Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 300

    

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 300
Release Date: May 1988

Highlights

• First appearance of Venom, AKA Eddie Brock
• Some, including Todd McFarlane consider issue 299 to be his first appearance
• First appearance and death of NYPD officer, Jack Sr.
• First appearance of Lyden House Hotel, Bedford Towers, and Our Lady Of Saints Church
• Mary Jane sits in the corner of their apartment, tears rolling down her eyes, she's afraid of the beast she's just seen
• Peter returns home, still in his black suit, she doesn't immediately recognizes him, and begs him to stay away until he removes his mask
• Mary Jane explains the features of Venom, though she doesn't know or say his name
• She tells Peter she can't stay in the apartment, and Peter tells her he'll pack a bag for them to go to a hotel
• Reference is made to Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars 9, Web Of Spider-Man 1, The Amazing Spider-Man 259, and Spider-Man Versus Wolverine
• Though he doesn't know who the man wearing it was, Peter deduces that what Mary Jane explained was someone in his symbiote suit
• Mary Jane tells Peter she was able to secure them a condo in Bedford Towers, and Peter agrees to move
• Spider-Man borrows the sonic blaster from the Fantastic Four, the same blaster which Reed Richards used to remove the symbiote from Spider-Man back in The Amazing Spider-Man 258
• Peter feels like he's being followed down the street, but his spider sense isn't picking up any danger
• Peter and Mary Jane visit the condo, and Peter starts to feel bad that he won't have the type of money it will take to actually contribute to the expense
• Mary Jane suggests he switch to fashion model photography, and says he can get some practice on her with some photos for their private collection, as she slips out of everything
• Peter and Mary Jane have dinner at Aunt May's home that evening, and Mary Jane ensures his Aunt that they both want her in their lives
• Eddie Brock has broken into Our Lady Of Saint's Church, the place where the symbiote first found him
• Office Jack thinks Eddie is the one who's been stealing from the offering box, and finds out the hard way that there's something much more going on than mere robbery
• The symbiote kills Jack
• Peter and Mary Jane's friends all work together to get them moved relatively quickly
• Robbie and Peter talk on the balcony, and Peter tells him there's something he needs to take care of
• That something is seeing Venom webbing through the city
• Spider-Man follows Venom to an abandoned building, thinking his spider sense will warn him of any danger as he enters
• He's wrong
• Eddie Brock reveals himself to Spider-Man, and he recognizes him immediately
• Eddie tells him how Peter Parker ruined his career at the Daily Globe
• These events unfolded "between the lines of Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 107 - 110"
• Eddie was writing a story on who Sin-Eater was, but he was using the sources of a chronic confessor, who wasn't really the killer
• When Sin-Eater was revealed by Spider-Man, Eddie was chastised and fired
• The symbiote found Eddie at his lowest point, ready to commit suicide
• After bonding with him, the two shared an equal purpose - Get revenge on Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man
• After a short battle, Spider-Man is able to blast Venom with the sonic blaster, but the symbiote and he don't separate
• Spider-Man realizes that the symbiote has completely bonded with Eddie, and to separate the two, he'd have to kill them both
• He won't do that, and attempts to leave to formulate another plan
• Venom webs him, and the battle continues, though an even shorter one as Venom quickly knocks Spider-Man out
• Spider-Man comes too, and is webbed to the bell tower of the church
• When Venom takes his leave, so as to not be affected by the sonic waves of the bells as they crash into Spider-Man webbed between them, Spider-Man is able to break free
• Venom returns to find his foe not dead, and the battle continues atop the church tower roof
• Remembering what Puma told him about the webbing being organic, Spider-Man deduces that it's actually part of the symbiote, and that every time it's used, the alien must heal to replenish it
• Cutting the web each time Venom uses it results in the villain continuously using it to stop from falling, draining the suit from Eddie's body
• Spider-Man takes Venom to the Baxter Tower, where Ben Grimm receives instructions from Reed Richards on containing him in a sonic cylinder until he can be moved to a specially built prison
• Spider-Man returns home, and is greeted by a cold Mary Jane
• She tells him that after all they were just through, she can't look at his black suit
• Peter agrees he can't wear the costume which looks like a homicidal killer either, and throws it in the fire lit in the fireplace, burning it up
• Peter tells Mary Jane he's going to look silly in his underwear spinning webs, and she pulls out his red and blue suit, or rather, the costume version he got from the shop in Spider-Man Versus Wolverine
• Spider-Man is back in his classic red and blue suit

• The art work in this issue is fantastic! Todd McFarlane is making it his own
• Todd begins hiding Felix the Cat in his Spider-Man books, a tradition he started during his run on The Incredible Hulk
• This first one is on The Thing's bathrobe

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• None

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 299

    

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 299
Release Date: April 1988

