The Spectacular Spider-Man
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- This article concerns the various series titled The Spectacular Spider-Man, including Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man (1976). For the 1990s Peter Parker series see .
Magazine
The first issue (July 1968) featured a painted, color cover with a 52-page black-and-white Spider-Man story, "Lo, This Monster!", by writer Stan Lee, with art by penciler John Romita, Sr. and inker Jim Mooney. A 10-page origin story, "In The Beginning!", was by Lee, penciler Larry Lieber and inker Bill Everett.
The feature story was reprinted in color, with some small alterations and bridging material by Gerry Conway, in The Amazing Spider-Man #116-118 (Jan.-March 1973) as "Suddenly...The Smasher!", "The Deadly Designs Of The Disruptor!", and "Countdown To Chaos!" (with additional inking by Tony Mortellaro on the latter two). These versions were themselves reprinted in Marvel Tales #95-97 (Sept.-Oct. 1978).
Both issues of the magazine were reprinted in their entirety (albeit shrunken) in the collection Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man #7 (ISBN 0785116362).
Volume One
Titled Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man on its December 1976 debut, and shortened to simply The Spectacular Spider-Man with #134 (Jan. 1988), this was the first Amazing Spider-Man monthly comic-book spin-off series. The monthly title ran 263 issues through 1998.
Scripting initially alternated between Gerry Conway and Archie Goodwin until mid-1977, when Bill Mantlo took over, staying on the title for almost seven years. During this time, the book also focused more on Peter Parker's campus life at Empire State University than Amazing did (as well as giving more attention to Peter's colleagues than to the more long-running supporting characters who featured in Amazing). The first regular artist was Sal Buscema, who drew the title until mid-1978. After Buscema’s departure, a succession of artists (including Mike Zeck, Frank Miller, Jim Mooney, Ed Hannigan and Greg LaRocque) penciled the series for approximately five years.
Al Milgrom took over scripting (as well as art) in early 1984, following writer Roger Stern's 1980-1981 run mid-Mantlo. Milgrom imbued the book with a whimsical tone, for example pitting Spider-Man against The Spot, an enemy so ridiculous he gave Spider-Man fits of laughter. Jim Owsley, then editor of the Spider-Man books, disapproved of this approach and had Milgrom replaced as writer by newcomer Peter David in 1985. David and artist Rich Buckler, said Owsley, had the series "focusing on stories with a serious, 'grown-up' tone and more complex themes".[Digital-Priest.com: "Adventures in the Funny Book Game]: Chapter Two — Why I Never Discuss Spiderman: Barabbas", by Christopher J. Priest (James Owsley), May 2002 One notable storyline is their "Death of Jean DeWolff" arc (#107-110).In addition to featuring a supporting character's shocking murder, the arc introduces Eddie Brock, the man who would later become Venom. David continued scripting Spectacular until early 1988.
With issue #134, the "Peter Parker" part of the title was removed and the series became simply The Spectacular Spider-Man. Sal Buscema became the regular artist, staying with the title from early 1988 to late 1996; throughout the series' run, Buscema drew over 100 issues, making him by far its most frequent contributor.
After his "Return of the Sin-Eater" arc (#134-136, Jan.-March 1988), David was removed as writer. Editor Owsley said editor-in-chief Jim Shooter "disliked Peter's work intensely"Ibid., "Ball Game". David, in a 2005 interview, believed, "I was fired off Spider-Man because it was felt at the upper editorial level that a novice comic-book writer shouldn't be handling the adventures of Marvel's flagship character".[Peter David interview], Spider-ManCrawlSpace.com (Oct. 9, 2005) Gerry Conway, who additionally wrote Web of Spider-Man from 1988 to 1990, returned to the series after which he left both books to become a story editor on the TV series Father Dowling Mysteries.
J.M. DeMatteis became the regular writer in mid-1991, beginning his run with the story arc "The Child Within" (#178-184, July 1991 - Jan. 1992), featuring the return of the Harry Osborn Green Goblin, who would be killed in #200 (April 1993). DeMatteis injected a grim, psychological tone into the book, exemplified by the arc "Kraven's Last Hunt", a six-part collaboration with artist Mike Zeck that crossed over the three Spider-Man titles in 1987. In a [2003 interview], DeMatteis revealed that scripting Spectacular in 1991-1992 was his favourite run on Spider-Man: "I really loved the two years on Spectacular Spider-Man that I wrote with Sal Buscema drawing. Talk about underrated! Sal is one of the best storytellers and a wonderful collaborator. I loved that run."
DeMatteis left the book in mid-1993 to write The Amazing Spider-Man. Steven Grant and other writers followed through late 1994, when former Amazing Spider-Man writer Tom DeFalco took over. By this time, all the Spider-books were affected by the controversial "Clone Saga" that culminated with Spectacular Spider-Man #226 (July 1995). This story revealed (though it was later reversed) that the Spider-Man who had appeared in the previous 20 years of comics was a clone of the real Spider-Man. This tied into a publishing gap after #229 (Oct. 1995), when the title was temporarily replaced by The Spectacular Scarlet Spider #1-2 (Nov.-Dec. 1995), featuring the "original" Peter Parker. The series picked up again with #230 (Jan. 1996).
Todd DeZago then wrote for a year before DeMatteis returned through May 1998. Luke Ross succeeded Sal Buscema as the artist and remained until the series ended, but there was no regular writer for the last half-year with Glenn Greenberg, Roger Stern, John Byrne and Howard Mackie all contributing during this time. The final issue was #263 (Nov. 1998).
Collections
- Essential Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 1 (ISBN 0785116826) - Collects issues #1-31
- Essential Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 2 (ISBN 0785120424) - Collects issues #32-53
Volume Two
The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 2 is a 27-issue monthly series published between 2003 and 2005. Each issue was written by Paul Jenkins (except #23-26, by Samm Barnes). The book's primary pencillers were Humberto Ramos and Mark Buckingham.Collections
- The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 1: The Hunger (ISBN 0785111697) - Collects issues #1-5
- The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 2: Countdown (ISBN 0785113134) - Collects issues #6-10
- The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 3: Here There Be Monsters (ISBN 0785113339) - Collects issues #11-14
- The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 4: Disassembled - Collects issues #15-20
- The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 5: Sins Remembered (ISBN 0785116281) - Collects issues #23-26
- The Spectacular Spider-Man, Vol. 6: The Final Curtain (ISBN 0785119507) - Collects issues #21, 22, 27
UK title
Spectacular Spider-Man is a title published by Panini Comics in the UK. It features a mix of reprinted American material as well as originally produced British material. Spectacular is aimed at a younger audience than Panini's other Spider-Man reprint title Astonishing Spider-Man, and is loosely based on the continuity of the .Footnotes
References
- [The Grand Comic-Book Database]
- [The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators]
- [Newsarama (c. 2004): "Priest: A Writer’s Confessions"]
- [The Trades (Aug. 14, 2002): "Peter David: An Apropos Conversation"]
- [Slush Factory (no date): J.M. DeMatteis interview]
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