WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #4 - July 1985

Arms and the Man!

Credits: Danny Fingeroth (writer), Greg LaRocque (penciler), Vince Colletta (inker), Phil Felix (letterer), J. Ferriter (colorist)

The Plot: Dr. Octopus undergoes therapy while in prison, but his progress is derailed when he notices a spider inside his cell. He sends a mental command to his metal arms, which break out of their holding facility. Spider-Man hears word of the arms’ escape and travels to Dr. Octopus’ prison to stop them. The arms destroy part of the building, forcing Spider-Man to hold debris while Dr. Octopus escapes.

The Subplots: Peter Parker tries to sell “eerie” photos of Spider-Man fighting thieves in the shadows, but Robbie Robertson declares they’re too dark to be printed in a newspaper. J. Jonah Jameson is interested, revealing that he’s reviving NOW Magazine, which is “one of” his secret projects.

Web of Continuity: NOW Magazine goes back to the earliest issues of Amazing Spider-Man. Jonah Jameson was the editor of NOW when Peter Parker first began selling him photos. After going back and forth, Stan Lee just decided to make the Daily Bugle Jameson’s official publication.

*See _________ For Details: Peter is aware of some problems Betty Brant is experiencing. A footnote points towards Peter Parker#100 for details (Good Lord, how many things happened in that comic? I think it’s been referenced in every issue of this comic so far). In Fantastic Four#267, Reed Richards thought that he could cure Doc Ock’s mental problems. Ock flashes back to an embarrassing defeat in Peter Parker#79, and his terrifying encounter with the Molecule Man from Secret Wars #12.

I Love the ‘80s: Spidey declares that he feels like he’s on Hill Street Blues while fighting the thieves in the dark.

Creative Differences: John Byrne's original cover for this issue was rejected. It eventually showed up in Amazing Spider-Man (I believe it's this one).

Review: I’m assuming Louise Simonson wrote the first three issues to finish off her contract, because according to Christopher Priest’s site, Danny Fingeroth was always supposed to be the regular writer of this series. He also says that Jim Shooter hated Fingeroth’s writing, which lead to Priest (then Jim Owsley) taking on Fingeroth as some sort of “project” (in the letters page of this very issue, Owsley says he’s staying late on a Friday, working out the next issue with Fingeroth). Fingeroth doesn’t last long, and having read Priest’s “confessions” as Spider-editor years earlier, I wasn’t expecting much from this run. However, this isn’t bad at all. The opening scene has Spider-Man hiding in the dark, taking out a band of fur thieves one-by-one. It could be a clichéd action opening, but Fingeroth uses the shadowy setting effectively, playing up an aspect of Spider-Man that really only appeared in the Ditko run. The idea of mentally troubled supervillains has been done to death over the years, but I don’t think it had been played out by this point. Whether or not Dr. Octopus could reform is an interesting question, since he was just anti-social and rude before he gained powers, and not evil. There’s also some “typical Parker luck” here as Spidey is unable to stop a runaway truck before it damages some civilian’s car, and he’s forced to let Ock escape because he has to save the prison staff from the falling debris. Vince Colletta does show up as inker, although most of the pages don’t have that rushed, lazy look people now associate with his work. Aside from the occasional panel where Spider-Man looks fat, or his hand is way out of proportion to the rest of his body, this looks fine.

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #3 - June 1985

Iron Bars Do Not a Prison Make… or Vulture Is As Vulture Does

Credits: Louise Simonson (writer), Greg LaRocque (penciler), Jim Mooney (inker), Phil Felix (letterer), George Roussos (colorist)

The Plot: The Vulture, enraged that the Vulturions have stolen his designs, breaks out of prison and hunts them down. One of the Vulturions crashes into the restaurant where Peter and Mary Jane are eating lunch. Peter changes into Spider-Man and tries to save the Vulturions from the Vulture. The toll of the fight leaves Spider-Man briefly unconscious, allowing the Vulture to escape. The next day, he travels to Aunt May’s home and secretly drops off her birthday present.

The Subplots: Aunt May is afraid of losing her home, but refuses to ask for help. Peter doesn’t attend her birthday party because she’s angry with him for dropping out of graduate school. Mary Jane fears growing closer to Peter because of his life as Spider-Man.

I Love the 80s: MJ carries a walkman, which also provides convenient radio updates on the Vulture’s activities.

Review: Hey, does anyone remember when Aunt May acted radically out-of-character and shunned Peter because he dropped out of graduate school? I can understand the writers portraying her as upset, and then using it as a guilt hammer against Peter, but treating this as a legitimate feud is ridiculous. He can’t even go to the old lady’s birthday party? Would Aunt May really behave this way? Aside from repeating the “Spidey is knocked unconscious and can’t continue the fight” gimmick two issues in a row, this is also the second issue that has him obsessing over Aunt May’s hat for most of the story. He keeps getting sidetracked from mailing it (because, remember, he can’t deliver it in person because Aunt May is such a nasty old goat), and then forgetfully leaves it with Mary Jane when he goes off into action. He has to pick it up from MJ’s apartment the next morning, which begs the question of why she didn’t just mail the thing. All Peter could talk about was getting it to the post office in time; you’d think she could do something to help him out. The final image of Spidey hiding in the trees, wishing Aunt May happy birthday as she picks up the package, is sweet, but the story has to contort in odd ways to get there.

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #2 - May 1985

Treasures!