Highlights

• Disputed first appearance of Venom
• Though it's largely accepted that this is a second cameo, and issue 300 is his full appearance, many site this issue as his first appearance, among them, Todd McFarlane himself
• First appearance of Annie Deitz, and Paul
• First appearance of The Spawning Club, and Sanctum Maximus
• Spider-Man has tracked his spider tracer to an eighteen wheeler truck, but as it gets gridlocked in traffic, a kid in the car ahead tips the driver to his presence
• A cop sends Spider-Man packing
• Reference is made to Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 128
• The still unconscious Chance is delivered to the Life Foundation's fortress, Sanctus Maxiumus
• Peter and Mary Jane go the the Spawning Club, where they see Eddie Murphy and Paul Schaefer
• Spawning Club? Foreshadowing? Nah, it can't be
• The Life Foundation tells Chance that their plan is to duplicate his wrist blasters and ankle jets, but their scientists can't figure it out
• They tell Chance he'll give them the information they want if he knows what's good for him
• Always a gambler, Chance simply responds, "Wanna bet?"
• After tracking Carlton Drake's records at the Bugle to a withdrawn donation at ESU, Peter visits Annie Deitz in the administrative office at the school who tells him that she can't share the information with him he wants, but that he shouldn't look while she goes to powder her nose, wink wink
• Finding the information he needs on her computer, Peter tracks the Life Foundation to New Jersey
• Spider-Man sneaks into Fortress Maximus by clinging to the bottom of a truck entering the facility
• Inside, his spider sense kicks in, picking up on the tracer he planted on Chance in the previous issue
• Spider-Man finds a severely beaten up Chance, and frees him
• Chance tells him that the Life Foundation think the world will soon plunge into total chaos, and Fortress Maximus is full of luxury condos and amenities, which they're selling to millionaires at five million dollars per home
• While the Life Foundation has armed a private military with the weapons Chance stole for them from the pier, the Foundation want to arm themselves in the event of an uprising from said military with the weaponry Chance uses
• Spider-Man and Chance are forced to team up as the alarms in the place sound
• Chance blasts the munitions crates, blowing the place sky high, but not before grabbing Spider-Man, and rocketing clear
• Mary Jane returns home from a night of shopping, miffed with Peter for not calling or leaving a message
• She sees what she thinks is him in the shadows of their apartment...it's not

• Venom is here

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• Chance gives Spider-Man a lift back to New York...on his back

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 298

   

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 298
Release Date: March 1988

Highlights

• Todd McFarlane takes over pencil duties on The Amazing Spider-Man
• First cameo appearance of Venom
• First appearance of Sandy Kintzler, Stephanie, Mr. MacVay, the Life Foundation, and its leader, Carlton Drake
• First appearance and death of Orin Concardi
• First appearance of the East Village, Hearth, and the Upper West Side's Endicott Building
• Chance ambushes Orin Concardi as the feds are escourting him to court
• As the feds scramble to ward him off, Concardi takes off in their car
• Chances takes the opportunity to explode the vehicle with his lasers, killing Concardi in the process
• Chance reports to Mr. Treece that he's won the bet, and will be by for his $10,000.00
• After completing her fashion shoot, Mary Jane attempts to call Peter at home, but gets the answering machine
• Peter informs Robbie the two are probably moving to the Bedford, and when Robbie asks if he can afford the place, Peter tells him he can't even afford the YMCA
• Peter asks if there are any assignments, and is told no
• Joy Mercado overhears, and tells Peter he can't keep sitting around waiting for news - He has to get out there and chase it
• She gives him a tip on foreign arms being unloaded at a pier the next evening, and says if he wants to get the photos, she'll write the story, and they can split the proceeds
• Peter agrees
• After complaining that Mary Jane making more money bothers him, Peter realizes he's being a jerk, and decides to do something for her
• That something is dawning a red speedo, and greeting her as she comes home to a set table of wine and chicken McNuggets
• Mary Jane opens the door further to introduce him to her friend, Sandy
• After losing a bet of $500.00 to a cab driver, Chance reminds the readers that he wagers for everything, including every job he takes
• Carlton Drake contacts Chance, and tells him he wants his help
• The Life Foundation wagers Chance $20,000.00 that he can't get them the weapons being offloaded at the pier, he takes the bet
• As Spider-Man watches the weapons being unloaded, preparing to take photos, Chance strikes
• Reference is made to Web Of Spider-Man 15, and X-Factor 25
• As Spider-Man hits Chance with a spider tracer, and comes up with a plan, the entire city goes dark
• Though Spider-Man makes an alternate plan (see oddities), when Chance wounds a solider running for his rifle, our hero has no choice but to take action
• After delivering the weapons, the Life Foundation double crosses Chance, knocking him out with a bobby trapped pen which sends volts of electricity through him
• Mary Jane tells Peter he needs to stop worrying about making money so much
• A shadowy figure stands before a wall of Spider-Man news clippings, vowing revenge for what he's done to him
• As he pounds his fists, the black symbiote goo forms a familiar black glove
• Venom is coming - Ooh la la, the chills!

Low Points

• It appears the chronological reading order is off
• This issue has Mary Jane calling Peter and telling him she's going to check out the condo at Bedford Towers, which she says they have a chance of getting
• However, chronologically, the last issue read, Web Of Spider-Man 38, had them throwing a moving party at their old apartment

Oddities

• Spider-Man decides to let Chance go after he steals the munitions because he wants to turn the opportunity into another money making photo session, when he goes after the thief - That's not very hero like

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 297

    

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 297
Release Date: February 1988

