Book I: The Saga Begins…!

Excerpted material originally appears in: Fantastic Four #s 1, 2, 271, 273; Tales to Astonish 27, 44; Avengers 227; Alpha Flight 2, 3, 12; The Thing 1, 10
Excerpted writers: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, H.E. Huntley, John Byrne
Excerpted artists: Jack Kirby, John Byrne, Don Heck, Ron Wilson, Sal Buscema, Art Simek, Joe Sinnott, Dick Ayers, Hilary Barta, Brett Breeding

Marvel Saga aims to describe all the goings on of the Marvel Universe, in roughly chronological order. This appeals to me. It was a really cool way to fill in some of the gaps in my MU knowledge.

This premiere issue starts at the beginning of the universe and moves forward until the time of the Skrull’s first appearance and impersonation of the Fantastic Four. Most of the material is excerpted from a bunch of issues of various things, but the first five pages of this issue is all new. Within these all new pages are two whole panels featuring a young, pre-spider Peter Parker reading about the Fantastic Four’s fateful space voyage. Exciting!

Notes: I read this way out of order; I’m not listing all the character appearances for this, since it’s basically every character in the MU.

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Beware the Path of the Monster! / The Lurker in the Swamp! / Bring Back My Man-Thing to Me!

Well, the issue of Gwen’s memory is addressed here – she has no memory of the last two years at all. There was nothing wrong with this, but I just couldn’t get into it…I dunno, I have nothing to say.

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Gwen Stacy is Alive…And, Well…?!

This issue picks up where Amazing 144 left off; remember that Marvel Team-Up 33 happens in the middle of this issue (somewhere on page 17, to be specific).

So Gwen Stacy is back, and we’re full on into the first clone storyline. Pete totally flies off the handle, and accuses clone-Gwen of being an impostor. It’s a great scene. At the end, Pete finds out that, a) clone-Gwen’s fingerprints match dead Gwen’s fingerprints, and b) dead Gwen is still in her grave.

The Scorpion stuff in this issue is really boring and crappy, but the Gwen story is great.

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…And the Wind Cries: Cyclone!

Spidey sees Gwen again, but before he has a chance to investigate he has to head off to Paris to rescue JJJ’s ass. Pete and MJ hook up!

Pretty great issue, as seems to be the usual for this period.

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Midgard Aflame!

Loki invades Earth — specifically, Washington, DC — and, to ensure his battle is solely with Thor, he immobilizes every other super-powered individual on the planet. This includes Spider-Man, who appears in a brief cameo.

Even though I don’t really know most of the backstory, this was a thoroughly enjoyable issue. It also made me realize how much I miss John Buscema’s art. Nothing against Ross Andru or anything, but John Buscema is fantastic.

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For a Few Fists More!

This episode, with Spidey and Iron Fist versus Drom the Backwards Man, was almost as dumb as issue 30. I’m losing a lot of faith in bloody Marvel Team-Up.

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The Man’s Name Appears To Be…Mysterio!

The Spider-Mobile is back! Sweet! Unfortunately, it also goes headfirst into the drink, and I suspect that’s the last we’ll be seeing of it.

This issue was alright, but a bit slow. Spidey runs into Mysterio and ends up getting duped into beating himself up. In the end, Ned Leeds informs us that Mysterio died in prison, causing Spidey to question whether he’s beginning to crack up. Jameson seems to be involved somehow. Fairly entertaining, I guess, and it had a nice brisk pace.

The best part is when Spidey steals McDonald’s from some guy:

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…And One Will Fall!

Meh, this issue had too much Grizzly, not enough Jackal. Let’s get some fucking momentum on this Jackal story already.

Also, I can’t help but wonder if the “tea” comment from Pete’s new neighbour was a sly marijuana reference. I will assume it was.

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Day of the Grizzly!

The Grizzly is a bit of a lame character, but I’m happy at the re-emergence of the Jackal. His design is great, IMO, and I really love his poses. Even though he only shows up in the last page here, he totally steals the show.

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The City Stealers!

I was looking forward to Gerry Conway guest-writing Team-Up because, despite my problems with him, he’s been far more consistently good lately than Len Wein in the Team-Up issues. This, however, totally blows. It literally makes no sense, and absolutely nothing is explained. Here is a blow-by-blow of the plot:

1. robots cause earthquakes by drilling in the ground
2. Spidey and Hercules try to stop them
3. the robots divulge their plan: to pull Manhattan into the ocean using a submarine and ransom off its safety
4. Spidey and Herc beat the robots, and find a tiny man hiding inside on of them. The man is afraid of some bigger boss.
5. Hercules pulls Manhattan back to its rightful spot
6. the mayor gets mad about wrecked bridges and tunnels

There is no explanation for the tiny man, no explanation of who was in the submarine or in charge. And Hercules pulled all of Manhattan! There are about a million other flaws too, but I just can’t even get to those. This book was just insane.

This is possible the worst Spider-Man story I’ve ever read.

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Death-Trap Times Three!

