This & That: Spectacular Spider-Man 77!

 Redartz:  Greetings, folks; and welcome to our first comic review of the new year! Here at BitBA, we've tried to cast some attention to some less -frequently addressed titles, such as Rom and Alpha Flight. Many have written much about Marvel's banner character Spider-Man, Amazing Spider-Man
 being the flagship title and Spidey's original home. But for today's discussion, we'll look at an issue of Amazing's sister publication, Spectacular Spider-Man, and a fine Bronze Age example it is.

Martinex1:  A good choice for a title to review Red.  I was indeed a Spider-Man fan, but I only owned a smattering of Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man.  I cannot really say why, I just tended to buy Amazing and Team-Up first.  So my knowledge of the stories in Spidey's second series is pretty limited.

Spectacular Spider-Man 77 (Apr. 1983) by Bill Mantlo, Al Milgrom and Jim Mooney

Redartz:  To begin with, how about that cover? It really stood out to me on the stands the first time I saw it...

Martinex1:  I've always liked when they played with the logs and masthead on comics.  I know Ed Hannigan did a number of memorable examples on Spectacular, and here Al Milgrom jumps in with a good one.  I like how the corner box is torn.  My understanding is that they did this all by hand back in the Bronze age - literally cutting and pasting.

 Redartz:  I believe you're right. They didn't have Photoshop back then, but still managed to accomplish some very cool visual effects. Incidentally, Milgrom seems to be showing a few touches of both Steve Ditko and Frank Miller here. Depicting the 'spider senses' going off was a Ditko trademark, and it's nicely done  here. 

And now, a brief summary of the story:



 

The story opens at Potter's Costume Shop (proprietor Melvin Potter, better known as Daredevil's frequent foe Gladiator). A group of thugs have pulled a job, and are trying to elude the police. They burst into Potter's shop, shooting him and threatening to incriminate him (as Potter's currently on parole and trying to go straight- as revealed in references to then-current Daredevil issues).

Meanwhile, Spider-man has just had an unpleasant encounter with Dr. Octopus, who has attacked the Black Cat (who is recuperating in the hospital). As Spidey patrols the city in preparation for a showdown with Ock, he stumbles upon the police cordon around Potter's shop.

 



The police fire tear gas, and the hoods exit the store, along with Potter: now costumed as Gladiator. Spider-man attacks, and there is a brief battle; worsened by Potter's pain-induced relapse into his delusional identity (he thinks he's an actual Roman Gladiator).












But the panicked thugs, fearful that Potter will turn on them, have revealed to the police that Potter was innocent of wrongdoing. Once Spider-man is aware of this, he appeals to Potter's better instincts, breaking through the delusion, and Potter ends his rampage. He then offers to repair Spidey's costume!


 





















 Any initial thoughts on the story, Marti?
 
Martinex1: One flaw I felt in the story is that the robbery thugs never seemed that threatening.   In some comics, these characters would be finished off in a page (or even a panel) so it was a little off having them threaten the Gladiator when that guy went up against Iron Man and Daredevil back in the Silver Age.  

Redartz:  That's a good point. I do like seeing the use of lower-level threats facing heroes like Spider-Man and Daredevil (not really likely to have much success against, say, Galactus). Spidey facing street hoods goes back to his origins, but yes, Potter could have taken them apart easily. Perhaps his mental instabilities made him extra cautious.

The middle section of the issue was devoted to the 'subplot' of Dr. Octopus' vendetta against Spider-man and the Black Cat. I always love seeing Ock, and his attack (ripping out Felicia's life support) was pretty brutal.  Not the greatest Ock/Spidey battle ever, but entertaining and suitably dramatic...
  
Martinex1:  The threats to the hospitalized Black Cat and the subsequent fight scene between Spidey and Doc Ock were nicely handled, but at the end I was left scratching my head.  The villain came to the hospital to confront Spidey and to threaten to kill him "tomorrow"?!?  Huh?  Why not today?  

