Credits: Written by Evan Skolnick, pencilled by Patrick Zircher, inks by Andrew Pepoy and edited by Tom Brevoort.
Plot: Robbie ‘Speedball’ Baldwin is visiting his home in Springdale. As he gets off the train, he notices his powers are acting up, but he manages to get out without many people noticing. He passes a newspaper and sees that the town (where his dad is the DA) is suffering a bit of a super-villain crime-wave. This is due to the captured villains escaping from custody. Robbie changes into Speedball and bounces across town and gets to his dad’s house. They make small talk, acknowledging that Robbie is being a superhero/vigilante and Springdale has ordinances against them so they won’t be talking about that, but Robbie assures him that all he is interested in is taking a break from all that while in town. In the background, two masked men are facing a bouncing cat.
Robbie and his dad enjoy a pizza together, bonding more effectively after his divorce from Robbie’s mother and them living apart. Robbie admits his powers are out of whack and that he needs to pop by Hammond Labs (where the accident that embued him and Niels the cat with his kinetic powers) to get a one over. We continue to see villains try and catch the cat, who by now we know is Niels.
Back at the Crashpad, Vance ‘Justice’ Astrovik and Ben ‘Scarlet Spider’ Reilly clash again as Ben intrudes on Vance’s brooding over his ongoing problems both in and out of costume. The two settle and have a chat about how out of place Ben is and how both sides of this are at fault. Vance asks that Ben reveal his identity as that might help. Ben, conscious that he has Peter Parker’s face, is not keen and leaves, promising to unmask soon. This however seems to be the last on page appearance of Ben as Scarlet Spider as he had recently decided to adopt his original identity (more on that story later) so this becomes a dropped plot. Vance then gets a voice message from the Israeli super hero Sabra, confusing Vance’s feelings for Angelica, who he may have to accelerate his plans to have a family with.
Speedball arrives as Hammond and looks through the window seeing all of his old villains, such legends of infamy as The Bug Eyed Voice, The Ghost of Springdale High, Bonehead, Leaper Logan, The Harlequin Hitman, The Basher, the Two Legged Rat and the Sticker, who has Niels stuck to him. Speedball bounces in and this mob tries to attack him, but Robbie is better than he used to be and is able to make short work of this crew. Just as he corners the Sticker, he is gassed by the only missing villain, Rebound. He has brought the cat (and now Speedball) to his own secret lab where he created most of Springdale’s supervillains, to drain Robbie and Niels of their kinetic powers and make him unstoppable. But he is unprepared and Niels’ bubbles pour out of him and trash the place and all the equipment, in the centre of all the bubbles, Robbie seems an image of himself. Rebound (well Clyde really) tells him to pull the plug and Robbie calls the police. He bluffs his dad that the cat did all the heroics just as Speedball arrived and both know he’s lying. Dr Benson (the head of Hammond) wants to study the (now much friendlier) cat and Robbie offers help with that, as long as the Doc can keep a secret. For now though, they should get a brush for the cat.
Notes: The scene with Vance (sadly re-treading the problems with Ben in the team) is the only Ben as Scarlet Spider scene in this comic and it is also where Ben’s membership of the team comes to an end. So really that’s the only part that falls into this project. But you have to play the full 90minutes, so lets look at the rest of the issue. I imagine this is going to mean more to fans of the Speedball series from the 1980s, before he joined the New Warriors. The small town setting, the silly villains were all light bits of fun and was a nice respite from the usual high stakes melodrama. It seems to be hinting at changes to the character, but honestly that will come in to being after the end of this era of the Warriors.
Verdict – Writing 3 out of 5: Solid writing, that tries to give off a sense of fun and holds your interest for the full issue, but nothing beyond that really.
Art 3 out of 5: Again, middle of the road stuff which does the job, but doesn’t really go beyond that, but it does have a few funny little moments here and there.
Overall – 6 out of 10: Unremarkable, but enjoyable tale that would have been great for people nostalgic for old Speedball stories and I’m sure some of them exist out there, for the rest of us, well your mileage may vary.
Next Time: An actual brand new era as Ben Reilly takes the top job.
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