Wow, yet another great issue. Harry is such a dick! He kidnaps Flash, Aunt May, and Mary Jane and puts them in three different locations around the city. Each apparently has a bomb above their heads, but only one bomb is real. Spider-Man only has time to find and save one of his loved ones, but if he chooses the wrong one, somebody will die! Talk about fiendish!

Of course, with an inadvertent clue from Harry, Spidey is able to guess correctly and all involved are saved. But still – great suspense, great story.

In the end, Harry even reveals Pete’s secret identity. Luckily enough, nobody ends up believing him.

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The Green Goblin Lives Again!

Well, Pete and MJ are full-on dating, and I gotta say they make a good couple.

This was an exciting, fantastic issue. Harry Osborn has finally taken on the mantle of the Green Goblin and gone after his former friend. I felt pretty bad for Pete when a bomb in his apartment hurt MJ, and he flashed back to Gwen’s death. Pete’s just got a shitty life, man.

I can’t wait to see how this turns out.

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Three Into Two Won’t Go!

This issue sees Spidey and Daredevil rescuing a damsel in distress from the Unholy Trio – Cat-Man, Bird-Man and Ape-Man.

I think one of my problems with Marvel Team-Up is that it doesn’t (usually) shed any light on the characters or any on-going story arc stuff. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s all very formulaic, and it’s pretty easy to get sick of. This issue was better than some of the more recent ones, but it still didn’t really offer anything other than a relatively well-done villain-of-the-week type story.

Mooney’s art was nice.

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Shoot-Out in Central Park!

Tarantula was a government-sponsored crook from a South American dictator state! That’s bad-ass!

This issue was pretty straightforward, and could have been a Marvel Team-Up issue with the Punisher, except that it was too good for that book’s current shit-streak. Again, I liked the book and I liked the Tarantula. I also liked the Harry Osborn cliffhanger ending, and I’m looking forward to him becoming the Green Goblin. (Unfortunately, I’ll have to wait a bit, as there are a number of other intervening issues of other series first.)

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Danger is a Man Named…Tarantula

This book sees the introduction of Tarantula, another spidery character that I will be following as part of this project.

(I haven’t really made it clear up until now, but in addition to reading Spider-Man appearances, I’m also going to keep up with the various Spider-Women, Venom, the Tarantulas, etc. Perhaps I should add a note about that somewhere.)

In this issue, Peter is careless and Harry Osborn is finally able to confirm that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.

I quite liked this issue. The pace was brisk, the action fun, the art crisp and clean. I also really love the Tarantula.

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The Master Plan of the Molten Man!

The Molten Man hasn’t been seen for almost 100 issues of Amazing Spider-Man, but now he’s back! And Liz Allen! :O

Conway’s back to intrusive narration. He also slips up and has Robbie refer to Pete as free-lance, when at this point he’s actually on the payroll.

The Liz Allen thing gets dropped pretty early to focus on Molten Man, which is pretty typical stuff. I would have liked the focus to be more on her mysterious reemergence and less on his, but maybe that’ll happen next issue.

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Dinosaurs on Broadway!

Stegron and his dinosaurs are in Manhatten. Spider-Man and the Black Panther fight them, and Spider-Man accidentally drowns and kills Stegron. Oops! Chalk up one more death!

Haven’t seen Sal Buscema around for awhile. He does a decent job here, and it’s a refreshing break from Gil Kane and, to a lesser extent, Ross Andru.

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My Uncle…My Enemy?

They keep switching up Rimbaud’s first name. First it was Jean-Pierre, then Albert, now Arthur.

So, here’s the deal: Aunt May inherited something good, and that’s what both Doc Ock and Hammerhead are after. Rimbaud was a lawyer, as you may recall, that knew about it and was going to tell Peter. Naturally, Ock had Rimbaud killed to keep the inheritance on the down-low. And what is this inheritance? It’s kind of cool, actually: a Canadian island housing “one of the world’s most sophisticated nuclear breeding reactors”, “the most modern privately-owned atomic processing plant in the world.”

The whole island, including Hammerhead and Dr. Octopus, goes up in a giant nuclear explosion. It’s almost a given that they’ve survived, but I’d really like to see an explanation as to how. I hope they at least stay dead for awhile. A lot of people have been dying lately, it’s nuts.

This episode would be pretty good, if it didn’t involve Spider-Man flying a plane. That stretches my belief.

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Betrayed!

Spider-Mobile is finally done, and it’s a beaut! The best part about it is that Spider-Man doesn’t even know how to drive!

Ok, so there’s stuff going on here between the Jackal and Hammerhead, but then Doc Ock also makes an appearance. And what does he let slip? That Rimbaud, the mysterious man in Montreal from Amazing 120, knew something of Ock’s master plan. Very interesting! But, what did he want with May Parker?! Well, we find out with a fantastic cliffhanger– Doc Ock marries Aunt May! Crazy! (Although, I’m still not sure how Rimbaud fit in.)

Great issue! Conway, I think, is finally getting into the swing of things (ugh, sorry).

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On the Brink of Madness!