Highlights

• First appearance of Al and Martin
• First appearance and death of Eddie
  
• Spider-Man has finished his new web shooters, and swings through the night sky, testing them out
• The upgraded unit is now made of plastic, meaning it won't be set off by metal detectors, and also has a flashing red LED visible through his costume to warn him when the cartridge is running low
• Further, the wrist capsule now rotates to put another cartridge in place, or he can simply open the compartment, and replace it with a cartridge from his belt
• Lastly, he's also built a spider tracer launcher on the other side, allowing him to hit targets more accurately, and from greater distances
• Aunt May and Aunt Anna stop by Peter's apartment to surprise him with dinner out on them, but Peter has just returned, still in his Spider-Man suit
• He hides in the shower as Aunt May comes into the bathroom, making like he was bathing
• Eddie, the pilot for Al's Air Rents, a helicopter rental shop, is all booked up, and this doesn't please Doc Ock
• Doc Ock literally tears the man apart with his metal arms, killing him
• Robbie overhears Peter telling Joy about his ongoing financial difficulties, and suggests to the young man that he should consider looking for a different line of work
• Spider-Man attempts to break up a robbery of a wealthy penthouse owner named Henry
• In the process, one of his priceless paintings, and a gargoyle statue are damaged, resulting in Henry claiming he's going to sue Spider-Man
• Doc Ock breaks into a secure military lab, and steals a bacillus, and takes it to his hideout within the Trade Center Towers
• Ock has gone mad - In his desire to kill Spider-Man, he's opted to kill everyone in Manhattan, convinced Spider-Man will be among them
• He orders his men to activate the bacillus
• Spider-Man crashes through the window, sending Ock into a frozen state of panic
• Though Spider-Man takes one of his men captive, and orders him to tell the pilot to abort the operation, he's told that only Doc Ock knows the code words that would make him cease his mission
• Despite physically being immobilized, Ock's arms go into full on defense mode
• Reference is made to Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 79
• Spider-Man deduces that he needs to lose the fight to build Ock's confidence back up, and snap him out of his frozen state of fear
• Allowing himself to take blows from Ock's arms, the villain snaps out of his comatose state, and celebrates his victory
• Spider-Man tells him he wouldn't want to kill all the witnesses to his victory, and agreeing, Doc Ock calls off the mission
• Dock Ock tells Spider-Man he has no intensions of killing him, but rather that the hero will have to live with his regret of defeat, just as he has had to
• Despite having to take a beating, Peter is proud that he was able to save so many lives, and tells himself he's just become an adult

Low Points

• Mary Jane is now in Colorado on a shoot, and with a brief couple panels where she calls home saying she'll be back by the weekend, is once again being written out of the story

Oddities

• Either Doc Ock has changed his costume, or it's another Editor's Day Off moment
• His suit, which was green and orange, and has been for decades, is suddenly blue and orange

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 296

   

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 296
Release Date: January 1988

Highlights

• First appearance of Dr. Barnum
• Spider-Man has run out of web fluid, and broke as usual, he's hoofing it in the rain back home
• He talks about redesigning his web shooters so that this doesn't happen again
• Mary Jane is away in Aspen on a photo shoot
• Dr. Barnum and Jefferson seek to treat Otto Octavius through sleep therapy
• Rather than dream, Octavius falls into a nightmare, his subconscious battling Spider-Man
• His mental state causes his metal arms, locked up elsewhere, and bound by adamantium to thrash
• Peter designs his new web shooters, but doesn't have the money to build them
• A call to the Bugle yields no work
• Octavius's nightmares continue, and this time when he mentally links with his metal arms, they break free
• Spider-Man swings through the city looking for news to photograph, and finds it in the arms of Doc Ock smashing its way down the street
• Though he initially resists them, and even fears his arms when they find him, once the security guards shoot at them, Octavius accepts his fate as Doc Ock, and dawning them, breaks out of the hospital
• Doc Ock returns to one of his many lairs, and finds that his ex-henchmen don't want to work for him anymore, but they change their mind when his arms rip their car in half
• Reference is made to Web Of Spider-Man 5
• Spider-Man works with the Bugle and Dr. Jefferson to lure Doc Ock out
• Peter gets the money to fund his new web shooters
• Doc Ock determines himself to destroying New York City to get ensure the destruction of Spider-Man

Low Points

None

Oddities

Peter can barely rub two nickels together, and his first priority when getting cash in hand is upgrading his web shooter, not putting it away from him and his wife

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 295

   

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 295
Release Date: December 1987

Highlights

• First appearance of Sally Salins, Mary, Leslie, Butch, and David Stack, AKA Captain Zero
• The story picks up with a wounded Spider-Man being taken on a gurney through the mental hospital, drugged up to unconsciousness
• Though he's wearing his leggings and boots, his torso piece and mask are not on him, nor are his webs hooters
• The orderlies tell new employee, Mary of the mental ward that he's headed for the Mad Dog Ward
• Peter comes too, and tries to fight the guards, but is quickly injected
• As he slips back to unconsciousness, he pleads with Mary to help him, and tells her he's Spider-Man
• Several days later, Peter sits in a wheelchair, clinging to his memories, but losing them fast to the consistent rounds of drugs pumped through him
• He's befriended a patient named Zero
• Peter tells the other patients they should revolt and fight, but he doesn't know why
• Mary takes Peter to see Vicky in her room
• Frank arrives home, and tries to appease his kids Tanya and Jacob with pizza, but they reject him, telling him he's not a part of their family anymore after putting their mother in the mental ward
• Frank rages as he struggles with no option to bring her home
• Either he gets her out and faces the Kingpin, or leaves her there, and loses his children
• In the lab, an unnamed doctor works on the mind of patient MD2020, code name Brainstorm, controlling his mind through a dream state, grooming him into an assassin for the Kingpin
• The doctor also references patient MD336, saying he knows that it is Spider-Man, and can't wait to be given the approval to work on him
• Seeing someone demonstrate a new "suit" for the patients at the ward which allows for feeding tubes, IV's, and injections, while also serving as a straight jacket, Peter snaps, and grabs the guy, forcing the suit on him
• When a male nurse tries to stop him, he easily tosses the man, while other female nurses look on in amazement that he has this kind of strength with such high doses of sedatives in him
• Peter starts a revolt with the other patients who start to destroy the place
• Nurses swarm the room, poking everyone with needles, sedating them
• As the unnamed doctor talks with a nurse, she tells him that despite the aggressive Mad Dog training, he resists being violent
• The doctor decides it's time for Zero to have a labotomy