I know that this story read like a stand alone issue, but the Doc Ock tale in Spectacular had been going on for a few issues and continued after that.  But this particular fight ended like something out of the Batman television show, "Bwah ha ha.  I have you on the ropes, but I'll see you tomorrow when we can really fight!"  I must be missing something, or this could have been scripted a bit better.

Redartz:  Another solid observation, partner.  Ock somewhat addressed the issue, stating he wanted his foe to "know a night of fear". Regardless, Ock caught his foe by surprise (in a rather novel way- having Spider-man's senses alarming during a dream, and thus being ineffective), and the Black Cat was absolutely helpless. Ock never had a better shot at finishing them both off.

The final third of the issue deals with the Gladiator's fate. This particular comic featured two of my favorite villains, Dr. Octopus and the Gladiator. Thus I was warm to the story from the start. I did like how they referenced Potter's background and mental problems from the Daredevil storylines,  I also thought Spider-man reaching out in potential friendship to Melvin was a nice touch; perfectly in keeping with Peter Parker's altruistic nature.


Martinex1: Although I know the Gladiator on the surface, I knew very little of his history.   I did not know that in his madness he thought he was from the Roman gladiatorial times.  I saw the Netflix Daredevil series, and it was interesting to see Melvin running a costume shop of sorts and assisting Daredevil with the costume design.  That was a nice tribute to the original source material.

 Did Spidey and Gladiator ever team up again?  It would be nice to see Melvin identified as the tailor for the Super-set.  

 Redartz: Yes, it was fun to see him appear on the Netflix show. They even had a couple of wrist blades visible, if you looked. Regarding later teamups- good question. Perhaps some of our friends out there can enlighten us. And since you mentioned the costume shop, let's talk about the art. I got a kick out of the background details in Potter's costume shop: Batman and Hawkman costumes! You can see them on the opening pages shown above.

Martinex1: I liked the side column pictures of the creative team.  I am not sure I have seen that done anywhere else, and I wondered what inspired them this time.  Funny that they depicted Jim Shooter as Dr. Doom.  I wonder how he felt about that or if it was just a shared and accepted gag.  He at least went along with the joke.

Redartz:  That credit display was amusing. To hazard a guess, I'd bet Mr. Shooter found being portrayed as Doom pretty humorous...
Overall, I found the artwork to be pretty satisfying. I've mentioned before my appreciation of the work of Milgrom on this title, especially in tandem with Ed Hannigan. Of course here he does pencils, with Jim Mooney inking.  

Martinex1:  I am not the greatest fan of Al Milgrom's art.  It is very hit and miss.  I really liked his early work on Marvel Presents with the Guardians of the Galaxy, but in all honesty his work on the Avengers turned me away.  I feel that he positions heroes in very stiff ways; they never seem comfortable in the pose.  And he also tends to widen the characters' faces; that part often reminds me of Carmine Infantino's work.
However, I do find Milgrom's work to benefit from the inker assigned.  In this case, I am curious how Jim Mooney will fare as I liked his work many years prior over at ASM.  In fact I always thought he helped keep Spidey consistent, and even here on the splash page that is a nicely formed Spider-Man.  

Redartz:  I agree, some of Milgrom's work can be...less successful. I do feel he did some of his best work on Spider-man, and on the Guardians of the Galaxy. And regarding Jim Mooney: great point about his consistency. Mooney seems to have a fairly heavy presence as an inker. Whether inking John Romita, Sal Buscema, or Milgrom, you can see that familiarity everywhere. 

Martinex1:  Mooney was in the comic industry for a long time.  He started out in "funny animal" comics back in the heyday of that genre, before getting a shot at Batman.

Redartz: Quite right; he shows up on some of those old Supergirl stories in Adventure Comics too. 
Oh, that dream sequence of Spider-man and the Octopus:  fairly well executed. That color effect seemed to show up often in comics of this time period, Keith Giffen loved using the technique. I will say that there were a few places in the book (for instance, the orange sky behind Ock during a nighttime scene; shown above) where the coloring seemed a bit odd.

