OK, I'll admit to initially having trouble following the plot, in part because I read this issue after maybe having a little bit too much to drink. I'll also admit to being worried what Speed Demon did with the dog that he stole from the little girl. (Hopefully, Inspector will meet Pizza Dog one day.) But, suddenly, everything came together at the end and I realized that Boomerang's intricate plot to get the Superior Foes to spring him from prison was brilliant. After all, we went from Shocker and Speed Demon delivering bird seed to Boomerang's apartment so that his neighbor could feed his birds while he was in prison to the bird seed being full of diamonds serving as a tribute to Hammerhead so that Boomerang and the Superior Foes could pull off a big score on his territory to Hammerhead actually being Chameleon and Boomerang revealing that said score didn't exist and that it was all a ruse to convince the Superior Foes to spring him. I mean, I like Nick Spencer, but, man, he really punched above his weight on this one.
Although Spencer leaves it a little unclear why Chameleon would help Boomerang, other than Boomerang's seemingly vague promise to use the Superior Foes to commit crimes of which Chameleon would presumably get a cut, the reveal -- when you finally take a moment, review what happened, and realized where you are -- is one of the best moments in comics that I've read in a long time.
Moreover, along the way, you get some real insight into Boomerang. I started off this issue liking him, as he complained that no one really wondered if he had any pets like they do Spider-Man. But, then I wondered if it might just be an act. Though, I then wondered if Boomerang didn't really wish that he was the type of guy to send his friends to feed his birds and is disappointed with himself because he's not actually that guy. Then I wondered if maybe he was just fucking with us, trying to convince us that we wasn't all that bad of a guy just to dash our hopes when it's revealed that he is. Then I wondered if maybe it's even more sinister than that. But, at some point, you realize that Spencer has led us on an emotional roller-coaster ride that ends with you realizing what an asshole Boomerang really is, a realization made all the more profound by building up that temporary hope that he was really just a guy worried about his birds. It's then when I realized that this series might be phenomenally better than the main Spider-Man titles and got very, very excited about where we're going from here.
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