Spectacular Spider-Man 61-68 and Annual 3

Annual 3 "Dark Side of the Moon"

After the total disaster of Annual 2, I was frightened to read Annual 3. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was actually a good issue.

This was the final Man-Wolf issue since John Jameson was cured at the end of the issue. Just like Curt Conners gets cured at the end of every Lizard saga. However all kidding aside it does seem like this cure takes, at least for the rest of the Bronze Age.

Since this issue alluded to past adventures, I looked up Man-Wolf’s history and was surprised to find he starred in his own set of comics Creatures on the Loose 30-37, and Marvel Premiere 45-46. So in the end, it’s kind of sad that Man-Wolf was gone.



Issue 61 "By the Light of the Silvery Moonstone!"

I love the tagline on the cover of this issue “The Moonstone is a Harsh Mistress,” because it’s a play on the title of my favorite Heinlein book.

Anyway, this story begins with a neat little PSA. A kid is climbing down his apartment building on tied together bed sheets. This is his attempt to be like Spider-Man. But Spidey tells him the equivalent of “Don’t try this at home!” It sounds corny, but the real dialogue works.

Spider-Man then swings over to ESU where he gets into a fight with Moonstone. She gets away with one of Dr. Connor’s gizmos and hurts Marcy Kane on her way out. Peter decides the unconscious Kane needs CPR and when Marcy wakes up, suddenly she really kind of digs Petey.

I’d never read Moonstone’s origin before, she was a hooker for criminal Mastermind Dr. Faustus until she stole the original Moonstone’s power. Hooker to super villain, for some reason I see a Julia Roberts movie in there somewhere.

It’s always a nice sort of oddity to see Spidey go up against a woman. I wish his Rogues Gallery had more female opponents.

Issue 62 "Gold Fever"

This issue makes no sense. Peter Parker wrote an article about “The radiation absorption of precious metals” Parker’s mentor Dr. Sloan says, numerous financial institutions and even the government expressed an interest in the article because they wanted to know what would happen to gold in the event of a nuclear attack.

Okay, so far I can suspend my disbelief. Then these financial institutions, or maybe the Government, let Parker and ESU borrow an entire pallet of gold bars! And Peter proceeds to irradiate them.

Any experiment could have been done with merely an ounce of gold. There is no need for a pallet of gold except that the villain, Gold Bug wouldn’t be very cool if he stole an once of gold.

On his way out of the lab, Gold Bug sprays two security guards and Deb Whitman with gold dust which makes them statues, but Parker mixes an acid solution that “melts through gold, but won’t burn the skin underneath.” I think it’s the same formula as Coca Cola.

But Gold Bug as it turns out isn’t much of a reader, when he learned about the gold from a newspaper article he missed that whole irradiating the gold part. So he is unprepared when his gold starts poisoning people and then he’s “killed.”- The End.

Issue 63 "A Firebug"

The next issue is kind of sad. Spidey suspects that the Molten Man is back even though he seemed to have dead at the end of ASM 173. So Spidey tries to track down Harry Osborn and Liz Allen, now Liz Osborn. But he doesn’t have the right phone number so he calls Flash Thompson. Now, Flash was in practically every early issue of Spectacular, so it was sad to see him get only a few panels in this one. Then it was even sadder to hear that Harry and Liz got married off-screen, or I guess off-panel; even Flash didn’t go to the wedding.

It’s funny, Liz’s last Silver Age appearance was ASM 30 and Harry’s first was ASM 31, so the two didn’t know each other. So, it’s kind of unexpected them getting together, kind of like if Sue Richards married Foggy Nelson, or if Storm married the Black Panther (wait a minute…), but I digress.

Liz and Harry live in a cute little neighborhood in NJ, the kind of town you hear exists in NJ, but have never actually seen. They have a darling little house that is completely destroyed by the Molten Man and Spider-Man’s fight, but it’s okay because it brings unity to the little suburban neighborhood. As they work together dousing the Molten Man with water from their garden hoses they learn the true meaning of community.

This issue reminds me of that Tom Hanks movie “The Burbs.” What a great flick, rent it if you haven’t seen it.

Issue 64 “Cloak and Dagger”

This, the origin story of Cloak and Dagger, is dark and gritty, like great film noir. The B+W Essential actually enhanced this issue. Cloak and Dagger were two of several runaway children the mob found in the gutters of Manhattan. Cloak and Dagger were born from the ashes of a mob drug experiment, gone wrong. Cloak and Dagger exist for one purpose, revenge!

Spider-Man of course takes the view that the mobsters have to answer for their crimes through the legal system and that vigilantism makes Cloak and Dagger criminals themselves. But he is unable to convince them and unable to stop them.

By the Early 90s when I first started reading Spider-Man, Cloak and Dagger where just superhero buddies of Spidey and their darker nature had been toned way down.

Personally, I don’t see how Spider-Man could work with “heroes” of this ilk; the Punisher springs to mind. By working with them he is legitimizing them and lowering his own moral standards. If he believes it is wrong to act as judge, jury and executioner, then he cannot work with somebody who does. It’s a simple case of guilt by association. Hasn’t he ever heard the phrase “in order for evil to win all good has to do is nothing?” Surely, no on understands this better than Spider-Man who has been haunted for years by the fact that his inaction lead to his Uncle’s death.

In the past, though they have challenged him physically, Spider-Man has judged many people to be innocent of any crimes, the Prowler for an example. By that same token, Spider-Man has fought many true villains such as Doctor Octopus, but he has never tried to kill them. If he can make these moral distinctions, why doesn’t he realize that he must capture Cloak and Dagger or die trying, and must never assist them?

Issue 65 "the Heart is a Lonely Hunter"

Kraven is that rare Super-Villain that though tweaked in the head follows his own moral code that is not necessarily completely villainous.

