end up having to fight them. And Felicia

is like, why? Because I'll betray you and take

the soul sword first. Mm -hmm. And that's if

the Guardian doesn't kill us. Wait, what? Exactly.

And we get a fairly... I'd say it's an approximation

of an Indiana Jones -style search sequence as

they climb through the castle and avoid pitfalls.

They actually have to save him at one point.

Yeah. he saves them from like the heavy falling

door which i think at best is a reference to

the all we're missing is the giant rolling boulder

yeah i i see that but all as i thought was the

heavy door that's a big door I know this is not

exactly Tron design here in the art of the interiors,

but damn Can you imagine of Mary Kate Mary Mary?

Wow Mary Jane and black cat Tron design comic.

That would be amazing I'm pretty sure I've seen

an alternate cover with black cat in a Tron suit

Nice there. There was a whole run Tron covers.

I think it was back in like 2011 after legacy

came out probably Uh, but yeah, so they go, they

get up over this thing. Mary Jane's trying to,

you know, rah, rah, we can do it to Felicia.

And then she's like, yeah, thanks for the vote

of confidence, but what the hell is that? And

we get these like Cthulhu crows with eyes and

venom tongues and talk. And I was, it's probably

sounds like or something like that and They just

charge in and they they all work as a team to

beat up the crows Yeah, and my oh, yeah, I see

that panel now and my first thought was if these

crows were a little bit larger They could be

ten goo You want us to take another crack at

it, how about you take another whack at it? Yeah,

yeah, that's it God bless Ivan. This woman with

these big sticks and she kept twirling them around

and around. Oh, God. Could have been Mariska

Hargitay. Could have been. Yeah. So they smashed

the crows, but good. And I like how they end

comics with lore drops like this to get the dun

dun dun, where Sam says the Dark Gods didn't

build the... Keep to keep the soul sword safe.

That's what the guardians for the tower was to

imprison the guardian and We've got a demonic

Graboid Yeah That's a tremors reference kids

watch the movies because they haven't rebooted

that in a while Kevin's Kevin Bacon almost got

a reboot off the ground starring him as Valentine

McKee, but didn't happen. And I can only imagine

that came about by him kicking open the doors

to Universal wasn't screaming. I got a goddamn

plan. So they run and Mary Jane gets two skulls

and she's turns into a smoke smoke woman. Yeah,

you know, you can make colored smoke. Yeah, that's

not No, that it's not exactly helpful it has

that's about as effective as the DC supervillain

the mist Mm -hmm where she can make the smoke

she doesn't become the smoke like the mist literally

turns into mist and you can seep through cracks

and doors and smother you and suffocate you and

such like that he was actually the I think he

was like the first super villain that Well, after

the pilot that Barry fought in the Flash TV series.

Right. Because he was like the first guy they

imprisoned in the pipeline. But yeah, Mary Jane

figures out that because Black Cat's powers have

always worked with giving people bad luck that

she sees as enemies. Right. And she subconsciously,

because, you know, she's still in love with Peter.

Felicia still loves Peter, so she sees Mary Jane

as a threat because Peter still loves Mary Jane

and throughout the current run of, you know,

Amazing has constantly tried to get back with

her, you know, even though she's with Paul right

now and Paul's a douche. We don't like Paul.

Yeah, we don't like Paul. Although the the logic

that they use in the story like it's not the

best written run of spider -man I'm straight

up saying that but like they've had some I think

some really cool stories, but Yeah, the the whole

reason that Mary Jane got with Paul like oh,

yeah Peter just time moves differently It's bullshit.

We're getting back to the story But yeah, so

we end the third issue with Mary Jane realizing

that This is about Peter, isn't it? It's always

about Peter and Jay. It's always about Peter.

