Written by Ann Nocenti and penciled by John Romita Jr., Daredevil #262 splits its attention between Black Widow and Karen Page trying to get some kids through the demon infested subway and Daredevil battling a vacuum cleaner.
As ridiculous as this sounds, it isn’t quite as bad as all that. First of all, the vacuum is both possessed and infected with the techno-organic virus (the thing you saw crawling over infant Nathan in X-Men ’97 episode 3), so… you know, it’s a tough vacuum. Second, Daredevil had just been trounced by the Kingpin’s newest assassin, the mutant known as Typhoid Mary.
Matt Murdock being Matt Murdock, he uses his defeat by Dustbuster as an opportunity to go soul searching. Matt imagines his former mentor Stick admonishing him, and questions not only his mission as a superhero but also his place in the cosmic order. In other words, as silly as the story sounds, Nocenti keeps everything within Matt’s character, resulting in a surprisingly heavy issue.
The Goblin Queen’s Inferno X-Tinguished
In X-Men ’97, the Inferno lasted half an episode. In the comics, it lasted a year. Madelyne doesn’t meet as dark an end in the cartoon, though. This Jean clone, having snapped out of her Goblin Queen mode by remembering the love she has for Nathan, decides to start a new life as “Madelyne,” walking away from Xavier’s School with new optimism for the future now that she knows who she truly is. Things are much messier for Madelyne in the comics, although she did eventually reappear with a new identity down the line.
Both the comic and the X-Men ’97 episode also end with Jean restored to the X-Men and some hard choices to make about young Nathan, who is now infected with the techno-organic virus. His parents are forced to send him to the future with Bishop in order to save their son, which we all know will lead to some more confusing timey-wimey stuff with Nathan and the return of a fan-favorite from the ’90s. No, it won’t be Adam X the X-Treme, but it will be cool.
However, X-Men ’97 will probably never get as nuts as the comics. And that’s probably a good thing. After all, as long-time readers know, X-Men continuity can be its own kind of Hell.