Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 19

Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #193-202, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #13 and Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #1
Written by Marv Wolfman and Bill Mantlo.
Penciled by Keith Pollard, John Byne, Sal Buscema, Rich Buckler, Al Milgrom 
Inked by Inked by Frank Giacoia, Jim Mooney, M. Hands and Terry Austin.

(Message from your trusted Bronze Age Reprint reviewer: Some of this material has been published in another reprint book that I reviewed here a few years ago. So if some of this review looks slightly familiar...it's not your imagination!)

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

In present-day New York, Peter has matured into one of the world's greatest heroes. But now, the Burglar has returned! He believes there's a treasure hidden in the Parkers' house in Queens, which is why he broke into the house and shot Uncle Ben years earlier. The Burglar invades 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. 

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

Subsequently, Spider-Man tangles with a new menace who calls herself 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.

Black 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 the 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. When he misses a date because he's busy fighting crime, MJ dumps Parker. Peter later finds himself in a love triangle with his first love Betty Brant and her husband Ned Leeds. J. Jonah Jameson fires Parker from his the Daily Bugle photography job. 

But the most crushing blow hits when his Aunt May dies of a heart attack! 

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

Later, 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. However, the Burglar has one trump card left to play. Will Parker regain his superpowers and defeat the Burglar?

Sometime after that, an underworld criminal named Jimbo Ryan kills secret service agent Kent Blake, while making Blake's death look like a suicide. A friend of Blake reaches out to Spider-Man and asks him to investigate the circumstances of Blake's "suicide." Spider-Man is reluctant but agrees to investigate after meeting Blake's family and learning that his suicide means they won't get any life insurance.  

We also learn that Spider-Man's arch foe Doctor Octopus is looking for Ryan. His plans for a super-weapon have been stolen by Jimbo while he was working for Doc Ock.  

As Peter Parker, Spider-Man infiltrates Ryan's gang and goes undercover, using the alias "Kid Parker." Spidey's plan goes sideways when Doc Ock finds them and recognizes Parker. Octopus takes off with Ryan, planning to kill him.  

After locating Doctor Ock, Spider-Man battles the villain and rips out of his tentacles in the process. Doctor Octopus flees to regroup. Spider-Man later learns that Doc Ock and his minions are planning to raid New York Harbor and steal a top secret nuclear submarine from the Navy. Spidey is the only one who can stop Ock, and it culminates with an underwater slugfest!

Finally, Spider-Man stumbles on a shootout between gangsters and the costumed vigilante known as the Punisher. Spidey joins the fray and knocks out a few of the gunman. Punisher says Spider-Man's interference cost him information and stuns the wallcrawler with one of his "mercy" bullets.  

We learn that Punisher's target is the drug empire of Lorenzo Jacobi. He's currently on trial and his henchmen plan to spring Jacobi, which the Punisher aims to prevent. When the jailbreak happens, neither Spider-Man or Punisher stop Jacobi from getting away.

Punisher investigates a new lead, which takes him to Peter Parker's apartment. Peter is shocked when the Punisher says he knows Parker's secret!  

Has the Punisher figured out that Spider-Man and Peter are one and the same?  

Plus, Peter struggles in his new job as photographer for the Daily Globe newspaper.

And Spidey's greatest detractor, J. Jonah Jameson, has gone insane. He winds up in a mental hospital and loses control of the Daily Bugle!

Review:

Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 19 opens with a good, long arc which is followed by two shorter stories. It's an enjoyable, action-packed, and entertaining book.

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. I don't think I'm spoiling anything here by mentioning that Aunt May is discovered to be alive after all.

Story:
The stories featured in Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 19 are very good. Marv Wolfman does a nice job juggling all the characters that come and go. Wolfman began writing & editing Amazing Spider-Man with issue #182 and this story is the high point of his tenure.  

In addition to the Burglar's return, these stories include 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.

