The Amazing Spider-Man: A New Goblin

Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #176-180
Written by Len Wein.
Penciled by Ross Andru.
Inked by Tony DeZuniga, Mike Esposito & Jim Mooney.

The Green Goblin is back in New York, and only Spider-Man can stop him!

Norman Osborn, the original Goblin was Spider-Man's deadliest enemy. He was the only villain who knew that Peter Parker was Spider-Man and he murdered Gwen Stacy, the love of Parker's life. When Norman died, his emotionally disturbed son Harry put on the Goblin suit and took up the mantle. Harry went through psychiatric counseling, which seemed to cure him of the madness that had created a second Goblin.

But Harry's been going through a rough patch. His fiance, Liz Allan, has broken up with him. His therapy sessions with his psychiatrist, Dr. Bart Hamilton, have not been going well. And now it looks like Harry has had a relapse of his Goblin-ness, since the Green Goblin has returned.

The Green Goblin starts by attacking Peter's friend Flash Thompson and nearly kills him. Flash doesn't know his former roommate Harry was the Green Goblin. Spider-Man shows up in time to save Flash, but the Goblin gets away. 

In addition to terrorizing Spider-Man, the Goblin is also attempting to take over organized crime operations in New York.  He crashes a meeting of crime bosses and attacks Silvermane, who leads the powerful Maggia crime syndicate. The bosses tell Green Goblin they'll give in to his demands on one condition: He must destroy Spider-Man once and for all. Spider-Man breaks up the meeting and finds himself in the middle of a war between the Green Goblin and Silvermane!

Adding to Spidey's stress, his Aunt May is in the hospital recovering from a heart attack. May needs surgery, but the doctors cannot proceed until Peter signs a consent form. On his way to the hospital, he's attacked by the Goblin.

Spider-Man Vs. Green Goblin Vs. Silvermane!

During one of their battles, Spider-Man is shocked at the evil in the Green Goblin's voice. His tone sounds more maniacal than ever before. Spidey wonders: is this Goblin really his friend Harry Osborn? Or has someone else put on the green & purple threads and become..a new Goblin?  

Review:

The title of this trade paperback sort of "spoils" a plot point, but I try to avoid spoilers here.

This was one of the first Spider-Man sagas I recall reading. I came in the middle and didn't read the story start-to-finish until later. 

Story:

Len Wein gives us a good, solid Green Goblin story here, even if it's not exactly a classic tale. The aforementioned spoiler will likely be obvious to readers, but it's still a fun ride. Wein also makes good use of the supporting cast. Flash Thompson, Glory Grant and Robbie Robertson all get some good face time. The book opens with a funny scene featuring J. Jonah Jameson. If I have any complaints, it's the (even then) tired use of Aunt May's illness as a source of drama. 

This story took up five issues, so you might say Wein was a pioneer of "writing for the trade".

Art:

The art is very good in this tpb. Ross Andru penciled Amazing Spider-Man for five years (1973-1978, with a few issues in-between drawn by others), plus five issues of Giant-Size Spider-Man, one issue of Spectacular Spider-Man and seven issues of Marvel Team-Up, which makes him the definitive Bronze Age Spidey artist. Andru's work here looks as good as ever, plenty of great fight scenes and some nice panels of Spider-Man swinging through New York. The inkers also do a fine job.  

How does it look?:

Here's a page scanned from a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #177:

And here's how the same page looks in The Amazing Spider-Man: A New Goblin:

Spider-Man: A New Goblin is a good, fun story, and a sentimental favorite of mine. It's probably not the best place start if you haven't read prior Green Goblin stories. But it's worth picking up for no other reason than Andru's great art (which is worth a "half-a-Sal" all by itself!).

My rating:

 .5

3 and half Sals.

Spider-Man: Marvel Team-Up

Reprints Marvel Team-Up #59-70, 73
Written by Chris Claremont, Ralph Macchio.
Penciled by John Byrne.
Inked by Dave Hunt, Bob Wiacek, Ricardo Villamonte, Tony DeZuniga, Al Gordon.

New York is under attack from Equinox, the thermodynamic man! He's like Iceman and Human Torch rolled into one! Spider-Man teams up with Wasp and Yellowjacket to stop "Noxie" (as Spider-Man calls Equinox). But this villain turns out to be tougher than expected, nearly killing Yellowjacket.