Peter is the responsible for every bad thing

in the Marvel universe. God, it's like you don't

know him at all. No. And then we get this sweet

ultimate cover by Russell Douderman, which I

dig this. There's some there's a lot of what

if style alternate black cat suits here. There's

a few that are actual Black cats from the Marvel

multiverse. Yeah, like we've got the the sweet

Costume of most chess show right on the bottom

there next to the Batman looking mask If you

go what we got regular black cat Right in the

middle just to the left of her. You got another

classic black cat the one with the on the left

with the the chain belt and the Stripes. I think

that's from when she was trying to become a crime

boss during the During superior. Yeah The up

in the upper right corner with the web design

that's from one of the spider verse things Center

at the top of the goggles I think is actually

it there's over on the right the One with like

the hash marks under her eyes. That's from the

Marvel manga verse The one with the yellow goggles

the very Selena looking goggles that's ultimate

black cat and then there's the iron cat in the

back which isn't an alternate that's from a mini

series called iron cat where Felicia stole a

Iron Man suit from Tony That's why Tony's in

this yeah, that's why he hung up on her in the

first issue because she still has that suit Don't

give nothing back. No, why should she? Yeah So

I think I actually I've got a I don't have the

whole miniseries I've definitely got the first

second and fourth issues because I've got this

variant cover mm -hmm, which is why I know all

that and I don't know for certain but the dark

haired Felicia in the back is either an alternate

Felicia or it's The Catwoman from the just imagine

Stan Lee creating the DC Universe event That's

a show we got to do someday Hmm cuz it it's really

good. Well, not good good, but I it was just

awesome. Anyway Issue four we've got the I forget

who did the cover on this one. I'm Just looking

at it now. That's not Jake us. That's not J.

Scott. Yeah, unfortunately We've run the gamut

of the J Scott Campbell Yes, this side anyway,

it's a decent art. I recognize that artist I

just can't find the name right now and it's uh

They're backed up against the wall in some alley

and there's a bunch of demonic thugs about to

attack him the best way to describe that cover

but we get back in and the demonic grab void

is Become a hentai monster. Mm -hmm There's tendrils

and eyeballs and teeth. Oh my And I like this

how she's really Felicia Peter. That's what this

is about seriously I'm not gonna get back to

my kids because you and Peter and She's like

I wanted to tell you I just couldn't find the

time. Yeah And he's like Sims like oh, wow. I

was waiting to betray you but you were betraying

each other Earth women are amazing. Shut up.

Yeah, shut up He's just got that smile and he's

like, hey life is good and Sim gets nuked by

the graboid. I love the tentacle coming out of

its tri -jaw mouth with the eyeball like that's

I Haven't seen that before. That's a pretty cool

thing. Zim gets blasted Felicia Tries to you

know make bust a move and get revenge and What

happens here? Oh, yeah Felicia stabs it right

in the eye. Oh my god. Yeah, that's right. She

does All these shades of James gun suicide squad

Batman Mm -hmm, and it gives this cut. I love

that. That's screw yonk. It's like that's practically

a Godzilla roar you have medically drawn out

and I Love the moment that they have where she's

like I don't care. I have a life of my own. I've

got kids. I'm mad at you because you didn't tell

me. Yep. Because you, you let it hurt yourself.

We're friends. What the F and Felicia, you know,

it's like, Oh, well tell them goodbye for me.

Cause she's about to be swallowed by this thing.

And Mary Jane pulls three sevens. Yep. Seven,

seven, seven. And I'm gonna say she has all I

don't know exactly what to call this power She

basically has the power of God and anime on her

side pretty much. Yeah, and She residents literally

because she resurrects him. Yep, and she's got

the power to relight reality So like I said the

powers of God and anime mm -hmm And that's what

they pretty much do yeah Cover four, the main

cover for issue four, according to my information,

you're Paulo Sequeira? That sounds right. Yeah.

Well, I would hope so. Well, no, it's like I

said, it's I know I've seen that art like on

the interior in a Marvel comic. So but yeah,

so they they have their makeup and Sims like,

hey, cool. I'm not dead. Yeah. And so they they

they hug it out and Oh, bitch. Oh, bitch. You

know, and I'm sure somewhere in the back of both

their heads, they thought F Peter because they're

tired of Peter's bullshit. And Spider -Man does

have bullshit. He's not a saint. But they get

to the soul sword, which I have to say, I love

its design. It is. all kinds of anime. This is

the sword that Skeletor should have when he took

the power of Grayskull in that one animated series,

and I'm not talking specifically about one, because

he got the power of Grayskull in two different

shows. But he gets this big, pardon my French,

fuck off anime sword, and Sims like, ah, ah,

ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,

ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,

ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,

ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,

ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,

ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,

ah, Y 'all gonna be grafted to this thing for

life You can't give it to me if you do that.

