By Tom DeFalco, Roger Stern, Ron Frenz, Rick Leonardi & various (Marvel Comics)
ISBN: 978-0-87135-396-2
In the mid 1980s as part of a huge attention-getting exercise Spider-Man exchanged his heavily copyrighted and thoroughly trademarked costume whilst on another planet during the first Marvel Secret Wars. It was replaced with a magnificently stylish black and white number for the duration of the 12 issue maxi-series in his own titles (except the all-reprint Marvel Tales, of course) which over the course of the year revealed the true horrifying nature of the extraterrestrial ensemble…
Collecting Amazing Spider-Man #252-259 (May-December 1984), continuity-wise this captivating extended epic opens at the conclusion of the Secret Wars Saga with Spider-Man and Curt Connors – occasionally the lethally maniacal monster called the Lizard – explosively returning to Earth after a week when most of the world’s heroes and villains had simply vanished.
To clear up any potential confusion: Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars debuted in May 1984 and ran for twelve monthly issues until April 1985. In it a selection of metahumans good and bad were shanghaied by a godlike being dubbed The Beyonder and compelled to interminably battle each other. All other Marvel comics of that month chronologically happened in the apparent aftermath of that struggle with most of the heroes and villains returned, coyly refusing to divulge what had happened on Battleworld …a cheap but extremely effective ploy which kept fans glued to the Limited Series in the months that followed.
This compendium from 1988 opens with an introduction and design sketches before catapulting us into action in ‘Homecoming!’ by Roger Stern, Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz & Brett Breeding as spectators in Central Park see a mysterious black garbed stranger explode out of an alien artefact … only the first of many costumed characters to escape the Beyonder’s world.
Spider-Man takes the shell-shocked Connors back to his family and then begins to explore his new uniform: a thought controlled, self-activating, metamorphic ball with chameleon capabilities and able to construct webbing out of its own mass. The smart-cloth is astonishing, but weary Peter Parker has family to see and a city to reacquaint himself with. The hero promises himself he’ll further research the incredible material at a later date…
The wonderful Rick Leonardi & Bill Anderson illustrated DeFalco’s powerful crime thriller ‘By Myself Betrayed!’ wherein a prominent football player, sucked into gambling and match-fixing, dragged the Web-spinner into conflict with new gang-lord The Rose. As his new uniform increasingly, obsessively amazes Peter with its rather disturbing autonomy (it comes to him unbidden and regularly envelops him while he sleeps), the hero uncomprehendingly alienates his beloved Aunt May when he drops out of college…
‘With Great Power…’ (inked by Joe Rubinstein) found the wall-crawler battling terrorist mercenary Jack O’Lantern for possession of the hi-tech battle-van designed and built by the terrifying Hobgoblin when he should have been reconciling with May, whilst ‘Even a Ghost Can Fear the Night!’ (DeFalco, Frenz & Rubinstein) introduced charismatic septuagenarian cat-burglar Black Fox (whose outfit coincidentally resembled Spidey’s new kit) who became a hapless pawn of the merciless but cash-strapped Red Ghost and his Super-Apes.
Compelled to rob until he was caught by Spider-Man, the Fox orchestrated a spectacular battle between the Wall-crawler and the Ghost before getting away with all the loot…
‘Introducing… Puma!’ found an increasingly weary and listless Spider-Man attacked by a Native American super-mercenary hired by the Rose. The Arachnid’s gang-busting crusade in partnership with reformed thief/new girlfriend Black Cat was making life too hot and unprofitable for the ambitious mobster. That calamitous clash carried over into ‘Beware the Claws of Puma!’ furiously escalating until criminal overlord The Kingpin stepped in to stop it, forcing the Rose to ally himself with the murderous Hobgoblin. The issue ended with an exhausted Parker confronted with a stunning revelation from his old lover Mary Jane Watson…
The shock prompted Peter into seeking out ‘The Sinister Secret of Spider-Man’s New Costume!’ Plagued by nightmares, perpetually tired and debilitated the Web-spinner visited the Fantastic Four and was disgusted and horrified to learn that his suit was alive: a parasite slowly attaching itself to him body and soul…
Meanwhile Hobgoblin and the Rose’s uneasily alliance had resulted in bloody, undeclared war on the Kingpin…
With Reed Richards’ help the creature was removed from Spider-Man and imprisoned and this collection concludes with the poignant ‘All My Pasts Remembered!’ as Mary Jane finally tells Peter her tragic life story after which the free, reinvigorated and re-dedicated hero determined to put a stop to Hobgoblin for good…
But that’s a tale for another tome…
This run of tales marvellously rejuvenated the Amazing Arachnid and kicked off a period of superbly gripping and imaginative stories, culminating with the creation of arch hero/villain Venom (which is why these tales can also be found in the sturdy compendium Spider-Man: Birth of Venom with addition material from Secret Wars #8, Amazing Spider #298-300, 315-317, Fantastic Four #274 and Web of Spider-Man #1).
Whichever book you buy, if you’re a fan of superhero comics these are tales you just don’t want to miss.
© 1988 Marvel Entertainment Group/Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.