Kraven perfected his mind and body so that he could subdue, without killing, even the most fearsome of beasts. However, he became bored when no creature that lived caused him any challenge. Then he heard about Spider-Man and instantly became obsessed with conquering this new foe. He might have had a shorter career if he’d become obsessed with the Thing or the Hulk.
Kraven is insane because he never seems to understand that Spider-Man is a human being, not an animal, (though someone from PETA would argue there is no difference).

He doesn’t understand that Spider-Man has a life outside of swinging around the streets of Manhattan on a webline. He’s an actual thinking and reasoning person that should enjoy the rights of any other man, but as far as Kraven is concerned Spider-Man is a lion or a gazelle that exists only to be subdued by the self-appointed, “World’s Greatest Hunter.”

But Kraven has a sense of honor and fair play. He wants to win against Spider-Man fair and square, so while he is willing to block Spidey’s spider-sense with loud drumming, he flies off the handle when his lover secretly shoots a psychotropic drug into Spidey’s foot.

To Kraven, this caused the hunt to be compromised and he’d have no honor from defeating Spider-Man this way, so he ends up helping Spider-Man, so that he’d have the opportunity for a proper fight another day.

I love the trippy drug induced view of the world from Spider-man’s drug-fueled perspective.


Issue 66 "Electro Will be Free"

(Another example of the word “Epic” appears as a neon light on this issue’s cover)

Electro has found a way to use his power to instantly draw power from any metal object. This issue really ramps up his power to a ridiculous level. I mean if Electro was able to absorb as much power as he seems to in this issue, Spider-Man wouldn’t have just been “shocked senseless” when he was hit by one of Electro’s blasts, Spider-Man would have been liquefied.

It’s a pretty decent issue; I can’t really fault it except that it fails to break any new ground.

Issue 67 "Boomerang the Killer who Keeps Coming Back!"

From page 1, you can tell that this issue is going to be a little different. Edward Hannigan’s layout is at times unique. I love the shot of Boomerang on the Daily Bugle’s roof.

Boomerang is another in this series of villains that Spider-Man just doesn’t take seriously. From the start he relentlessly slams Boomerang with jokes about his failed major league pitching career, while also pounding him with various punches and kicks.

After Spider-Man beats the tar out of him and disarms him of all his boomerangs, Kingpin’s goons corner him in an alley and point their Tommy guns at him. At this point, you actually feel pretty sorry for him and are happy that Spidey throws him a ‘rang at the last second, so he can easily disarm the goons.

You don’t feel bad that Boomerang gets arrested, but you’re glad he wasn’t killed.

Issue 68 "Hell Hath no Fury like a Robot Scorned"

At the start of this tale, a man named Danvers runs frantically to a phone and when he picks up the receiver he is killed by the mysterious Robot Master. Then the narration says, “Tiny electronic bores emerge from the dead man’s ears….and following a cold mechanical voice, take the shortest route back to their master.” Then the little screws fly into the telephone. I hate this old cliché. No machine, no matter how tiny could travel via phone lines!

I really like the splash page of Peter and Aunt May visiting Uncle Ben’s grave. Though he died in the first issue, Uncle Ben is never forgotten.

I also enjoyed that Spidey’s origin is retold in 4 panels. I mean, the guys that did 15 minute Hamlet would be impressed with that amount of brevity.


It’s also worth mentioning that May’s new boyfriend Nathan comes to the graveyard with May and Peter, but stays a respectful distance behind as the two mourners visit the grave. I felt like that was extremely respectful. He understood that while it was important for him to be there for her, it was also important for her to not feel like she was in some way showing Ben his replacement.

So anyway, on his way out of the graveyard Peter runs into the middle of a scuffle outside of a mausoleum. Though still in his street clothes Peter springs into action. Peter is stopped by the would be grave robbers who turn out to be with the FBI

The mausoleum is Professor Mendel Stromm’s. Whom Spider-Man faced off with way back in ASM 37. Stromm’s brother, who Peter just assisted, goes to report the incident to the police before Peter can question him.

So Peter goes back to ESU reminiscing about Professor Stromm and ends up getting into a scuffle with Deb Whitman’s boyfriend Biff. Peter slaps him, but then thinks to himself that if he’s used even the smallest amount of Spider-power, he could have killed him. Finally, the increasingly impulsive Parker, passes Deb in the hallway and then runs up to the roof, changes into Spider-Man and webs off. Deb follows him sees Spider-Man webbing away and concludes that Parker must be Spider-Man.

Spider-Man tracks down the FBI agents he’d fought in the Graveyard and after fighting a robot together, they tell him that it appears someone is up to Stromm’s old tricks. So they all return to the mausoleum. There Spider-Man meets Stromm’s brother again only he’s really a robot with Stromm’s memories. He looked human when Spidey met him in the graveyard, but in the privacy of his hideout he wears an ocular over one eye, purpose unknown, but doesn’t it look robotic? It makes me think of that line from the Princess Bride about masks, “They’re just terribly comfortable, I think in the future everyone will be wearing them.”

Spider-Man defeats the robot and writes in webbing on the mausoleum wall that Professor Stromm “died again”

Spectacular Spider-Man 54-60

Issue 54 “To Save the Smuggler”

I like several things about this issue, the first was the beginning where Spider-Man tries to do the right thing and stops a car chasing an ambulance. Only the car turns out to be full of cops and the ambulance a stolen vehicle. Whoops!

Spider-Man is such a physically strong superhero; he is often portrayed as his own worst enemy. This is the case whether he struggles with balancing school, work, and relationships, or whether he can’t tell who the bad guys are.

The next neat thing in this issue is that Spider-Man ends up rescuing one of his enemies. Remember the Smuggler aka Power Man? Remember, Spider-Man had a fight with him in the subway’s catacombs in Spectacular Spider-Man 50? Well, he is losing his powers and was going to go State’s evidence against the Maggia, but the Japanese Mob in some sort of informant exchange program kidnapped him.