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• Peter doesn't remember who he is, but apparently still knows he's there for Vicky, and what her kids names are

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 294

    

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 294
Release Date: November 1987

Highlights

• Death of Kraven The Hunter
• Vermin remains trapped in a cage, reflecting on his mother running from Russia to America, only to then face poverty
• Spider-Man infiltrates Kraven's mansion, and grabs him from behind, hitting him
• Kraven puts up no fight, and instead boasts that he's finally won
• Kraven tells Spider-Man to follow him, and though he suspects a trap, the hunter simply tells him that his spider senses sense no such harm
• Kraven leads Spider-Man to Vermin, and explains that he alone was able to best the beast, when it took both Spider-Man and Captain America combined, and they barely were able to do so
• This proves to Kraven he is superior to Spider-Man
• Kraven frees Vermin, and though the beast recoils in fear of Spider-Man, the hunter rowels him up, sending him into a fighting frenzy against the hero
• Vermin gets the advantage on Spider-Man, but is stopped by Kraven, who yells at him to go, causing him to flee
• Kraven helps the wounded Spider-Man up, and tells him to go after Vermin
• He tells Spider-Man that Kraven will hunt no more
• Spider-Man departs, makes his way back to the city, and down into the sewers
• Kraven stands over an empty coffin, picks up a rifle, puts the barrel in his mouth, and pulls the trigger, falling backwards into the wooden box

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• None

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 293

   

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 293
Release Date: October 1987

Highlights

• Kraven stands before Spider-Man's grave, wearing his own version of the hero's black suit
• In the city, a woman runs through the rain, but when she trips and falls, a hairy arm with claw fingers reaches through a manhole, and grabs her, dragging her below the surface
• Within the sewers, Vermin reveals himself to the woman, and it's implied he's going to eat her
• Mary Jane sits in her apartment wondering where Peter is - He was supposed to be there hours ago to help her move her final items to his (their) apartment
• She fears he's dead
• Kraven crawls across the floor on all fours, stating he needs to become the spider
• He drinks a potion, and begins to hallucinate a bunch of spiders combining into a much larger one
• As Vermin licks his fingers clean of his meal, he sees Spider-Man's photo in a newspaper clipping, and panics
• This causes him to also remember Captain America, and how the two hurt him
• Vermin struggles with wanting to go back topside, and staying hidden in the dark
• Mary Jane goes out in the rainy night to look for her husband, but instead finds two guys who hit on her
• After telling them to get stuffed, they chase after her
• Still fighting his hallucinations, Kraven says his victory will only come when he becomes Spider-Man, and proves that he is better at it than the real Spider-Man
• The men chasing her catch up, and Mary Jane thinks she's saved when she sees Spider-Man
• After he brutally beats them, she realizes it's not Peter behind the mask
• Vermin also sees this while peaking through a manhole again, and decides he's going to go after Spider-Man, and that he's not afraid

Low Points

• The last issue of The Amazing Spider-Man crediting Jim Shooter as Editor-In Chief - Jim was fired in April 1987 from Marvel Comics

Oddities

• None

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 292

    

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 292
Release Date: September 1987

Highlights

• First appearance of Lieutenant Eden
• Spider-Man swings across Pittsburg, having just arrived at the request of Mary Jane
• As Peter sits in his hotel room looking for Mary Jane's sister, Gayles's number in the phonebook, the news reports that the spider-slayer ceased its rampage, and disappeared, relieving Peter that his departure from New York didn't result in someone being hurt
• Back in New York, Smythe is overseeing his crated spider-slayer being loaded onto a 747, which will soon take him to Pittsburg
• Upon arriving at Gayle's home, we final find out who surprised Mary Jane in the last issue, it was her father
• The two begin arguing, and Mary Jane storms out
• As Peter and Mary take a drive, and then a walk, she opens up to Peter, telling him that her sister is in jail for stealing a manuscript written by Benjamin Franklin from her work to give to her dad
• He was going to sell it, but cameras caught her with it, and she was arrested
• Mary Jane says her dad "Phillip" wants her to find out where the manuscript is, and bring it to him, and once she does, he'll leave them both alone forever
• Mary Jane tells Peter she loves him, and they kiss
• Mary Jane tells her dad she will help him
• Mary Jane and Peter go to see Gayle, but once again it's met with hostility
• As Mary Jane storms off, Peter gets some sense into Gayle's head by telling her that her kids need her
• After arriving in Pittsburg, renting a warehouse, and building his spider-slayer, Smythe tracks Spider-Man, and heads out into the city to kill him
• Meanwhile, Peter and Mary Jane head to the location that Gayle said she hid the manuscript
• Their find is cut short by the spider-slayer crashing through the wall of the university
• Reference is made to The Amazing Spider-Man Annual 19
• Spider-Man attempts to lead the slayer to an open area in the suburbs, but is grabbed and dunked under water in a firm grasp
• Mary Jane rams it with her car, allowing him to get free
• As Smythe once again gets the upper hand, Mary Jane once again intervenes, this time hitting it with a bat
• As the spider-slayer turns its attention to her, Spider-Man unleashes all his strength
• Peter and Mary Jane return to Gayle's home with the manuscript, but Peter has a secret plan to hit Phillip with a spider tracer, and go after him later
• He doesn't get a chance, as Mary Jane is working with the police, who hear Phillips confess that Gayle was just a pawn in his plan
• They arrest him
• Though still part of the crime, and expecting a trial, Gayle is let out on bail
• As Mary Jane and Peter Parker sit at the airport waiting for their flight, Mary Jane accepts his marriage proposal