Two Worlds…and Dark Destiny
Writer: Steve Gerber
Artist: George Tuska
Inker: Vince Colletta
Letterer: C. Jetter
Colorist: G. Wein
Originally published: March 1974

Peter Parker just shows up briefly in issue 68 – in fact, only in the last panel – and his appearance in issue 69 is fairly brief too. This is a pretty boring story about Namor’s quest to get a forcefield projector to protect Atlantis. The art kinda stank, too, especially in 69.

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Beware the Basilisk My Son!

Terrible issue. I take issue with both physics and linguistics stuff in this issue, both of which are sticking points with me. It’s about an alien rock giving some loser powers, and then Spider-Man and Captain Marvel trying to stop him.

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The Kangaroo Bounces Back!

Kangaroo sucked the first time around, and he was boring this time. Luckily there was enough else going on in this issue to keep things moving. Take, for example, this tidbit: Harry Osborn was, as I suspected, the one who removed his father’s costume. Furthermore, Harry has lost it and has taken on his father’s role – he is now the Green Goblin!

The most interesting thing about this issue is that Spider-Man gets approached to build a Spider-Mobile. BEST. IDEA. EVER.

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Wolfhunt!

• Half the art is underwhelming, but the other half is fantastic – like this John Jameson panel blow. In fact, John’s whole flashback is super sweet.
• John Jameson’s origin as Man-Wolf is from some crazy moon rock. That’s pretty badass. The moon scenes was great.
• MJ’s problems with harry, and the subsequent cold shoulder she gives Pete, are intriguing. I’m curious how they’re relationship will develop.

Really great issue overall. The writing was snappy and had really good pacing. Peter’s attitude and behaviour comes off as real and, most importantly, interesting to read. I absolutely loved the scene with JJJ at the end.

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The Mark of the Man-Wolf

Ten days since Gwen and Norman Osborn bit it, and things aren’t getting any better for Spider-Man. The issue opens in the rain, and it’s a perfect way to set the mood. Mysteries still abound – who is covering up Osborn’s secret identity? What was up with that guy in Montreal that wanted to see Aunt May?

Those questions won’t be answered here, unfortunately. This issue shows Peter’s continuing struggle to deal with Gwen’s death, as well as introducing a new problem: J.J. Jameson’s son John has become a werewolf!

First, the Gwen stuff. Pete oscillates between trying to convince himself that he’s fine and ready to move on, and having wild outbursts and mood swings that point to the exact opposite. He attempts to go to class, can’t handle it, and flips out at MJ and Flash. These school scenes are the best in the issue. Later, he cracks up and smashes a newspaper box, destroying its content. (Sure he often destroys way more property than that, but it’s usually in the form of Spider-Man and usually for a greater good. This time he was just venting.) He then takes off, fully intending to attack Jameson. He’s become unhinged. The anger fades, but still…pretty shocking that it bubbled up in the first place.

Man-Wolf: Dave Hunt’s colouring gets lousy marks for his work on John Jameson. The Junior JJ has always been a striking brunette, but Hunt has given him completely grey hair. I realize that his hair could have greyed over time, but it’s obviously just a screw up. It irks me. And what’s with all the werewolf stuff? This is from September ’73. In August ’73, Spider-Man was dealing with the Werewolf. Now he has Man-Wolf? Gerry Conway wrote this one and plotted the other one, so it isn’t just a crazy coincidence. Conway’s wolf-crazy.

This issue wasn’t bad, and it’s nice to get back into an issue that’s taking a larger look at the ongoing arc, rather than just wrapping everything up super neatly. The Man-Wolf stuff doesn’t get resolved here, and is continued in the next ASM.

By the way, I think this is the last Gil Kane appearance in Amazing Spider-Man. His art here pretty much sums up how I’ve felt about his whole run – it’s a total mixed bag. There are some things in here that I love, that look totally awesome. And there are some panels that just look uninspired and bad. I don’t know if it’s just me, but Kane’s work has never seemed consistent. I’m usually excited by artist changes, and this isn’t an exception. I just hope the new stuff is by someone good!

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…Then Came Ramrod!

Ok, so I’ve caught some mentions at the Daredevil and the Black Widow being together, but I don’t really know the details. Are they a couple? Why are they in San Francisco?

I’m not really into this, so here’s a couple of notes:

• Don Heck has Spider-Man walking along his web like a tightrope, exactly like Daredevil would. Did Heck forget who he was drawing? It’s not that it’s impossible that Spidey would do that, but it certainly comes across as weird. The pose doesn’t help.
  
• There was a nice mention of Pete’s ulcer, even if it was just him covering for his spider sense. Nice to see that the ulcer hasn’t been completely forgotten.
• I really hate the monologue-flashback-origin-story crutch. There are other, far less artificial ways to tell a character’s origin, but comics too often resort to this.
• Ramrod’s kind of like Wolverine, in that his skeleton has been replaced with metal. That’s kind of neat.
• Daredevil and the Black Widow are barely in this, which is really weird. You know, since it’s their book.

Very villain-of-the-weeky, nothing really special here at all.

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