The two-part battle with Doctor Octopus has been a favorite of mine for a while. The first part, written by Wolfman, from Amazing Spider-Man Annual #13 is the best part of this tale. Part two, from Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #1, was written by Bill Mantlo. It's a slight step down from Wolfman's portion, but it's a fun story with one of the better Spidey/Doc Ock battles of the Bronze Age.  

The only 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 and only did it in order to get Betty and Ned to reconcile, but the damage is done.

It ends with a good two-part Punisher story.  

I also enjoyed the scenes at the Daily Globe, Peter's new employer. It's a shame that Wolfman didn't stay with the book. I would've liked to have seen Parker stay at the Globe a bit longer.  

Art:
The art in Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 19 is always good and sometimes spectacular.  

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.

The X-Men "dream team" of penciler John Byrne and inker Terry Austin provide art for the first part of the Doc Ock fight and it's some of their best work. Here's a nice example of their art from this book:

Rich Buckler and Jim Mooney provide good solid Marvel house style art for the rest of the Ock tale. 

How Does It Look?:
Here's a scan from an original copy of Amazing Spider-Man #197:

This is how the same pages appear in this book:

Extras:
At the end of the book, you'll find six pages of original art, two alternate covers, two house ads and  the original sketch of Black Cat by Carmine Infantino and Steve Leialoha.

Rating:

Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 19 features 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.  The Punisher and Doc Ock stories are also enjoyable and this book is highly recommended.

J.A. Morris' rating:

4 Sals!

Marvel Masterworks: Black Panther Volume 1

Reprints Jungle Action #6-24

Written by Don McGregor.
Penciled by Rich Buckler, Billy Graham, Gil Kane, Keith Pollard.
Inked by Klaus Janson, P. Craig Russell, Pablo Marcos, Billy Graham, Bob McLeod, Jim Mooney, Keith Pollard.

Variant cover.

The Black Panther, AKA T'Challa, monarch of Wakanda, has returned to his kingdom in Africa after years of living in the U.S. where he worked as a school teacher and served as a member of the Avengers. He's surprised to learn he has fallen out of favor with many Wakandan citizens who feel that he abandoned his country.

This has allowed his rule to be threatened by Erik Killmonger, who is leading a revolt against T'Challa.  The Panther tracks down Killmonger and engages him in hand-to-hand combat. 

T'Challa is easily defeated, thrown into a waterfall and presumed dead. 

But Black Panther survives, swims to safety and returns to his village to recuperate.

He embarks on a quest to find and defeat Killmonger. But T'Challa will have to fight his way through several other villains if he wants to defeat his would-be usurper:

Venomm: a snake-charmer whose face has been scarred by acid. He uses his trained constricting snakes and his whip to choke the Panther within an inch of his life!

Baron Macabre, a mutated human who turns humans into zombies and uses them to attack T'Challa!

King Kadaver, who uses psychic powers to inflict pain on his opponents!

Black Panther encounters Baron Macabre(left) and King Kadaver.

Plus, T'Challa's search for Killmonger takes him through the dreaded Valley of Serpents, where dinosaurs still walk the Earth. 

At the same time, Black Panther's girlfriend, Monica Lynne, has been wrongly accused of murder. The native Wakandans in T'Challa's court have always been suspicious of Monica, because she is an American. The Panther tries to prove Monica is not guilty, but in the mean time, she is locked up in a cell.

Can the Black Panther defeat Killmonger and stay in power? Will he be able to free Monica and discover the identity of the murderer?

Plus, T'Challa and Monica visit Georgia, where they are attacked by the Ku Klux Klan!

 

Review:

"The Panther's Rage" is one of the greatest arcs of the Bronze Age. I hadn't read the story in its entirety (I always had trouble finding a few issues) until I picked up this collection.  

Story:

It's difficult to say too much here without spoiling the plot. Don McGregor writes a great story here. This is his crowning achievement. It feels a lot like an old time movie serial, with lots of cliffhangers and a different enemy showing up every 17 pages.  