Low Points

• The whole idea of Peter getting married came from a fan at a convention who asked Jim Shooter and Stan Lee during a panel if they would ever allow the character to do so
• From there, the concept was fast tracked into implementation, resulting in a rushed story, and ultimately a relationship transition that doesn't feel natural
• Story elements are disjointed in the cluster of it all to get from point A to point B across three issues

Oddities

• None

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 291

    

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 291
Release Date: August 1987

Highlights

• First appearance of Kevin Byrnes, and Alice Larkin
• Much like the first time he proposed to her, Mary Jane Watson tells Peter no
• Peter first proposed way back in The Amazing Spider-Man 183
• She tells Peter it's too sudden, and that she thought they were just friends
• She then tells Peter that she needs to head to Pittsburg to see her sister Gayle
• Reference is made to Web Of Spider-Man 18, and 24, specifically how Spider-Man's spidey sense didn't trigger a warning during two dangerous events
• Reference is later made to The Amazing Spider-Man 106, 259, and The Amazing Spider-Man Annual 19
• A self driven delivery truck drives behind Mary Jane's apartment building, and parks in the ally, and from it emerges an all new spider-slayer
• The mechanical beast climbs the building, and bursts through the wall into her apartment, but finds she isn't there
• It simply returns to the truck, and the vehicle drives away
• Peter mopes as he walks down the street alone, saddened that Mary Jane wouldn't even let him go to the airport with her
• The robot returns to its lair, and from inside of it emerges its wheelchair bound master, Alistair Alphonso Smythe, the son of spider-slayer creator, Spencer Smythe
• As her plane soars across the sky, Mary Jane ponders to herself why she wouldn't confide in Peter what her problems were that were taking her out of town to her sister
• Smythe sends a series of electronic eyes out across the sky to search for Spider-Man
• Mary Jane meets her sisters two sons, but learns that her sister isn't there from Alice Larkin, who is watching the kids
• One of Smythe's cameras spots Spider-Man, and the man returns to his spider-slayer to see about the hero's demise
• Mary Jane learns her sister is in jail, and goes to see her
• It is not a warm reunion, and Gayle tells her sister to go home
• Enclosed in his spider-slayer, Smythe attacks
• We also learn that the electrical shock his last slayer, which he was also inside of, is what left him wheelchair bound, and reliant upon intravenous meals
• A construction worker sees the fight, and uses his bulldozer to drive over the spider-slayer's arm, giving Spider-Man an opening to indefinitely disable the limb
• Smythe retreats, and we learn that the gas he sprayed Spider-Man with was laced with a special trace chemical, allowing the web spinner to be tracked
• Mary Jane returns to her sister's home, and as she fumbles for a light switch is surprised by the voice of someone, and while she recognizes the person, we don't get to see who it is
• Smythe regroups, and beings a rampage of the city, but as Peter suits up and gets ready to head out, Mary Jane calls
• She says she needs him, and to please come to Pittsburg, and says she loves him
• Peter wrestles with his duel identities, he knows Spider-Man is needed to stop the spider-slayer, but Mary Jane needs Peter Parker
• He needs to make a tough decision - With great power comes great responsibility, or Mary Jane Watson

• Smythe tracks Spider-Man to the airport, and learns that the plane he's chasing after has just taken off for Pittsburg
• Smythe purchases a first class ticket for the next available flight

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• For someone who's always broke, Peter sure scrounged up money fast for a last minute flight to Pittsburg

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 290

   

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 290
Release Date: July 1987

