Amazing Spider-Man in the 1980s

Feb 1

Feb 1 Amazing Spider-Man in the 1980s

January 1980 marked the 200th issue of Amazing Spider-Man and Marvel celebrated this milestone with a bang. Stan Lee came back to help Marv Wolfman tell the tale that saw Spider-Man confront the Burglar who killed his Uncle Ben way back in Amazing Fantasy #15. A plot line that was building up during the past few years of the title. Unfortunately, since Spider-Man is not really the vengeance getting type, the story ends without a single punch being thrown and the Burglar dying of a heart attack when Spider-Man unmasks to reveal that he is Peter Parker and realizing that he was responsible for the creation of the hero. Kind of a weak end, but between Spider-Man’s personality and the fact that the Comics Code Authority was still firmly clamped on the balls of creativity at the time, that’s about the best they could have probably done.

Wolfman continued from there wit Keith Pullard as the artist. The pair went on to do a two part Punisher story where Spider-Man helps bring down a mob boss. This was another CAC restricted story since they constantly reminded readers that the Punisher was using rubber bullets — this time. The following issue had Spider-Man team-up with Dazzler. This was before she was a popular member of the X-Men and was originally supposed to be a co-production between Marvel and Casablanca Records. That’s a long story, but it was supposed to involve a movie tie in starring Bo Derek and when it fell through Marvel decided to use the character, making alterations that led to her becoming the character we all know now. Issues #204 and 205 saw the return of the Black Cat, however she was not the strong and capable female character we know today. Instead she was slightly obsessed with Spider-Man and gets committed to a mental institution. Which I suppose that’s better than being fridged like other female characters, but not exactly the greatest alternative. The second part to this story was written by David Micheline,

The next issue was written by Roger Stern and drawn by John Byrne which featured a plot about Jonas Harrow using a device to drive the staff at the Daily Bugle crazy. Interesting choice since at the time Peter was fired from the Bugle and was working at the Daily Globe. Jim Mooney returned with the following issue with Denny O’Neil writing. The pair did a story that featured Mesmero who tries to get revenge with stage shows for some reason. It also brought over Debra Whitman, Peter’s love interest in Amazing Spider-Man’s sister series, Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man. Whitman makes regular appearances in Amazing Spider-Man from here, usually getting ditched while out on dates with Peter Parker something that makes her a neurotic mess.

Issue #208 is an interesting addition to Spider-Man lore as it introduced the character called Fursion. Fusion was apparently the creation of Marvel fans who attended Maplecon II, a comic book convention that was run by the Ottawa Science Fiction Society that ran from 1978 to 1992. It should not be confused with Ottawa Comiccon it’s highly commercialized successor. Anyway, Fusion was a two twin brothers who were little people. One is a janitor with developmental disabilities while the other is a genius scientist. A science accident happens and the two are fused together and fight Spider-Man. This story as not aged very well as it is incredible insensitive to those with mental disabilities and little people (this was back in the day before midget became a pejorative term) They needed three writers to make some sense out of this plot (Jim Shooter, Mark Greunwald, and Denny O’Neil) and it’s still awful garbage. It’s a really good example of never letting a group of fans come up with ideas for your comic book because they are probably going to be fucking awful. Needless to say, the Maplecon II experiment was not repeated after this story. It is noteworthy, however, since it is the first issue of Amazing Spider-Man pencilled by John Romita, Jr. John Jr. was Marvel dynasty given his father drew Amazing Spider-Man two decades earlier and John Jr’s work on the title would also become as highly acclaimed as that of his father. Denny O’Neil and John Romita Jr. would become the next recurring team to work on the book from here.

