My Friend, My Foe!

The resolution to this whole thing was fairly unsatisfying. In the end, though, Bobby Drake is back to normal and the real bad guy is defeated. At the end there are some epiloguey pages with White Tiger going to ESU (booo) and somebody mysterious and powerful breaking out of prison. Perhaps Electro?

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Whatever Happened to the Iceman?

Spidey’s in LA! Apparently the Champions are splitting up, and Pete’s there to cover it. Unfortunately, Iceman is zombified into being a bad guy. The issue ends with a tense standoff.

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Tigra Tigra, Burning Bright!

Great, fucking Kraven the Hunter. Blurgh. Also, man, the Cat was really cool when she started. As Tigra she’s lamesauce.

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Murder World

Captain Britain and Spidey sorta team up here, but they’re mostly separated for the whole issue. Pretty much the whole thing takes place in Arcade’s “Murder World” funhouse. It’s not bad or anything, but I was hoping for some more interesting character development and backstory, considering that in the last issue Captain Britain moved in with Spidey and Peter learned his secret identity. That’s some interesting stuff, and it was all completely dropped.

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Introducing, Captain Britain

As the title indicates, this was basically an introduction to Captain Britain. A good chunk of it was a flashback to his origin. He seems like an interesting enough character, though there wasn’t much room in here for an actual, interesting story.

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If Death be My Destiny…

This one had more Spider-Man, but was still basically Iron Fist junk.

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Night of the Dragon

Sweet Jesus, more kung-fu crap. Spidey was barely even in this!

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All This and the QE2

Ms. Marvel takes Johnny Storm’s place in the battle against the Super Skrull. This time the action is aboard the Queen Elizabeth II cruise-liner!

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Not All Thy Powers Can Save Thee!

I’ve been away for awhile, busy with things, but now I’m back. Whoopity doo.

Spidey and the Torch team up against the Super Skrull. This goes along well with the Secret Invasion shizz I’m reading. By the end of the issue, the Torch is out of commission.

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A Matter of Love… and Death!

Captain DeWolff is back! Woo!

This was another fantastic issue. I didn’t dig Claremont’s last few stabs at Team-Up, but if he can continue this streak I’ll be super happy.

Oh, and Yellow Jacket’s not dead, which I guess is a good thing.

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Some Say Spidey Will Die by Fire… …Some Say by Ice!

Fantastic issue! Equinox, and old villain from Team-Up returns and we start getting some back story on him. This issue is all action, but there’s also tons of character development. The Wasp is a pretty lame hero, but Claremont’s made her very likable here. And he seems to have killed off Hank Pym!

Seriously, this was really good.

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When Slays the Silver Samurai!

This was really terrible. I seem to remember Team-Up getting really good for awhile there — what happened? Now it’s back to all fighting, no character development. Am I wrong? Maybe it’s always been this bad.

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Double Danger at the Daily Bugle!

Alright, so the Blizzard and Electro have teamed up to blackmail the Bugle and the Globe. Luckily, Spider-Man and Daredevil are around to stop them. This issue was pretty much non-stop fighting, which I’m not the biggest fan of. It was fairly stale.

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Spider, Spider on the Moon!

Just as Spidey’s oxygen is running out, Warlock shows up and beams him to the moon – only with wacky plants, space squirrels, and air. Apparently it’s a “blue area” of the moon, with atmosphere and life, where the Watcher lives.

THEN A HUGE CREEP WITH A MOUSTACHE SHOWS UP!!!

At the end, Warlock starts to take Spidey back to Earth.

This was super boring and, I suspect, made no sense. I really thought Spider-Man on the moon was going to be better.

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Twice Stings the Tarantula!

Danger: Demon on a Rampage!
Guest writer: Gerry Conway
Artists: Sal Buscema, Mike Esposito
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Don Warfield
Originally published: December 1976

All the Kingpin’s Men!
Writer: Len Wein
Illustrator: Ross Andru
Embellisher: Mike Esposito
Colorist: Glynis Wein
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Originally published: December 1976

man, it’s been ages since I read amazing spider-man! and, we have the start of a brand new spidey series!

alright, so spectacular 1 has a reference to amazing 163, and amazing 163 has a reference to spectacular 1. i guess they intersect, with everything up to and including the surprise party in amazing 163 comes first, then all of spectacular 1, then all of marvel team-up 52, then the rest of amazing?

in asm 163 pete thinks MJ is mad at him, and she is kinda chummy with flash. later, in spectacular, pete says that mj has been dating flash. however, pete and mj were just hanging out together in marvel treasury edition 12, and mj expressed jealousy about pete recognizing bev switzer. hmm… maybe that’s what pete was apologizing for.