Next up, Spider-Man is attacked by the Thing and the Human Torch...or is he? It turns out to be Super-Skrull, who is not only a shape-shifter (like all Skrulls), but also has all the powers of every member of  the Fantastic Four! Spidey teams up with the Human Torch and Ms. Marvel to take down Super-Skrull.

  

The battle leads them all over Manhattan, finally culminating in a punch-up on board the famous ocean liner known as the Queen Elizabeth II (or QE2 for short).

Spidey has little time to relax before his friend & fellow hero Iron Fist is attacked by the Steel Serpent!  He attempts to rescue Iron Fist, but it's too late! Steel Serpent has drained the life-force (also known as  "chi") out of Iron Fist. Spider-Man must stop Steel Serpent, but he'll need assistance from Iron Fist's friends, Misty Knight and Colleen Wing, who are better known as the Daughters of the Dragon!  

In his civilian guise, Peter Parker meets British exchange student Brian Braddock. Empire State University needs to find temporary housing for Braddock and Parker needs money, so he takes Brian in as as roomate. But when Brian sees Spider-Man crawling out of Parker's apartment, he presumes the worst and attacks him...as Captain Britain!  

Eventually they sort things out and realize they're on the same side. But suddenly, they're captured by the assassin called Arcade! He imprisons them in his deadly amusement park, Murderworld!

The stakes get higher when the heroes learn that Arcade has also kidnapped Captain Britain's girlfriend,  Courtney Ross. 

Later, Spider-Man encounters his old foe Kraven the Hunter! They slug it out until Kraven shoots him with poison darts. When Spidey wakes up, Kraven forces him to battle Tigra. She's being controlled by Kraven, who forces the two heroes into a battle to the death!

Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson visit a circus. They're surprised to see a very rare creature on display: the Macabre Man-Thing! Parker changes into Spider-Man, frees Man-Thing and charters a plane to fly him home to the Everglades. But when they arrive, a helicopter collides with their plane, causing both vehicles to crash. But this is no random accident: the crash has been engineered by the demon D'Spayre! Only Spidey and "Manny" can stop him.   

On Scotland's Muir Island, the mutant heroes Havok and Polaris are attacked by a gang of thugs. Havok recognizes them as henchmen of his old enemy, the Living Pharaoh. He's captured and taken to New York. 

Spider-Man gets involved when Peter Parker notices the Pharaoh's flunkies stealing an ankh artifact from Empire State University. They get away, but he tracks them down to their hideout using a Spider-Tracer.  

Spidey finds Havok imprisoned and frees him, but then they're both hit with an energy blast by the Living Pharaoh. After a brief battle, Pharaoh uses Havok's energy to turn once again turn himself into the 33-ft tall Living Monolith!

Spider-Man is in over his head. The Living Monolith is stomping all over New York, crushing buildings. Thankfully, help arrives in the form of the mighty Thor, God of Thunder! The Monolith and Thor engage in an epic battle, that finally ends in New York harbor.  

Last, but definitely not least:

Peter and Mary Jane head to a new disco (it was New York in the 70s!) called Studio 13. Their date is cut short when an armed arson gang called the Rat Pack shows up. Thankfully, Luke Cage, AKA Power Man, is also at Studio 13. Cage & Spidey drive the Rat Pack from the disco, but they get away. 

The heroes track down the Rat Pack in the South Bronx. Power Man confronts them, but they blow up a building, sending Cage flying through the air and setting the building ablaze. It's up to him and Spider-Man to rescue the people endangered by the fire. But they'll need the help of another group of heroes: the firefighters of the New York Fire Department!

Plus, appearances by Captain Jean DeWolf, Spider-Man's closest ally on the NYPD!

Review:

When comic book fans hear the names "Chris Claremont" and "John Byrne" in the same breath, they probably think of their work on X-Men. But the first six stories in this book were published before Byrne started penciling the X-Men series. And prior to Marvel Team-Up, they had collaborated on Iron Fist, but that's another story.  

