Spider-Man By Roger Stern Omnibus

Written by Roger Stern, Marv Wolfman, Steve Leialoha, Bill Mantlo, Marie Severin, Jan Strnad and Tom DeFalco
Penciled by John Byrne, Marie Severin, Mike Zeck, John Romita Jr., Jim Mooney, Denys Cowan, Rick Leonardi, Luke McDonnell, Jim Shooter, Ed Hannigan, Greg LaRocque, Al Milgrom, Bob Hall, and Ron Frenz.
Inked by Steve Mitchell, Al Gordon, Bruce Patterson, Jim Mooney, Dave Humphry's Josef Rubenstein, Frank Springer, Vince Colletta, Gene Day, Pablo Marcos, Bob Wiacek, Dave Simmons, Dan Green, Frank Giacoia, John Romita Sr., Bob Layton, Terry Austin, Klaus Janson, Brett Breeding, Kevin Dzuban.  

Variant cover.

Note:Many of the stories reprinted in this book have been reprinted in other books and have already been reviewed here. This review will focus on tales that I have not previously covered.

Summary:
Over 1200 pages of Spider-Man stories written by one of his best scribes!

Nitro, the exploding man is released from the gas tanks that served as a prison. He uses his exploding powers to rob a bank. This draws the attention of Spider-Man. If Spidey wants to beat Nitro, the webhead will need to use his scientific knowledge instead of his spider-powers.

The mercenary known as Jack O'Lantern is taken to a hospital. He's recovering from a recent fight with Machine Man when his thugs arrive to break him out. When the police show up, Jack O'Lantern takes the hospital hostage. Spider-Man arrives and attempts to save the hospital from "Jackie!"

But for Spidey, this is no ordinary hostage scenario. One of the patients being held captive is Nathan Lebansky, boyfriend of Peter's Aunt May!

J. Jonah Jameson is holding a party and has invited many of New York's movers and shakers. The cause for celebration is that his girlfriend Marla Madison has been hired to work for the Brand Corporation.  Peter Parker is on hand to photograph the party. The party ends when the villain Killer Shrike shows up and captures Marla.

He takes her to a Brand facility, but doesn't seem to be in control of his actions. Can Spider-Man save Marla and figure out who is controlling Killer Shrike?

The super-criminal known as the Ringer is ordered to fight Spider-Man by a mystery villain. Ringer doesn't really want to fight, but he's got a device strapped to him that can be detonated from a remote location. If Ringer refuses to battle the wallcrawler, he will be blown up.

After defeating him, Spidey learns that Ringer was merely a pawn of his old foe the Beetle, who has revamped his costume. This makes Beetle much more dangerous than ever. But Spider-Man gets an unlikely ally when the Gibbon helps him fight the Beetle.

The villain called Moonstone attacks the campus of Empire State University. She breaks into the office of Dr. Curtis Connors. Spider-Man tails Moonstone and confronts her.

During their fight, Peter's colleague Marcy Kane shows up. Marcy is zapped and knocked unconscious by Moonstone. Peter must figure out a way to get Marcy to safety and defeat Moonstone. 

Sometime after that, a criminal named Georgie flees from Spider-Man and takes refuge underground in the sewers.  Georgie stumbles on an old hideout of Green Goblin. While Norman Osborn, the original Green Goblin, is dead, the warehouse is full of the Goblin's costumes, gliders and pumpkin bombs.

Georgie shows this off to his (unnamed) boss, who kills Georgie and then augments a glider and dyes a costume orange. A new villain is born—The Hobgoblin!

Peter hears news reports about break-ins at several Osborn facilities. On a hunch, he checks out one of Green Goblin's old hideouts. Spider-Man busts in and finds Hobgoblin and a battle ensues. Hobgoblin escapes and learns that Spider-Man is tougher than he expected. The Hobgoblin is determined to find a way to defeat the wallcrawler.

Spider-Man's old enemy the Vulture is leading a relaxed life in a retirement community. But that changes when he sees an ad for an electronics expo in New York. One of the companies presenting at the show is Bestman Electronics, headed by Gregory Bestman. Seeing Bestman's name sets off Vulture and he heads to New York.

When the Vulture arrives, he kidnaps Bestman and takes him to an old hideout. Can Spider-Man save Bestman from the Vulture? And why does the Vulture hate Bestman so much?

The Hobgoblin realizes that if he wants to face Spider-Man in combat, he'll need to enhance his strength. The villain reads Norman Osborn's journal and learns that Green Goblin developed a super-strength serum. After testing the serum, Hobgoblin decides he's ready to face Spider-Man once again, but their fight ends in a way Spidey could have never predicted.

Later, Peter Parker reads a Daily Bugle profile of a boy named Timmy Harrison, who is known as "The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man". Timmy has a scrapbook that contains clippings of dozens of articles from newspapers and magazines. He even owns some old film footage of Spidey's appearances on television.

When Timmy asks how he acquired his spider-powers, Spider-Man reveals more about himself to Timmy than he has ever told anyone else.