Anyway, that brings me to the last cool thing in this issue, Spidey in Samurai armor. The best shot is the one on the cover. The colors on the cover are awful, which is why I uploaded it in glorious B+W the way I enjoyed it in the Spectacular Essential vol. 3.



Issue 55 “The Big Blow-Out”

“Nitro’s Back” the cover proclaims. It’s funny, Nitro wasn’t much of a villain until in modern times he literally set-off the Marvel Civil War. But let’s get back to 1981 and this issue of Spider-Man.

At Project Pegasus Nitro’s daughter and her lawyer appear with a writ and demand the release of her father. The scientist reluctantly consents and wheels out two air tanks. Nitro has been kept in a gaseous state since his last battle in Omega Unknown 8? That was his previous appearance anyway.

Now it’s true that it’s unlawful to keep a man imprisoned without a trial and keeping a man as a gas makes water boarding seem pedestrians as a form of torture. But Nitro is dangerous, shouldn’t the scientist build some sort of holding cell before releasing Nitro from his gaseous state (I really wish there was a way to say this without making it sound like Nitro just has a bad case of indigestion.)

Anyway, I can’t help but think of this Bronze Age Nitro as kinder and gentler than the Modern Age Nitro. This one explodes and destroys building, but never seems to do more to people than knock them out.

I really dig the ending of this issue because Spidey uses his brains and tricks Nitro into chemically combining with nausea gas!

Issue 56 “The Peril…and the Pumpkin?”

Jack O’Lantern is brought to a hospital after a fight with Machine Man (in Machine Man 19). However, apparently Jack’s metal mesh body armor is so strong no one can figure out how to get his costume off, not even the dumb looking pumpkin head. This becomes a moot point when the villain wakes up and with the help of his gang takes the hospital hostage.

It just so happens Aunt May’s boyfriend Nathan is one of the hostages and this causes Peter to have to choose between doing as his Aunt wants and being there to comfort her as she watches the hostage situation on the news or doing something about the situation as we know only he can.

In the end Spider-Man easily defeats Jack, but when Peter goes to be with Aunt May afterwards, she is furious that her nephew wasn’t there when she needed him. “I’m just a foolish old woman who thought she still meant something to you,” she says through tears.

This issue gets a B- for action, but an A+ for guilt tripping.

Issue 57 “These Wings Enslaved!”

I thought JJJ was married, but in this issue he seems to have it bad for scientist Marla Madison. He even finds it in his miserly heart to throw her a black-tie party when she gets a new research job at the ever-evil “Brand Corporation.”

Spidey is swinging through NY when he decides to call Aunt May. He does so, from a payphone, in his Spidey costume to the amazement of the crowd that forms around him. Miraculously, Aunt May has already forgiven Peter regarding the fight they had last issue. After the phone call Spidey swings away. Why didn’t anyone press *69 and see who Spider-Man called? Even if that feature didn’t exist in 1981 surely the police could have pulled the pay phone’s call records.

Okay, so at JJJ’s party Will-O-the Wisp, stuck as, you guessed it a gas, takes over the use of Killer Shrike’s body and kidnaps Madison. He takes her to a secret lab at the Brand Corporation, because she is the only one who can use the machinery to restore his body.

Spider-Man is at ease fighting a room full of Brand Corporation security and then in the middle of the fight decides to call Aunt May again! You’d think someone knows how to track down call logs?

In the end, after saving Will-O’, Spidey isn’t sure whether Will-O’ is a hero or a villain since he took revenge on the Brand Corporation by leveling the whole building and after seeing their dark side Marla decides she can’t work for Brand Corporation.

Overall, this was kind of a dud issue.

Issue 58 “Ring out the Old, in the New!”

Guest penciler John Byrne, makes the most of an issue with a throw-away villain. Fortunately the Ringer, is played for laughs. The Ringer’s suit has a “particulate-matter condensers that form rings right out of the soot and smog in the air.” I couldn’t help but think that with the brainpower to come up with a machine that makes metal out of air, surely this man could better serve society as a scientist. Hell, he could make a fortune as a somewhat disreputable businessman. Why do these guys choose a life of crime?

A highlight of the issue is when Spidey gets bored with his fight against the Ringer and decides to leave and go meet Debra Whitman for dinner. “You can’t leave now!” the villain shouts. “Oh, no? Watch me,” says Spidey.

In the end it turns out that it was the Beetle, itching to try out a new set of armor, that was pulling the Ringer’s strings. (No pun intended)

Of note- This issue features the debut of Marcy Kane’s new brunette look. I think it was a step up, but I’ve always preferred brunettes.

Issue 59 “I Want Spider-Man”

This is kind of a filler issue the builds up to Spider-Man big fight with the Beetle in the following issue.

Marty Blank also known as The Gibbon, is still bitter about his attempt to fight Spidey way back in ASM 110-112. He’s working for a documentary crew looking for new Spider-Man footage. Blank is more than happy to put the old monkey suit on one more time and give Spidey a rematch for the cameras.

The Gibbon is little challenge for our favorite wall-crawler, but he does distract Spider-Man enough for the Beetle to sneak attack our hero and the issue ends with the Beetle hitting Spider-Man with a brick wall. Ouch!

Of note- Marty Black wears a tee-shirt that says “Epic.” It seems that it was the hip thing at this point to slip that word into every issue possible, Anyone know the story behind this?

Issue 60 “Beetlemania!”

This “Special Double-Sized Issue” has a really cool cover.

The issue itself is both good and bad. For two issues the Beetle has been preparing for a battle against Spider-Man. First, he forced the Ringer to fight Spider-Man so he could upload data about Spider-Man’s movements into his new set of armor. The Beetle believed that his suit’s computer would be able to predict Spidey’s movements. Second, toppled a brick wall on top of Spidey when he was busy fighting the Gibbon.


