Spider-Man: Return Of The Burglar

Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #193-200
Written by Marv Wolfman & Stan Lee.
Penciled by Keith Pollard, Sal Buscema, Al Milgrom.
Inked by Frank Giacoia, Jim Mooney, M. Hands.

Peter Parker's crime fighting career as Spider-Man began when his Uncle Ben was killed in his own home by a burglar. Spider-Man captured the Burglar, but was shocked when he learned he could have apprehended him before he shot Ben. This taught Peter a great lesson about power and responsibility.

Variant cover

Years go by and Peter Parker matures into one of the world's greatest heroes. But now, the Burglar has returned! He believes there's a treasure hidden in the Parkers' Queensboro house (that's why he broke into the house years ago and shot Ben). The Burglar breaks into the (now-unoccupied) home and tears it to shreds. After failing to find the treasure that way, he decides that he'll have to get Aunt May to reveal its location. The Burglar makes it known that he will resort to deadly force if necessary.

The Burglar breaks into the Parker house in search of a hidden treasure.

At the same time, Spider-Man's enemy the Fly is back in town. He tries to kill Spidey and J. Jonah Jameson. The Fly later attempts to rob New York's Metropolitan Museum Of Art, Spider-Man intervenes, and a slugfest in a blizzard ensues.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man tangles with a new menace—the Black Cat! This is tough for the ol' webhead, since he's never been comfortable fighting women. Black Cat is attracted to Spidey and isn't shy about it...and he finds himself attracted to her as well! They share a kiss in the middle of a battle, but Spider-Man is determined to bring her to justice.

The Cat's main objective is to break into prison and free her father, famed cat burglar Walter Hardy.  Spidey tries to prevent this, but ends up with a broken arm. He follows Black Cat to her family's house, where she ends up falling to her apparent death.

While Spider-Man is fighting crime, Peter Parker's personal life is in shambles. Mary Jane has recently turned down his marriage proposal and now she dumps him when he misses a date. Pete finds himself in a love triangle with his first love, Betty Brant, and her husband, Ned Leeds. But the most crushing blow hits when Aunt May dies of a heart attack!

Things only get worse when the Kingpin of crime decides it's time to take revenge on the wallcrawler.   It's a knockdown fight, made tougher for Spider-Man because he's nursing a broken arm! Spidey barely survives his fight with the Kingpin.

After the battle with the Kingpin, Spidey's old foe Mysterio (who is working with the Burglar) zaps him with a gun that takes away his Spider-powers! The de-powered Parker is later captured by the Burglar.  He wants Peter to tell him where the treasure is hidden in the old Parker house. The Burglar tortures Peter to get the information, but he never caves. But the Burglar has a trump card left to play.

Review:
In case you don't know, the Burglar's name is never revealed in this story and has not been revealed to this day. And that's how it should be. And I don't think I'm spoiling anything here by mentioning that Aunt May is discovered to be alive after all.

Story:
A very good story but not an absolute classic. Marv Wolfman does a good job juggling all the characters that come and go. Wolfman began writing & editing Amazing Spider-Man with issue #182 and this story is easily the high point of his tenure. 

One problem I have is that this collection begins with part 2 of a two-part story. The Fly showed up in ASM#192, which was also a continuation of another story. I would've been willing to pay a couple extra bucks for the whole story.

But what we have here is good. Besides the Burglar's return, we get the first appearance of the Black Cat, who would go on to be a major character in the 1980s.

Mysterio is also handled well here. In recent years, Ol' Fishbowl Head has been turned into a bit of a joke, treated like a loser. But he's part of Spider-Man's original rogues gallery. When he strips Spider-Man of his powers, he feels like an A-list villain.

Spider-Man is surrounded by many Mysterios!

The biggest problem I have is the way Peter acts in the early part of the story. His old girlfriend Betty Brant Leeds is going through some marital strife and turns to Parker. Peter eventually rejects her in a very cruel manner, something that's very out of character for him. Yes, he immediately regrets the way he handled it, but the damage is done.

Spidey searches all over New York for the Fly.

Art:
This book doesn't have a unified look, since there are multiple artists handling the pencils. But that's okay when the pencilers are Keith Pollard, Sal Buscema, and Al Milgrom, all great artists of the Bronze Age. Jim Mooney (a great penciler in his own right) does most of the inking and he does a good job as well.

How does it look?
It looks great, as all the scans you see here will indicate. I didn't notice any weird looking recoloring on any page.

A very nice one-page retelling of Spidey's origin story.

Spider-Man: Return Of The Burglar is a great sequel to Spidey's origin story that gives Peter some closure. In the end, Spider-Man realizes he's lucky to have his powers and his encounter with the

Burglar reinvigorates his desire to fight crime and make the world a better place.

 My rating:

.5

3.5 Sals.