Spider-Man and the Uncanny X-Men

Reprints X-Men #35, Amazing Spider-Man #92, Marvel Team-Up Annual #1, Marvel Team-Up #150 and Spectacular Spider-Man #197-199

Written by Roy Thomas, Stan Lee, Bill Mantlo, Chris Claremont, Bonnie Wilford, Louise Jones and J.M. DeMatteis.

Penciled by Gil Kane, Sal Buscema, Greg Laroque and Werner Roth.

Inked by Mike Esposito, Sal Buscema, Dan Adkins and John Romita, Sr.

New York has been rocked by the death of Police Captain George Stacy. He was killed by falling rubble during a fight between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus. Stacy's daughter Gwen and many other New Yorkers blame Spider-Man for the police captain's death. A corrupt politician named Sam Bullit is running for District Attorney.  Bullit gains Gwen's endorsement when he promises to take down Spider-Man.

Gwen and Bullit visit Peter Parker's apartment and find Parker in his Spidey costume. Panicking over his secret identity being blown, Spider-Man picks up Gwen and swings away with her. He tries to explain to Gwen that he's not a killer, but she doesn't buy it. Spidey insults Parker just to make sure Gwen doesn't realize they're one and the same.    

Bobby Drake, the X-Man known as Iceman, happens to see this and intervenes. They fight briefly until Spider-Man swings away. Bullit shows up and tells Iceman that Spidey must not escape next time. 

Iceman "saves" Gwen from Spider-Man;
Bullit plans to cash in on the public's fear of the Wall-Crawler.

At the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson and Robbie Robertson have learned that Bullit is crooked. He has ties to white supremacist criminals. Jameson has withdrawn his endorsement of Bullit, which puts his and Robbie's lives in danger.

Bullit sends his henchmen to capture Robbie. Spider-Man learns of this and sets out to save Robbie,  but he's attacked once more by Iceman. He tries to reason with the "animated snowman" (as Spidey calls him) and says he's trying to rescue Robertson.  

Will Iceman cease his attack and help Spider-Man save Robbie? Will Bullit's crooked campaign succeed in getting him elected? 

Months later, an Earthquake hits a nuclear testing facility In Nevada. We see scientists being contaminated by radiation and crushed by the quake. 

Sen. Turner learns that it's not wise to antagonize Wolverine.

Nearby, scientists are meeting aboard an airplane to discuss human mutation. Prof. Charles Xavier is attending this meeting and has brought his students, known to the world as the Uncanny X-Men. Peter Parker is also on the plane, covering the conference for the Daily Bugle. 

The plane is attacked by flying robots, prompting Spider-Man and the X-Men into action. They defend the plane from the robots and successfully land it in the desert. Banshee and Storm determine that the robots must have emerged from a nearby crater.

Out of the crater comes a group of super-powered individuals who have adopted the names of Hindu gods! They tell the Spidey and the mutants that they are the scientists who were caught in the nuclear explosion. The gods are more than a match for the heroes, the X-Men and Spider-Man are subdued and captured.

Brahma explains the origin of him & his fellow gods, while the heroes try to escape.

Their leader, Brahma, says they need more energy to survive. The only way to do that is to siphon power away from Earth, which would mean the end of life on the planet. They ask Phoenix to help them do this, but she has other ideas.

Can the heroes prevent the gods from destroying the world? 

Sometime later, Cain Marko, better known to the world as the unstoppable Juggernaut recaptures the ruby that gave him his super powers. He wants to give it to his friend (and partner-in-crime), Black Tom Cassidy as a birthday present.

As expected, the ruby turns Cassidy into another Juggernaut! Tom is not happy about this and decks Juggernaut. The two Juggernauts engage in a slugfest in the streets of Manhattan. After a few minutes of battle, Cassidy realizes that his possession of the ruby has split the power of the Juggernaut between both of them: Marko's power has been cut in half. 

Two Juggernauts duke it out.

