Overlooked Gems: “Chains”

Today we will be taking a look at Chains in WEB OF SPIDER-MAN vol. 1 #52 by Gerry Conway, Frank Springer and John Romita Sr. from 1989.

Hard to believe I’ve gone this long without highlighting a story from WEB, isn’t it? The lack of WEB in my articles primarily comes down to one simple reason: it’s not a very good series.

First launched in 1985 as the third ongoing Spider-Man title after AMAZING and SPECTACULAR, WEB OF SPIDER-MAN proved to be a rather meandering series that tended to suffer from a lack of identity and direction. The tales told within its pages were often forgettable and rarely ever qualified as required reading for even some of the biggest webhead fans. Even normally great writers like Peter David, Gerry Conway and David Michelinie to name a few ended up turning in some of their weaker efforts in the pages of WEB. By the time Terry Kavanagh took over as the sole writer at issue 97 in 1993, WEB became a near-unreadable dumpster fire until its merciful cancellation at issue 129 in 1995. But hey, at least the artwork was pretty solid throughout its publication (especially by Alex Saviuk).

Thankfully, like most ongoing titles, there are several highlights to be found within its pages if you look long and hard enough. Sure enough, Chains from issue 52 is actually one of the strongest stories to feature long-time supporting character J. Jonah Jameson (even if the title character barely even appears in it).

Our tale begins with Jolly Jonah himself being held prisoner in his own penthouse by none other than the conniving Chameleon.

Jonah tries to draw Spider-Man’s attention as he swings by his window, but to no avail. Feeling smug, The Chameleon proceeds to gloat about how hopeless Jonah’s plight truly is.

After loosening his chains a bit, The Chameleon heads out in his Jonah disguise; leaving the genuine article alone to contemplate his predicament. As expected, he immediately begins attempting to escape.

As our fearless publisher desperately searches for a way out of this nightmare, memories of the old days begin to surface…but not exactly the good old days.

As you can see, even the earliest days of Jonah’s newspaper career weren’t without their hardships and hazards.

Back in the present, Jonah clumsily attempts to use a glass shard to signal the outside world to his plight.

But that goes about as well as you would expect.

What other juicy tidbits will be revealed about Jonah’s past? And more urgently, will our prolific publisher prevail in his escape plans before The Chameleon returns to teach him the error of his ways? Not telling!

It’s really remarkable just how much writer Gerry Conway manages to effectively fit into just one simple issue. We’ve got a gripping scenario, strong character development, a very menacing depiction of a classic antagonist and arguably the strongest story to ever be published in the entirety of WEB OF SPIDER-MAN (which isn’t exactly an arduous feat, but still a commendable one).

Chains has never been collected in any trades, but the individual issue shouldn’t prove to be a challenge to track down. And track it down you must if you want to read one of the best J. Jonah Jameson stories ever written!