Highlights

• First appearance of Preserver, Max, Kevin and Billy
• Spider-Man sits on a rooftop, trying to convince himself he's happy
• Though he is finally over the flip flop of if he will or won't be Spider-Man, after being told by Flash Thompson to never give up
• Reference is made to The Amazing Spider-Man 289
• Preserver is taking hostages in an attempt to get the city to stop tearing down what he considers historic architecture
• After being stopped by Spider-Man, he learns they were just reinforcing the buildings, not tearing anything down
• The mayor insists that J. Jonah Jameson, who is present, will write a glowing story about Spider-Man saving the day
• Peter goes to see Mary Jane, unsure why he still feels out of sorts, to which she tells him that maybe it's a Peter Parker issue, and not a Spider-Man one
• Mary Jane suggests he goes to see his Aunt, but mentally feels jealous that it's not her who can help him work through his problem, but acknowledges she wants him to talk to the best person
• She then acknowledges that her putting Aunt May before her was a growing up aspect in her own life
• Peter goes up to his old room, and discovers his microscope is gone
• May explains that she said the church could take some old toys as donations, and they must have taken it
• Though Peter tells her it's not a big deal, as he leaves, it becomes clear that it is
• It's the microscope Uncle Ben and Aunt May gave him
• Peter goes to the church, but when he learns his microscope has been selected as a higher value auction item for the orphanage, he doesn't ask any further questions
• While there, he meets Max, an ex-gang member who was hired, along with his other ex-gang members to guard the Judah scepter, a staff that was loaned to the church for their exhibit
• Meanwhile, Mary Jane calls Aunt May's house looking for Peter, but learns he's already left
• Peter heads to the auction to attempt to win the bid, but gets side tracked by some thieves which he feels obligated to chase after least history repeat itself and a murder occur
• As Spider-Man chases the thieves, his spider sense goes off, leading him to a window where he see's Max holding security guards at gunpoint, telling them that he and his gang never went straight, and they're taking the scepter for a massive payout
• Max escapes as the security guards open fire, and takes a kid as a hostage
• Spider-Man stops him with a well aimed pair of paint cans flung at him, followed by a solid fist to the face
• Peter makes it back to the auction, and wins his microscope back
• As he dwells on the object, he realizes that his problem has been that he's been so focused on being Spider-Man that he's forgotten to be Peter Parker
• Peter returns to Mary Jane's apartment with a bag of M&M's, but notices she has luggage packed
• She informs him she needs to leave immediately to go out of town
• Peter asks if they can talk first, but Mary Jane says she's in a rush
• Peter just blurts it out...

• In a cliffhanger ending, Peter Parker proposes (again) to Mary Jane Watson
• Peter first proposed way back in The Amazing Spider-Man 183
  

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• None

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 289

   

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 189
Release Date: June 1987

Highlights

• Death of Mr. Varley, and Mr. Johnston
• Mac goes to Foreigner, and asks him to kills "someone" for him, to which he agrees
• After a brief phone call, and a quick call back, Mac is informed that Hobgoblin is dead, and the fee is one million dollars
• At JFK airport, the body of Ned Leeds is brought home, and there to see it are Robbie Robertson, Peter Parker, J. Jonah Jameson, Betty Leeds, and Marla Jameson
• Peter remembers the events as told in Spider-Man Versus Wolverine
• As Peter blames himself for Ned's death, J. Jonah Jameson also claims responsibility
• Despite his supposed death, Hobgoblin glides across the sky over JFK Airport
• Peter opts not to give chase
• While playing a literal game of chess together, Kingpin tells Foreigner he's not pleased that he had Hobgoblin killed without first consulting him
• Kingpin has his assistant, Mrs. Tate put word on the street that he wishes to see Spider-Man about information on Hobgoblin, including his identity
• At the funeral, Betty appears to be losing her mind, stating she's listening to hear if Ned is still breathing, and then asks the men carrying his casket to open it
• Peter pulls her away
• Betty tells Peter to head home, and that she'll be fine because her mother is coming to stay with her for a while, but as he walks down the street, he recalls that her mother passed away already
• Tired of running, Flash Thompson approaches a cop car, and attempts to turn himself in, but between thinking he's a vagrant, and hearing about an officer down over their radio, they dismiss him, and take off
• The Rose walks through his apartment, finding his staff murdered, as he announces he may be next, Hobgoblin emerges from the shadows
• Spider-Man arrives at Kingpin's building, and is given the file on Hobgoblin, no strings, no questions
• As Kingpin leaves, he confronts his man, Geppi, and tells him he knows that he is a double agent for The Rose, and bugged his office
• Kingpin gives him a choice; admit it and live, deny it and die
• After the man admits it, Kingpin kills him anyway
• In a flashback just before his death, Ned Leeds is revealed to be Hobgoblin

This event would be retconned in the
1997 mini-series, Hobgoblin Lives

• As Spider-Man begins to shout in disbelief, Kingpin returns to the room to tell him that Jack O'Lantern, AKA, Jason Philip Macendale, hire Foreigner to kill Hobgoblin, and that Foreigner then gave him the Hobgoblin costume and equipment as a "lark"
• As Spider-Man departs, Hobgoblin arrives, and demands the file from Kingpin, who informs him that he then needs to get it from Spider-Man
• Hobgoblin decides that Kingpin is of no further use then
• Kingpin's men surround him, and Hobgoblin retreats quickly, which amuses Kingpin, who see's Macendale as a coward who always runs away
• Spider-Man is relieved that he isn't responsible for the death of Ned, but still enraged by the culprits who did it
• As he makes his way to Foreigner's office, Flash sees him from below, and chases after him, intent on turning himself in
• The office appears to have been rented by someone else, and there's no trace of Foreigner, but Hobgoblin appears, and a massive battle between the two takes place
• Hobgoblin hits Spider-Man with a pumpkin bomb, lighting him on fire, leaving the wall crawler scrambling to rip the torso portion of his suit off as he falls off a roof
• Taking advantage of the situation, Hobgoblin chucks another bomb, but it's caught by Flash, who throws it back at him
• Flash actually dies, but Spider-Man resusetates him with CPR
• Though laid up in a hospital bed from the blast, all charges against Flash are dropped
• Kingpin and Foreigner have another game of chess, and when leaving, Kingpin hands him a piece of paper and tells him not to read it until he's down the elevator
• Foreigner reads it in the hallway, prior to getting on the elevator, which explodes
• Though he doesn't die, Kingpin has sent the message clearly
• Felicia has apparently sewn three new black suits for Spider-Man while he was in Berlin
• She's still living with him from her apartment being fire bombed

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• Editor's Day Off: Betty sits in her apartment after the funeral talking to Peter, and tells him, "My mom's on her way over and she'll be staying on while."