Denny O’Neil and Alan Weiss was a story that pit Spider-Man against Kraven the Hunter again. It’s only notable for the fact that it introduced Calypso, unfortunately, the character wouldn’t be used with any effectiveness until the 1990s when Todd MacFarlane was given the writing and art duties for Spider-Man. The 1980 Annual was much better, with Denny O’Neil teaming up with Frank Miller where Spider-Man teams-up with Doctor Strange to prevent Doctor Doom from unleashing Dormammu upon the world. Back on the main title, issue #210 introduced Madame Web, who — like Calypso before her — was a character created by Denny O’Neil but didn’t go on to be very useful until another creative team got to work on her. Issue #211-212 led to the creation of Hydro-Man, a new water based foe for Spider-Man to fight. Issue #211 also saw Peter return to work for the Daily Bugle, if only for the fact that writers kept on focusing on the Daily Bugle staff in previous issues even though Peter didn’t work there anymore. While issues #213-215 had Spider-Man fight the Wizard and then, with the Sub-Mariner, the Frightful Four. It featured a bizarre plot point where Spider-Man’s spider-sense is transferred over to Namor. It wasn’t a full power swap and didn’t really do much for the story. This arc is also notable for producing that image of Spider-Man being punched in the butt by Sandman that looks like Sandy is corn-holing the wall-crawler.

One of the weirder stories of the O’Neil/Romita team was Amazing Spider-Man #217-218 which saw Hydro-Man and Sandman merged together into a monster called the Mud-Thing. An experience that shook both characters to their core, particularly the Sandman who decided to go straight after the whole encounter. This was followed by a few one-off stories, such as a story were Peter Parker intentionally gets himself arrested and placed in Rykers Prison (#219, written by O’Neil and drawn by Luke McDonnell), a Moon Knight team-up (#220, written by Michael Fischer and drawn by Bob McLeod) and a story where Spider-Man fights Ramrod (issue #221, written by O’Neil and drawn by Alan Kupperberg). Bill Mantlo and Bob Hall did a fill-in issue during this period as well (issue #222), where they gave the villain the Whizzer a more dignified and fearful name of Speed Demon. O’Neil (with J.M. DeMatteis) returned with John Romita Jr. on the next issue which featured Red Ghost and the Super-Apes. Annual #15 was another O’Neil and Frank Miller work, featuring Doctor Octopus and the Punisher.

Roger Stern took over as writer from here with a Vulture story in issue #224, and a battle with the Foolkiller in issue #225. Issue #226-227 saw the return of the Black Cat. Roger Stern at least had the sense of doing away with the “crazy woman” angle with the Black Cat, revealing that she faked a mental break down to evade arrest. The character was still in love with Spider-Man, but at least it wasn’t as down right stupid as what Marv Wolfman had done with the character. This time, the Black Cat was willing to reform only to seemingly perish in a river before amnesty papers could get processed. Issue 229-230 featured an unlikely battle, having Spider-Man go up against the Juggernaut, a villain that is far more powerful than the wall-crawler. It is one of the most highly regarded stories of Roger Stern’s run. This was followed up with issues #231-232 featured the return of Cobra and Mister Hyde and their dysfunctional partnership, with Spider-Man caught in the middle. Issue #233-236 which is one of the weirdest tale of Stern’s run, which featured Will O’ the Wisp trying to get revenge against his former employers and involved the Tarantula being turned into a giant spider before being gunned down by police. This was followed by a story featuring Spider-Man fighting Stilt-Man, a story of much lighter tone after the shitshow of the last few issues. Annual #16 was used as a vehicle for Roger Stern and John Romita Jr to springboard their new take on Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau, who would join the Avengers almost immediately after her appearance ere.

Issue #238-239 is one of the most iconic stories of Roger Stern’s run on Amazing Spider-Man, as it featured the first appearance of the Hobgoblin and began the very twisted and sometimes confusing story to figure out the true identity of this new villain. The Black Cat was back as well, although she only played a minor part as she was more extensively featured in Amazing’s sister book, Peter Parker. Issue #240-241 saw the return of the Vulture. It’s unique as Roger Stern also took the time to delve into the villain’s past to explain why a he became a criminal. Issue #244-245 saw the return of the Hobgoblin who manages to steal an imperfect version of the Green Goblin’s formula. He then uses it on a crook named Lefty Donovan who goes after Spider-Man dressed as the Hobgoblin before dying due to a side-effect of the imperfect Goblin Formula, leaving Spider-Man to think that the Hobgoblin is dead. Issue #246 was another odd story as it delved into the dreams of some of Spider-Man’s supporting cast. Guided by the Watcher the reader looks into the dreams of the Black Cat, J. Jonah Jameson, and Mary Jane Watson. It’s probably the closest thing to a DC Style “imaginary story” you can find in a Marvel Comic.Another fun reprieve after a few heavy issues. Issue #248 is also notable for the back-up story “The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man” taking another page from Silver Age DC Comics. It took DC’s concept of a kid with an obsession with a super-hero but gives it a “realistic” take that is more in tone with the Marvel Universe as it is later revealed that this Spider-Man super-fan is terminally ill.

