The Battle of the Century!

Here’s why I am considering this story canon:

1. Wikipedia says the whole Marvel/DC thing with the brothers starts because they become aware of each other due to previous crossovers. This is a previous crossover, meaning it has some bearing on that event and can be considered to have happened in some form.
2. Uatu makes reference to this crossover in What If? v1 #1, saying “and, doubts exist as to whether Spider-Man’s spectacular bout with a certain colorfully-clad alien took place in this time continuum or another”, which I think allows lots of wiggle room.
3. Access (Axel Asher) can solve any results from this because he can time travel and he loves fixing universes. Just because we haven’t seen the merged universes get repaired, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Is my placement right? I think it could be. We’re at a fairly large break in terms of the story in Amazing, and this book is explicitly set in the winter. I think it all works. Betty Brant and Ned Leeds are at the World News Conference, but this may be a small business trip away from Paris, or it could be a result of the crazy world-merging. I think I’m good for placement.

The story is split into three prologues (one for Superman, one for Spider-Man, and one for Luthor and Doc Ock), then four chapters of main story, and an epilogue.

This issue is f-ing badass. The art is fantastic! Doc Ock has a really sweet “flying octopus” ship, MJ & Lois go to outer space, Superman uses a sonic wave to counteract a tsunami. Ugh, this thing just rocks the whole way through.

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This Woman, This Warrior!

This was a pretty good start for Ms. Marvel. As far as the hero and plot-points go: I like the whole amnesia/secret-identity-from-herself angle, I was intrigued by the teaser about MJ being interested in photography, and I thought it was badass when the Scorpion got fucked up by a vat of acid. The book was really on track until the big fight with the Scorpion, where it was derailed by so much – so much! – crappy, unrealistic exposition.

Spidey stuff: Pete and Robbie are seen at the Bugle, MJ hangs out with Carol, Jameson hires Carol and is kidnapped.

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…And There Was Lightmaster!

Lightmaster is a fairly lame bad guy, I think. He’s just like a big Christmas light. Lansky’s reasons for turning to supervillainy were also incredibly stupid. Who becomes some evil super-powered criminal kidnapper because city officials don’t have a high enough education budget? Come on…

Also, how the hell did Peter figure out Lansky’s identity? That scene made no sense.

The most interesting thing here is that Flash and the gang run into Sha Shan.

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Kraven is the Hunter!

• There’s a little foreshadowing of what I assume will be the return of the Lizard next month
• Who’s the leader of this whole kidnap operation? I assumed it was Lansky himself, but I could be wrong. Anyway, now Kraven the Hunter has joined Tarantula on the team.
• Glory Grant becomes JJJ’s new secretary.

I normally hate Kraven issues. This time around he wasn’t so bad, possibly because of all the other crap going around that kept his on-panel time down.

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At Last: The Decision!

A new set of Avengers is chosen. It very much resembles the existing lineup. There are lot of flashbacks, including one with Spidey. This was kind of like a crappy clips episode of a sitcom.

Why is Ben Grimm human, but wearing a Thing costume? I’ve clearly missed something there.

I probably shouldn’t have this smack dab in the middle of a cliffhanger.

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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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Snow Death!

More Frankenstein’s monster and Man-Wolf. This was really painful to read.

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Once Upon a Time in a Castle… / The Cold Wind of Doom! / To Make a Monster!

So, I was really, really not looking forward to this. Frankenstein’s monster? Come on. This relaxation of the comics code and subsequent horror schlock in the mainstream Marvel books is very annoying to me. The book ended up being better than I expected. Not good, really, but not terrible either. This is mostly because it played like a spy/James Bondy kind of thing.

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Even if I Live, I Die!

A really great finish (?) to this first clone saga! Woo. I know people really hate on the other one, but I never hear many comments about this. I’m quite happy to say that I totally enjoyed this arc and this ending.

A Spidey clone was an unexpected surprise! Is the surviving Spidey the original or the clone? Is there a difference really? Ah, sweet.

(We actually all know the answer to this, I assume, but I’ll just suspend that for now…)

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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 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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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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“Scorpion… …Where is Thy Sting?”

So everybody in this issue is saying that Gwen’s been dead for two years, but every other issue indicates it’s only been a few months. That’s super weird, but I guess Marvel-time can be confusing.

In this issue we get the first hints that the Jackal is behind the Gwen-cloning. The best part about all this is that clone-Gwen doesn’t know she’s a clone, and doesn’t understand what’s going on. As far as she’s concerned, she’s just normal Gwen! I wonder what her memories of the last two years are like.

The Scorpion shizz is still boring, but at least now it’s tied in with the Jackal stuff. Does the Jackal know that Pete is Spider-Man? Hmm, I think he might, and so does Peter.

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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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Anybody Here Know a Guy Named Meteor Man?

Continuity note: “The events in this tale take place during the events in Spider-Man #145.” Good to know. Spidey is assuming that somebody is impersonating Gwen.

I guess Gerry Conway’s the new permanent writer on Team-Up, since Len Wein seems to be the new editor in town. I was getting kind of sick of Len Wein and this title anyway, but Conway certainly hasn’t been bringing his A-game to this series. Fortunately, this particular issue is a bit of an exception.

In this episode, Spidey and Nighthawk fight the Looter (from Amazing 36!), who has renamed himself Meteor Man. Back when I reviewed that old issue, I liked his costume but not his name – I guess I wasn’t the only one. He’s still not the most interesting character, but he does get a bit of a personality, which makes this issue a little more bearable than some of the more recent ones. In fact, this leads to a very surprising ending – Nighthawk decides that Meteor Man needs psychological help rather than fisticuffs, and leaves Spidey with a guilt complex about his eagerness to fight. That’s a cool switch!

Another plus is Sal Buscema’s art. His layouts and composition are really great, and totally different from a lot of what I’ve been seeing lately. It’s really refreshing!

Rating:

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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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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To Sow the Seeds of Death’s Day / Attack of the War Machine! / Death-Camp at the Edge of the World!

There is a lot of cleavage at the beginning of this issue. Ross Andru, you dirty man.

This was a really dark story with a lot of fairly gruesome death. I guess that’s par for the course with Punisher, but it still caught me off guard. I am very pleased to say, though, that it was also awesome! As with the last Giant-SIze, Conway seems to have figured out how to pace a story of this length, and it played beautifully.

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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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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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All That Glitters is not Gold!

Spider-Man and the Falcon go up a racist golden man named Midas. Not great, not terrible. More or less forgettable.

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The Yesterday Connection! / The Secret Out of Time! / Tomorrow is Too Late! / The Future is Now!

Ok, other than some irksome physics and linguistics issues, this was a bad-ass story. With this book I feel like Marvel’s finally gotten a handle on what to do with a Giant-Size story. Instead of dragging some normal thing out and making it dull, the cutting back and forth between two different but related tales worked beautifully. Plus, like some other recent things, this was a really neat kind of classic sci-fi story that I dug. Reviving Doc Savage (in a way) was a great idea, and I’d love to see more stories like this in the future. Time travel, other dimensions, betrayal, deceit; this book had it all.

Rating:

…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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