The Beetle quickly realizes that his computer program doesn’t work. He doesn’t find out but it fails because Spider-Man’s movements are not a set of practiced predictable actions, but merely responses to Spider-Man’s spider-sense.

Spider-Man who never really recovered from being hit by the brick wall flees the fight with the Beetle after putting in a fairly good showing. The clueless Beetle believes he has suffered another defeat and kidnaps the Gibbon to
use as bait.

Peter runs into Deb Whitman, who is wearing a particularly frumpy outfit, a nightgown shirt over a full bodysuit.

When Peter realizes that the Beetle has captured the Gibbon he runs to save him and the final battle ensues. After Spider-Man does all the hard work, the Gibbon manages to deliver the punch that knocks the Beetle unconscious. Much to Peter chagrin, the Gibbon gets all the credit for saving the day from the police and the media.

Back-Up Feature “The Birth of a Legend!”

This is a retelling of Spider-Man’s origin; it’s kind of in the same vein as the shot-by-shot remake of Psycho someone did about 10 years ago. The original Amazing Fantasy 15 origin story simply titled “Spider-Man” was 11 pages. This one is 17, but a lot of the individual panels and dialogue have been recreated, they just added panels that weren’t there before, like a shot of Peter shedding a tear when Flash and the gang drive off after making fun of him for wanting to go to the science exhibit.

It’s funny, the original Ditko art does seem kind of primitive, but the art in the remake is also strange since Peter’s whole face and head look different since penciler Greg LaRocque attempts to make Peter look like a sort of Ditko-Peter/Modern-Peter hybrid.

You’d think I’d know ever panel of the original story, but I still had to glance at the Ditko story to be sure if a few panels were in the original for instance I forgot that Peter gets a new microscope from Aunt May and Uncle Ben, after Peter doesn’t stop the criminal and right before the
night Uncle Ben dies.

I was glad they left the “with great power there must also come great responsibility” line as narration instead or attributing it as a quote from Uncle Ben like some retellings have done.

Hang loose till my next set of musings, which includes a piece on Issue 68, which proves Spidey’s origin can be retold in just 4 panels.

Spectacular Spider-Man 1-16

Originally posted Dec. 13, 2008

Spectacular Spider-man. I've always thought of these as B-Sides compared to ASM. But PFJ inadvertently caused me to start reading my copy of Spectacular Spider-man Essentials Vol. 1. So here are my thoughts

The first issue features the Tarantula, it is sort of an unremarkable start. Tarantula and Kraven team up in issue two and it was kind of fun to see them bicker. And there is a new villain named Lightmaster in issue 3. I guessed who Lightmaster was from the start.

I thought Issue 4 was a great issue, maybe my favorite of this whole bunch. The villain is the Vulture. Issue 5 has the Vulture again but also a Punisherish character named the Hit man who I didn't think much of, but Issue 5's Cockrum's cover is great.
Issue 6 is a reprint of a Spidey and Torch team-up against Morbius story from MT-U 3. Which turns out to be a warm up for a new Morbius story in 7 and 8, where Morbius has been taken over by an Empathoid from another dimension or something. These two are okay. The art is great, the story is just kind of flat. How many times can a super villain just happen to capture one of Spidey's close friends? (this time Glory Grant) I do like that Spidey beats the Empathoid with quick thinking.

Considering I was reading an Essential, I love the irony of the cover of issue 9 which says brags that it's the first time the White Tiger has been seen in color!

Anyway the story in this one made very little sense to me. The President of the university is this racist guy that shuts down ESU's night school and the African American and Latino community protests. However, they come off as just as racist when Hector Ayala tells Peter Parker the protest isn't his concern because he's white. So all white people are rich and don't need night school?

Then they talk about the Erskine Manuscripts. The school got a bid for a million dollars to sell them. I guess someone thinks the secret to the super soldier formula is in them. Anyway the important part is that the manuscripts plural suddenly become one book when the White Tiger fights Peter Parker (he forgot to change to Spidey)and steals the lone volume.

Then the story becomes more convoluted at the end when it is revealed that an Ethics Studies professor impersonated the White Tiger and stole the volume. Then how did he trash Parker without Super-strength?

Issue 11 is by far the worst of this bunch. I expected much more from Chris Claremont considering his ggreat run on MT-U. This issue is all downhill after the trippy splash page. Spidey needs some kind of serum to help a man that saved Pete and Mary Jane from being hit by a Rand/Meachum truck outside of Central Park. How this guy's reaction time is better than Spider-man's who knows?

The serum is apparently very complicated so it was made somewhere else and was coming to the hospital in an ambulance. That makes sense until you find out the somewhere else was somewhere in the vicinity of Coney Island! Have you ever been to Coney Island? Not a scientific Mecca by any stretch of the imagination. Spidey goes to check on the ambulance just in case. Turns out the ambulance was attacked by Medusa. She stole the serum and Spidey and her fight in and around Coney Island. Spidey keeps pleading someone is going to die unless I have that serum. but Medusa doesn't seem to care. Finally Medusa reaches the rest of the Inhumans, it turns out they needed the serum to save the whole world by disarming an anti-matter warhead. But of course there turns out to be enough serum to save the guy in the hospital too.

One of those issues where if the characters just stopped fighting and talked, the issue would have been 3 pages long!

Issue 12-15 is a four part story featuring Flash Thompson. (who is so far the only real recurring supportive character for Spidey in these issues) The four parts are all good because the story keeps changing, first Spidey is fighting Brother Power and Sister Sun, then Razorback who turns out to be an ally, than it turns out the real villain is the Hate Monger. Then it turns out to actually be Man-Beast.


