Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man - Volume 7 by Stan Lee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Despite, it's length, this book collects only 6 Issues of Amazing Spider-man continuity. However, it contains three giant specials. I purchased the book because it contained the two issues of Spectacular Spider-man Magazine that my older Marvel Essential Spider-man volumes didn't contain.

First, a look at Amazing Spider-man Issues 62-67: Issue 62 has a one-shot story featuring a guest appearance by Crystal of the Inhumans which is really rather pointless. Issues 63-65 features the return of the "Old Vulture" who seeks to defeat the "New Vulture" who has taken the Vulture's wings and identity when the old boy had been assumed to have died back in Issue 48. This is a solid storyline that also including Spidey going to jail.

Issues 66 and 67 feature a return visit from Mysterio in a story that's just a pretty typical Mysterio story.

Turning to the Specials in the book, Spectacular Spider-man (not to be confused with the long-running 1970s title Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-man) was created as a full 64-page comic magazine of a different size and style from the main story.

The first issue of Spectacular Spider-man is in black and white and it illustrates how good, black and white art can be. The story itself focuses on a man running for mayor as a reform candidate with mass amounts of propoganda behind him but something sinister lurks beneath the surface and it involves a frightening monster. The story also showcases the wisdom and intelligence of Captain Stacy, a man who doesn't just march blindly with the crowd.

The story does it have its problems though. First of all, there is some continuity issues. Spectacular Spider-man #1 portrayed Peter and Gwen Stacy together while in the main Spider-man title they were on the outs. In addition, the decision by the villains to go after Captain Stacy on merely learning he was researching a candidate's background seemed contrived, particularly since we never learned what there was to find out.

Spectacular Spider-man #2, on the other hand, was a pure masterpiece. When Spidey defeated the Green Goblin back in Amazing Spider-man #40, the Goblin learned Spider-man identity, but Obsorn suffered from amnesia and forgot everything the Goblin had known. However, Obsorn had been suffering some mental flashes and feeling ill for months in the main title with Peter constantly afraid that Osborn's Goblin memory would return. In Spectacular Spider-man #2, it does return and with a vengeance. Writer Stan Lee gets credit for not immediately throwing the two foes into battle but building the psychological tension before an epic fight. The story is a landmark in the long-running Spidey-Goblin war. The story really does stand the test of time. Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, I realized that how Spidey handled the Goblin would later lead to tragedy but more on that in another review.

Finally, we have Amazing Spider-man Annual #5 which begins in medias res with Spider-man battling bad guys in Algeria and then flashes back to Peter Parker discovering a newspaper article that indicated his parents were traitors. He tries to ignore it, but isn't able to and sets out to prove them innocent, and he travels to Algeria to do so with aid from Mr. Fantastic. However, to succeed, he'll have to go through the Red Skull.

The problem with this story is that even a double sized annual didn't have enough space to tell it right. The story begins strong with the initial fight scenes and the pathos of thinking his parents traitors and then is rushed towards the conclusion with some unbelievably convenient plot contrivances. This would have worked better as a three part story.

The back up features for the annual are solidly enjoyable including an amusing story, "Here We Go-A-Plotting" which portrays Lee and John Romita and Larry Lieber trying to brainstorm a Spidey plot. The book wraps up with some original art from the series production including John Romita's Cover Art for Spectacular Spider-man #2.

In the end, the extras plus the epic nature of Spectacular Spider-man #2 makes this a truly special book, that's a worthy read for any fan of the Webslinger.



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