You can't give it to Belasco. You'll be in charge

of hell Yeah, they're I called it. Hell you happy

Mike. There you go. That's the right word so

They go to They go to it's literally like okay

Felicia like you said you got kids to get back

and then Scene and they're walking out of the

tower Mary Jean no longer has the powers of God

in anime on her side Sim found another vest to

wear which got toasted before And he's like,

I can't believe you just did that Well, what

other choice you have in Mary Jean's like you

guys remember all that army of bad guys. They

were waiting to kick our ass. Yeah Over here.

Yeah, they're kind of at the front door Imagine

one of the demons is just waving like stitch

just hi Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, you know this

by far. This is the friendliest most family -friendly

version of hell I have ever seen in a Marvel

comic book and I've seen yeah Yeah, I mean it's

hell but it's it's alright It's not New Jersey.

I could be you never know. Yeah, I think we got

that. What did you say? Palo secara I believe

they did the art for this next one. I don't what

I don't like I gotta say this here what I don't

like about the art in the comic thus far is in

in the mainline spider -man comic and other uh

issues especially in the there's a after a year

or so after this there was the gang war crossover

in spider -man it did spill out and it's in the

part of the greater marvel universe but it's

kind of a Spider -man and tombstone centric crossover

Every other artist draws Mary Jane's morpher

like a morpher the artist here You know, mr.

Kara to is drawing it like it looks like the

time GPS from endgame You know and I get that

it's an artistic choice but And it's a fine one

to talk about the size of something and the power

it puts out. I mean, just look at the Green Lantern

ring, but just it's the Marvel and it's big and

stuff like this is bombastic and you know, it's

just a nitpicky thing. But yeah, when we go into

issue four, it starts with them walking back

into Belasco's throne room and he's like, so,

so what? You left the screaming tower. Where's

the gosh darn sword? Okay, you mean issue five,

right? Because we're yes, I'm an issue Okay,

see you with your brain, right? No, I didn't

do nothing First I'm calling limbo hell and now

I mistook which issue we're in. It's all Mike's

fault That couldn't possibly be your fault Anyway,

we get a flashback to them putting foot to ass

Against the army of darkness. Yep. And that's

what I'm calling it. The army of darkness patent

pending. Yep. They ditched him outside the tower.

They had berserker Barney on their hands. You

know, why do you think we kept this dumb ass

around for so long? They used him. It's all like

they're acting all of Felicia, especially is

acting pretty cold. He's like, is he dead? Yeah,

I don't care. You know, kind of thing. Yeah.

And they're like, I'm so I love that. This is

what I love. When I called it Ocean's 11 earlier,

I meant that because Mary Jane and Felicia have

this Clooney and Pitt -esque back and forth,

like just the camaraderie, the energy. It's so

good. And it's like, why Mary Jane? Whatever

could you be talking? I'm glad you asked, Felicia.

And they spell it all out. And I love it when

heroes do this. Mm -hmm where they spell it out

and then bump bump bum We got half each and they

go basically get what I'm calling demonic Power

Ranger armor Cuz that looks like one of the one

-armed armor pieces from what is the last one?

Dino fury. Yeah Dino fury and God what a sour

you I was not a fan. They'll reboot it finally

after 30 years. Cosmic Fury was hot garbage.

But anyway, they've got demonic superpowers and

sweet anime swords. Yep. And we find out that

Mary Jane essentially used her powers of God

in anime to make it so they don't get permanently

bonded. Yep. Absolutely, and then you find out

that yeah, I love this the the one page of you

see them putting Demonic foot to demonic ass.

Yep, like and and when I say anime anime man

Yeah, it is very much so also is just mirrors

Mary Jane more attractive with horns and the

armor I think asking for a friend. I think it's

just you I said i'm asking for a friend. I think

it's just you but yeah, we we get that It's a

two -page spread. It's you see the demon like

on the far right side with the the hellboy hordesie

He's like, uh, I think I left my pit of souls

on whoops He pit of souls like he left the oven

on like he's like, I gotta go home gotta go home.

Yeah I got souls to torture fiends to kill And

so they they go back and they're they're about

to jump a lasco and we find out the deal they

made with sim yeah and the deal they made with

sim is essentially sim gets to take over yeah

or at the very least he's now the joe biden to

the donald trump that is madeline i'm sorry it's

a ham -fisted analogy it's the best i could think

of yeah john mccain to george bush That's unfortunate,

considering both of them are dead. W is alive,

isn't he? Yeah, he is. But you said George Bush,

not George W Bush. There's a distinction. Well,

I meant W. Anyway, Sim's now got the powers of

hell and anime on his side because he's got the

sweet anime sword. And he's like, I like that.

