Requiem!

Well…Aunt May certainly appears to really be dead. BUT I DON’T BELIEVE IT.

This was a crazy issue. In addition to Pete grieving like crazy over Aunt May, Robbie Robertson quits! We also learn that Robbie had another son before Randy, and that he died as a child.

This was a pretty interesting issue. Not action-packed by any means, but that was one reason why it was so awesome. Really nice characterization and plotting here.

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Never Let the Black Cat Cross Your Path!

Alright, the Black Cat! This should be good, right? Right! This was a fun issue and the interplay between the Black Cat and Spidey was well-done. I’m really looking forward to more of Ms. Hardy.

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Claws!

Spidey fights the Griffin in a wholly forgettable tale.

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White Dragon! Red Death!

Holy calamity, everything’s going down the shitter — Betty Brant left Ned! And now, she’s after dear ol’ recently-dumped Petey.

In other news, apparently John Jameson is ill and in cryogenic stasis. That’s weird.

The issue ends with Spider-Man boiling to death in a vat of burning oil. Good stuff!

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The Fiend from the Fire!

If You Can’t Stand the Heat…!
Writer: Len Wein
Illustrator: Ross Andru
Embellisher: Jim Mooney
Colorist: Glynis Wein
Letterer: John Costanza
Originally published: October 1977

Rocket Racer was incredibly lame, but after his extremely brief appearance, the books got into a solid Molten Man story. I totally enjoyed these, mostly because we’re finally seeing some character development and villains that actually interact and impact the lives of Peter and his friends.

Spidey gets shot at the beginning of the #173, which is pretty cool.

Andru’s Molten Man art is really awesome, especially this panel:

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Tiger in a Web!

In addition to all the things I didn’t like about the last issue, this one added a bunch of complexity to the plot that I thought took away a lot more than it added.

Who is — the Man Called Photon?

A whodunnit! Awesome! Nova’s uncle gets killed, and everyone in the house is a suspect. This is just like Clue!

“The answer will be revealed in the Amazing Spider-Man no. 171!”

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What If Gwen Stacy Had Lived?

So this is a What If? story and is obviously non-canon. However, it contains a canon framing sequence of Pete visiting the site of Gwen’s death, one year after it happened.

I read this in totally the wrong spot, based on a hasty misreading of an old post on the MCP forums. Around now in my order is actually, apparently, the third anniversary of Gwen’s death, not the first. I should have read this book between Giant-Size Super-Heroes 1 and Marvel Team-Up 22. Oh well.

Both the framing sequence and the “what if” part were both pretty cool. I definitely am looking forward to reading more of these books.

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Nightmare in New Mexico!

Spider in the Middle!
Writer: Bill Mantlo
Artist: John Byrne
Inker: Mike Esposito
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: G. Roussos
Originally published: February 1977

Still in New Mexico, Spidey hooks up with the Hulk and some goat-man named Woodgod to fight some corrupt (or possibly fraudulent?) government agents. These may or may not have killed an entire town with nerve gas, and may or may not be trying to cover it up. Nothing really gets resolved here, and nothing really gets explained. A lot happened without anything really happening, you know?

At the end, Spidey ends up unconscious in a rocket that gets blasted into outer space!

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Madness is all in the Mind!

Faustus makes Spidey go nuts.

In a far more interesting development, somebody rents the Parker house, believing it holds an important secret! Oh my!

This was a pretty boring issue, overall. Not really bad or anything, it just didn’t have much going for it.

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Excerpted material originally appeared in: Fantastic Four 44-47; Fantastic Four Annual 3; Strange Tales 161
Excerpted material by: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Jim Steranko, Vince Colletta, Joe Sinnott, Frank Giacoia

This issue is about Reed and Sue’s wedding and the Fantastic Four’s first meeting with the Inhumans. Spider-Man appears in one panel that I believe is new, during the big wedding fight. This was read out of order.

There are two characters that I didn’t recognize and couldn’t tag.

I like this Marvel Saga stuff, it’s really making me understand stuff more.

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“Step Into My Parlor…” / “…Said the Spider to the Fly!”

Well, the newspaper in this issue says February 27 1976, but we’ll just ignore that.

After a big, long Ross Andru stretch, Gill Kane’s art looks positively weird. I must say, I disapprove. Kane’s line work always bothers me, and his JJJ in this issue looks terrible. I do like the character designs for Harlan Stillwell and the Human Fly, though.

I realize this is a king-size annual or whatever, but it’s a bit of overkill to spend two whole pages on Spidey approaching a building a discussing said approach. That just reeked of filler. Once this issue got going it was pretty good, but it leaned too heavily on action and the A-plot, with no real B- or C-plots to be found. It would have been nice to touch on Peter Parker’s personal life bit, or something other than the Human Fly stuff.

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Shattered by the Shocker!

• Finally back to in-order stuff. I really blew it with all the clone shit. Oh well.
• I don’t trust Harry Osborn one bit.
• The Shocker didn’t really do anything to spectacular. Now that some of the villains (Green Goblin, Jackal, etc.) have been worked into overall character arcs, normal run-of-the-mill villains like the Shocker just aren’t that interesting. I don’t really want action for action’s sake, I want it to affect the overall story.
• The story featured a cafeteria worker that looks kinda like George Bush:

  

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Spider-Man… …or Spider-Clone?

This is the first issue in ages not written by Gerry Conway. Weird.

Pretty crappy book overall, and a big letdown for the 150th issue. I don’t know if Archie Goodwin is permanent or not, but I’m not sure I’m up for the growing pains of another writer.

Spidey realizes he is not a clone, so I guess that’s something.

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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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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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Madness Means…The Mindworm!

This was a pretty cool story, with a very classic sci-fi feel to it. I really like the Mindworm character, and his design was great. My biggest problem is that the Mindworm was able to figure out that Spider-Man was Peter Parker, but this really didn’t seem to bother Pete, and it didn’t seem to go anywhere. In fact, the whole resolution was kind of weak, which was disappointing after such a strong setup.

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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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A Friend in Need!

We haven’t seen the Chameleon since way back in Amazing Spider-Man 80. I went into this not expecting much, but it ended up being relatively decent. I liked the friendship theme, even if it was a bit corny. My biggest complaint is that the Chameleon completely unexpectedly runs into the Hulk, but still happens to have a perfect Rick Jones disguise on him. This guy just carries Rick Jones disguises with him wherever he goes? That’s malarky.

There’s a radio announcement in here about the Wrecking Crew, that I think is stuff that happens in Code of Honor 1. So, as previously stated, I read it far too early.

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