Spider-Man swings by and decides to take some photos of the fight, thinking Cassidy is a superhero.  But Juggernaut notices the webhead and the villainous duo goes after him. Spidey holds his own, but he's overmatched. Suddenly, the X-Men arrive to help.   

Spidey slingshots Juggernaut into Tom Cassidy.

Will the combined powers of the X-Men and Spider-Man be enough to stop Juggernaut and a super-strong Black Tom Cassidy?

Review:
Spider-Man and the X-Men are two of Marvel's most popular franchises. But they haven't had many classic team-ups, in the Bronze Age or otherwise. The stories reprinted here are good, but not great.

Story:
The first tale, from Amazing Spider-Man #92 is okay. Stan Lee wrote this and it takes place during a time when Gwen Stacy acted crazy and hated Spider-Man. That got old fast. But the fight scenes between Spider-Man and Iceman were pretty good. It's a typical "heroes fight because of a mistake" trope, but it works here. The subplot involving Jonah and Robbie was good too. It was good to see JJJ depicted as something other than a cartoonish buffoon who irrationally hated Spider-Man.

The story from Marvel Team-Up Annual #1, written by Bill Mantlo (with plot assistance from Chris Claremont and Bonnie Wilford), is more interesting for its "historical significance" than as a great story. Based on my research, it appears to be the first time the "All-New, All-Different" X-Men guest starred in another series.

Spidey & the X-Men fight Yama & Kali.

But it's an odd tale. The villains never appeared again after this story. Xavier attends a conference held on an airplane. Why? We don't really find out why it's held on a plane, beyond "so it can further the plot" and put them in the same place as a nuclear accident. There's a man on the plane named Senator Turner. An editor's note says he's a character from Marvel's Skull The Slayer series. Mantlo also wrote some of that series, but Turner's appearance is sort of random and adds nothing.

Having said that, it's not a bad story, I enjoyed Spider-Man's interaction with Wolverine. They have very different approaches to fighting crime and Mantlo does a nice job showing that here. Spidey gets off a great zinger about how no one calls Logan "the Amazing Wolverine."  

Wolverine & Spider-Man trade barbs as the heroes enter the Hellpit.

Louise Simonson (she was still known as Louise Jones when the story was first published) penned the Juggernaut/Tom Cassidy story and it's the highlight of the book. This was originally presented in the final issue of Marvel Team-Up and the series went out with a bang. Simonson knew the X-Men from her days editing their series and does a nice job with the characters.

Rogue absorbs Cassidy's power, becoming a Juggernaut herself.

It should be noted the only X-Men present are Colossus, Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Rachel Summers.  But Simonson succeeds in making the "B-Team" of mutants entertaining. It was interesting to see Nightcrawler take on a leadership role in this story, in the absence of Storm, Cyclops, or Xavier.  Simonson's depiction of Peter Parker and Spider-Man is also good. It's consistent with the way Spidey was written in his other series in the early 80s.

Art:
The first story credits Gil Kane and John Romita, two of the best pencilers in the history of comics, as artists. It looks like Kane penciled it, while Romita inked and re-drew some of the faces. We get Kane's "perspective" style with characters that look like the ones Romita made famous. It looks great,they're a fine combination and Spider-Man's fight with Iceman is very exciting, if a bit short.

Next up, Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito handle the pencils and inks, respectively. Buscema didn't draw the X-Men very often, but he does a good job here. He and Esposito were the art team for many years on The Incredible Hulk.  Their work here is as good as was in Ol' Greenskin's series. We get some nice looking fight scenes and I love the pages below where the "gods" start to dissolve.

Greg Laroque penciled the last story, inked by Esposito. It's not flashy, but it's good art, easy on the eyes. The full-page image below, featuring the X-Men's arrival is excellent.  

How does it look?:
Spider-Man and the Uncanny X-Men was published back in 1996, so the reprint quality is bit of a step down compared to more recent books.