Martinex1:  I too liked the dream sequence and how it was depicted.  The coloring choice for the dreams was interesting - simply leaving the inks alone but colored in magenta.  I wonder whose choice that was.  There is a language used for memories and dreams in Marvel comics that usually includes the panel corners to be rounded.  This was bit different and I liked it.  Although the actual color choice was strange; perhaps a darker green or purple would have been more off-setting, dark, and mysterious.

Redartz:  Okay, time to sum it all up. 

The Good:  A good story with some nice artistic touches; two classic villains and a great cover.
The Bad:  Nothing really bad per se, but there could have been more motivation to Potter's actions, and a few examples of clunky dialogue could be found (is a furious, fleeing hood really going to insult his accomplice using a  "PC" phrase such as "overweight idiot"? ).

 The Ugly:  Some of the pastel colors in the backgrounds. Kind of brought to mind an IZOD shirt. Ew.


Martinex1: 

The Good:  A nice single issue story with a basic if not memorable plot and some action.  It gave some insight to an older standard villain in the Gladiator.  Nice dream sequence.
The Bad: To me it came across sometimes as a Bill Mantlo filler issue. To be fair, I rank Mantlo as one of my top ten favorite writers but there are times, probably due to his prolific nature, that some stories seemed to have less characterization and motivation.  That was somewhat apparent here.
The Ugly: C'mon Doc Ock - finish off your arch nemesis and the Black Cat when you have the chance!  And Shooter as Dr. Doom (I always considered him more like Galactus)!
Rating: I give the book 3,25 Bronze Medallions.   Extra quarter point for the fantastic cover!

Panel Discussion: Marvel's Soft Scenes!

Martinex1: Sometimes there are comic book panels that just stick with you; and sometimes these panels have nothing earth-shattering or epic happening. Today I want to explore a few of those types of panels. 

Marvel was quite good at developing subplots in the Bronze Age and often those were character driven arcs around the super-heroes' private lives.  Casts of characters were developed and elaborated upon; often a significant number of pages were dedicated to the non-powered lives of the title characters and their friends and family.  If the pages didn't contain characters in costume or doing anything amazing or spectacular, I dubbed these "soft" scenes. 


When I was very young, an older cousin of mine supplied a large box containing a wide array of comics.   A handful of issues are remembered fondly including Amazing Spider-Man #78 and #84.

These were fantastic episodes from late November 1969 and May 1970 at the dawn of the Bronze Age.  Both were written by Stan Lee with art by John Buscema and Jim Mooney.  The earlier issue was the premiere and origin of the Prowler; the latter issue had Spidey battling wits with the Kingpin and the Schemer.

Even though I remember much of the books' art as it was etched into my mind at that early age through numerous readings, a few pages and panels stick out to me and they have very little to do with he main plot.

I don't know why this page with Gwen and Flash enjoying a cup of joe at the Coffee Bean is memorable, but I really liked it for some reason.   I like the depth of the view (even with the ridiculous Peter Parker plastered against the window) and I like the angle and casual accuracy of the second panel.  Nothing happening here except some romantic misunderstandings ala Three's Company, but I liked the drama even at a young age.

Earlier in the issue, Spidey tried to call Gwen but didn't have any change (obviously because the suit has no pockets).  He notices one slim dime down below the sidewalk grate and retrieves it with his web.  In the middle of the call, a brute bangs on the booth in order to get his turn.  Even though Peter is in costume, the actual scene is rather mundane and kind of a page filler, but I always enjoyed the trivial ways that the hero used his powers and how his down-on-his-luck misery was always part of his characterization.  If you don't read Spanish you can still easily follow along to Buscema and Mooney's work (it was the only example of the page that I could find on the world wide web).

In issue #84, I jump to a simple panel of the Schemer musing about his treacherous self.   It is so silly really.   But what I absolutely adored was that the villain was hanging out in his well-equipped car.   There was actually a snow storm going on and the megalomaniac was buried in a drift just cooling off.   Check out the Buscema gadgets and controls all around him.   I found it both funny and appealing at the same time.