Issue 16 turns out to be a surprise gem by fill-in writer Elliot Maggin. The story concerns a risk taking cop Macone. the story shows that he is a true hero too, but it seems to come with a price as his wife is seen possibly leaving him at the end of the story because he continues to "take too many risks." The story is so good, you almost forget how lame a villain the Beetle is.

Spectacular Spider-man # 17-31

Originally posted Dec. 16, 2008

Like everyone promised me, I think PPSSM really started to find itself in these issues and I really enjoyed the majority of the stories.

One of the things I noticed is that in the beginning it seemed like PPSSM couldn't figure out if it was something new or a second Marvel Team-Up. For instance issue 17 and 18, which resolved the Champions storyline had absolutely nothing to do with ongoing storylines and come off as Angel team up issues.

The series gets back on track with issue 19 which is nostalgic because it features the Enforcers. There were so many great bits in this issue, like the new Ox saying "Take away your fancy costume and then what are you?" and Spidey quipping, "I don't know naked?"

At the end of the issue Lightmaster sees Hector Ayala coming out of the diner after the fight and assumes he's Spider-man. I was happy to see Lightmaster return. I was afraid he was a one shot villain. Issue 20 was great, Lightmaster captures Ayala and his identity as the White Tiger ends up revealed to the public. This was a twist I was very surprised by. It seems like Bill Mantlo used the White Tiger as a parallel to Spider-man. By seeing what happens to the White Tiger when his identity is revealed we kind of see what would happen if Spider-man's identity was revealed. I kept waiting for an old villain of the Tiger's to put one of Ayala's family in danger, but it didn't happen in this volume.

Issue 21 was a Scorpion stand alone story with fantastic art by Jim Mooney. I find it kind of sad that after more than 10 years of issues the Scorpion still hasn't told the world why he hates JJJ.

The next two issues are again reminiscent of a MT-U issue as both feature Moon Knight, before he had his own series.

Issue 24 is definitely the clunker of this bunch. Peter Parker goes to a disco and fights the Hypno-Hustler. I looked at the cover and knew it wasn't gonna be pretty. The guest art by Frank Springer was great. The first few pages where Peter nabs some muggers on the subway were amusing. It started making no sense when you meet the villain who has some sort of Hypno powers, but also has three back up singers with the same powers. Spidey beats him by making him listen to his own back up singers.

But fear not from here on out it's top notch issues.

Issue 25 starts the Carrion/Maggia saga. The reader is left to wonder who this new villain Carrion is, all we know is that he hates Spider-Man. Then the Maggia and their leader the Masked Marauder rob a bank and when Spider-man tries to stop them he gets blasted by a opti-blast, which makes him blind. This all leads to an awesome team up with Daredevil, where Spidey bitches and moans about being blind and worthless never suspecting that his pal Daredevil has been blind all along. I kept wishing that Daredevil would take Spidey down to meet Stick who could teach him to listen to his senses, but alas Stick had not yet been created. Issue 27 and 28 feature art by Frank Miller!

At the end of issue 28 we find that Carrion definitely knows Peter's secret identity and the reader is in great suspense as to how he knows.

Issues 29-30 feature a lot of action. Carrion is an excellent villain because he has interesting and different powers. He can kill with a touch but he is so insane that he endlessly toys with Spidey. The stakes of the battle are high since he knows Parker is Spider-man and could reveal it to the world at anytime. The only thing I didn't like about these issues is that Carrion constantly calls Spider-man Parker, but the White Tiger never seems to hear that even when they're in the same room. I guess he was too busy fighting Carrion's lackey, Darter.

Issue 31 ends the Carrion saga. The spider Amoeba thing he creates is just kind of odd. To me this issue wasn't as good as the build up.

Spectacular Spider-Man 32-42 and Annuals

Originally posted Feb. 19, 2009

Issue 32-34

Coming off the great Carrion storyline (despite a lackluster final issue) Bill Mantlo starts from the beginning again, in that he sets this series up with a whole new cast of supporting characters. This issue does a great job of setting that up, we see all the old characters Flash, Sha-Shan, Glory, Hector, etc. so at least they get a nice send off.

Once again the primary focus of the title is the ESU College. However, Peter Parker is starting graduate school and is now a Teacher’s assistant and so the new cast is the other TAs, the Grad secretary Debra Whitman and Grad professors Sloan and Curt Connors. (It’s about time he officially joined the supporting cast.) All of these characters help to give Spectacular a distinctive feel.

The first storyline is about the Iguana! The Iguana is a regular iguana until he gets zapped with Curt Connors’ “Enervartor.” (Reminds me of the Interocitor from “This Island Earth”) The Iguana turns into a man-lizard with a healthy dose of Connor’s memories and the Lizard’s hatred of mankind. The story really picks up when Iggy goes after Connor’s family and Connors decides that the only way to stop the Iguana is to become the Lizard again.

This seems reasonable as long as you don’t think about it too much. The more I thought about it, it’s just as likely the Lizard would say “I hate Spider-Man and I don’t like the Iguana, but I’ll go take over the world and kill whichever of them survives.” But instead the Lizard attacks the Iguana and Spidey goes to Connor’s lab and builds a backpack Enervartor that saves the day! Overall this is a solid arc and probably the best of this bunch.

Issue 35

The cover says off-beat that’s code for guest writer. The issue isn’t so bad, it concerns the Mindworm, who takes Spider-man through some kind of adventure in dreamland. In the end, Mindworm turns out to not be an evil guy, hooray!

Issue 36-37

This is a cool storyline. Prof. Sloan accidentally recreates the villain Swarm. It’s interesting because it’s one of the first times I remember in which Spider-man spars with a villain and almost immediately goes, “okay, this guy is out of my league, can someone get the FF?” I mean Spider-Man goes up against the Hulk every once and a while and doesn’t give up. But the fact that he feels so outclassed makes it even cooler that in the end Spider-man faces Swarm alone and wins.

