The Amazing Spider-Man (1991) # 348

By Mark Rodriguez

I won this comic at an online auction over at Hipcomic thanks to Infinity Comics. Sandman leading Spider-Man and the Avengers? I couldn't pass this one up. Let's check it out. 

"Righteous Sand" opens with Sandman, reeling back an oversized sand-fist and calling out 'Avengers Assemble'. Kids crowd around him asking for his autograph. The landlord, Ms Casada, says that now that she knows he's the Sandman he will have to leave. Once news spread that the Sandman was an Avenger, the media has been flocking around the apartment complex, and she feels the kids need to live a normal life. Sandman agrees and leaves, saying he'll send for his things later. 

 

Sandman yells at the paparazzi to back off, and when they don't listen, he socks one of them. More news media people show up so Sandman turns into sand and slips away. Later on, Sandman walks off saying it's hard to go unnoticed and keep a steady job. He says at least he's still a reserve Avenger, but an Avenger nonetheless. 

Elsewhere, Peter Parker is complaining that he gets no respect as an Avenger. A reserve Avenger but still an Avenger. Mary Jane gets her things ready as she heads out to work. She has to rehearse a cat fight scene in 'Secret Hospital' and comments that her fans love those. She kisses Peter goodbye and heads off. Parker says that wasn't what he needed, but maybe going as Spider-Man is. Oh man, Pete... give it a few decades and you'll miss these moments with Mary Jane.

Parker goes to work and Jameson asks him if he any pictures for him. Peter says no and Jameson leave, as he's too busy to deal with him now. A co-worked named Ben Urich calls out to Peter and says he has a tip about an odd shipment going through the Brooklyn trailyards that afternoon. Peter asks what's the story. Ben says there might not be one but he's too busy to check on it himself. Peter decides to check it out.

Sandman is walking along when a stranger calls out to him. The man says he was taking out the trash when he saw some men dressed in camouflage loading guns into their truck. Sandman isn't sure why it's his business. The man say he saw him on TV regarding him being an Avenger. Sandman says he's still new at this so he'll go check it out.

 

Later on, Sandman is lurking outside the address given to him, overhearing what is happening inside. The boss says they're planning to rob the secret government shipment passing through the Brooklyn trainyards, which plans to sell it to the highest bidder. One of the men says it sounds like terrorism. The boss shuts him up and says they're just the middle men and doesn't care what their customers would use the shipment for as long as they make business. Sandman overhears this and says this a job for the Avengers. 

Peter wants some company and decides to call up the Avengers,  but figures they're on a mission with their full time members. He decides to go to the lab and catch up on his homework, but it's been given to the international students for the day. Peter feels he has no comfort at home, no time at the Bugle and no room at the lab. He decides to check out Urich's tip, since it make him a few bucks.

Over in Brooklyn, a kid is selling knock off Rolexes when Sandman appears and asks him for a quarter. The kid swears he was going to give the money to orphans and tells him to take his money. Sandman says doesn't want his money, but he wants the kid to call the Avengers and tell them there's an emergency at the Brooklyn trainyard. I guess the Avenger's phone number is common knowledge?

Spider-Man is staking out the trainyard but doesn't see anything suspicious. His Spider-Sense goes off as Sandman runs past him. The soldiers see Sandman but are reminded he's a good guy now. Sandman warns the men to get the atomic stuff out of there since there's going to be a hijacking. 

 

Elsewhere on one of the parallel trains, the bad guys see that their cover is blown and decide to attack now. The box cars open up to reveal tanks and attack helicopters. The tanks shoot off smoke, without giving the soldiers time to put on gas masks. Sandman gets way before he's also subdued by the smoke.

Spider-Man webs up one of the tanks to give the soldiers time to get away. Sandman gets under one of the tanks and tosses it into the air. The other tanks hits Sandman with a water cannon, which is bad news for a guy made out of sand. Spider-Man dodges one of the attack choppers that is shooting him with rubber bullets. He figures they don't want to rupture the tank car they intend to steal, but they still hurt if they hit him.

Sandman says he can wring some of the water out if he squishes himself down that tank's hatch. He quickly knocks the guys out. He says he can use one tank against the others but then says he has trouble using stick shift.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man snaps one of the helicopter skids off. He tosses it into the helicopter's propeller making it crash land onto a nearby roof. Spider-Man sees that Sandman is going after the last tank. The tank fires some sort of sticky silly-string that wraps itself around Sandman. Sandman is able to break free and punch the tank to bits. The tanks are down but Spider-Man and Sandman notice the second chopper is getting away with the tank car, and it's out of range for the web-shooters.

The bad guys think they got away when suddenly the Vision phases into the helicopter. Thor, Quasar and Sersi signal that the Avengers have arrived, and the Quinjet flies by containing more members. The boss of the bad guys say they have to escape and they will smash the tank car into the nearest building to buy time to escape. Black Widow alerts Captain America, and he tells She-Hulk to get to the ground. She-Hulk leaps out of the Quinjet. Captain America calls out to Thor as he tosses his shield.