Finally, the Hobgoblin continues his crime wave and concocts a plan to defeat Spider-Man once and for all. He creates a device that will nullify the webhead's spider-sense!

How can Spider-Man defeat the Hobgoblin without one of his most important super-powers?

Review:
I've said here before that I believe Roger Stern to be the best Spider-Man writer since Stan Lee. Spider-Man By Roger Stern Omnibus contains more evidence to back up that claim.

Story:
Stern gives us just about every type of Spider-Man story I can think of. We get old villains like Vulture and Tarantula coming back for revenge. Stern utilizes Marvel villains who have never faced Spidey before, such as Nitro, Thunderball, Ringer and Moonstone. His Juggernaut story is one of the best Spider-Man stories ever published.

Thunderball gets a face full of webbing!

We also get quieter stories, like "Options". In this story, Peter Parker decides to quit graduate school. It contains about three pages of superhero action (Spidey easily captures some gunmen) and the rest is all about Parker's personal life and decisions he must make. He decides to quit graduate school to focus on photography and being Spider-Man. It's a major moment for the character, since one of Peter's defining characteristics since his introduction was straight-A student and science whiz. It was a gutsy move by Stern.

Another good but "lighter" story is "The Daydreamers". Stern shows us what Spider-Man, Black Cat, Jameson and Mary Jane think about when their minds wander. In the case of Black Cat, she dreams that under Spidey's mask she'll find...Cary Grant?

The Beetle story is a high point. Beetle had become a joke of a villain with a silly costume. Stern gives us a character that continues to be a major presence in the Marvel Universe. In recent years, Beetle has been better known as MACH-1 of the Thunderbolts.

Best of all, Spider-Man By Roger Stern Omnibus reprints the introduction and early adventures of the Hobgoblin. Reading these stories took me back to when I first bought them back in the early 1980s. Hobgoblin was a fascinating villain, cunning, calculating and possessing as much intelligence as Spider-Man himself.

Spider-Man battles Hobgobin in the battle van!

As far as I'm concerned, "Hobby" (as Spider-Man derisively called the villain) is up there with the best villains in Spidey's rogues gallery.

Fans of Spider-Man's supporting cast will also appreciate the way Stern writes them here. Mary Jane makes her return to Peter's life and J. Jonah Jameson is written as a complicated character, not just a one-note Spider-Man hater (though he does still hate Spidey in these tales!). Even Aunt May gets to do more than usual, getting a boyfriend and turning her home into a rooming house for senior citizens.

Art:
As you can see in the credits at the top of this review, Spider-Man By Roger Stern Omnibus contains art from a lot of pencilers and inkers. They all do a good job and none of the art stands out as bad.

I'd say John Romita Jr. provides the best pencils in this book. He gives us lots of great fight scenes and does a great job depicting Peter and his supporting cast as well as Spider-Man and the super-villains.

John Byrne penciled the first story in the book and also Spidey's duel with the Ringer. I believe Byrne also helped redesign Beetle's costume and it's a major improvement over the old one.

How Does It Look?:
This page was scanned from my copy of Spectacular Spider-Man #58:

And this is how the same page looks in Spider-Man By Roger Stern Omnibus:

Extras:
This super-sized book features a plethora of bonuses. Roger Stern wrote a brand new six-page introduction. Most of the letter columns from the reprinted issues are included. It also includes fifteen pages of Spider-Man pin-ups (which feature text written by Stern) and a two-page humor story (written by Stern) from Marvel's What If? series.

Rating:
Spider-Man By Roger Stern Omnibus contains every Bronze Age Spidey story written and/or scripted by Stern. This book contains lots of milestone moments, great villains and fantastic art from the best pencilers and inkers of the era. It's highly recommended.
J.A. Morris' rating:

4 Sals!

Spider-Man: Nothing Can Stop The Juggernaut

Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #224-230
Written by Roger Stern and Jan Strnad.
Penciled by John Romita Jr. and Rick Leonardi.
Inked by Pablo Marcos, Bob Wiacek, Jim Mooney and Dave Simons.

Note from your trusted blogger:
This post reviews a hardcover collection released in 2013 that reprints 7 issues of Amazing Spider-Man. I point this out because another reprint book with the same title was published in 1989, but that one only reprinted ASM #229-230. 

Variant Cover

Some great 1980s adventures of the Amazing Spider-Man!

An elderly man named Adrian Toomes moves into Restwell Nursing home. He meets and befriends Nathan Lubensky (who happens to be the boyfriend of Spider-Man's Aunt May). Unbeknownst to Nathan, Toomes is the Vulture, an old enemy of Spider-Man.

The Vulture flies again!

The Vulture goes on a crime spree, robbing banks and jewelers, while using the nursing home as a hideout. Spider-Man eventually finds the Vulture, but their battle puts Nathan's life in jeopardy.  

