Super Blog Team-Up: Shades of Gray - a Review of Spectacular Spider-Man 1

Spectacular Spider-Man #1 (July 1968)
"Lo, This Monster!"
Stan Lee-John Romita/Jim Mooney

Welcome back, friends, to this space as well as to another round of Super Blog Team-Up! This time around we're looking at gimmicks and excess in a theme called "Chromium". While that might seem to have a 90s or 00s vibe, you know this blog hearkens back to the Bronze and sometimes Silver Ages. And that's what I have for you today - a review of a book that lands squarely in that transition from the Marvel Comics of the 1960s heading into the 1970s.

The Spectacular Spider-Man was the brainchild of Marvel's Editor-in-Chief, Stan Lee. Always seeking new ways of keeping Marvel fresh, and narrowing the gap with the Distinguished Competition, Stan could be daring when twisting publisher Martin Goodman's arm. Warren Publishing, MAD Magazine, et al. had already created a market for more adult-themed comics, so Stan wasn't exactly inventing the wheel. Despite its timing, Spectacular Spider-Man was a beautiful book and truly a shame to have been a one-and-done in the black-and-white format. The second issue, in full color and featuring the Green Goblin, stands as one of the great Spidey stories of the Lee-Romita era.

Take a peek at the Bullpen Bulletins at left, and enlarge it. You'll see some typical Stan Lee huckstering, both in the third "Item!" as well as in The Mighty Marvel Checklist. Nearly sold out? Stan even remarks that Jazzy Johnny couldn't find it in his own neighborhood! Know what? I think he was right. Sales figures (I've looked for some exact numbers, but can't locate them) were presumably swell for the first issue, yet Goodman elected to print the second ish in color. We all know that the third issue never saw the light of day. So what happened? My guess is, from everything I've read across numerous histories of Marvel Comics, that Martin Goodman's impatience and general skittishness at potentially losing a nickel most likely ruled the day. It would be another three years before Marvel took the magazine plunge again, with 1971's Savage Tales. And even then, that mag would see a start-stop-start genesis.

NOTE: This book would have landed at the drug stores and supermarkets in between Amazing Spider-Man's 62 (featuring Medusa) and 63 (with the Vulture).

But enough backstory... let's get on with my thoughts on today's selection.

100-Word Review:

Richard Raleigh is a mayoral candidate who has charmed the populace of New York City. But a man-mountain of an assassin apparently wants him dead. Encountering our favorite Webhead, the mystery deepens as Spidey is unable to defeat the monster. Later, various underworld factions take shots at Raleigh. Behind-the-scenes, we find that Raleigh’s not the good guy who’s endorsed by J. Jonah Jameson’s newspaper. Rather, he’s scheming for power by creating plots that seem to run against himself. Can our hero protect his loved ones and the city, and defeat the 10-foot giant bent on killing Captain George Stacy?

The Good: Do you mind if I go on about the art for the next three hours or so? Yeah, that would be excessive. Let's see if I can be a bit more concise. I loved it! Since we're talking gimmicks and marketing today, some of our time should be spent on the black & white art. MAD Magazine was selling a little less than two million copies monthly; we know Warren was well-established by 1968. But no Marvel title had pursued this style yet - Stan's decision to dip his toe into this water could have been a disaster on many fronts: sales, fan response, execution, etc. But wow - did Jazzy Johnny and Jim "Madman" Mooney nail it. This book is beautiful. I read/scanned from the The Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection, volume 4 - admittedly remastered. I think this would have played well on regular ol' newsprint, too. I used to own a copy of Spectacular Spider-Man #2, and I can tell you that it was printed on standard comic book paper of Silver Age vintage. I'm pretty sure the Marvel magazines of a few years hence would be printed on slightly different paper quality. Anyway, I hope you'll agree with me (based on the samples I've provided) that the pictures are simply stunning.

I've remarked in previous reviews that when I see John Romita's Spider-Man and his cast of characters, it just feels like a comfortable pair of jeans or a warm blanket. This is the way these characters are supposed to look. Yes, Spidey's been blessed with a wonderful stable of artists through the years. But for me, everyone's compared to Romita. I'll get to Stan's script shortly... had it been the most gawd-awful piece of trash (which it wasn't), I'd still have had the pretty pictures to look at. Case in point: The three pages below serve as microcosms of my joy. On the left, the second panel with Spidey's mask sort of washed out is a solid effect. In the middle page, the large panel at bottom showcases four of our main characters and shows why Romita is my gold standard. And finally, the third selection seems a preview of pages we'll see in a few years from the likes of Ploog, Wrightson, Buscema, Mayerik, and some of the other B&W and horror masters.

