I read so many comics each week, that I rarely pay attention to subtle clues that require connections between issues released months apart. I just don't think that way. (Except about Grant Morrison's work, but that's different for some reason.) Anyway, if Dan Slott puts subtle hints in his Amazing Spider-Man issues, I completely ignore them. I know that he's playing around with the identity of Menace, for example, by showing that the character is putting on some kind of villainous "act" even though we don't know why. But as far as his true identity goes, I have given it zero percent of my brain space. I just haven't even thought about who might be under that mask.But a reader of mine, who wishes to remain anonymous, thinks that Slott has given us a clue in the dialogue of recent Amazing Spider-Man issues:
I've noticed eithier a glaring hint, or glaring red herring, as to who Menace is in issue #570 that no one has picked up on. Anyway, on page 17 (ads included) panel 3, Menace says "and Billy? My l'il Billy-boy? My Billy?" which is very similiar to the introduction Dexter Bennett gave Norman Osborn in the previous issue; page 10, panel 2: "Stormin' Norman, my storm guy, my Stormy."So, is Dexter Bennett, owner of The DB, the man behind the Menace mask? Or is it just a case of Dan Slott's own verbal tics showing up in dialogue spoken by different characters. Hell, if dialogue is all we're going on, then all of Bendis's characters are other Bendis characters in disguise.
What do you think? Is that a clue worth pondering?
