One (Extended) Perfect Moment: The Kingpin

[stig.insanejournal.com]

A bit of time ago, there was a title known solely as "Spider-Man's Tangled Web", and it was the best Spider-Man ongoing title ever published. I am not shitting you. Freed of the constraining bonds of continuity and the pressure of being a flagship title, "Tangled" served as a Spider-equivalent of "Batman: Black & White", where creators were allowed to tell the best stories they could, whether it be Garth Ennis' opening story about an old school bully whose body dissolved into 1000 Spiders, Peter Milligan's touching examination of The Rhino, or Zeb Well's sobering look at J. Jonah Jameson's familial troubles (now sadly retconned). To mention that this is where the Bar With No Name came from is to describe but part of its brilliance. Alas, it is gone, gone into the misty mists of Titles People Should Have Bought At The Time...

Anyway - the second story of the title after Ennis' "Coming of The Thousand" was "Severance Package", a done-in-one story which might be the best Spider-Man story ever told without Spider-Man in it, by Greg Rucka. What Rucka emphasises in this story of a gangman whose luck, and hence his life, is ruined by the interference of New York's resident superhero, is that the Kingpin is not a cruel man. He's not a merciless monster; he has human sensibilities; he knows from personal experience what it is like to have familial troubles. The story is lent to by the fantastically visceral art of Eduardo Risso; the merciful heart of the Kingpin is starkly juxtaposed against his near-animalistic bulk, so that it's up to the reader to wonder just how much he means what he says.

At the beginning of this story, Tom Cochrane is getting ready for bed at 11 PM when he gets the call from the Kingpin, switches on the news and finds out that without knowing it, he screwed up. Dressing immaculately, sipping a cup 'a joe and giving his loved ones one last kiss goodbye, he gets into the car they sent him and makes sure to kill the driver when he gets to his destination.

Comments

[the_engineer.insanejournal.com]

And the Kingpin needs to use a pen to punch the buttons on a cell phone.

[fungo_squiggly.insanejournal.com]

*error tone* "The fingers you have used to dial are too fat. To obtain a special dialing wand, please mash the keypad with your palm now."

[stig.insanejournal.com]

Although he keeps it on a chain, like a pocketwatch. Old-school style, no?

[taggerung301.insanejournal.com]

wow . . .
the honor and respect here is impressive in a perverted criminal kind of way

kinda wish more people (including me) could be more loyal like that (without working for crime bosses and killing people and putting families at risk and such)

sounds contradictory, I know, but do some of you get what I'm saying?

[crinosg.insanejournal.com]

And they kill clean, don't let dames get in the way.

[greenmask.insanejournal.com]

It's like you're channeling dead crazy people.

[psycheluna.insanejournal.com]

OH, well played both of you.

[greenmask.insanejournal.com]

*tip o'the hat*

[taggerung301.insanejournal.com]

o_O
movie reference or something? didn't really catch that . . .

[greenmask.insanejournal.com]

The hat tip? Just a personal gesture. My previous comment? Venture Bros.

[ulf_boehnke.insanejournal.com]

I think loyal people working for crime bosses are as rare as loyal honest people. Both are the minority of their groups.

[stig.insanejournal.com]

When he kills the young guy, you kind of get the implication that he's loyal because he survived so long.

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

Strangely, I'd trust the Kingpin on this one, he clearly has a certain respect for Tom, and his professional approach, and it's somewhat highlighted by the fact he knows the name of the Tom's wife, and uses the guys last seconds to reassure him that he WILL play fair, when he really doesn't have to.

[kingrockwell]

"There was a title known solely as "Spider-Man's Tangled Web", and it was the best Spider-Man ongoing title ever published."
Quoted for truth. I have that Behind The Mustache issue, though I think the retcon with JJJ Sr. showing up is that the guy in that story was Jonah's stepdad.
I really ought to get the trades to this, so many great stories.
(interestingly, also the first comics i'd ever read by Ennis, Rucka, Milligan, though i love all three dearly now)

[rabican.insanejournal.com]

JJJjr's family life seems spectacularly muddled. Apparently JJJsr's first wife, Jonah's bio mom, died in childbirth. He remarried, but then ... walked out? Or got divorced from the stepmother, who got custody - we may not have gotten the full story there yet. But in any case, JJJjr's stepmom, probably the only one he's ever known, married David Jameson, JJJsr's brother, who because JJJjr's stepfather as well as his uncle. He was the abusive scumbag we saw in Behind the Mustache - which, btw, is the single best JJJ(jr!) issue ever.

ARGH WHY SO COMPLICATED. I like JJJsr, actually, but couldn't they have picked one reason for Jonah to be raised by another dad and stuck with it?

[rabican.insanejournal.com]

One thing that fascinates me about Kingpin being Kingpin like this is that Daredevil does understand him at this level - he doesn't condone it, obviously, but he can grok it - whereas Spider-Man just refuses to. (Which might be why Daredevil kept trying to trick, bully, and shove Spidey out of the "Gang War" storyline back in the 80's, on the grounds that he was "too pure.") It's an interesting insight into all three characters and how they relate to each other.

[janegray.insanejournal.com]

...And yet, all I can think is "the Kingpin, what an idiot."

That Tom was extremely loyal and clearly extremely competent (it's implied that he has been working for Kingpin for a long time, handling important tasks, without ever screwing up until now). Killing him off because of one mistake seems like an incredible waste of precious resources.

I understand the importance of letting underlings know, in no uncertain terms, that they must not screw up or they will pay dearly. So, of course, examples must be made. But even so, considering how rare extremely loyal and extremely competent underling seem to be, killing them off like that still seems like a real waste.