I noticed some re-colorings in the Iceman story

Here's a scan from the original issue:

And here's how the same page looks in the tpb:

I don't know why they made Bullit purple in the bottom panel. There are a few other random panels that have changes like that. Most of the rest of the tpb looks okay, so I won't "disqualify" the book on that basis. Here's another scan from the book that looks great:

Rogue begins to lose herself in Juggernauts memories.

Extras:
This tpb contains several stories from other "ages" of comics. We get one page of X-Men #27 that features the first ever meeting of Spider-Man and the X-Men. Next up is X-Men #35, the first full-length battle between the mutants and the webhead. The book ends with 3 stories from the 1990s.

We also get one-sentence descriptions of the stories from some of the creators.  

The stories reprinted in Spider-Man and the Uncanny X-Men are not essential Bronze Age reading. But they feature some very good art and the stories are entertaining and full of action. The Juggernaut story makes it worth getting all by itself. And if you grew up reading Spider-Man and X-Men stories in the Bronze Age, you'll enjoy this book.  

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 Sals.

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: The Original Clone Saga

Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #139-150 (plus 3 pages of 151), Spectacular Spider-Man #25-31,149, 162-163 & Annual #8.

Written by Gerry Conway, Bill Mantlo, Archie Goodwin & Mark Gruenwald.

Penciled by Ross Andru, Gil Kane, Jim Mooney, Frank Miller, Sal Buscema, Mark Bagley & Ron Lim.

Inked by Frank Giacoia, Dave Hunt, John Romita Sr., Mike Esposito, Sal Buscema, Keith Williams and Tony De Zuniga.

Bronze Age storylines don't get much more Bronze Age-y than this one.

This collection was just published in July, so I figure it' s a good one to start with.

Summary:
(Since some of you may not have read this story, I'll be avoiding any spoilers.)
Gwen Stacy, the love of Peter Parker's life was murdered by the Green Goblin in Amazing Spider-Man #121, buried in #123. But she shows up alive in Peter's apartment. He is shocked and angry, insisting she can't be still alive.

"Gwen" is actually a clone. She is part of a scheme concocted by the Jackal. Before the story ends, Spider-Man comes face to face with a clone of himself! How can he defeat a foe that knows him and has all the same powers?! And who, exactly, is the Jackal?
But that's not all! While trying to figure out the mystery behind Gwen's "resurrection", he must also combat villains like Scorpion, Mysterio, Lizard, Tarantula, plus new villains Cyclone and the Grizzly. Not to mention one of the few appearances of the Spider-Mobile and a guest appearance by the Man-Thing!

Gwen's clone also impacts Peter's life out of costume. Aunt May encounters the clone and the shock causes her to have a heart attack, putting her in the hospital. Peter had recently gotten over Gwen's death and his relationship with Mary Jane had gotten more serious. Gwen's return confuses Peter and MJ tells him he needs to figure out his feelings before they can have a future together.

Spider-Man eventually defeats the Jackal and the "Spider-Clone". Gwen realizes she's not the genuine article and leaves town to start a new life. Peter then begins to wonder if he is a clone or the real Spider-Man. After a battle with Spencer Smythe's Spider-Slayer, he knows that he is the one and only Spidey!

A few years later, a zombie-like villain calling himself Carrion shows up. He has the power to kill people by simply touching them. Carrion can also levitate and read minds. This combination of powers makes him a very dangerous foe. He has some connection to the clones of Spider-Man and Gwen, but we're not sure what that is. Carrion offers up his services to the Maggia (the Marvel Universe version of the Mafia), telling them that he will kill Spider-Man for them, he possesses information about Spider-Man that no one else has. He is rejected by the Maggia's leader, the Masked Marauder, because he is too dangerous.

The Marauder then takes center stage for a few issues, wreaking havoc around New York with his Tri-Man android. When Spider-Man attempts to stop them from robbing a bank, he is blinded by the Marauder's opti-blast. With the help of Daredevil, Spider-Man must learn to cope with blindness and stop Marauder and Tri-Man from blowing up Manhattan with a nuclear bomb!