Well, let's see here. I've got all the money.

I've got all the power. Yep, that makes you my

bitch At last goes like oh no Yep. Oh no, and

I just like it when he's like, well ladies the

deals a deal Here's your pro spell monkey portal.

Yep And we get the portal and they go home They

go one one final time swinging through the city

Mary Jane gets dropped off with Her family loving

family. I hate them all well, not really the

kids cuz I can't hate kids, but I hate Paul We

don't like Paul. Yeah, all is very very suspicious

Paul is a walking bag of human garbage a yes

and I I do like the the end of Belasco I will

have my revenge and she's like, okay. Love you.

Bye. Bye pretty much. So yeah, Black Cat, Mary

Jane Black Cat, Dark Web, the ending for this.

I kind of wish we didn't end on, like I wish

there was one more page where Black Cat just

swings off, like, or we actually get to see her

with Peter or something. Like, I wish that seeing

Paul and the kids wasn't the final page of this,

but we do have Black Cat stealing the Dr. Doom's

mask, so. The mask of Dr. Doom. And that is like

the title of a mini -series or like Fantastic

Four, The Mask of Dr. Doom, like a sequel title.

Yeah. That's a great, and I love how he wakes

up in the morning and he is wearing Doom's hoodie.

Yep. I love how... It's always like doom like

doom is doom speak like doom commands I I don't

know if the creators of Serpentor and GI Joe

decided to ape that when they created Serpentor

But that Serpentor is stealing from dr. Doom

and if you're gonna steal you steal from the

best but I like even devices sleep when doom

commands it die it and Start the day with a minty

fresh mask and he's got but it's essentially

a denture jar by his bedside and he puts his

basket and Felicia is just like yoink yeah instead

of damn you Richards he's damn you Richardson

at Black Cat who then proceeds to steal Dr. Doom's

time platform and I guarantee you by the time

he runs down those stairs and gets the lab he's

just gonna be just a moment yeah Doom commands

it Doom is out of shape. And we get some cool

nods to Fantastic Four history where she lands

on You know pirate ship from like those early

issues of fantastic for I forget which one specifically

she goes back in time and meets devil dinosaur

and moon boy Yeah in free history She goes back

to the 30s and makes out with the angel who is

this mystery man? Crime fighter doesn't have

any superpowers teams up with the invaders makes

out with Shuri in Wakanda. I think oh no, wait,

that's a She is a Wakandan character, but I don't

remember her name, but she's from a 1950s era

team called the Monster Hunters. She made Kang

the Conqueror her bitch. And then she goes to

one of the requisite Marvel card games. And she

did it to win up, try and win a poker game. She

I'll raise you the mask of Dr. Victor Von Doom

and Mary Jane's like, it says made in Mexico.

Yep. I just like how the thing is just static.

They're like, oh, this is going to be a thing.

Not that thing. But yes, a thing. Well, not that

thing, but a different thing. Yeah, there are

a lot of things. Yes, things world that are a

thing. That's right. Whoa. Doom outsources? I

would never. I mean, it's a real vulnerability

when you get the, okay, I fold. I mean, I love

the fact that it is this backup. It is of no

consequence whatsoever to the story of Dark Web.

It's just this fun aside. This is a return to

when Marvel... used to do end credit scenes in

comic books. They did this a few years ago after

the death of Wolverine, where he came back and

he somehow had the time stone of the Infinity

Gauntlet time stone. Right. And they had that

and it wasn't even tied into the story going

the issue. It's literally just an end credit

scene. Like, I think Marvel's had a better track

record with the end credit scenes. in the comics

than the movies, but you know, we get, so at

a pin up, we get some cool alternate covers.

It's one by Villa Boats and Rosenberg, which

I thought was Greg Land at first. Then they got

David Nakayama, who I know from some other Marvel

manga verse titles and some other things outside.

And it's just, I agree with Peter. Hey, nice.

Yep. You can see the powers of God in anime all

over this comic. We got a Sakeran Rosenberg.

We get some... Aw, we get a kitty cat. I like

the one, just the cat like meow when she's reaching

for the ball. You get a couple of Adam Hughes

monsterized covers, which are pretty gnarly.