Credits: Louise Simonson (writer), Greg LaRocque (penciler), Jim Mooney (inker), Phil Felix (letterer), Dr. Martin (colorist)

The Plot: The Vulturions add poison darts to their arsenal, hoping to become the Kingpin’s new assassins. They lead Spider-Man into a fight outside of Kingpin’s window to show their talents, unaware that Kingpin is trying to shield his sickly wife from violence. Spider-Man defeats the Vulturions, but succumbs to their poison darts. When he recovers, the Kingpin arranges for the return of the expensive hat Spider-Man lost during the fight.

The Subplots: Peter Parker buys a hat for Aunt May’s birthday at Saks Fifth Avenue. He’s forced to carry the hat during his fight with the Vulturions because Randi, Candy, and Bambi are blocking the skylight entrance to his apartment. Mary Jane waits impatiently as Peter is late to visit their infant godson in the hospital. She’s flustered when Harry and Liz suggest that she’s dating Peter again. J. Jonah Jameson is thinking of a new project outside of the Daily Bugle, and brags that he’s stealing Peter away from Robbie Robertson (mistakenly called “Robinson” in this issue).

*See _________ For Details: The Kingpin tried to kill Spider-Man in Peter Parker #100, so Spider-Man is unsure why he’s thanking him for defeating the Vulturions.

Review: The Vulturions aren’t exactly inspired villains, but Simonson is successful in creating enough distractions during the fight that it really doesn’t matter. This is traditional Spidey material, as a series of complications from Peter Parker’s personal life interferes with his crime-fighting career. It’s an enjoyable, light read, but it doesn’t present a strong case for the necessity of a third Spider-Man series. One of the earliest attempts at differentiating this title from the others was the idea that Peter Parker would travel in this book as a photographer for NOW Magazine. That’s what Jameson is hinting at during his subplot scene, but due to behind-the-scenes disarray, it’s several months before this idea goes anywhere. Why exactly it was so hard to get this idea off the ground is mystifying. Even if the book had a series of fill-in writers, how hard would it have been to explain to them that Peter Parker travels in this book, so don’t set the story in New York City?

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #1 - April 1985

‘Til Death Do Us Part!

Credits: Louise Simonson (writer), Greg LaRocque (penciler), Jim Mooney (inker), Janice Chiang (letterer), George Roussos (colorist)

The Plot: Spider-Man’s alien costume returns to feed on him. As Spider-Man travels to the Baxter Building for Reed Richards’ help, he’s attacked by the Vulturions. He fights them off and follows the sound of church bells. Standing in the bell tower, the sonic blast harms his costume, but nearly kills Spider-Man. The costume pulls Spider-Man to safety before it disintegrates.

The Subplots: Mary Jane runs into Aunt May at a department store. May’s upset that Peter has dropped out of graduate school. Harry and Liz Osborn have given birth to a son and named Peter and MJ his godparents.

Web of Continuity: At this point, Mary Jane has recently revealed she knows Peter Parker’s secret identity. The alien costume was believed to have been destroyed by the Fantastic Four’s sonic cannon. The story of Spider-Man using church bells to kill the alien is greatly expanded in Amazing #300, which reveals Venom’s origin. This scene has also been retold dozens of times in the comics, and in TV and movie adaptations (although everyone leaves out the Vulturions). The Vulturions are a group of small-level criminals who have stolen the Vulture’s technology to gain vengeance on Spider-Man. Their members include (I swear) Honcho, Gripes, Pigeon, and Sugar Face.

Production Note: Janice Chiang is credited as letterer, but several pages have Phil Felix’s distinctive lettering style. Some of the pages also have a Rick Parker look.

*See _________ For Details: Peter says he’s recently broken up with the Black Cat. An editor’s note points towards Peter Parker #100 for the details.

Forever Young: Peter reflects on the youthful antics of his teenage neighbors, Randy, Bambi, and Candy. He figures they’re only now learning not to sunbathe in Autumn because they’re so young, then refers to himself as “Methuselah.”

Review: How do you open the first issue of a new series? Do you have the lead character reflect on the events of another title for several pages? Do you plug in a footnote referencing another comic on the very first page? Construct a story that’s essentially a sequel to another comic that’s a few months old? This is old school Marvel Comics, the company that was supposedly so horribly reader-unfriendly, yet managed to sell millions of comics every month. I don’t personally find this comic impenetrable, but I was surprised to read a first issue that doesn’t open with a slow-motion introduction of the main hero and some filler pages spelling out the premise. This could’ve easily been any random issue of Peter Parker or Amazing. I’m sure that worked in convincing people that this was an “important” part of the Spider-canon, but surely they realized a few issues in that most of the stories are pretty inconsequential.

Even if it isn’t a remarkable first issue, it is an entertaining superhero story. Before the black costume became this ultra-serious representation of Peter Parker’s dark side, the writers were able to have fun with it. Simonson has the costume freaking out and acting irrationally when it discovers Peter is trying to contact Reed Richards. It spends much of the issue running Spidey into walls, refusing to shoot webbing, and dropping him to the ground. There’s usually an element of sweetness in Louise Simonson stories, which comes through here when the costume acts on its affection for Spider-Man and rescues him during its final moments. That’s another aspect of the story that’s usually forgotten, but it makes for a nice ending. I also like the art, which is somewhat of a generic ‘80s Marvel affair, but does have lovely inking by comics legend Jim Mooney. Web is off to a reasonable start, but Louise Simonson was never supposed to be the regular writer, which will lead to a series of rotating writers and directionless stories in the early days.