Regarding the supporting cast, I really think their voices lived in Stan's head. Each one is distinctly presented throughout Stan's tenure as writer. Romita helped by giving each a unique look that remained consistent throughout his years on the book and became the template for Gil Kane, Ross Andru, Keith Pollard, and so on.

Richard Raleigh and his man-monster were effective villains in a story that sought original content. Both characters were bombastically over-the-top and effective as psychological and physical menaces to our wall-crawling hero. I liked JJJ's blind allegiance to the cult of personality Raleigh had crafted, and the opposition of Captain George Stacy. Stacy's skepticism and subsequent investigation of Raleigh proved a nice antagonism to both the candidate and to Jonah. Side Note: After writing this review, I started reading at the beginning of the Epic Collection that was my source. George Stacy had only been introduced within the preceding year to this story's publication, and his star had risen quickly. By the time Stacy would meet his demise in ASM #90, he'd only been around for 40 issues or so - a quite short "lifespan" as a somewhat-major supporting character.

The Bad: I was a bit worried as this story was beginning that Stan's script was going to whither beyond the pedestrian effort that limped out of the gate. Through the first three pages, this felt like one of the newspaper strips that would be published a decade later. I understand that, given the format and price increase (35c, when Annuals sold for a quarter) there may have been new readers who needed to be brought up to speed. But I was having a tough time getting past all the cliches. Fortunately, after the initial too-long battle, the story settled in and became what we'd call "regular Spidey fare". 

It seemed to me that Spider-Man might have drawn on Peter Parker's science knowledge in a bit more of a detailed manner when deducing how to defeat the big ugly. The climax felt more the result of luck than of Spidey actually using that genius mind that dwelt beneath the mask.

And speaking of a too-long battle, whenever I get about halfway through one of these 52-page monsters I begin to question my stamina. This was a lengthy piece of literature!

The Ugly: I got nuthin'. Fun read, fun format, easy on the eyes - it's what comics and comics magazines should be.

Before we get to some more good stuff, I wanted to show an art sample of the 10-page retelling of Spider-Man's origin, the back-up to our main feature. Stan wrote it, and art was provided (quite solidly, I might add) by Stan's brother Larry Lieber with inks by the ever-stellar Bill Everett. It's a collaboration that paid some serious dividends.

 

Please patronize my partners in blogging and podcasting today and in the coming days. You will find it's time well-spent!  

  

Super-Hero Satellite: 70s-80s Photo Covers. A snapshot of pre-90s era of gimmicks, the evolution of a trend through the years.

Chris is on Infinite Earths (Blog): Adventures of Superman #500 (White Bag/Lenticular Cover/etc.)

Chris is on Infinite Earths (Podcast): Episode 33: Team Titans #1 (1992) -Five Variant Covers… and five variant stories!

Comic Reviews by Walt: The '90s Revisited: Shiny Covers

Source material: Spider-Man Torment (issues 1-5) by Todd McFarlane

ComicsComicsComics.blog - Daredevil 319-325: Fall from Grace (Gimmick covers and a new costume)

 

The Telltale Mind - Worlds Collide - The Intercompany Crossover

Between The Pages - Guerilla Marketing

DC In the 80s - Justin’s 5 most memorable DC “gimmicks” (1990 - 1995): Robin II hologram covers, Spectre glow-in-the-dark covers, Justice League Task Force #1 with JLA membership card, Batman Shadow of the Bat #1 collector’s issue, #5 undecided. Mark’s most memorable DC comic cover “gimmicks” (1980 - 1989)  

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Comics In The Golden Age -Fawcett’s Mighty Midget comics.

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Pop Culture Retrorama

In My Not So Humble Opinion - It Came From the 1990s: Force Works #1 

Happy New Year!... and "Watch This Space"

Happy New Year, friends. I hope the holidays have been kind to you and yours. It has been relaxing for the most part on this end, and I am looking forward to what 2020 has in store for me and my family.

I am also announcing that you should 

As 2019 was ending, I was contacted by the good folks who administer Super Blog Team-Up and asked if I'd like to participate in the next consortium of awesomeness. Heck yes, I would! The title of the event is "Chromium" and will focus on marketing gimmicks through the years. Being a Black & White focused blog, my mind immediately went to Stan Lee's foray into magazine-sized comics. This landed in 1968 with the publication of the first issue of Spectacular Spider-Man. On January 22 2020, I'll post a review of the lead story from that book, with the usual scintillating commentary you're used to (at least I think it's scintillating). Below is a detail from the back-up feature, a retelling of Spidey's origin by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Bill Everett. You're in for a treat when more art from this tome graces this blog.

So stay tuned. I'll tweet some pre-post publicity - tell your friends! And be well 'til we meet again.