McGregor gives us many pages with only narration, no dialogue. We get inside T'Challa's head and get an almost palpable sense of his anger and desperation. The captions on the scan below show a great example of this:

Killmonger is a great adversary. McGregor could've just brought back a preexisting Black Panther foe (like Klaw or the Man-Ape). But this is Killmonger's first appearance and giving him an axe to grind (even if it's not really justified) makes him more than just a would-be usurper. It makes perfect sense that Wakandans would feel abandoned by T'Challa and want to follow the charismatic Killmonger.

And the other villains are new as well. They're all entertaining, but my personal favorite is King Kadaver. He's very creepy and I love his name!  

The follow-up story focuses on T'Challa battling the KKK in Georgia. It's also good, even if it's a slight step down from the Killmonger tale. But it's also a credit to McGregor that he took the character in a very different direction, rather than staying in Wakanda. The one problem I have is that the book ends with the Klan story unfinished. Jungle Action was cancelled and this story wasn't completed until three years later in the Marvel Premiere series. I hope Marvel gets around to reprinting the conclusion someday. 

Art:

The book opens with some outstanding art by penciler Rich Buckler and inker Klaus Janson.  Just take a look at this double-spread title page, where action is taking place in the title itself:

Simply gorgeous.  

Buckler didn't stay with the book very long, leaving after three issues. Comic legend Gil Kane penciled one issue. After that, Billy Graham takes over and pencils the next 100+ pages. Graham does a great job and this is some of the best work of his career. 

Graham and Buckler are the best artists in this book, but he rest of the pencilers do a fine job as well.  Klaus Janson inked the bulk of the stories, so the art maintains a consistent look while pencilers come and go.  

On the whole, the art is excellent throughout, no matter who is penciling.  

Extras:

Don McGregor wrote a nice introductory essay for this volume. It's obviously a story he's very proud of even 40 years later. We get some original art, plus some nice photos of McGregor and Graham working on the issues. Here's a great photo of McGregor posing, showing how he wants the Black Panther to be drawn:

Marvel Masterworks: Black Panther Volume 1 is highly recommended to any fan of Bronze Age comics. It features a great story and fantastic art, and it could serve as a great introduction to readers who aren't familiar with T'Challa. I hope someday we'll get a book that reprints the rest of the "Black Panther vs. KKK" tale.  

J.A. Morris' rating:

4 Sals!

Nova Classic Vol. 3

Reprints Nova #20-25, Fantastic Four #204-206, 208-214
Written by Marv Wolfman.
Penciled by Carmine Infantino, John Buscema, Keith Pollard, Sal Buscema and John Byrne.
Inked by Dave Hunt, Steve Leialoha, Mike Esposito, Klaus Janson, Joe Sinnott, Bob McLeod and D.Hands.

Summary:
Richard Rider's father Charles is in a tight spot. He recently lost his job and was forced to borrow money from a shady organization called the Inner Circle. Charles turns state's evidence and will testify against the Circle. But he decides to go to the Inner Circle and tell them off first. Richard changes to Nova and follows his father. Unbeknownst to Nova, his younger brother Robert is following him.  Robert has built a Sherlock Holmes robot because he believes Richard is hiding something and has the robot tail his older brother.

The Corruptor returns.

It turns out that the leader of the Inner Circle is Nova's old foe, the Corruptor. Nova finds the Inner Circle's hideout and beats them up. When he unmasks one of them, he's shocked to find it's Charles Rider. Robert walks in, sees this, and accuses Nova of attacking Richard. This leads to Nova unmasking and revealing his identity to his family.

Elsewhere, Richard's high school classmate Mike Burley finds an old man who is very sick. When the man is taken to the hospital, the x-ray machine has a surprising impact on him. It restores the superpowers he once wielded as the 1950s hero know as the Comet! He can fly with the speed of a comet and shoot energy blasts from his fingers.

The villain Diamonhead resurfaces in New York. Nova tries to stop him but winds up unconscious.  Comet arrives and helps Nova recover. The older hero will team up with Nova and act as a mentor of sorts to Richard.

Comet helps Nova deal with Diamondhead.