Story:

These are among the best issues of Marvel Team-Up. Super-Skrull is one of my all-time favorite villains. Kraven was one of Spidey's earliest & deadliest foes during the Lee-Ditko-Romita years, but he later devolved into a joke. Claremont gives Kraven back some of his dignity here. Living Pharaoh/Monolith is treated like a serious threat to New York City. 

Another thing I like here is the way Claremont connects these stories to others that were happening at the time. For instance, when Polaris contacts Beast, he can't help her because he's heading off to search for the X-Men, which ties in directly with Beast's guest appearance in X-Men # 111.

Art:

John Byrne's art here is still evolving, so it doesn't look as might expect. But it's still great to look at. The inkers are all a good match for Byrne. Most of us think of Terry Austin as Byrne's best inker. Dave Hunt, Bob Wiacek, Ricardo Villamonte, Tony DeZuniga, and Al Gordon aren't Austin, but they do a fine job at inking Byrne here. Special kudos go out to Byrne and DeZuniga for the art in the Thor/Living Monolith story. It's absolutely gorgeous. It includes a two-page fight scene that's too big to scan.  

How does it look?:

Here's a page scanned from an original copy of Marvel Team-Up #61:

The same page looks like this in this tpb:

Spider-Man: Marvel Team-Up features great stories, great art and is lots of fun. It should be on the shelf of every Bronze Age Marvel Zombie.

4 Sals!

The Thing: The Serpent Crown Affair

Reprints Marvel Two-In-One #64-67 & Marvel Team-Up Annual #5.
Written by Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio & Steven Grant.
Pencils/Breakdowns by George Perez, Jerry Bingham, Ron Wilson & Mark Gruenwald.
Inks/Finishes by Gene Day, Jim Mooney & Friends.

The Thing and Stingray (AKA oceanographer Dr. Walter Newall) are on their way to meet the Inhuman Triton on the West Coast. Stingray's friend, Dr. Henry Croft, has been turned into an amphibian and they believe Triton can cure him.

Alternate Cover

The heroes happen to fly by a Roxxon oil rig that's collapsing into the Pacific Ocean. After securing the rig, Thing & Stingray are attacked by the rig workers. Suddenly, a brand new Serpent Squad arrives and joins the attack on the heroes. It turns out the rig wasn't set up to drill for oil, but to find the Serpent Crown!

The dramatic debut of the new Serpent Squad!

The Thing tangles with the Serpent Squad underwater. Anaconda nearly chokes him out and Black Mamba (a shape-shifter) takes the form of Ben's girlfriend Alicia Masters to mess with his mind.  

Death Adder threatens to kill Stingray

Triton finally shows up and evens the odds a bit. They're able to defeat the Serpent Squad, but the leader, Sidewinder, escapes with the Serpent Crown. 

Sidewinder delivers the Crown to Hugh Jones, the President of Roxxon Oil. He's wearing not one, but two Serpent Crowns! He has the Crown from our Earth and an alternate Earth (read this book for how the 2nd Crown got here). Jones says the crowns will make him "the master of reality!". Even Sidewinder is spooked by this, so he takes off.  

 
 Scarlet Witch locates the Serpent Crown in DC

With the help of Agatha Harkness and Scarlet Witch, Thing & Stingray track down the Crown in Washington, DC. They meet up with Wanda and track down Hugh Jones. He welcomes them to the "Congress Of The Crowns": he has created ghosts (he calls them "ethereal manifestations") of everyone who has ever worn the Crown (including Sub-Mariner, Krang & the Living Laser). It takes the combined power of Scarlet Witch, Stingray and the Thing to stop Jones and capture the Serpent Crown. Eventually Jones is defeated and Ben takes the Crown to Project Pegasus for safe storage.  

But there's more to this story than the Serpent Crown. 

Ben has broken up with his long-time girlfriend Alicia. He believes she will be safer if she isn't connected to the Fantastic Four and all their foes. But he quickly regrets dumping her and tries to reconcile. When he believes there's no hope, he decides to seek out Thundra, the Femizon from an Alternate Earth. Thundra has been in love with Ben for years, but he was never available.  

Thundra and Hyperion are both trying to get back to the worlds from which they each came and realize that they can help one another. Hyperion has also developed romantic feelings for Thundra.  Unfortunately for him, so has the Thing. This leads to a punch-up between them, when both Ben and Hyperion think the other is attacking Thundra.