- Doug

Silver Surfer 8 from the IDW Artist Edition - a Review

Silver Surfer #8 (September 1969)
"Now Strikes the Ghost!"
Stan Lee-John Buscema/Dan Adkins

Raise your hand if you have a love/hate relationship with the Silver Age Silver Surfer. He's a cool character - to that we can all agree. But if you've ever sat and read a lengthy stretch of his solo series, you may have needed therapy. It is one of the most annoying, even somewhat depressing, runs of any comic I've ever read. In the hands of Stan Lee, the Surfer is moodily over-written. I think if I'd purchased the books off the spinner racks when they were bi-monthly I could have put up with it. But reading from an Epic Collection, Masterworks, etc. is just too much. Am I wrong?

So what we have here today, friends, is a bit of a twofer. I read from the softcover Silver Surfer Marvel Masterworks, volume 2, and used a few scans from it to place alongside photographs from IDW's John Buscema's Silver Surfer Artist Edition. Who doesn't need a splash of color every now and then? Let's get after it...

100-Word Review:

Always seeking a way to torment the Silver Surfer, Mephisto schemes a new plot to win the hero’s soul. Finding a human through which to create a conduit to Limbo, the demon is able to summon a once-dead ship’s captain from centuries ago: the Flying Dutchman! After hearing how the Dutchman had lived a hateful, self-centered life and had made a deal with the devil, Mephisto imbues him with power enough to battle the Surfer. But will this new Ghost prove up to the task? And what of the Surfer’s continued quest to reunite with his love, Shalla Bal? Will the Ghost ruin that wish?

The Good: I love it when characters behave just as we'd expect them to. But wait, you say - above, it was stated that the Silver Surfer could be a tired character. Yes indeed - and that's not who I am staring with. I want to focus on Mephisto. You know, for most folks the Surfer is so closely associated with Galactus, and then perhaps Dr. Doom. But you know who turns up continually in the Surfer's solo mag? The Prince of Darkness himself. I'd go so far as to say he should get a supporting-actor credit. I'm not sure his whole angle about having to find the devil-worshipper in order to create a gateway to bring the undead back to life (wait...) made sense, but then I suppose the supernatural doesn't have to make sense. Probably better just to roll with it.

The backstory of the Flying Dutchman and the creation of the Ghost was well done. I liked the rationale for the character, growing from his past motivations. The Ghost was enough different - and super-creepy - to be an effective updating of the former ship's captain. I even thought it was interesting that he'd get around on his former watercraft.

John Buscema's splash page as the Dutchman is revived was powerful, both in the original art as well as the colored version. It might have been a bit more effective, however, with more blacks in the background. But what do I know. Buscema did a marvelous job of taking this dead body and reanimating it in such a way that the two characters looked similar.

The half-splash when the Ghost is revealed, with a little Kirby Krackle in the first panel, was also pretty awesome. One can almost smell the brimstone from all that swirling smoke!

Lastly, that the Silver Surfer hardly appeared in his own mag, but it was still a fun issue, was the mark of an effective plot and execution.

The Bad: I don't have much to say here, as usual. I think I'd just reiterate the vibe I was sending above when I remarked that sometimes this series just wore on a reader. If there was one thing we could count on, it was Norrin Radd's incessant pining for Shalla Bal. And guess what? We got a 2-page vignette of just that in this story! Thank goodness Shalla is so beautifully rendered by Big John. In the hands of a lesser artist, I'd have annoying words and a less-pleasing lady to look at.

The Ugly: I don't even know what to call what happened at the end of the story. It's sort of the opposite of the Dreaded Deadline Doom in that we didn't get shorted an original story - instead, we got a cut-in-half tale with the promise of a big finish in the next installment. I tossed this out on Twitter a few weeks ago and asked readers if they thought this was a) crafty marketing or b) a way to draw attention to a magazine with sagging sales. Most respondents scored those choices a tie. I've included all the particulars on the last three art samples, which will enlarge for your perusing enjoyment.

Spider-Man Newspaper Strips: Kraven the Hunter - a Review

Spider-Man Newspaper Strips, volume 1 (2009)
"Kraven the Hunter", October 31, 1977-December 25, 1977
Stan Lee-John Romita

Raise your hand if, back when you were a Bronze Age Baby, you peddled your bike to the local gas station or convenience store to pick up the daily paper that carried the Spidey newspaper strip. Yup - me, too! For me, it was around a 6-block ride to the Convenient Food Mart on Main Street. They sold the Chicago Tribune, and once Stan Lee had told me in the Bullpen Bulletins that the strip was starting, I started saving my pennies! I didn't get there everyday, but man - did I make the effort! I'm sure I clipped-and-saved, but darned if I know whatever happened to those strips. I also recall being somewhat disappointed that some of the arcs did not include the rogues gallery I'd come to know and love from the comics. If you don't have access to the strips, the first storyline featured Dr. Doom. I'm certain I don't recall that at all. I do, however remember an extended run that featured the Kingpin. But all that aside, today we're looking in on Kraven the Hunter! And a BWBC thank you/acknowledgement to Matt from the Not a Hoax/Not a Dream blog for his scanning (stolen and presented today) and to Al Bigley for the color Sunday strips (also stolen and presented today). Just so you think I'm not a total loser, I've also included some of my own photographs from the strips. There...