Crimebuster returns, too, and we learn that Comet is his father. Until their reunion, Comet thought his entire family had been killed in a bombing.

After another fight with Diamondhead, Nova is transported to the Xandarian spaceship that gave him his powers. He is the prisoner of Doctor Sun, a brain connected to a computer network, contained in an android body. Doctor Sun believes the Xandarian technology is his key to immortality.

Doctor Sun reflects on his confrontation with Dracula;
Nova goes after Sun.

Unbeknownst to anyone, Nova's old villain the Sphinx is on the spaceship as well. He tells Sun that immortality is a curse and that he, the Sphinx, wants to die. He believes that only the planet Xandar can provide the knowledge that can end his life.

Comet, Crimebuster and Powerhouse (who reluctantly battled Nova in the past) join the others on board the ship. We learn that Powerhouse is a native of Xandar. And Diamondhead has sneaked on the ship too!

But shortly after they begin their journey, they are attacked by a fleet of skrull ships.

In a short time, they will be aided by the Fantastic Four in a war against the Skrull Empire.

Plus, the Sphinx gains the powers of a god and battles Galactus!

Review:
Nova Classic Vol. 3 collects the final six issues of Nova's original solo series and these stories show why the series was cancelled after 25 issues.

Story:
Marv Wolfman doesn't seem to know what to do with this series and tries a different direction every 20 pages or so. He brings in Comet to be a mentor to Nova. Wolfman has Nova unmask in front of his family. Nova becomes part of team fighting in outer space. Unfortunately, none of the "directions" add up to much.

The Champions of Xandar team with the Fantastic Four against Sphinx.

The revelation that Crimebuster is Comet's son feels more random than dramatic. And neither character is developed enough for the reader to care about them very much.

So Nova's series ends with a whimper.

The second half of the book is very good. It focuses on the Fantastic Four rather than Nova. But it features the skrull attack on Xandar, so I guess it makes sense to include it in this tpb.

Prime Thoran shows the FF Xandar's living computer.

All but one of these FF stories was also reprinted in Fantastic Four: In Search Of Galactus, which I reviewed the other day, so I won't go into detail again. Click here for my take on the FF stories.

The Fantastic Four & Herbie battle Terrax.

In any event, the FF portion of the book is better than the Nova stories.

We don't get to see the ending of the Xandar/Skrull war. It didn't end until Rom #24, published about a a year and a half after the last issue reprinted in this tpb. But Marvel doesn't currently own the rights to Rom the Spaceknight, so all we get is a text recap of how the war ended. Talk about an anti-climax!

Art:
Carmine Infantino pencils five of the six Nova stories that are reprinted in this tpb. His art is okay, except for the last issue. Infantino is inked by Klaus Janson in that last issue and their art looks very slapdash and sloppy. They were two of my favorite Bronze Age artists, but they don't make for a good combination in this book.

Nova, Comet & Sphinx defend their ship from a Skrull attack.

John Buscema, who penciled Nova's early issues, draws one issue here and his art is good as usual. He's inked Bob McCleod and Joe Rubinstein and they do a fine job.

The Fantastic Four stories were penciled by Keith Pollard, Sal Buscema and John Byrne with inks by Joe Sinnott. Their art is excellent.

How Does It Look?:
Here's a scan from the last page of Nova #23, borrowed from SuperMegaMonkey:

Here's how the same page looks in Nova Classic Vol. 3:

Extras:
Nova Classic Vol. 3 gives us entries from the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe for Nova, Sphinx, Corruptor, and the Champions of Xandar. It closes with several pages of original art. It also contains a three-page story published in What If #36 where Richard returned to Earth and recaps his battles with the skrulls.

While the first six issues reprinted in Nova Classic Vol. 3 aren't very good, the inclusion of the Fantastic Four stories makes it worth picking up. But if you already own Fantastic Four: In Search Of Galactus, you may not feel the need to get this tpb just for the Nova stories, unless you're a Nova completist. The FF stories bump it up from a 2-Sal review.

J.A. Morris' review:

3 Sals.