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 288

    

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 288
Release Date: May 1987

Highlights

• Death of Doctor Zachar
• The final chapter in the gang war
• Kingpin tells Doctor Zachar that he threatened his wife with a higher dosage when she recognized her son, and that is a failure - He blasts the man with a ray from his cane
• Mary Jane brings over fixings to make Peter breakfast in bed, but finds Black Cat there already making it, while Peter is asleep
• Black Cat calls her Molly Jo, which enrages her
• Kingpin fires Jack O'Lantern, saying he lacks the skills necessary to be an assassin in his organization
• Alfredo informs Richard Fisk that he's going to hunt down and take care of Hobgoblin for trying to kill him
• Kingpin sends men to kill Matt Murdock, Sgt. Tork, and Sam Wilson, but their assignment fails, and they are captured
• Kingpin informs the Arranger to have his people killed before the arraignment
• Ned Leeds goes to Lance Bannon's house to tell him he's going to go to Europe on assignment, and needs a photographer, but while there, notices Lance has several photos of Hobgoblin on his wall
• Lance plays it off, saying he's working on a photo morgue, then sighs a relief when Ned leaves that he bought it
• Kingpin gives a list of his own men to the Arranger who he wants eliminated
• Reference is made to The Amazing Spider-Man 276, 280, 286, and Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 123
• Flash Thompson and Betty Leeds are kissing, clearly having an affair
• Lance heads to Ned's apartment, and as Betty is leaving, he sees Flash in the window
• When Betty returns to the apartment, Flash is being beaten by Hobgoblin, seeing her, the villain says he doesn't want to involve her, and retreats
• As Peter enjoys lunch at his aunt's house, Matt calls him, but Peter hangs up on him
• Hobgoblin attack's Jack O'Lantern, but the fight is intervened by Alfredo
• Just as Alfredo has Hobgoblin dead to rights, Jack O'Lantern hits him from behind, stating he must be the one to fell the goblin
• Hobgoblin retreats
• Falcon chastises Daredevil for treating Spider-Man so poorly, but now expecting he will help them
• Spider-Man shows up with Black Cat, stating he can speak for himself
• Daredevil cuts him off, and tells him that Kingpin intends on cleaning house by assassinating all his Lieutenants, and now is the time to strike against him
• Kingpin calls the Rose, and tells him he needs to see his son
• The Rose does come, and asks how long he's known he was the crime boss
• Kingpin informs his son that he's allowing Vanessa, his wife, to return to Europe tonight, and ending the gang war precisely at midnight
• Kingpin's plan is all a ruse - He never intended to kill them, and instead made a deal with the local authorities to arrest them

Low Points

• Not a very satisfying ending

Oddities

• None

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 287

   

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 287
Release Date: April 1987

Highlights

• First Erik Larsen pencils on The Amazing Spider-Man, and his first published work for Marvel Comics
• Thor 385 was technically his first work, but that issue was published after The Amazing Spider-Man
• Spider-Man searches the city for Daredevil, angry that he previously went to see him at his request, only for the Man Without Fear to not show up
• Reference is made to Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 100, and Daredevil 233
• Spidey busts up a teenage drug den
• Alfred Morelli walks with Richard Fisk through the park, and when a bum asks for a quarter, he gives him a Rolex watch
• Alfred deduces that the bum will sell it for drugs and overdose, meanwhile, the people he fences it to will kill each other for it, and the end result is removing more vagrant from the city for the price of a watch
• While Peter is having lunch with Aunt May at her home, Matt Murdock shows up unannounced
• He and Peter leave in a cab, and the lawyer explains his call to Peter was a ruse to get him out of the way, that Spider-Man is causing a bigger mess of the gang war by involving himself
• Peter kicks the door off the cab when the driver won't stop to let him out, and it results in him and Matt fighting in the street
• The cabbie breaks it up, and tells Peter he'll be getting the bill for his door
• After bugging the Kingpin's building, Alfredo is picked up, literally, by Hobgoblin
• We learn that Hobgoblin has parted ways with the Rose
• After he gets the information he wants from Alfredo, Hobgoblin drops him to the river below, intent on killing him, but the snitch survives
• Ned Leeds tells Peter that Kingpin is returning to New York that night, and that he's coming with a lot of police protection
• Mary Jane enters the Kingsley building as Lance Bannon is exiting
• Though she tries to engage with him, he tells her to do them both a favor, and forget she saw him there, and never tell anyone
• Matt Murdock, Falcon, Sgt. Tork, Karen Paige, and Melvin Potter are all working together to ensure Kingpin safely returns to New York
• Spider-Man stands before Kingpin's motorcade, calling the man out
• Kingpin obliges, and fires gas grenades at him, knocking out his spidey sense
• After beating him down, it's revealed that Daredevil was wearing a Kingpin disguise, including a fat suit
• Despite the two continuing to fight in the streets, when a sniper takes a shot at Spider-Man, Daredevil deflects it with his club
• The two go to talk, and Daredevil says that this ruse, which Spider-Man was an unwilling participant, actually helped get Kingpin back into the city safely, and that it needed to be that way
• Daredevil believes the only real way to bring Kingpin down is through legal justic
• Hobgoblin exchanges information with Kingpin, to the goblin goes information on Soviet spy operatives during the cold war, and to Kingpin goes the identity of the Rose
• Kingpin tells the Arranger to destroy the envelope unopened, because he already knows the crime lord's real identity

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• While making short order of the teens running drugs, Spider-Man says they should be home watching Bill Cosby...Ooph...Hindsight is a heck of a thing
• Editor's Day Off: As Sgt. Tork hands Matt Murdock a gun, he asks, "You really thing this is going to stop Spider-Man?"