ASM Annual 13

Okay admit it, when you read the note on the bottom of the cover page that says “Don’t dare peek at the surprise ending” you couldn’t help but peek could you? I know I peeked. I peeked after I realized where they must have been going, I knew they couldn’t have someone out there with Spider-Man’s secret identity.

Anyway, the thing that I really liked about this issue is how Peter goes undercover as a hood. It’s something I’ve seen both Daredevil and Batman and even Sherlock Holmes do from time to time, but I don’t recall Spider-Man ever doing that before. And it was perfect how Doc Ock comes in and immediately recognizes Parker, but just assumes he’s working for the paper.

I loved the villain gallery pages at the end of the annual. I guess a lot of the big name villains like the Green Goblin or Doc Ock were in the gallery of previous annuals and so would have been redundant. So we get Molten Man, The Looter, the Rhino, the Shocker, etc. The one thing that struck me was that the Rhino is thought of as a Spider-Man villain and yet at this point he’d appeared in 2 Spider-Man issues, but 8 Hulk issues. Sounds like a Hulk villain to me. (My comments on the Looter will be saved for his appearance in SSP 41)

SSM Annual 1

Can someone explain to me why Doc Ock is all gold on the cover? I wouldn’t have even known reading the issue in glorious B+W, except that it appears in color on the back cover. The story has to do with a nuclear submarine not gold.

Do you think Bill Mantlo and Rich Buckler who did this Annual talked to Marv Wolfman and John Byrne who did the other Annual? I wonder if it was just, “Okay Marv you write a Doc Ock story where his arm is torn off, but he gets away and Bill, you write one where Spider-Man beats him.” Or do you think it was more collaborative?

I really liked the scene where Peter Parker takes Doc Ock’s arm to the lab at ESU and then it starts beating the tar out of him when the doc starts to give it mental directions again.

The Doc’s Octosphere had a picture of an Octopus on it and that gave me pause for a minute. I was thinking, “That’s more of a DC thing, like something the Penguin would do.” However, then I realized that in the Master Planner storyline of ASM 30-33 Ock had an underwater base. I’d never put two and two together that Ock had a whole underwater theme going on. Shows you how much I pay attention sometimes. Also I want to state for the record that the Doc only has 6 arms and so Marvel isn’t helping children learn to count by associating him with an octopus.

I liked the ending where it really looked like Doc Ock died. He didn’t appear in Spider-Man for 2 years after this so I’m sure a lot of folks at the time may have believed he was gone. I think it’s a good strategy to not overuse the guy that might Spidey’s arch-foe. Keep him in reserve so all his appearances seem more significant.

Issue 38

Another Morbius issue. I know there are people that like Morbius, but I don’t. I think he’s a cheap Marvel Universe attempt to cash in on the popularity of Dracula and Vampires. Oh and it just so happens to be a Halloween issue too; get it, vampires on Halloween. Arg!!

The best thing I can say about this issue is that it sets up the next issue where Spider-Man faces his friend Chip Martin that has turned into the Schizoid-Man. Oh also it’s great that Morbius is turned back human, too bad he doesn’t stay that way.

Issue 39

Kind of a weird issue, it spends so much time setting up the next issue’s Spider-Lizard storyline, previewing the Frightful Four storyline, and explaining how Chip Martin became the Schizoid Man, that it doesn’t have much time to get off the ground. Plus Spider-Man is acting a bit out of character because of the influence of the Lizard DNA. So all in all an okay issue, but one that is really rushed. If they’d taken more time with it Chip might have made a more interesting villain instead of a throw-away.

Issue 40

Spider-Man has become a Spider-Lizard and he stalks the city. This is more like a 50’s Marvel Monster story or an issue of the Hulk then an issue of Spider-Man but it works because Doctor Connors who we so often see turning into the Lizard and being saved by Spider-Man anchors the issue and is given his chance to be a hero and save Spider-Man for once.

When Spider-Man is changed back he hides his face from Connors and asks about his mask. This makes Connors looks really dumb because he should be able to recognize Peter Parker’s voice by now. Then Spider-Man webs his face, making a web mask. This mask is interesting because sometimes it seems like you can see all of the features of Peter’s face making the mask useless, Other times it seems that you can’t see anything through the mask, which leads me to wonder how Spider-Man can see through it. Plus, the fact that at one point Spider-Man lifts the web mask just over his lips so that he can give Connor’s mouth-to-mouth. Wouldn’t a web mask be really sticky and hard to take off?



Issue 41

Another fill-in story. This one belongs firmly in Marvel Team-Ups since it features Spider-Man teaming up with Giant-Man aka Black Goliath aka William Foster.

The villain is The Looter aka Meteor Man. He’s the one Ditko era villain that really never got off the ground. He’s kind of the one that got away. Like Calendar Man for Batman or Miracle Man for the FF.

The issue starts off with Spider-Man sneaking into one of his professor’s office and slipping his late paper into the prof’s pile. (Of course the paper is still stick with webbing) This goofy scene fits in fine with the wacky theme of the rest of the issue.

I thought about this issue about a day after I read it because I realized that Meteor Man really is insane. He got super-strength from a meteor and all he can think about is finding other meteors so he can get stronger.

What about using the strength you already have to do something? How strong will be strong enough? Do you have any other goals to speak of? What kind of a life’s goal is finding more strength from more meteors? When does the cycle end?

I do like the scene where Spider-Man and Giant Man look at Meteor Man’s equations and immediately says, “this guy’s math is crazy.” It’s not every super-hero that has Graduate or Doctoral degrees.

Spectacular Spider-Man 42-53 and Annual 2

(Originally posted March 9, 2009)

Spectacular Spider-Man 42 and Fantastic Four 218

FF 218 was a favorite of mine when I was younger but I’d never read SS-M 42, so it was a real treat discovering this lost treasure after so many years.

