Spectacular Spider-Man #300 (2018)
written by Chip Zdarsky
pencils by Adam Kubert & Juan Frigeri
cover by Marcos Martin
It’s a pity that Doom in his Infamous Iron Man era doesn’t make more cameos outside of the Iron Man series. We’ve seen him on Avengers and Gwenpool, and he will be in something tied to the Fantastic Four, but other than that this is his only other occasion to interact with traditional heroes.
I’m going to skip a lot, in order to get to the Doom stuff, but let’s set the stage.
The villain of the story is classic Spider-Man enemy The Tinkerer, who has equipped multiple supervillains with superhero tech.
Ironheart is among the guest stars, and I always like it when Spidey recognizes that he can’t stop teenage heroes from getting into the business.
Unfortunately we also have Teresa Parker, Peter’s long-lost sister who has been a secret superspy all those years.
Never read a story featuring her, because the concept is just too dumb.
Something I’ve read little about but that I’ve actually seen written WELL, is J. Jonah Jameson being aware that Spider-Man is Peter Parker.
It sounds like it should break the character, but I found it actually gave new life to JJJ.
Then again I’ve read like six stories set in the period where he knows, so maybe I was just lucky.
For example, this little vignette with JJJ and the Human Torch is hilarious, even if Johnny couldn’ve have chosen a more generic costume.
The Tinkerer unleashes a reprogrammed Doombot…
…only for the REAL Doom to show up.
Spidey is not buying his redemption arc any more than the Human Torch does…
…but the guy is useful, especially since The Tinkerer is now involved with some aliens.
You’re not fooling anyone, Doom, I know that beneath that mask you’re ecstatic at the thought of showing off your tech.
See, in what other era you could have JJJ lament that he can’t use this to ruin Spidey’s reputation?
Don’t you just love Doom fixing his time machine not because of any worry for the space-time continuum, but because he just wants to be left alone by the time travel bureaucracy?
Okay I hate the very idea of Teresa Parker, but if she exists to make Johnny jealous of Spidey’s new team-up partner that’s SOMETHING she’s useful for.
Doom is separated from the others when the aliens attack…
…and the time machine explodes, right next to Spider-Man.
And that’s the extent of Doom’s involvement: this was the setup for a time-traveling storyline in the following issues, where Spider-Man teams up with his younger self.
Good to see that, like Doom is still Doom even when he plays hero, JJJ is still JJJ.
Doom significance: 0/10
You can skip this one.
Silver Age-ness: N/A
Does it stand the test of time? N/A
I’ve skipped too much of the story to give it a proper score, but it’s not really worth checking out unless you’re a completionist… Doom’s role is very minor and the story is a bit bloated by how much is going on.
That burn about illegally detaining muggers was A+ Doom.
To me, the main reason I like JJJ knowing Peter’s identity is because it’s a culmination of all of his decades of character development. In a medium where characters constantly regress in order to fit the status quo, Jameson’s one of the only ones who has stayed consistent through the years, and thankfully, Marvel hasn’t reverted him back! (Yet)