"Starting Over!"

[flint_marko]

This is from Marvel Team-Up #138, by Tom DeFalco and Greg LaRocque.



It's been a couple of months since since Sandman talked to the Thing, who convinced him to try going straight.  He's been living out of cheap hotel rooms and taking whatever temporary fix he could find, but he's finally gotten a real job working fulltime in a warehouse, and he plans on finding a permanent place to stay.

Meanwhile, the Arranger, a man who is representing the Kingpin, has reformed the Enforcers (along with some new members) to manage the Kingpin's Brooklyn extortion operation. 







When the Sandman goes to Roberto's store, he sees some of the Enforcers standing outside, recognizing them from when they had worked together.




Meanwhile Spider-Man hears about the extortion racket and decides to get involved. However, after a battle with the Hobgoblin he's lost his spider-sense, and the Enforcers ambush and capture him.

Sandman finds the abandoned warehouse where the Enforcers are located ("I've been on the wrong side of the law too long to not know where to go for information!") and sees them beating a chained Spider-Man.




Spider-Man, who was secretly resting and gathering his strength, uses the distraction to break free of the chains, and the two defeat the Enforcers.

Comments

[sigmund_droid]

Sandman vs the enforcers seems like the most mismatched supervillain fight in history

"hit em with your moves Fancy Dan!

...Oh no Fancy Dan!"

[glimmung]

Sandman vs. virtually anyone should be like that.

The guy's powers are are potent as hell.

[crinos]

Yeah, as an illustration, at the beginning of the comic Sandman has a dream about a previous encounter with spidey, where he tried to engulf him, and Spidey broke free by rolling into a ball and sliding free of his grasp. In the penultimate fight, Sandman engulfs Ox in the same manner, and Ox, not as smart as Spider-Man, gets KOed by it.

[crinos]

I actually own this comic.

[simiansyndicate]

Y'know what kills me? I actually LIKE the idea of a reformed Sandman. Heck, that was the Sandman I grew up with, one that joined the Avengers and saved Spidey's arse on more than one occasion! I like the constant struggle concept, a conflicted person with immense power trying to avoid the easy way to get back on a more righteous path. It is compelling having seen this man at his very worse only to come back and try to better himself.

I understand that he's now leaning more towards a villain again? Damn shame. I'd love to have the ultimate pep-talker, Captain America, have an honest heart-to-heart talk to set him straight again. Seriously, there are three people I never want to hear "I'm disappointed in you" from: my parents, and Captain America.

Or maybe a scene with the Thing and him having a drink again. Actually, that's more appropriate, what with Spidey being in FF as well...

[kusonaga]

Oh, he's back to being a villain again full-blown.

[icon_uk]

I believe it was John Byrne who decided that he wanted Sandman evil, so sod any other writers character arc, he has the Wizard revillainize him.

[flint_marko]

No, he just made him a villain again with no explanation. Brevoort later did a story saying the Wizard brainwashed him to explain it.

[eyz]

Ah!
Good ol' "trying to reform-every 2 weeks" classic Sandman!

I love Tom DeFalco-stuff!^^

[retro_nouveau]

retro_nouveau liked this

[rdfox]

God, I love this sort of story, where you've got a reformed villain who REALLY DOES WANT TO REFORM. It's one of the reasons I loved Dini's version of the Riddler in 'Tec; we had Eddie Nygma genuinely wanting to walk the straight and narrow, trying very hard to be an honest P.I., and always struggling with the urges that turned him to villainy in the first place--and with nobody QUITE trusting him.

It's a wonderful character dynamic, and one that, to me, feels very "real"--I'm still the sort of person who thinks that most people would just as soon make an honest living, if they have the chance. Is he perfect? No. But he's trying to live on the side of the angels, even when the whole world is against him.

(It also would allow you to have the occasional lapse back into crime, likely in a situation where the character's basically forced into it, with great remorse afterwards. And should it harm sales, one can reverse course in a much more interesting manner than "he's just EVUL!" or "ha ha ha, it was all a lie!" or such--if the character genuinely had reformed, but nobody ever trusted him, superheroes always stopping him because they think he's up to no good when he's just going to buy groceries, inability to find a job because the public don't believe he's reformed, that sort of thing... well, then, he might well be driven off the deep end and back into his life of crime out of frustration and rage at nobody being willing to give him a chance to turn his life around. That's an *interesting* reason for a heel turn; it not only makes some logical sense, but it gives the heroes angsty remorse at the knowledge that *they* drove him back to the side of the devils...)

[blackruzsa]

I hate hate hate that they keep throwing away years of character development just for a convenient Spidey rogue.

Weird..

[steverodgers5]

Ah, how sadly ironic is it now to read that panal of Spidey thinking..'But what if he hurts someone?...Someone like Uncle Ben?..'

Maybe this is where Raimi inadvertantly got that silly idea to have the Sandman being responsible for killing Uncle Ben in Spiderman 3?