• Daredevil in a Kingpin disguise, including fat suit

• Editor's Continued Day Off: When Kingpin tells the Arranger to destroy the envelope, he says, "The the information is useless to me."

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 286

     

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 286
Release Date: March 1987

Highlights

• First appearance of Richard Fisk's girlfriend, Dina
• The issue picks up immediately after the events of the prior, with Spider-Man coming to from the gas that The Punisher blasted him with
• Spider-Man acknowledges that stopping The Punisher from blowing up all the crime bosses with his bazooka may have been the wrong decision
• Spider-Man returns home after sleeping in an ally, still impacted by the gas, to find Mary Jane is still there
• He thinks to himself, "Doesn't she ever go home?"
• Lance Bannon meets Sergeant Tork at the police station, and the two head out together
• Tork meets up with "Honest" Vinnie, and gets a lead on a high profile meeting happening that evening
• We also learn that Tork is the one tipping off Bannon to his photo opportunities
• Dina meets Richard Fisk for the first time during a bike ride, and goes home with him
• At his home, she finds the mask of The Rose
• The readers are finally let in on who the man behind the mask is
• Lance Bannon knocks on Peter's apartment door, and Mary Jane answers because he's still sleeping off the gas
• Lance tells him that he wants to tip Peter off to the gang meeting that evening, and that he can't go because he has other plans
• While she is talking to Lance, Peter's phone rings, and it's Matt Murdock telling him to meet him at midnight, alone
• Mary Jane doesn't tell Peter about Lance's tip
• Richard goes back to see his mother, and tells her about the girl he met
• Vanessa Fisk recognizes her son
• Vanessa's doctor overhears their conversation, and tells Richard that her memory comes and goes, and asks the boy to leave so that he can capitalize on this moment of clarity with treatement
• When Richard leaves, the doctor tells Vanessa what she did was bad, and now he'll have to administer more medication
• Richard tells Dina about his visit with his mother, than dawns his mask, and heads for the meeting
• Tork and his fellow officers stake out the meeting, and instigate shooting by announcing the cops are there
• Matt Murdock doesn't show for the meeting, and when Peter calls Mary Jane asking if anyone has called for him, she tells him about the explosions which have occurred downtown, and the meeting she didn't initially tell him about
• The Rose is shot during all the gunfire, and calls for Hobgoblin
• Hobgoblin sees Spider-Man, and tells Jack O'Lantern that this is their chance to kill him, but Jack bails
• Hobgoblin does engage Spider-Man, but then opts to cut out too, leaving the wounded Rose to fend for himself
• As he tries to sneak away, The Rose is held at gunpoint by a rookie officer, leaving the gangster no choice but to make his first kill
• Spider-Man returns home, feeling he did good helping people get away from the gang fight, thinking nobody was killed for once, but then the news report come in about the dead officer
• The Rose returns home, and seeing Dina there, who is also watching the news, says he didn't want to kill the man - He only wanted to wound him so he could get away
• Dina doesn't answer him

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• None

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 285

    

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 285
Release Date: February 1987

Highlights

• Hammerhead calls a meeting with The Rose, and says if he comes and works for him that he'll make him second in command when the city is his
• The Rose's casino is attacked by The Blue Boys, and he dispatches Hobgoblin to teach them the error of their ways
• Spider-Man comes across a video arcade being robbed, which is actually a front for The Rose's casino
• As he battles with the goons, two of The Blue Boys are shot from behind by a sniper
• Upon investigating, Spider-Man sees the shooter was The Punisher
• Reference is made to The Punisher mini series
• As Spider-Man chases The Punisher, the vigilante tells him that while he's pursuing him, the men he shot back at the arcade are dying
• Realizing this, Spider-Man retreats back to help the men
• Hobgoblin sees The Punisher down below, and immediately breaks off his path of travel, not wanting to fight the "madman"
• Jack O'Lantern attacks a junkyard used for stolen cars, and retreats when he sees Hammerhead is among the men
• Richard Fisk goes to see his mother, who remains bedridden, but she doesn't recognize who he is
• At the Bugle, Betty Leeds has called in sick, but Ann, who's covering for her, doesn't believe she's actually ill
• Meanwhile, in the office of Robbie Robertson, Ned is being spoken to about his lack of productivity, and lies to Betty about being on assignments assigned by Robertson
• Ned admits he is working on a story, but that he can't provide information yet because he doesn't have all the facts
• Word on the street, per Ben Urich, is that Hammerhead has put a hit out on The Arranger
• The Arranger has called a large meeting that night, and The Punisher is there to dispense some justice
• The Punisher has a clear shot with a bazooka on the many crime bosses gathered, but just as he fires, Spider-Man web's him from behind, causing his shot to launch into the sky
• The Rose and The Arranger agree to join forces
• The Punisher disables Spider-Man with gas, and leaves him to sleep it off

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• None

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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