Later, two FBI agents are brutally murdered in the Bowery. The perpetrator is the Foolkiller, who has made it his mission in life to kill everyone he considers a fool. Foolkiller targets some alleged fools who are close to Peter Parker, which brings him into a conflict with Spider-Man.

Foolkiller shows an FBI agent what he does to "fools".

Next up, the Black Cat escapes from a mental hospital. She'd been faking insanity until she was able to break free. Black Cat wastes no time in getting back into her old habits and steals a rare painting. When Spidey chases her down, he learns that she stole it from a Maggia mob boss who had stolen it himself.  The Cat says he can take the painting to the police.

Spider-Man & Black Cat take out some gangsters.

Spider-Man then meets with his best friend in the NYPD, Captain Jean DeWolf and tells her that the Black Cat wants to go straight. DeWolf agrees and fills out the necessary paperwork that will grant the Cat amnesty for her crimes. But will the Black Cat's own foolishness (and kleptomania) get in the way of her freedom?

Spider-Man leaps & swings all over New York's rooftops
I love the panel on the right with the multiple Spideys!

Later, a series of murders hits New York City. There's one common piece of evidence linking the crime scenes: spider webs. This causes many (especially Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson) to accuse Spider-Man of being the killer. But the real perpetrator is a scientist who has developed a machine that causes venomous spiders to kill people. To complicate matters, this machine is also driving the webhead crazy. Can Spidey capture the real killer and prove his innocence?

Spider-man rescues a women who has been attacked by Spiders.

Last but definitely not least, the super-villain duo of Juggernaut and Black Tom Cassidy are docked in New York Harbor. Tom has learned about the existence of Madame Web. She's a psychic who has called on Spider-Man to stop crimes from occurring before they happen. The villains believe her precognitive abilities can help them commit crimes and defeat superheroes. Juggernaut decides to walk to Manhattan (on the ocean floor!) and capture Madame Web.

But Spider-Man is there to stop him. Juggy gives the webhead one of the worst beatings of his life, but Spider-Man keeps coming back. Juggernaut is out of Spidey's class. He's held his own against the Hulk.

None of the other NYC-based heroes are around, so it's up to Spider-Man to stop Juggernaut...or, in his own words, "die trying!".

Review:
An excellent hardcover collection from a great era of The Amazing Spider-Man.

Story:
I said in a recent review that Roger Stern was the best Spider-Man writer since Stan Lee and this book is another fine example. It contains the beginning of Stern's run on Amazing Spider-Man and it's among the best of all time.

Stern writes the definitive Juggernaut story here. I think this story put Juggy in the upper-echelon of Marvel villains, as he walks through buildings, survives a gas truck explosion and rips Spider-Man's webbing to shreds. And Spidey here knows he out-classed but he's willing to put his life on the line against Juggernaut. Their battle is one of the best stories in Spider-Man's long history.

The Black Cat's evolution from mentally disturbed burglar to Spider-Man's love interest begins here.  While the Black Cat "dies" here, it obviously didn't "take" since she's still around 30+ years later.

Spider-Man meets Star Wars:Spidey attends a costume party dressed as a Jawa. 
How cool is that?!

    
The other stories here also very good. The Vulture had always been depicted as a very old man. Stern gives us a story where the villain uses that to his advantage.

The Foolkiller was a fairly obscure villain, but Stern gives us a great done-in-one story built around him.

And we get plenty of scenes that feature Peter visiting the Daily Bugle, interacting with colleagues and friends such as JJJ, Robbie Robertson, Glory Grant and Betty Brant.

Peter Parker visits the Bugle;Betty Brant returns to her old job & mends fences with Peter.

 Aunt May and her fiance Nathan Lubensky are also used well in this book. Giving May a boyfriend (and eventual husband) was a nice touch, and Stern doesn't go to the overused "Aunt May has a heart attack" plot here.

Vulture & Spidey battle in a nursing home;
Vulture takes Nathan as a hostage.

In addition to Stern's work, we get an offbeat stand-alone story written by Jan Strnad. It's a good down-to-earth murder mystery featuring a one-shot villain. But it fits in nicely with the rest of the book. 

Art:
John Romita Jr. had been working at Marvel for a few years, but this is where he begins to pencil in the style that would make him famous. The pressure must have been tough on him, penciling the series that made his father, John Romita Sr., a comics legend. But "J.R. Jr." was more than up to the challenge. This remains some of his finest work. Romita is inked by Pablo Marcos, Bob Wiacek and Jim Mooney.  They all do a nice job without obscuring Romita's work.   

The fill-in story written by Strnad features good art by Rick Leonardi and Dave Simons.

How does it look?: 
The reprinted pages look great, as all the above scans would indicate. I don't see that any weird re-coloring has been done here. Here's another scan from the book:

Spider-Man: Nothing Can Stop The Juggernaut contains some classic Spidey tales and is highly recommended. I've read some of these stories many times over the past 30 years and they're still very enjoyable. I think newcomers to these stories will appreciate the book as well.

J.A. Morris' rating:

4 Sals!