Man, I write those “Noteworthy Issues” reviews, and this week’s review for The Amazing Spider-Man (going live tomorrow) featured a character I was only vaguely aware of, but that suited me fine for this column.
I’ll have more thoughts on the issue itself in tomorrow’s Noteworthy Issues. Jimmy will probably read it. For now, let’s look at the guy who was the Vulture for all of five minutes, Raniero “Blackie” Drago.
Blackie first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #48 by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr. That was back in the days when Spidey’s enemies would routinely go to prison, but apparently never got a sentence longer than a few months. Regardless, original recipe Vulture Adrian Toomes was apparently on his deathbed in that issue, and he only wanted to talk to his cellmate Blackie.
Wow, Blackie must have been a good friend. Hey, Toomes was an old man. He was dying of old age or something right? Wait, an accident in the shop? Huh. And Blackie wasn’t his friend? He was bugging Toomes for ages on where the Vulture’s wings were, but now Toomes will tell Blackie where they are so Blackie can destroy Spider-Man on Toomes’s behalf? Will Blackie honor that request?
Oh hell no! Blackie had been needling Toomes on the location of the wings and how to use ’em for ages, and he set up that whole accident in the shop to get Toomes to give up the goods. That done, he can brag about it to the irate Toomes and escape the prison since Toomes buried a spare set of wings nearby since even he seemed to know he was going back to jail again at some point. Once out, Blackie added a helmet and…that was about it for the costume itself.
That does more or less mean that 60s animated Spider-Man cartoon was using Blackie instead of Toomes when that Spidey met the Vulture because that Vulture wore the helmet.
Regardless, Blackie would swoop around, talking about how nothing could beat a man with wings as he just swiped stuff, basically not caring if Spider-Man showed up or not but in a way that made me wish Iron Man or Thor was flying by at the time to see how good his flying skills really were if he were dodging lightning or repulsor blasts. But no, this is a Spider-Man problem, and I don’t want to say too much about how a younger man in his prime might have been a better Vulture, but see, Blackie was an idiot.
Apparently, when you tell a dying old man that you’re responsible for the accident that means they’re dying, if said dying old man is a vindictive old cuss, he can rally his strength, get better, and come back to show you what those wings you stole can really do. The fight between Vultures had Toomes hand Blackie his ass, and Blackie basically said he’d wished he never tried the wings on in the first place, going back to prison without too much objection.
Apparently, the handful of times Blackie has appeared since then, he’s been in prison. See, if he’d stuck to costumed crime, he probably would have gotten out a lot faster…
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