Months later, the Serpent Crown has called security guards at Project Pegasus into its service. They attack Quasar (who was serving as Chief of Security at Project Pegasus) and force the Crown on to his head! He attempts to contact the Thing, but the Crown takes over his will before he can tell Ben what's happened. Ben is worried, and hightails it up to Project Pegasus to investigate.  


At the same time, Spider-Man sees an image of a giant snake slithering through New York and consults Doctor Strange for help in the matter. Strange determines that the Serpent Crown is back and they chase after it. Scarlet Witch also senses that the Crown is active and heads Upstate.  


When they arrive they're shocked to find not one, not two, but hundreds of Serpent Crowns from hundreds of universes!  

Review:

I'll start by saying I'm a bit biased here. I remember getting MTIO #64 as an Easter present when it was brand new back in 1980.  
One thing that's interesting here is appearances of Kull and Conan (one panel a piece, via flashback).  Marvel hasn't had the rights to the characters in years and I wonder if the lawyers for Robert E. Howard's estate caught this? 
Story:
Ralph Macchio and Mark Gruenwald (with a "plot assist" from Steven Grant) give us a great story here. The Serpent Squad is a great new villain team (Gruenwald later expanded them into the Serpent Society, so they must have meant a lot to him). The last part (from Marvel Team-Up Annual #5), written by Gruenwald without Macchio, is the weakest, but it doesn't detract from what comes before. It contains a great history of the Serpent Crown (Gruenwald was "Mr. Continuity", after all) that traces its origins back to the beginning of time.  

And before I started this blog, I didn't realize how big the Serpent Crown was during the Bronze Age.  This is the 3rd book I've reviewed that features the Crown!
Art:
George Perez does some great work here, truly at the top of his game. Gene Day also does a nice job inking Perez' pencils. The underwater fight scenes look gorgeous. 

The last two stories from the Marvel Two-In-One issues are drawn by Jerry Bingham & Ron Wilson, with Gene Day (and "friends") still inking. They're not Perez, but they both do a fine job here. 

The final part of the book is drawn by Mark Gruenwald and inked by Jim Mooney. Since Mooney was more of a penciler than inker, we see a lot of him here, but that's okay.  


How does it look?
Fantastic. Here's another page of underwater scenery:

The Serpent Crown Affair is a great book. This was my introduction to the Thing as a "solo" character and the story is still fun years later. The aforementioned art makes it worth picking up for all Bronze Age fans. Highly recommended to fans of Ben Grimm, Marvel Two-In-One and George Perez.  

 

4 Sals.

Avengers: The Private War Of Doctor Doom

Reprints Avengers #150-156, Avengers Annual #6 and Super-Villain Team-Up #9

Written by Steve Englehart,Gerry Conway,Bill Mantlo & Scott Edelman.
Penciled by George Perez, John Buscema, Jim Shooter, Sal Buscema, Herb Trimpe & Jack Kirby.
Inked by John Tartaglione, Joe Sinnott, Pablo Marcos, Sal Trapani, Duffy Vohland, Mike Esposito, Herb Trimpe & Dick Ayers.

The time has come, once again, for the Avengers to select a new roster. Iron Man will be the new chair, with Captain America, Beast, Scarlet Witch,Vision, Wasp and Yellowjacket filling out the ranks.

The Avengers meet the press to announce their new line-up, when Wonder Man suddenly shows up. But he's dead?! Wonder Man is walking and talking like a brain-dead zuvembie (see below for an explanation about zuvembies). He accuses the Vision of stealing his mind before passing out. Vision is upset since this is somewhat true: his android brain is patterned after Wonder Man's dead brain.

They figure out that Wonder Man was in Louisiana before he showed up, so the Avengers fly their Quinjet to New Orleans. They learn that Wonder Man was sent to their mansion by the Black Talon, an evil fake voodoo priest who directs Wonder Man and a gang of zuvembies to attack the Avengers.

But it turns out that the real culprit behind Wonder Man's reappearance is the Living Laser. He's found the Serpent Crown and is more powerful than ever! Living Laser has a company of U.S. Army soldiers under his control and he's revived the nuclear-powered mutant man-child called Nuklo! Luckily for the Avengers, Wonder Man recovers his memory and he's able to help the Avengers in battle. Nuklo's father, the Golden Age Whizzer also plays a vital role in this conflict.