So they may seem trivial - a romantic entanglement, a mundane task gone awry, and a villain chillin', but they all have stuck with me for about 45 years. It was part of what made Marvel (and comic books in general) so real and attractive to me.

Do you have any odd recollections like these?   Are there smaller soft scenes that stick with you?  Am I totally bonkers?   Let us know what you think and thanks in advance for sharing your comments.

Panel Discussion: John Romita, Sr.!

Is this iconic, or what?

Redartz:  Happy Monday, everyone! Recently we took a look at one of Martinex1's favorite (and many others' favorite as well) artists, Sal Buscema. Well, today we will look at one of my faves: John Romita, Sr. "Jazzy Johnny" is probably best known as the artist behind many of Spider-Man's greatest tales. He also,though, had stints on Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Captain America, and more. And he produced a veritable mountain of covers for Marvel throughout the Bronze Age, exceeded only perhaps by Gil Kane. And as Marvel's Art Director, Romita was responsible for keeping the 'house style' consistent over a long period of time. This was a task he was perfectly suited for; Romita could draw anyone in the Marvel Universe and they would look Just Right.

John Romita and Jack Kirby were the first  artists I learned by name, and Romita was my favorite. Of course,as the artist on my number one book (yes, you all have heard that before, Spidey's my number one) he defined the character for me. I love Ditko, Kane, Andru, Frenz and McFarlane, but Romita's version is my Spider-man. His clean dramatic style. His iconic Peter Parker. His beautiful Gwen and Mary Jane. His flawless, abrasive Jonah Jameson. His menacing Doc Ock. His maniacally grimacing Green Goblin. He did it all so well...

First, a look at some examples of Jazzy Johnny's (non-Spidey) jewels: 

Here is is on Conan, inking Kane on the left and Buscema on the right (Belit never looked better). These, flanking a classic Cap cover.

That cover painting of Son of Origins is phenomenal. Iron Man and the Surfer just shiiiine...

 

Now we see two versions of the same cover. Aside from the reversal of Spider-Man's position, Romita has slightly shifted the position of Mysterio's grip and highlighted the foreground more. Also, darkening the sky above the action emphasizes the 'closing in' aspect of the threat.

And now, a selection of some of my favorite Romita Spider-Man covers. Some classics, some not. That cover to issue 59, with Mary Jane- just terrific. Love how the scene is split by the stage curtain. It just displays, again, Romita's expertise with  dramatic design and composition.

 

Issue 135, below, is perhaps my all-time favorite ASM cover. The characters, the drama, Spidey's perfect pose, the black spider motif: matchless. I have a repro of this cover hanging in my workplace...

The Spectacular Spiderman cover on the right is an example of Romita's more recent work. He still rocks the Goblin. And speaking of the Goblin, Romita's painting for the magazine issue is another classic.

Finally, a look at some pages showing Romita solo, and with others. Different styles, yet John's sharp, clear look always comes through.

Ron Frenz pencils, Romita inks

An example of John's early work on Amazing, from issue 45. Still showing some touches of Steve Ditko here...

Romita pencils and inks

Romita pencils, Jim Mooney inks

Much as I enjoy color comics, there is an undeniable appeal to black/white art. Here we have a page from the first Spectacular Spider-Man magazine from 1968. Jim Mooney's inks are often pretty heavy, but I feel his style meshes well with Romita's...

Romita pencils, Jim Mooney inks

This page shows us the work of two generations of Romita artists. John Jr. pencilling, with his dad inking.

John Romita Jr. pencils, JR Sr. inks

A cool page from Spider-Man Annual 3. Good thing Romita left the top third of the panel open, any art would have been obliterated by all those dialog balloons...

Romita layouts, Don Heck pencils, Mike Esposito inks

Here, Ross Andru with Romita. John adds a nice smoothness and polish to Andru's rendering.

Ross Andru pencils, Romita inks

Last up, a powerful page by Gil Kane with Romita inking. This artistic combination is nothing short of spectacular (or should I say amazing). Kane's off-the-page energy and action, with Romita's finesse. Now this is Comics!

