Essential Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 10 by J.M. DeMatteis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book collects Amazing Spider-man #211-230 along with Amazing Spider-man Annual #15.

This collection has Spidey facing off with multiple villains from his own history as well as from other Marvel series. The long-time Spidey fan will find such traditional menaces as the Vulture, the Frightful Four, and the Sandman, along with a battle with and a later team up with Submariner, and also a few appearances by Madame Web. We also get to see the first appearance of Hydroman and a follow up team up with Sandman. However, the book also features some other surprises such as the Foolkiller and with former Batman scribe Denny O'Neill spending time writing the series, there are some good solid mystery stories thrown in.

Overall, there's not a bad, stupid, or unworthy story in this book. It shows how solidly Marvel had a grasp on Spider-man as a character in the early 1980s. Two stories represent the book at its best. The Annual features Spider-man, Doc Ock, and the Punisher in a Three way battle. It's a tense story and shows a true conflict between Spider-man and the Punisher and the Punisher's character takes a much darker turn than had been portrayed in early stories. It also shows Frank Miller's pencils at their best and most disciplined.

The final story in Issues 229 and 230 has Spider-man battling the Juggernaut, a character from the X-Men stories that is unstoppable and coming after Madame Web. The fight becomes personal when Juggernaut puts Madam Web in the Hospital and Spidey throws everything he has him and then some. It's intense, exciting and surprising as Spidey battles a villain that the entire X-men had trouble taking down.

Overall, my only annoyance with the book is how awful he is to Debra Whitman. Other than that, there's solid supporting characters, great villains, and great fun. A superb read for fans of the Amazing Spider-man.



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