Alternate Cover

The Avengers are able to defeat Living Laser and confiscate the Serpent Crown (dumping the crown in the Pacific Ocean), but as soon as that battle is over, Vision is captured by Attuma, the barbarian warlord from Atlantis. He sends his super-powered henchman Tyrak to capture the rest of the Avengers.  But the Beast and Wonder Man get away. It turns out Tyrak's strength has been medically enhanced by Atlantean science.

The Whizzer lashes out at the Vision

Attuma places control collars on the Avengers and forces them to go after the Sub-Mariner. However, when they look for Namor at his Hydrobase, they are instead met by Doctor Doom! The collars make them a bit sluggish, so Doom easily defeats the Avengers.

Captain America stands up to Tyrak!

Beast, Wonder Man and Whizzer head off to rescue the Avengers. Unfortunately, Namor and Attuma arrive at the same time.  

Iron Man falls against Doctor Doom!

The Avengers learn that Attuma plans to make an army of super-powered Atlanteans in the mold of Tyrak. They ask Doom to join them (and Namor) in an alliance against Attuma. Will he join them? Can their combined might stop Attuma and Tyrak?

And if that isn't enough, we also get a solo story starring the Vision. The Whirlwind, an old foe of the Avengers has returned, and it's up to Vizh to stop him!

Review:

Some notes and background info on the issues reprinted in Avengers: The Private War Of Doctor Doom:
-Doctor Doom doesn't actually show up until page 141. That doesn't bother me, but the title might give you the impression that it features all Doom all the time.
-When these stories were published, Namor had recently sworn an oath of loyalty to Doom. In exchange, Doom promised to revive the population of Atlantis from a toxin-induced coma. That's why Doom was on the Hydrobase when the Avengers arrived.

-The reason why Wonder Man is a "zuvembie" rather than a zombie is because zombies were considered taboo in comics at this time and Marvel didn't want to risk offending the Comics Code Authority.  

Also, I should mention that the first issue that's reprinted here (Avengers #150) was running behind schedule when it was originally published, so 12 pages of  the story are reprinted from Avengers #16, which was published during the Silver Age (so it doesn't get reviewed here!).

Story:
There's a lot going on in this hardcover, but the multiple stories all lead into one another very smoothly. The formation of the new team leads right into the story about Wonder Man, which leads to the Serpent Crown, which leads to Attuma and Doom.  

Gerry Conway writes the bulk of Private War, with the last two parts being written by Bill Mantlo and Jim Shooter. 

I like the portrayal of Doom here (by Conway and Mantlo).  Just the right amount of arrogance, dignity, and evil, but not without a twisted moral code.  

 Attuma is also well-written here. He's not an A-list villain, but here, Attuma is enough of a threat that Doom considers teaming up with the Avengers. If there's anything wrong with this story it's Tyrak. He defeats all the Avengers (except Beast, who flees) in a few pages. I guess Conway was trying to build up Tyrak as a monster-level threat, but it seemed to easy.  

And this is an interesting team of Avengers. With Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wasp & Yellowjacket, we have two married couples on the roster.    

Art:
The art here is outstanding. George Perez is still developing his style, but his pencils look great here. John Buscema and his brother Sal are just as good. Jim Shooter penciled 17 pages too. He's not in the same league as the other artists, but his work here is okay. There's also a short Vision solo story penciled by Herb Trimpe that also looks fine. Most of the inking is done by Pablo Marcos and Joe Sinnott. Their work nicely compliments the pencils here.

How does it look?:
As good as the original issues, only better. Check out this great fight scene, scanned from the book:

Extras:
We get a reprint of the letters column from Avengers #151. This column explains why half of issue # 150 was a reprint.

My rating:
The story isn't the best ever, but the pencils of Perez & the Buscema Brothers (three of the definitive Bronze Age artists in one book!) make it worth purchasing. Here's another great page from the book, in case you need any more convincing:

.5

3 and half Sals.