At the same time, Carrion is creeping in the background of the story, looking for Peter Parker. He eventually finds Parker and attacks him in the ESU library. He knows that Spider-Man and Parker are one and the same, and has knowledge of the cloning that took place. Spider-Man doesn't understand how someone he's never met could know so much about him and want to kill him. What is Carrion's secret? In addition to Daredevil, this portion of the story also guest stars Hector Ayala, AKA the White Tiger!

Review:

I first read this story years ago in back issues of ASM and reprints in Marvel Tales. But the story has never looked better in any printing. If you're a fan of the Ross Andru era of ASM, you should pick up this book on that basis alone.

Back in 1995, Marvel reprinted some of these stories in a tpb called Spider-Man:Clone Genesis. This was done to cash in on the second Clone Saga.

But that book only contained reprints of ASM 141-150 (plus the first three pages from 151) and Giant-Size Spider-Man #5. This new edition adds ASM 139-140 and the follow-up Carrion story from Spectacular Spider-Man #25-31. The Daredevil/Marauder portion of the SSM story has been reprinted before, but never in its entirety (reprints usually pick up with #26 or 27). So that's a nice "bonus", even if it doesn't directly relate to the "clone" business.

So if your copy of Clone Genesis is worn out (like mine), or you just want an upgrade, this tpb is worth the price.

Story:

Gerry Conway writes a very good story here. The Jackal isn't the scariest villain in Spidey's Rogues Gallery, but he comes off as a very dangerous character here. Some of the sub-plots are just tangential to the clone business, but so what? It's all Bronze Age fun, with some of Spider-Man's greatest villains. Conway quit the title after issue #149, so Archie Goodwin ably filled in on #150 to wrap up the first part of the book.

Bill Mantlo wrote the SSM portion that introduces Carrion and it's just as good. Mantlo did some good work on Spectacular Spider-Man in the 70s and 80s that is often overlooked. Carrion is an extremely dangerous and disgusting antagonist who can kill people by simply touching them. And he knows Spider-Man's secret identity, which makes him even more dangerous. Mantlo also does a great job making the Masked Marauder a credible threat. The Marauder was usually a generic, B-grade villain, but here he blinds Spidey and comes close to destroying New York City!

If there are any flaws in Mantlo's script, it's Carrion's origin. We're never given a detailed explanation about how he got his powers, but that's a minor criticism, and fairly common in comic books.

Art:
I always liked Ross Andru's Spider-Man art, in ASM and Marvel Team-Up. Comic legend Gil Kane provides the art for the reprint of #150. In the SSM stories, we get pencils by Jim Mooney and Frank Miller, with inks by Frank Springer. These issues also mark the first time Miller drew Daredevil, but it's a far cry from his art on Daredevil's title. Miller's pencils are a bit overpowered by Springer's inks, so you don't see the "Miller Daredevil"(inked by Klaus Janson) that you might remember from the 80s,  but it still looks good and there are a few panels that resemble Miller's classic work on DD.

How does it look?
It looks great. Here's a short video of what the book looks like inside:

Extras:

Four post-Bronze Age follow-ups from SSM and SSM Annual. These were published in 1988, '89 and 90, written by Conway with art from Sal Buscema and Mark Bagley. They're not bad, but they don't add anything to the earlier tales.

My rating:
4 Sals!





Strongly recommended. This is a classic story that any fan of Spider-Man and Bronze Age comics should own, pick up Spider-Man: The Original Clone Saga today if you haven't already!

Bonus!:
In ASM #153, Roger Slifer wrote a response to all the fan mail written in response to the Clone Saga, addressing some of the (alleged) flaws and discrepancies in the plot. It was not included in the tpb, but it's a nice supplement. If you haven't read the story, though, DO NOT click on the image below, as it contains SPOILERS.


That's all for now,

J.A.