Essential Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 8 by Len Wein

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


After Stan Lee and Gerry Conway's superb runs on the Amazing Spider-man, it's safe to say that Len Wein's 30 issue run on the title was middling by comparisog n.

This book collects, the final 2/3 of that run from Amazing Spider-man 160-180 along with Issues 181-185, Amazing Spider-man Annual #11 and Nova #12.

The book retreads a lot of old territory with reviving villains such as the Molten Man The Lizard, the Kingpin returning with stories very similar to what's gone before. The same can be said guest appearances by the Punisher. We have the return of the Green Goblin (#176-180) with a story that will give long-time readers deja vu as it is reminiscent of so many other Spider-man stories (though there is a twist but the book makes it too obvious.) We also have a new spider-slayer. The Rocket Racer is Wein's chief contribution to Spidey's rogue's gallery and he isn't that great of character.

There were a few interesting twists in Wein's work including J Jonah Jameson almost discovering Spider-man's secret identity. Still, at this point, Bill Manlo was doing far more interesting stuff on third Spider-man series, Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-man and one of the more interesting stories borrowed the hitman from that book so they could have a battle royale with the Punisher and Jonah atop the Statue of Liberty.

There are also a two part team-up between Spidey and Nova which stangely enough is a whodunit.

Despite its lack of originality, I enjoyed Wein's work. Wein gets all the characters right. This is crucial because in the 1970s there were so many changes to comics (many of which were misguided) that actually knowing your character and having them right was a tough challenge, though at times they did get a little melodramatic. (See Liz in Spider-man #180) Plus Ross Andru's art is really well-done and it's on nearly every page (except for Nova #12, the Annual, and #181.)

To non-Wein material, the Annual was scripted by Bill Manlo from a plot by Archie Goodwin and it's about Spidey taking on a movie role where there's mayhem on the set. It's, of course, not Spidey's first foray into movies even in an Annual (Amazing Spider-man Annual #4), but this one shows some lessons have been learned. For example, Spidey demands cash because he's had difficulty cashing checks made payable to the order of Spider-man. It's a fun story.

Amazing Spider-man #181 was written by Manlo with art by Sal Buscema and it's called (for obvious reasons, 'Flashback') and it's an extended story in which Spidey has a flashback over his whole career, shedding no new light on anything. It's a bit lazy way to come over the transition to the new writer.

Marv Wolfman takes over at Amazing Spider-man #182 and #183 and we're given an origin for the Rocket Racer and introduced to the Big Wheel. It's an okay story though I'm not certain I buy the Rocket Racer as some sort of blackmailer. Spider-man #184 and #185 features a good story of Spider-man battling the White Dragon which feeds into the Martial movie trend of the era. We also get to see Peter graduating (sort of) in Amazing Spider-man #185. Wolfman tries to revive the idea of the "Parker luck," leading to a somewhat downbeat end, but it had nothing to do with luck and everything to do with Peter not keeping track of his stuff.

Overall, a mixed bag but still good enough reading because it may not all be original but its Spider-man.



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