*** (three of five stars)
Favorite Quote #1: "Going home. Going to get room service. Going to sleep. Then I'm going to find Peter Parker and kill him. Responsibility...dammit." -- Kaine
Favorite Quote #2: "He stinks of money. Of greed. The energy monster was nothing. This is Mammon." -- Kaine, establishing Roxxon as a likely villain of his future adventures
Summary
Kaine, swearing to kill Pete Parker and everyone who ever pushed him to be a better person, joins the Rangers in fighting "Mammon," the energy "monster" that they discovered at the end of last issue. Mammon makes quick work of Fifty-One and shrugs off Firebird's attack; he then attacks Firebird, who is knocked unconscious and caught by Twister. One of the lab workers tries to flee the scene but Kaine stops him with a well-placed web, threatening him to tell him how to stop Mammon or else. When the worker replies that he can't, an angry Kaine hurls him to the ground near where an equally angry Shooting Star is standing; Star encourages him to try again. The worker then proceeds to give the details behind the initial rig explosion. The rig had apparently found something deeper than anyone had previously discovered, realizing that it wasn't oil, gas, or carbonate, but a "self-sustaining energy source that had been under the Earth's crust for millions of years." Walsh ordered that they dig to access it and 18 men died when the rig eventually exploded. The worker says that someone named it Mammon, saying that they'd dug so deep they'd "breached the bowels of Hell itself." When Mammon possessed a worker, Roxxon realized that it needed a person to contain the energy and entered into a deal with Mexican cartels to obtain people to play host. However, Mammon kept burning through the people more quickly, "like it was waking up." As a shocked Kaine and Star stare at the man (and Kaine threatens to kill him if they survive the explosion"), Walsh appears with a small army of armored troops, ordering them to find his daughter so that they can return her to the asylum and to show the heroes how strongly he feels about trespassing. Kaine, Red Wolf, and Star engage the troops, but Mammon appears, destroying some of them. Kaine saves Red Wolf and they realize that Mammon's current host is clearly almost expended. Kaine hurls himself at the host, tearing him from Mammon still alive.
Twister arrives, announcing that Firebird has recovered. Star notes that Mammon is getting bigger and Fifty-One tries talking with it. Fifty-One apparently thinks that it's too alien for him, but mentions something about a new host. Elsewhere, Zoe accuses her father of murder, but he stresses that he wants her to return to the asylum and resume her medication. Mammon, however, attacks, and Walsh steps in front of Zoe, becoming Mammon's new host. The team watches stunned and Twister notes that nothing that they've done so far has put a dent in the monster. Kaine thinks to himself that Walsh deserves his fate, since they shouldn't have pulled Mammon from the oil. Seeing signs for the oil tanks, Kaine gets an idea and tells Twister to have the Rangers distract Mammon. They lay on an attack and Kaine gets in close enough to use his powers to burn Walsh, getting Mammon's attention. Mammon follows Kaine to the oil tanks, and Kaine wonders if Mammon isn't the devil itself, coming to bring him to Hell for everything that he's done. When it's sufficiently close, Kaine uses his powers to pull Walsh from the monster. A host-less Mammon lunges at Kaine, hitting the oil tank and causing an explosion. The Rangers arrive on the scene and Wolf realizes that Kaine knew that the creature couldn't escape the oil (where it is now trapped). Firebird starts saying a prayer for his deceased soul, but Kaine appears with Walsh's body, telling them that they could've looked harder before starting the eulogy.
Afterwards, Twister tells Kaine that they're going to turn over an oil-contained Mammon to, in Kaine's words, "S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers or something." Walsh is revealed to have survived the experience, but something is wrong with him, "like a bit of Mammon was left inside of him." Zoe stays with him as he's med-evacked and Roxxon goes into full damage-control mode. Kaine and the Rangers discover that the bodies of Mammon's former hosts have already been removed. Roxxon claims that the entire laboratory level was destroyed by the fire created by the oil explosion, even though Kaine was on that level at the time and knows that the fire didn't reached it. Roxxon pins the blame on Walsh, noting that his family had a history of mental illness and suggesting that he went rogue. Before Kaine and the Rangers leave, the new Acting CEO arrives to thank them for "keeping Roxxon, and America, safe." Later that night, the Rangers tell Kaine that they'll stay on top of Roxxon. Kaine expresses disbelief, noting that they appeared to stop him from shutting down Roxxon in the first place. Twister says that the Rangers are all that the Southwest has and, when he implies that Kaine is part of them, Kaine hits him. He tells Twister that he came to Houston to escape "people like you" and Twister tells him that the people of Houston are his responsibility. At the Houston Medical Center, days later, Zoe tells her unconscious father that she knows that it was all her fault. She says that she needed to know if he loved her and, by saving her, she now knows that. She says that she's in charge of the estate now and pledges to use it to find Kaine to make him pay for what he did to Walsh.