The Hobgoblin turns up alive again in issues #249-251, trying to blackmail New York’s most wealthy and get a hold of the proper Goblin Formula. This all ends, again, with the seeming demise of the Hobgoblin but this is not the last we see of the character. Issue #251 ends with Spider-Man being abducted by a strange structure that appears in Central Park, a prelude to the wall-crawler’s involvement in the first Secret Wars event. Issue #252 takes place after the events of Secret Wars with Spider-Man returning to Earth with a new black costume. A costume that will have long standing implications on the life of Spider-Man for years to come. The story was written by Tom Defalco and Roger Stern and drawn by Ron Frenz. Spider-Man’s black costume is notable, not just because it eventually would become part of Venom, one of Spider-Man’s greatest foes, but also because it was a fan creation. Randy Schueller wrote in is idea to Marvel back in the day when Marvel would actually read unsolicited ideas. Then editor-in-chief, Jim Shooter, liked the concept so much he bought the idea off Randy for a measly $220. If I were Randy, I’d probably be kicking myself right now, even if Venom was a sub-par movie. Marvel is even commemorating Randy’s idea for Marvel’s 80th anniversary. Anyway, it’s probably one of the last times that Marvel took an idea from a fan and given the last time (Fusion) was so god-awful, it’s probably a good idea they stopped taking fan ideas.

Unfortunately for Roger Stern, however, Tom DeFalco took over as lead writer of Amazing Spider-Man. He and Rick Leonardi became the recurring creative team having Spider-Man battle the Rose (#253), and Jack O’Lantern (#254). From there Ron Frenz took over as artist. DeFalco and Frenz would work together on this title and others for many years. Issue #256-257 is notable for the first appearance of the Puma, the revelation that Spider-Man’s costume is alive, and Mary Jane revealing that she has known that Peter Parker was secretly Spider-Man for years. The only missed step here was explaining when Mary Jane figured this out. Someting that isn’t fully explained until Amazing Spider-Man: Parallel Lives, a graphic novel that was published in 1989, which explains that Mary Jane has known Peter’s secret since the day he caught his Uncle Ben’s killer in Amazing Fantasy #15.

Then came Amazing Spider-Man #258, which saw the revelation that Spider-Man’s costume was alive and was trying to bond with him, Peter doesn’t want this and has Mister Fantastic separate him from the symbiote and contain it. Without a costume, Spider-Man was forced to swing around in an old Fantastic Four costume and a paper-bag over is head until he could get his hands on his old costume. This is a huge Tom DeFalco trope where he quickly undoes changes made to a title. It’s not as bad as when he undid all the changes that Walt Simonson did to Thor. Issue #259 saw the return of the Hobgoblin, but it is more notable for looking into the past history of Mary Jane, explaining why the usually happy-go-lucky party girl was such a flake, revealing an abusive family life in her past and how all the dysfunctional relationships of her past made her avoid meaningful relationships of her own. Annual #18, co-written by DeFalco and Stan Lee saw wedding bliss between Spider-Man’s nemesis J. Jonah Jameson and Marla Madison. Issue #260-261 brought back the Hobgoblin, having him go after Harry Osborn to find secrets of his father’s Goblin Formula, to no avail. Issue #262 is a “special issue” written and drawn by Bob Layton. Other than a photo cover, this story is less than special since it involves Peter Parker trying to prevent a paparazzi from exposing his secret identity.