Is that Bill Mantlo depicted on page 3 of SS-M 42 thinking about deadlines?

Poor Deb Whitman, she really opens up to Peter about her feelings of inferiority and he has to run off without an explanation. You really feel sorry for this shy girl, I want to give her a hug.

The Frightful Four’s plan of making Spidey think he’s meeting The Human Torch at the Statue of Liberty is a good one, and for once a villain’s plan is also well executed. If only the second half of their plan had gone as well.

It really makes me laugh how the Trapster glues Spidey’s mouth and then they realize they can’t take his mask off.

The second issue starts off with a real tour-de-force performance by my namesake. The Trapster disguised as Spider-Man single-handedly defeats The Human Torch and the Thing. Of course his zenith and his nadir are very close together as at the end of the issue he passes out when confronted by a battle ready Human Torch, Thing and Invisible Woman.

I’ve always loved the scene where Sue, in her nightgown instinctively turns invisible when she is attacked but realizes too late that the nightgown isn’t made of unstable molecules. Whoops!

I think it is no accident that Sandman is sucked into a vacuum cleaner just like his first appearance in ASM 4 and Electro is brought down my a fire hose just like his first appearance in ASM 8. Everything old is new again! But you would think Sandman could just expand his body until the vacuum broke, guess Reed’s vacuums are made of unstable molecules too.

Spectacular Spider-Man 43

The first issue of the Belladonna Saga’s art is kind of poorly reproduced in the Essential. It’s very dark and sketch-like. Is the art in the actual issue better?

This is the first appearance of Roderick Kingsley and it’s kind of hard to believe this jerk ends up being Hobgoblin. Does the Goblin serum also subliminally teach you a course in Super Villain studies? Because this guy just doesn’t strike me as the type to know anything about a life of crime.

Spectacular Spider-Man 44 and 45

I was disappointed with the Vulture saga. The art by Steve Leialoha and Alan Gordon in the first issue is ok, but I thought the Vulture’s reveal on the final page looked really odd. The proportions are off and the face doesn’t look like the Vulture at all to me.

The art in the second issue is better, but something about Marie Severin’s art bothered me for her whole run. It was serviceable art, but uninspired, cartoony and mundane, it lacked that certain something that makes comic art great.

I was especially disappointed with the scene of a chained up Spider-Man in a coffin, slowly traveling down a conveyor belt towards a furnace. I immediately started humming the 60’s Batman theme. To make matters worse for some odd reason there was a trap door of some kind so that Vulture and everyone else doesn’t see Spider-Man escape. This sequence is so hackneyed it’s completely cliché, but not in the cool Quentin Tarantino way where it ends up being retro-chic. It’s cliché in the way that having the butler be the murderer in a mystery is cliché; it just shouldn’t be done!


SS-M Annual 2

This clunker is quite possible the worst issue of Spider-Man ever. The art by Jim Mooney is not up to his usual standards and the story by Ralph Macchio is atrocious.

The story is about a guy that seems like a super-hero named the Rapier. He’s a Zorro-like hero who fights with a… you guessed it… a rapier. He’s also wired the sword so that it shoots an electro-stun.

Anyway Spider-Man and him fight some hoodlums at a dock and part as pals.

The scene changes to, the Bugle even though Peter’s been working at the Globe in SS-M. At the Bugle is Silvermane even though in the last SS-M issue he’s dead and Vulture is carving up the mob. Anyway, it is kind of neat that Silvermane threatens JJJ, but he refuses to back down.

Then we see the Rapier again and he’s fencing. Fencers use foils, not rapiers. Foils don’t have sharp tips.

Since I used to be a photojournalist. It’s kind of neat to actually see one of the Bugle’s photo spreads on p 17.

Then it turns out that the Rapier used to be Silvermane’s partner and he was betrayed and he’s been plotting his revenge all these years. Instead of leaving his life of crime behind the Rapier still has not learned. Even though he found happiness with a woman Clarissa he still craves power and prominence. He is no hero.

Spider-Man defeats the Rapier and he starts to run away, but Silverman shoots him in the back as he escapes and the Rapier limps away into the night claiming he will seek revenge again later.

After reading the story I was left wondering why did they write a Spider-Man story where a really crappy Super-Villain is the focus instead of Spider-Man?

Spectacular Spider-Man 46

After recently reading all those Cobra and Mister Hyde team-ups in the early days of Thor it was fun to see the Cobra escape and leave a pleading Hyde behind.

The art by Mike Zeck in this issue is great and so is Roger Stern’s script. The issue is a fun nostalgic stand-alone.

Spectacular Spider-Man 47-48

The Belladonna storyline is picked up again after a 3-issue gap. I hate to belabor the point but I still don’t like the Marie Severin art.

Does Mrs. Vaugh-Pope look like Cybill Shepard to anyone else?

I like that Hobie Brown was brought back and it was fun that a villain stole his costume, but the blah art makes the whole thing seem pedestrian.

The cover to issue 48 by Frank Miller is actually really cool, very film noir, a real winner. It looks better in black and white though.

I loved the sequence in Peter’s apartment where he ends up burning the large teddy bear. Not sure why some weirdo ends up taking it out of the garbage. One man’s trash is another’s treasure I guess.

This issue has further proof that Kingsley is hardly Hobgoblin material he falls for the oldest trick in the book when he shoots a Spider-Man mannequin as it falls from his skylight. Something as light as a mannequin falling wouldn’t look anything like a man.

Spectacular Spider-Man 49

This issue is at first glance nothing special, but it does have lots of fun moments, like Spider-Man throwing a spider-tracer at a car only it hits a bird instead.