I don't know if it's pronounced A -K -A or A

-K -A. It's probably aka, but I could be wrong.

Yeah, I and I can only imagine those kiddies

with the master named peter and parker Yeah,

probably That wouldn't surprise me. Yeah, we

get uh, oh I I you know what? I didn't know there

were alex ross variant covers because I always

love a good alex ross variant cover Yeah, we

get a fully painted alex ross a pet sketch cover

gomez and abretov who And again, I know that

are there art from somewhere and then we get

a classic Queen of Hearts style cover by Erika

DeRusso and Ramolo Ferrado jr. I hope I didn't

put your name too much sir Yeah, I'd say that

like the varying covers like lately I've seen

a lot of varying covers from Marvel. They're

hit and miss at best a lot of varying covers

here They slap. Yeah, they rock. Yep Absolutely.

All right, 0 to 5 with half points. What are

you going to give Dark Web? I'm going to give

it a solid 4. It's a completely contained story

that's slightly adjacent to the main Dark Web

storyline. Now, like I said earlier, You can

have all the comics and read this series as part

of reading the whole of the dark web of them.

There's a couple of issues where it ends naturally

enough and starts naturally enough between two

of the issues. I forget where exactly you could

just read this mini series because it's not set

in any specific point during dark web. So you

could read it between issues. Have a good time

or you can just read it separate and enjoy it

as is But yeah, it's a solid four all around

the art the action The powers of God in anime.

Yep. I'm gonna go to three and a half only because

I I don't know As we talked about it, I got to

liking it more, but as I read it, I was like,

I didn't really, and this is really sad for me,

I didn't really start to like it until the fifth

issue when they explained the ending kind of

thing. I don't know, it was just weird, but three

and a half out of five isn't bad. We're gonna

go to a quick ad break. You're gonna hear some

ads and some other stuff. We'll come back to

close the show right after this. Hey, welcome

to the last Comic Shop Podcast. A comic book

podcast that actually talks about comics. Yep,

each week we open the shop up and read and discuss

a comic. Sometimes we pair that up with comic

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Last Comic Shop Podcast, or check out our library

of evergreen shows at www .lastcomicshoppodcast

.com. Alright folks we are back here inside the

pull bag. This is episode 562 Any final thoughts

for me before I run through the closing sir,

just a quick couple Don't let any of my attitude.

I went to talking about Paul. We don't like Paul

Dissuade you from reading dark web. It's not

the best crossover, but I think it's a fun You

know, I miss when Marvel did crossovers like

this just between two titles that don't become

a huge MCU wide thing, you know a kind of a one

-and -done in idea if not an execution So I would

recommend checking it out if you like X -Men

you like spider -man. It's fun. It's largely

inconsequential To the greater Marvel cosmology.

I say check it out and Yeah Have fun folks read

more comics That's right. That's right. All right,

folks. Thank you for joining us here inside The

Pull Bag. If you'd like to get in contact with

us, you'll need feedback for the show. There

are so many ways to do so. Visit the website,

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on X at Geocast Radio at the pullback. I'm at

TF2 and Mike, do you X out dude? I don't know.

I'm on X occasionally, but it's mostly responding

to a few people and reposting when I podcast

with TV's Mr. Neil, because me and Ben Carver,

An unintended hiatus on comic connoisseurs. I'm

not sure when we're going to be bringing that

back. So you can find me on most forms of social

media at JT from Saskatoon. All right. Very cool.

Very cool. We are on Facebook, Facebook .com

slash Geekcast radio network. Also check out

the pull bag over there as well. Next time JT

will be back for a second episode in a row. I

hope there isn't an exploding chip in anyone's

head in this book, but There's going to be a

lot of lens flares. Well, I can handle lens flares.

I just don't want the exploding chips. Thank

you. JJ and Henry Abrams, Spider -Man Bloodline.

We're only doing this because I'm curious what

a JJ Abrams written Spider -Man book would be

like considering JJ's track record in film and

television. Is it going to be more Felicity or

is it going to be more Mission Impossible? I'd

prefer if it was more alias. Okay, we can go

with that. I can see Mary Jane in, you know,

skin -tight red leather. That'll work. Alright,

for now, I am TF2 and Mike with... Sorry, Mike

threw me with that red leather comment and I

had to picture that. JT from Saskatoon. As always,

make your greatest game to go so we will catch

you next time. You've just heard the latest episode

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