DeFalco next wrote a that I can only describe as being fucking stupid. Issue #263 for example had Ollie Osnick, aka the Spectacular Spider-Kid try (and fail) to be Spider-Man’s sidekick. Issue #264 where Spider-Man has to take down a young would-be hero named Red 9, this story written by Craig Anderson and drawn by Paty Cockrum was not a whole lot better. Issue #265 featured the first appearance of Silver Sable, the international soldier of fortune/Nazi hunter. While issue #266 (by Peter David and Sal Buscema) poked fun at some of the more stupid stories floating around the Spider-Books by having Spider-Man clash with the “Misfits” a team consisting of half-assed bullshit characters who wanted to be Spider-Man’s sidekick including Frog-Man, the Toad, and Spider-Kid. David and Bob McLeod then put forth an even more absurd story in Amazing Spider-Man #267, which saw Spider-Man chasing a crook out to Scarsdale, with hilarious results. This story is notable since some of the plot elements were paid homage to in the movie Spider-Man: Homecoming, one of many insufferable easter eggs that flood MCU movies. It should also be noted that during this period Peter Parker began alternating between his traditional costume and a cloth version of his black costume that was gifted to him by the Black Cat in Spectacular Spider-Man. This was probably done because fans still liked the black and white costume.

By this point, the Secret Wars II event was in full swing and Amazing Spider-Man was not immune to the massive cross-over. Issue #268 was a continuation of a story started in Secret Wars II #2 and Web of Spider-Man #6 which saw an office building turned into solid gold by the Beyonder and the attempt to cover it up before knowledge of all this gold could cause a massive economic collapse. Spider-Man helps with the rescue effort only to be left with a sour taste in his mouth when he discovers that the government sought the aid of the Kingpin to help dispose of the gold, for a price after all. Issues #269-270 took a page from Roger Stern by having Spider-Man go up against a seemingly unbeatable foe, this time the wall-crawler went up against Firelord, a former herald of Galactus and manages to beat the living shit out of him. Annual #19 was written by Louise Simonson and drawn by Mary Whilshire. This story is notable because it introduced Alisaire Smyte, the son of Spencer Smythe the inventor of the Spider-Slayer. It’s an absurd story where Smythe (a sex starved INCEL loser) incorrectly concludes that Mary Jane Watson is secretly Spider-Man. Again, this is a character that isn’t utilized properly until put in the hands of other writers. Back on the main book, issue #271 to be precise, DeFalco does a story that follows up what happened to Crusher Hugan, the wrestler that Peter humiliated when he first got his powers. It also introduced a villain named Manslaughter Marsdale, a one note villain that thankfully didn’t gain much traction.

Secret Wars II bleeds into the Spider-Man title again with issue #273, which saw the Puma go after the Beyonder since he was apparently created to defend his tribe from the Beyonder, this is a story that is continued in Peter Parker #111. The following issue was another Secret War II cross-over here Mephisto and Beyonder decide to test Spider-Man on almost biblical proportions. It’s basically the superhero version of the story of Job in that it involves the demon that used to possess Ghost Rider and Spider-Man’s own code of honor making him save the life of the Kingpin. Issue #275 was an excuse to reprint Amazing Fantasy #15, framed in a way where Peter is telling Mary Jane how he got his powers, it also featured the return of the Hobgoblin. In the following issue, in order to deflect any investigation into his true identity, the Hobgoblin frames Flash Thompson and he is arrested. Issue #279 is also notworthy in that it was the first of a crossover story that is told across all the Spider-Man titles of the time. The story, Missing in Action, had its parts told in the pages of Amazing, Spectacular, and Web of Spider-Man. Issue #280-281 also introduced the Sinister Syndicate, while issue #282 was a shameless plug for the new X-Factor series. Annual #20 by Fred Sciller, Ken McDonald and Mark Beacum featured Spider-Man figting the Iron Man from the far off future of 2020, a time travel story that is not at all dated by today’s standards.

Issue #284-288 began a long running Gang War story arc which was a non-sensical mess in terms of its attempts to confuse the identity of the Hobgoblin. It was during this story arc that Tom DeFalco was replaced with Jim Owsley and Alan Kupperberg.