Captain America's shield snaps through the cables the chopper is using to hold the tank car. Thor grabs onto it, making it descent slowly so that She-Hulk can catch it. The guys in chopper fire off some rockets. Quasar blasts the rockets, making them explode harmlessly in the air. Sersi uses her transmutation powers to turn the helicopters into glass. The choppers fall and shattered, since Sersi turned them into safety glass, they won't be badly injured.

Afterwards, the heroes gather and Sandman asks Captain America if he did good. Cap says technically he did but he did make a bit of an error. Captain America says their new charter limits them to global threats and cosmic invasions and such, and this situation was a domestic situation. Sandman asks if he was expected to just do nothing. Captain America says the Avengers exist to serve and protect. He says he's sure their charter holders will understand emergencies, but they had a rough time without one and don't want to lose this one. Sandman interrupts him and says if they're asking to step down since he didn't memorize all their rules.

Sandman tells Captain America to shove it and walks off. Cap says he wasn't going to tell him to quit, but just to be more careful. Sersi tells Cap that Sandman is too hot-headed, but maybe he'll come around in time.

Sandman walks off thinking he doesn't have a job, a home or any self respect. He asks himself if he's expected to wait until whenever Silver Sable needs him again. He says he swore to give up crime, but now it seems to be the only way.

Peter works all night on his article for the Daily Bugle and by the time he gets home, MJ is already asleep. Peter feels bad since he wanted some companionship and all day he's been trying to fit in. He feels alone when suddenly MJ, still half asleep, grabs onto him, saying she missed him. Peter realizes he's an idiot and will never be alone as long as he has MJ.

Peter compares his problems to the Sandman as he was venting while they were waiting for the police to arrive. Peter realizes that he has MJ, his friends and his studies. He sees he has a lot going for him and it's time he appreciates it a little more.

The epilogue shows people walking off a cruise ship docked along the Hudson River. An old man admires a golden broach lined with 8-karat diamonds that a woman in front of him is wearing. She subtlety shoves her forward but catches her before she can fall. She thanks him for helping her back up to her feet. As the man walks off on his own, he says New York has never been kind to him, but this time things will be different. He says this time his retirement on the French Riviera is assured. He shows that he stole the golden broach off the woman and says it will help finance the greatest jewel heist in the history of New York City. Next issue, the Black Fox returns and he won't be alone!

 

My Thoughts-

Well, Sandman's one of those villains I haven't run into that often. I guess I've been seeing a lot of Doctor Octopus, the Lizard and two Electros lately. I even checked around to make sure he was currently alive, but it seems he made an appearance in the recent Gang Wars story I didn't care to get into.

While this is a Spider-Man comic, the main character this time was the Sandman. The poor dude is just trying to live a regular honest life, but apparently being a reserve Avenger doesn't actually pay. And unfortunately for him, he was too hot-headed to get that Captain America wasn't firing him but just giving him pointers. 

I guess you can kinda/sorta say the Sandman led the Avengers... but it was more like, he called them up and they showed up. But telling some random kid to call them up? And he actually did?  Did the Avengers have some sort of Emergency Hotline that was public knowledge in the 90's?

Parker takes a back seat in this issue. It seems he was just having a bad day, feeling lonely since MJ was busy with her soap opera job and he couldn't hang out at the lab. His issues felt trivial when compared to what Sandman was going through, and I'm glad he realized that at the end. I have to say, it was kinda odd seeing Peter and MJ living as a couple way before it apparently became Marvel's mission to keep them apart no matter what. 

Overall it was a fun story and of course, it was cool to see the Avengers make appearances. I do wonder though if there was an issue that showed when they made Sandman a reserve Avenger or if it just happened off panel. I also liked the extra cheese from the narrator. Sandman would say he can't get away from the photographers and then when he does, the narrator says 'yes he can!!'. And when we segue from one scene to the next, the narrator will add quips similar to 'that's what you think Spider-Man!' and other such silliness. Not everything in the 90's was extreme. A lot of it was cheesy too.

While this issue had the usual ads for Nintendo games and sports cards, there were two that stood out to me. First was the classic annual comic book subscription. You get 12 issues of the series of your choosing, one a month and with a discounted price that would cost you less than paying a dollar separately. Looking at the ad, I didn't even know the Toxic Avenger had a comic series in the 90's, let along published by Marvel.

 

Back when I was still an 80's kid, I was able to get my dad to get me one of those subscriptions. For whatever reason I felt I wasn't ready for 'real' comics so I choose to sub to the Madballs comics... Madballs of all things... Their series didn't last long and it ended two issues into my subscription, so I was given the choice to switch to another series for the remaining ten issues. I chose ALF comics... Hey, I was a kid alright? But now reading these early 90's comics, I do wonder how things would have gone had I chosen to sub to Spider-Man, the Avengers or X-Men instead? What cool stories would I have enjoyed back in the day?

The other ad that caught my attention was something I didn't even know was a thing back then. While I knew about comic book subscriptions, I never heard of a mail in book club before. Sure I've heard of the term 'book club', but I guess I never heard of a subscription to actual books that weren't comic books. I even see some Star Trek books in there.

 

Going back to the main comic, I'll see if I can find the following issue on another auction down the line. Those dollar auctions are great for finding 90's stuff.