Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) #92

Milgrom spends the majority of the issue on Spidey and the Black Cat fighting a new villain, the Answer, who’s one of Kingpin’s henchmen. It all ties into the Black Cat getting her powers from Kingpin and… and… and I’m bored already.

The first half of the issue isn’t terrible. I mean, the art’s weak. Milgrom does a Kirby homage on Peter’s landlady and I’m convinced he drew Robbie as a white guy and let the colorist “fill” him in.

But otherwise, I guess it’s not terrible. I mean, the writing’s bad–endless exposition–but the plotting isn’t. Flash having girlfriend troubles and coming home all beat up. Interesting. Peter deciding to go into credit card debt because of his money troubles… interesting.

It’s hilarious how wishy-washy Milgrom writes Peter though. He gripes about the Black Cat being a superficial twit, but can’t resist her. It makes him ridiculous.

The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #254

Here’s my issue… yes, Spider-Man has lots of human problems–his aunt’s pissed at him, he’s got girlfriend trouble, he’s got job trouble. He’s apparently the only superhero in New York when there’s a superpowered terrorist blowing up toy stores. The list goes on and on.

But let’s look at these problems.

Aunt May’s pissed he dropped out of college. How contrived. She’s not even a character. It’s unbelievable her beau would even have lunch with her.

His girlfriend trouble–the Black Cat. She’s a moron and a flake and written by everyone in that manner. She even tells Peter she doesn’t like him, only the costume.

The job trouble–he’s taking boring pictures. Considering he got his start faking exciting pictures, Peter’s just being lazy.

He’s not very sympathetic here.

But the Leonardi art is good on all the superhero adventuring. Not so much on the faces though.

The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #253

Where to start… I’m tempted to start with Rick Leonardi, who comes up with these great layered panels (or maybe Bill Anderson inked them to make them layered), but simply cannot keep any consistency when drawing people. Maybe he does all right when he’s got football helmets on them–it’s a football corruption story, luckily Peter was assigned to the sports department this issue.

DeFalco manages to overwrite and underwrite at the same time. He’s pushing everything he can into the issue to get an emotional response–the football player throwing games, his disappointed kid brother, Aunt May being mad at Peter for dropping out of college. He even ends the issue with Peter being compared to the football player, they’re both throwing it all away.

But there’s almost no Spider-Man stuff in the issue. Some swinging around, some black costume stuff. There’s no focus on the character though.

Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) #91

It takes them a while–almost the entire issue–but Milgrom and Mooney eventually get a couple good panels in here. When I say good panels, I mean good close-ups.

I wasn’t really paying attention to the art (it’s marvelously mediocre) as there’s so much else to get the reader’s attention. Like Peter Parker thinking crappy thoughts about his girlfriend, the Black Cat. These thoughts are totally justified–she is a controlling moron–but they’re really mean-spirited thoughts. Why’s Peter dating her in the first place?

In this issue he discovers she’s compromised his secret identity, pissed off everyone he knows, and then she drags him into a fight against the Blob (they basically get their butts kicked) while he’s busy comforting friend Flash Thompson.

She’s loathsome.

Also–how did Marvel expect people to read this book? You’re supposed to stop half-way through to switch to Amazing.

Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) #90

People used to read this comic on purpose? Like, they’d go to the store and buy it and want to read it?

Maybe this issue isn’t the norm, but something tells me Milgrom’s writing isn’t going to be much better when he’s writing Spider-Man than when he’s writing the Black Cat. I mean, the issue ends with Spidey jumping to a negative conclusion when he finds her outside Aunt May’s house.

And he should jump to a negative conclusion.

This issue reminded me of everything I used to loathe about the Black Cat as a love interest. She spent almost all of her page time griping about Peter Parker being lame. This issue it’s maybe ninety percent, since it’s her issue.

Then there’s the art. It’s pretty weak.

Maybe I’m not giving Milgrom credit. Maybe he is trying to portray the Black Cat, universally, as a completely annoying twit.