The Review
This issue puts aside a lot of the existential angst that we usually get in this title in favor of a good ol' fashioned slugfest. It's fast and fun. But, we still get a little of the existential angst, mostly in the form of Kaine rejecting an invitation to join the larger superhero community. Yost uses this rejection to explore Kaine's thoughts on superherodom, giving us a nice bit of characterization in the process.
Also, as a side-note, I didn't realize that the Rangers have been around a while. I'm currently re-reading "Avengers West Coast" and discovered that they appear in issues #8-9. Who knew?
The Good
1) As I mentioned in the "Review" section, the main focus of this issue is the battle between Kaine and the Rangers and Mammon. But, Yost doesn't miss using the battle as an opportunity for some character development, showing us Kaine pondering whether Mammon is really the Devil come to bring him to Hell for his sins. It's an interesting comment, since it shows us that, no matter how many good deeds Kaine has done as the Scarlet Spider, he still doesn't believe that he's balanced out the crimes that he committed in his former life. Yost reminds us that this motivation lurking in the back of Kaine's thoughts and that it's going to be a long road to redemption.
2) I loved Yost having Kaine not only reject membership in the Rangers but violently reject membership in the Rangers. With every other superhero wanting to be a member of the Avengers, it's interesting to watch Kaine reject that sort of affiliation completely. Yost also showed Kaine's disinterest in the larger superhero community in a number of ways this issue, from his lack of interest in whether the Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. would be picking up Mammon's body to his comment to Twister that he came to Houston to escape heroes like the Rangers. In part, Kaine seems motivated by his self-preservation instinct (see next point). But, it's also clear that he's still a loner. He may realize that he needs some human connection, like those he's been developing with his supporting cast, but he doesn't feel any need to join the Spandex Brigade.
3) Kaine mentions here that Mammon is "not what I signed up for." He wonders why anyone would fight this sort of fight and how live with that sort of pressure. But, he then answers his own question, remembering that, "They don't. Not for long." If the aforementioned Devil comment reminds us that Kaine still feels the weight of his sins and the Twister punch reminds us that Kaine is a loner, this comment reminds us that Kaine has only recently discovered that he doesn't want to die. Yost has returned to this theme several times throughout the series, and we see it again clearly here. It rounds out Kaine's motivations and really manages to convey the battle that Kaine is fighting with himself. He doesn't really buy into the whole heroic self-sacrifice shtick...but still found himself risking his life in luring Mammon to the oil tanks. I don't think we see this tension as clearly in other superhero comics and it's refreshing to see someone actually think, "Um, I really don't want to die fighting an energy monster that I had no responsibility in releasing."
4) I like how Yost is going to make Kaine pay for showing Zoe his face. It was a moment that definitely made me raise an eyebrow, since it seemed to be the act of someone who felt like he has nothing to lose. But, as I just mentioned in the previous point, Kaine does now have something to lose. It'll be interesting to see how he's going to pay these consequences, another step in his journey as a superhero.
The Unknown
Yost really has amassed a number of lurking threats and powerful enemies. We've got the people looking for Aracely, the Thieves Guild, the Kravens, and now Roxxon and Zoe. I just love that Kaine never seems to get a clean win. It's pretty clear that Zoe is going to use her money to form some sort of small army to come after him and I think we've got the distinct possibility of Walsh eventually returning as a "Mammon-lite" seeking revenge on Roxxon. Plus, Roxxon itself is likely to continue to engage in activities that will draw it in direct conflict with Kaine. Given the diversity of the type of threats here, Yost really has done an amazing job of keeping us guessing who's going to come at Kaine next.
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