Black Widow: Web Of Intrigue

Reprints Marvel Fanfare #10-13, Bizarre Adventures #25, Black Widow:The Coldest War graphic novel.
Written by Ralph Macchio, Gerry Conway & George Perez.
Penciled by George Perez, Paul Gulacy, George Freeman, Bob Layton & Luke McDonnell.
Inked by Joe Sinnott, Jack Abel, Brett Breeding, Al Milgrom, John Beatty, Ernie Colon, Mark Farmer, George Freeman, Mike Harris, Val Mayerik & Joe Rubenstein.

Natasha Romanoff, better known as the Black Widow, is contacted by S.H.I.E.L.D. Its director, Nick Fury has a special mission for her: find Ivan Petrovich. Ivan is one of the most important people in Natasha's life. He rescued her from certain death in war-torn Russia and served as Natasha's guardian.  Ivan later defected to the U.S. with the Widow, but Fury fears that the Soviets have captured Petrovich.  Or worse: he may have decided to rejoin the USSR of his own accord.

 Nick Fury tells how Ivan rescued Black Widow during WWII.

The Black Widow's quest for Ivan takes her all over the world:
From New York, to Moscow, to Hong Kong, to a villain's island headquarters. It turns out that the villain behind Ivan's capture is a foe from her past. Before she can rescue Ivan, she has to fight her way through a team of assassins. The deadliest of them is Iron Maiden, who served with Natasha when they both worked for the Soviet Union.

Black Widow Vs. Iron Maiden

But there's more:

In another tale, an MI-6 agent is killed while investigating Soviet intervention in South Africa. Natasha is contacted by S.H.I.E.L.D to look into this case. It turns out the leader of the Soviet operation is Irma Klausvichnova, the woman who trained the Widow.

That training has saved Natasha's life more than once, but now S.H.I.E.L.D. has ordered her to kill Irma.  But when Black Widow tracks down Irma, nothing goes according to plan!

Alternate Cover

Review:

Black Widow: Web Of Intrigue is a decent book, not a great one. I've always enjoyed Black Widow in the Avengers or the era when she co-starred with Daredevil. But I don't think Black Widow has ever been very successful as a solo character and this book shows why. Writers seem to get stuck on telling stories about Black Widow's past as a Soviet spy and we get two in this hardcover. I won't reveal the identity of the villain who mastermined Ivan's capture, but I will say that it's someone who fought the Widow while she was partnered up with Daredevil. Web Of Intrigue also features a nice retelling of Natasha's origin and back story.  

Story:

Ralph Macchio pens a good tale here. The first part (from Marvel Fanfare #10-13) feels a lot like a Bond movie, with all the globetrotting, larger-than-life thugs, and a villain with an island hide-out, but the ending feels a bit sudden.

The second story, from Bizarre Adventures, also written by Macchio, is short but in some ways the better of the two tales. It should be noted that this book has a "parental advisory" on the back cover. There's a line where another agent says Black Widow was "good in the sack", so it's not a book that should be given to kids. Bizarre Adventures was a magazine aimed at adults, so it's not surprising to see this.  

I need to point out that there are several continuity and/or geographical errors in this book. For instance, at one point we're told that Ivan Petrovich rescued Natasha during the battle of Stalingrad. Later, we're told the rescue took place in Leningrad. And at one point, Nick Fury tells her they've booked her a room in one of Japan's finest hotels, but the hotel is actually located in Hong Kong. I hope someone got a No-Prize from Marvel over these bloopers!

Art:
George Perez is a favorite artist of mine. Sometimes his inkers let him down here, but the art generally looks good.

Paul Gulacy's art is outstanding as always and it looks great in black & white. Prior to the publication of Web Of Intrigue, this story had only ever been published on newsprint-quality paper. It looks fantastic here on glossier paper. Gulacy often drew characters to look like famous movie stars, as we see below:

"Langley" bears a striking resemblance to Humphrey Bogart!

How does it look?:

Great. All the images in the review are scanned from the book, and here's another:

Extras:

A 1988 graphic novel called Black Widow: Coldest War can be found at the back of the book.   

My rating:

Not a classic, but Black Widow: Web Of Intrigue is a good introduction to Black Widow and the art by Perez and Gulacy makes it a worthwhile purchase.  

3 Sals.