Gil Kane pencils, Romita inks

Thank you all for letting me gush a bit today. But then again, if anyone deserved a column full of gushing admiration, it would be John Romita. Nuff' said.

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Panel Discussion: The Most Striking Single Panels (Spider-Man)

Ross Andru, Frank Giacoia and Dave Hunt; Amazing Spider-Man 129

Redartz:  We, as a group, have in the past (either here, or in that fondly remembered BAB) discussed the most significant covers, and the most significant splash pages. Today, we take it a step further (and smaller): what is the most memorable single panel from a Bronze age Spider-Man story? Granted, dealing with just covers and splashes is a big enough task. Originally I'd planned this post to cover all Marvel Bronze Age books, but that was casting a pretty wide net. Look for other characters to be dealt with as we go along. 

Considering individual panels is like picking a specific glass of water from the ocean. That said, there are definitely panels that stick to your memory, or have become iconic images in and of themselves. A few, to prime the pump (again, to narrow the search parameters a little, we will include only panels that are part of a multi-panel page, not full page splashes). In no particular order:


 

Ed Hannigan and Al Milgrom, Spectacular Spider-Man 70

 Hannigan and inker Milgrom, doing a nice job channeling Ditko with a modern touch. Their work on SSM made it one of my favorite books at the time.

John Byrne and Tony DeZuniga, Marvel Team-Up 70

John Byrne and Tony DeZuniga, Marvel Team-Up 70

 Two individual panels, consecutive action, but two fun bits with Spidey and Thor, beautifully rendered. The perspective in that first panel is perfect, and wonderfully emphasizes Spidey's involuntary ride.

Gil Kane and John Romita, Amazing Spider-Man 122

 Two masters at their best in a very poignant scene. No more needs be said.

Gil Kane and John Romita, Amazing Spider-Man 90

 As in the preceding example, Kane and Romita etch so much emotion in one single panel. Those two artists are perfectly suited for each other. This panel hit me like a brick as a 9 year old reader.

Ross Andru and John Romita, Amazing Spider-Man 151

 An unsettling image from the first clone saga. Live Peter says goodbye to dead Peter.

John Byrne and Terry Austin, Marvel Team-Up 79

John Byrne and Terry Austin, Marvel Team-Up 79

Two fabulous panels (okay, technically three) from one of the best MTU issues ever. By the incomparable Byrne and Austin. That grin showing on Spidey's mask is worth the purchase price of this book.

 

Jim Starlin and Joe Rubinstein, Marvel Two-in-One Annual 2

 Great twisted composition here from Starlin. Balanced, yet full of movement. We knew Starlin drew excellent aliens, here we ascertain that he does a stellar Spider-Man too.

Ed Hannigan and Jim Mooney; Spectacular Spider-Man 64

 Just a very nice, quiet image.Mooney's inks can be overpowering, but very subtle here.

Ross Andru, Frank Giacoia and Dave Hunt; Amazing Spider-Man 136

 Andru showing his expertise with architecture, and with Peter and Mary Jane. 

Kieth Pollard and Jim Mooney, Amazing Spider-Man 200

 Great use of shadow from a classic anniversary issue. Love how the dark tones frame the flashback image; very effective.

Ron Frenz and Brett Breeding; Amazing Spider-Man 252

 An excellent introduction to the black costume, and to Spidey's acrobatics. I was skeptical of the new look at first, but this issue's art (and this cool panel) helped convince me.

Ron Frenz and Terry Austin, Amazing Spider-Man 248

 Peak moment from one of the absolute greatest Spider-Man stories. Frenz and Austin aced it. 

John Romita Jr. and Brett Breeding, Amazing Spider-Man 248

 Love the action presented here, and the positioning of the ball and chain. JR Jr. cut his drawing teeth on Spider-Man, and he did his father proud.

Well, those are some of my standout favorite panels. Some of these images are quite familiar, others possibly forgotten (until you leaf through the book and say, "Whoaaaaa....". Any critique, agreement, other choices?