Let's roll, in the Mighty BWBC Manner!

100-Word Review:

Mary Jane Watson and Flash Thompson are on a working vacation in Florida, where they take in the animal act of Kraven the Hunter. Back in Manhattan, J. Jonah Jameson and city editor Joe Robertson debate sending Peter Parker to cover Kraven. But Jonah has an epiphany - if Kraven is the world’s greatest hunter, then why couldn’t he hunt a Spider? Robbie protests, and walks out the Daily Bugle’s door. Jonah hires Kraven anyway - and brings him to New York, and fisticuffs between he and our wallcrawling friend ensue. But… will Jonah sabotage Kraven’s victory?

The Good: What's better than a Stan Lee/John Romita collaboration on our favorite Web-spinner? Not much, unless you wanted to look for some Lee/Jack Kirby Fantastic Four stories? Let me warn you ahead of time: I'm going to contradict myself in the next section. But for now, I want to say that if the goal of the various Marvel (and DC, too) newspaper strips was to introduce our heroes to a wider audience, then this should be considered a success. All the elements you'd expect from a Spidey story are here - his supporting cast, Peter's "lovable loser" persona, an over-the-top villain with ego-stroking as his sole motivation, and so on. This story was a warm blanket on a cold day (which, as I'm writing this on 1/31/19, the outside temp is 5 degrees below 0).

You can argue with me if you like (you'll lose), but the characters in the Amazing Spider-Man universe are the best across all comics. I'll further posit that J. Jonah Jameson may be the best villain - super-powered or otherwise - in comics. He's a foil, an antagonist, a plotter & schemer, and a perpetual pain-in-the-butt. He doesn't have to wait 12-14 issues to reappear, because he's always there! And his presence is certainly felt on both ends of these shenanigans, from setting it up to bringing down the curtain... it's JJJ, all the way!

How good is John Romita? Really good. What a wonderful illustrator. Some would say that he doesn't take a lot of chances, that his style is very clean. For me, that's what I like about it. I've heard some say that once Kirby left Marvel, John Buscema sort of became the caretaker of the "house style". I can see that. But running through the Silver and Bronze Ages was the watchful eye of Romita. His steadiness in providing promotional art, book covers, calendar pages, etc. put the Marvel pantheon of characters in a nice, neat box. I appreciate him for that.

And Stan Lee? I like his Spider-Man writing perhaps best of all. I'd have to fist fight myself to see if I really enjoyed his Fantastic Four more, but those two books would be out in front with a gap to third place. I guarantee I like this stuff better than Lee's Silver Surfer, which can really wear on a man's patience if too many issues are read in close proximity. Hoo-boy... But here all of the voices just sound "right". And I love it.

The Bad: A little over six years ago, I reviewed this hardcover on the BAB. You can read my thoughts on the structure of the book itself, the layout and design, and also on the first story arc (again, featuring Dr. Doom). Let's just say the book, as a book, doesn't get high marks. I'll also add here that the reproductions of the strips seem uneven throughout the book. At times, it looks like they were able to shoot from the original art; in other places it appears that photocopies were used as the "original" imagery. However they did it, without color, the choppy lines are more noticeable.

I'm going to say something that I feel a little badly about writing. However, when you have some history in the rearview mirror with these characters, there's a sense of been-there, done-that. That's what I got when I read today's featured tale. As a peruser of many a Spidey comic over the past 45+ years, I hate to say I've seen it all, but hey - there just wasn't much new here. We had Peter's angst, Aunt May's ailments, Jonah's bluster, Kraven's megalomania, MJ's restlessness - it was all here. Now on one hand, you can argue that it's like comfort food. I can get on board with that. But if you're looking for anything that sets this story apart, you'll find yourself dissatisfied.

The Ugly: Zilch.

 

Please leave me a comment, whether it be on this story, the Spidey strips in general, or even other newspaper strips of the superhero (or Conan the Barbarian, too) variety. I have three trades that reprint the Batman strips from the Golden Age and hope to get to those at some point. I'd love to hear about your experiences with other strips. Thanks in advance!