Spider-Man is on top of a speeding van and he’s about to tear the roof off. However, his spider-sense goes off, someone is firing a machine gun from a helicopter. Instinctively Spider-Man jumps off the van and onto the entrance of the Holland Tunnel. I shout at the comic, “You moron if you’d stayed on, they couldn’t have fired at you once you were in the tunnel.” Of course Spider-Man thinks the very same thing to himself in the next panel so all is forgiven.

The last classic scene is Spider-Man traveling to Brooklyn on top of a subway with a hoodlum over his back. Two transit workers see them but don’t want to believe it.

The last thing I’ll say is that this super-villain the Smuggler is a lot of fun because Spidey beat the tar out of him, but the guy just keeps coming due to invulnerability. Finally Spidey just webs him up and holds him over his head.

This issue is the start of a White Tiger solo back up feature which runs for 3 issues before the solo story is resolved in the main feature of Spectacular Spider-Man 52. The art by Denys Cowan has a really great noir feel. These first 6 pages are mostly taken up by exposition, but we learn that a villain murdered the White Tiger’s whole family. I always had a feeling that the Tiger was going to be used as a dark parallel to Spider-Man, but knowing still doesn’t prepare you for the reality of how sad it is to see a good man’s life unraveling



Spectacular Spider-Man 50-51

This anniversary issue reaches way back and reveals the truth behind one of Spider-Man oldest adversaries. I wonder how long Roger Stern had this story in mind. Did he read ASM 2 when it first came out and wonder if the aliens were real?

The issue starts off where the last one let off. Spider-Man has lifted the webbed up villain the Smuggler over his head and is thinking what a pain it is going to be to drag this guy all the way back to Manhattan. After a rematch with the Smuggler’s hoods in which the Smuggler’s incapacitated body is repeatedly used as a projectile and punching bag, Spider-Man carries the Smuggler to the subway station and hops onto the roof of a train going back to Manhattan. On the way, the Smuggler tears through the webbing but ends up being electrocuted by the third rail. Then Spidey leaves the unconscious Smuggler behind because the transit workers we met last issue say they radioed the police. This left me to wonder, how well equipped are the NYPD in the Marvel Universe? Is every police station prepared to take on a Super-Villain prisoner or is there a special unit or department? Given the hard time the Smuggler gave Spider-Man I can’t help but think the cops are going to have a hard time with this guy.

The next morning Peter and Deb go to see Aunt May who now has a fiancée. They all go out to lunch and then get attacked by the aliens Spider-Man fought way back in ASM 2. The aliens want Aunt May, but Peter claims that he has what they want so they just take him. Then on the last page the aliens are revealed to be working with Mysterio.

In the second installment of the White Tiger, he and Blackbyrd interrogate a hoodlum who ultimately reveals the hideout of the men who killed the Tiger’s family. It of course turns out to be a trap and the comic ends with the White tiger being held down and about to be killed by a man calling himself Gideon Mace.

Issue 51 has another great Frank Miller cover. In this one, Spider-Man is punching Mysterio so hard his globe flies off.

In the issue Mysterio tortures Peter Parker with images of Aunt May in a fire and Spider-Man yelling at him. Peter pretends to pass out and they throw him in a cell. Peter breaks out, puts on his Spider-Man costume, and goes looking for trouble. What he finds out is that the aliens aren’t really aliens, they’ve always just been guys in rubber suits. It was all the special effects magic of Mysterio, who it turns out was the man responsible for the original fake out in ASM 2.

Mysterio has captured Deb Whitman but Spidey finds his way into Mysterio’s control room and uses the special effects against Mysterio. While Mysterio is busy fighting multiple imaginary Spider-Man, Deb manages to turn the tables on him and hit him over the head (dome) with some sort of model. Then it’s the real Spider-Man’s turn to get some licks in.

Meanwhile in the pages of the White Tiger, the Tiger manages to briefly turn the tables on Gideon Mace and his men, but just when it looks like he is going to be able to escape, he finds out the hard way that Gideon has bricked up the windows in the room and Gideon fires a machine gun at the Tiger hitting him several times.


Spectacular Spider-Man 52

This issue has a much darker tone then most Spider-Man issues, I mean just look at the Frank Miller cover which features the White Tiger getting shot by multiple guns.

The White Tiger who was shot multiple times by Gideon Mace in the last issue is thrown out of a car in front of the Daily Bugle, just as Peter Parker is walking by. Peter accompanies him to the hospital via an ambulance and while the Tiger fights for his life Spider-Man picks up the case.

Gideon it turns out is a military man who wants to kill all super-heroes. Spider-Man invades his secret base and single-handedly beats up everyone. These guys throw everything at Spider-Man including machine guns and flame-throwers but, he just keeps coming. Spidey at one point seems to throw a rock right at a land mine from just a few feet away, but somehow Spidey is fine.

Spider-Man briefly fights Gideon, but when his men rush into the room where they are fighting Gideon orders them to shoot at Spider-Man even if he is in the way. Spidey ducks and Gideon doesn’t so Gideon is the only one that ends up dying. Then Spider-Man shouts You IDIOTS! Are you as mad as he was? There’ll be no more killing tonight, do you hear? NO MORE KILLING!” This is one of the only times I remember Spider-Man really getting angry.

Hector aka the White Tiger survives the surgery, but he decides to give up his amulets and stop being the White Tiger. Hector and his girlfriend Holly get on a bus and start a new life somewhere far away.


Spectacular Spider-Man 53

The Last issue in vol 2 of the SS-M essentials is the return of writer Bill Mantlo. This is a stand-alone story which features the Tinkerer a his various deadly creations.

At the end of the issue, it turns out that the big black guy, named Toy who seemed to be the Tinkerer’s henchman was really just another of his robot creations


Spider-Man seems to leave the Tinkerer crying over his destroyed creation. He thinks, “ I don’t know whether to call a paddy wagon or a head shrinker.” This left me to wonder whether or not Spider-Man called anyone at all. Did he just let the Tinkerer go?