Marvel Team-Up (1972) #141

Wow, Priest can write. I’ve liked his stuff, been impressed what he could do with Marvel superheroes, but this issue is just fantastic. Maybe because he… he writes thought balloons like they’re internal monologue and not declarative statements, not opportunities for expository shortcuts.

He also should write Batman, because he borrows Batman and Jim Gordon’s relationship for Matt Murdock and Ben Urich.

The issue’s a nice story about Matt trying to help a client–not sure how ethical it is for Daredevil to act as Matt’s private investigator, since he’s not informing the client–and Spider-Man trying to help a technically innocent teenage thug.

The teenager and client are the same person, but Priest explores the difference in Spidey and Daredevil’s approach to how and why to resolve the situation.

Goofy art–Matt’s hair is absolutely hilarious–but not bad Marvel house style.

I’m stunned by the book’s quality.

The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #252

Tom DeFalco really likes expository dialogue and thought balloons, not to mention narration. Peter Parker cannot shut up he’s talking to himself so much, then there’s the Black Cat thinking about recent events to catch the reader up. Strangely, the issue opens on this amusing exchange between Jonah and Robbie about the best way to use art on the cover of the Bugle.

The opening and close is pretty strong–DeFalco paces the issue really well and reading it is an investment of time (oh, the eighties… one got to read one’s Marvel comic for longer than five minutes… I’d forgotten).

Spidey and Curt Connors get back from Secret Wars in a nice sequence, then the lengthy Peter exposition stuff, but the conclusion is Spidey taking an arguing teenage couple out to see New York the way he does.

It’s occasionally overwritten, but still a rather good mainstream comic book.

Spider-Man: Fever (2010) #3

What a nice finish. I’m not sure if Spider-Man and Dr. Strange have any real comics history between them–besides being New York heroes who traditionally weren’t members of the Avengers–but McCarthy makes it seem like they ought to.

Even with the discrepancies in the colloquialisms–one panel Spidey’s using seventies slang, then sixties in the next (or vice versa), it’s a very nice finish.

When I say nice, I don’t just mean well-executed. For all the sinister magic and the soul-devouring, the story’s upbeat and friendly.

The series finishes well for Spidey and Dr. Strange, but McCarthy also introduces a solid supporting cast (who help the two). The setting is hard to define–it’s sort of like the insect realm, but it’s also magical–so a spinoff might be difficult.

It’s so nice to see Marvel publishing an interesting comic.

Too bad it didn’t sell.

Spider-Man: Fever (2010) #2

Well, the first issue was certainly no fluke. Here, set entirely in some magic dimension, McCarthy lets loose with both the art and the storytelling… almost immediately finding the humanity in it all.

He sets Spider-Man on a quest to kill a fly. Kind of a human fly (its soul is human). The story itself might even be set in the Ditko period McCarthy is homaging, given the lack of further complications (girlfriends, marriage) in Peter’s life. But it’s stunningly modern in its storytelling; McCarthy could be an example of why psychedelic should never be used as a pejorative.

The way he wraps it all in at the end–the idea Spider-Man only exists because of these magical, evil spider demons… it’s really nest. Maybe because it’s just a story and not some attempt to retcon the character.

And the Dr. Strange stuff is great. Funny and good.

McCarthy does well.

Spider-Man: Fever (2010) #1

Maybe I don’t give Marvel enough credit. I mean, really… Spider-Man: Fever is a wacky book. It’s a good comic–but there are some pacing issues and maybe McCarthy could use a co-writer, but it’s also a really wacky comic.

McCarthy’s art is a little mixed media, but it’s mostly sixties influenced figures over some very intricate psychedelic, hyper-real stuff (the realm of the spider-demons is psychedelic, Manhattan is hyper-real–the inverse might have been more interesting, but who’s complaining). It’s a joy to look at, definitely, but McCarthy gets some great stuff going in the writing.

There’s a funny little reference to The Fly, but then there’s also Spider-Man assuming someone’s a concerned citizen who’s not. Then McCarthy leaves the scene with the citizen becoming concerned… at the Vulture’s expense.

McCarthy intentionally goes overboard–look at Dr. Strange’s expository dialogue–but it works.