• spidey runs into the kingpin’s goons
• peter’s apartment gets furnished in a surprise “please-provide-for-peter-parker’s-pad” party
• harry and liz are makin’ time
• spidey fights the tarantula, who escapes and kidnaps some guy named lansky
• pete and mj have an off-panel talk
• tarantula, under somebody’s orders (i suspect the guy that originally got “kidnapped”) tries to fake-kidnap-but-really-kill the mayor, but spider-man stops him
• tarantula gets away
• spidey’s swinging home and a interdimensional portal opens, spitting out a monster, the falcon, a cowboy, some crazies, and captain america
• the monster runs afoul of batroc the leaper, who enlists him to rob a shield hovercar
• cap and spidey stop them and capture batroc, but the monster gets away
• spider-man acknowledges that the monster is lost, confused and trying to get home, but kills him anyway. nice.
• pete and mj pick up aunt may from the hospital
• spidey tracks down kingpin’s men, but really it’s a trap and he has to face the kingpin himself
• they fight like mad, and spidey gets captured, gassed, strapped into some kinda contraption

overall, these issues were all kind of boring. not a great return to amazing, and not a great debut for spectacular. i give these three one big “meh”.

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Earthshock! / Happy Landings, Power Man

This has a flashback to the time Spidey and the Punisher went to South America. I’m not a huge Luke Cage fan, and that’s not really enough Spider-Man material to keep me entertained. This was also looooong.

(…this is apparently June, so this is in the wrong spot I guess.)

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Jackal, Jackal…Who’s Got the Jackal?

Another great Tarantula / Jackal / clone-Gwen issue. In this one the identity of the Jackal is revealed as Professor Warren, which is great. I mean, I already knew all about it, so it wasn’t a surprise, but I really loved the way it was handled.

It’s funny how I used to hate Gerry Conway so much, but I think he’s really grown into his role in Amazing Spider-Man. His good stories are really good.

This happens to me a lot:

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The Tarantula is a Very Deadly Beast!

I’m sick, so not much of a review here.

• Pete finds out clone-Gwen is a clone: so good
• Tarantula and Jackal: so good
• Spidey going nuts and smashing a mirror: so good
• “Spider-Hombre”: so good
• the whole thing: so good

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Beware the Death Crusade!

Hmm, this issue says that it’s late February, but Amazing 145 said that it was March. Is there any way to reconcile this? I’ve looked into it, and there absolutely is not as far as I can tell. It’s just an error.

Despite Team-Up experimenting with less self-contained, more on-going stories, this was a bit of a dud. Valkyrie really added nothing to this at all, which is a shame.

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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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The Delusion Conspiracy

Awesome cover this month, by Gil Kane I think.

Aunt May still looks insane and evil and dead.

This issue, super-creepy Aunt May thinks she sees Gwen! Oh noes! AT THE END GWEN IS AT PETER’S APARTMENT!!!!

Well, I liked the Cyclone, even though he wasn’t much more than a stereotype, but the way Spidey defeated him was dumb. The whole Cyclone thing ended up being kind of a dud, but this issue had enough going for it on the Gwen Stacy front that I can’t really deny it a 4/5.

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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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Dead Man’s Bluff!

The art in this issue is pretty good, except that Aunt May looks like an insanely creepy reanimated corpse:

In this issue Ned and Betty drop the bomb that they’ve set the date for the wedding…but I thought they already got married. Am I nuts? Perhaps. Speaking of nuts, Pete certainly seems to be losing it in this issue. Gerry, Ross, et. al. do a good job of showing him becoming more and more unhinged. Eventually it is revealed that JJJ is behind it (along with a brand new Mysterio).

The most interesting part is when Pete thinks he sees Gwen. Could this be the first hint of the Jackal’s Gwen-cloning operation?

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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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