It’s important to stop here to talk about Spider-Man Versus Wolverine,a one-shot that was published in February of 1987. Written by Jim Owsley and drawn by Mark Bright it wasn’t just a story where Wolverine and Spider-Man duke it out, it is also a story where Ned Leeds, long time supporting character, is murdered. This leads into Amazing Spider-Man #289 which reveals that Leeds was secretly the Hobgoblin this whole time, his murder was orchistrated by Jack O’Lantern who wanted to take up the identity for himself, this also was done to neatly end the long running affair between Flash Thompson and Ned’s wife Betty Brant, and also end Flash’s fugitive status since being framed by the real Hobgoblin. Now, if this isn’t really fucking confusing already, none of this is what Roger Stern wanted to do with the character. In fact, he always intended the Hobgoblin to be Roderick Kingsley, something that was made complicated by two other writers handling the Hobgoblin. Still, Stern’s interpretation eventually became the truth years later when he was asked to write the limited series Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives which cleans up all the confusing inconsistencies and unanswered questions from the whole Hobgoblin run. There are many and I won’t get into it here because it is a convoluted headache and Stern pulled a real hat trick making sense out of the utter shitshow Stern and Owsley made of the plot.

UPDATE JUNE 2021: In Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 5) #68, it is revealed that Ned Leeds apparently survived the attempt on his life thanks to ingesting the Goblin Formula prior to his death. However, the full story by the man claiming to be the real Ned Leeds has not been fully revealed. As this could be a deception of some kind, I will not be updating index pages referring to Ned Leeds death in the continuity notes until after this current storyline has resolved itself.

Issue #290 was written by David Micheline and drawn by John Romita, Jr. It is very notable for the fact that Peter Parker asks Mary Jane to marry him and she says yes. That year’s annual #21 was the big wedding issue between Peter and Mary Jane, a very important part of Marvel History 2007’s One More Day which saw Peter and Mary Jane make a deal with Mephisto sacrificing the existence of their marriage in order to save Aunt May’s life. I won’t even get into the implications of all that sit here, except to say that they were the biggest pile of horseshit ever written, yet at the same time, actually lead to new life being breathed into the franchise.

Issues #294-295 were two chapter of Kraven’s Last Hunt, a massive storyline written by J.M. DeMattis and Mark Zeck that crossed over into every Spider-Man title at the time. In it, Kraven the Hunter has one last hunt for Spider-Man, starting with Kraven hunting down and burying Spider-Man alive and ending with the villain going insane and committing suicide. It was dark as fuck and one of the most epic Spider-Man stories of all time. It is also one of the few J.M. DeMattis Spider-Man stories that isn’t annoying depressive drek. Issue #295 was another multi-title cross over, Life in the Mad Dog Ward. Written by Ann Nocenti. It’s dumb. That’s all I can really say about it.

David Michelline took over as regular writer for Amazing Spider-Man and becomes one of the most well regarded runs starting with issue #298 when Todd MacFarlane came on as regular artist. At the time MacFarlane’s work was considered revolutionary in an era were everyone typically followed a “house style”, Todd MacFarlane, and his contemporaries at the time (Jim Lee, Mark Silvestri, and… ugh.. Rob Liefeld) broke that mold. Looking back at it, MacFarlane’s artwork is actually kind of shit. It hasn’t withstood the test of time. Much like RobLiefeld, MacFarlane’s work played it fast and loose and was inconsistent from issue to issue. Michelline was one of the first writers to try and make Peter Parker try and grow up, he was now married after all. This part of a long tug-of-war between writers who wanted Peter to progress as a person, and editors who wanted Spider-Man to remain “relevant” to readers by constantly knocking him back down to the high school loser rut he has been stuck in for the past 30+ years. Issue #299-300 is also notable for the first full appearance of Venom. From there the rest of the decade doesn’t really do much except for throw Spider-Man into huge cross-overs including the Evolutionary War, Atlantis Attacks, the Assassin Nation Plot, and Acts of Vengace. Between this and regular battles with Venom, dealing with Mary Jane’s newfound stalker, the late 80s for Spider-Man was kind of stagnant. Lots of action but no real substance. The efforts of David Micheline to push the character forward always seemed to be waylayed due to massive events that swallowed up months worth of books even during a period were the book was printed bi-monthly.