What do you think?
Rate this book
Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man #16
Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 16
Peter Parker's past comes back to haunt him in his latest and greatest Marvel Masterworks volume! Doc Ock has returned, and he's brought the ghost of Hammerhead with him! And those two aren't the only ones back from the grave: the Kingpin is out to resurrect his son - and he can only do it if Spider-Man dies! The danger doesn't stop there, either, as the Punisher sets his sights on Spider-Man in an adventure guest-starring the X-Men's Nightcrawler; dinosaurs rampage down Broadway in the war of the reptile-men; one of Spidey's oldest foes hijacks the Spider-Mobile; and J. Jonah Jameson secures proof of Spidey's secret identity in the return of the Spider-Slayer! Reserve your copy today! COLLECTING: Amazing Spider-Man (1963) 156-168, Annual (1964) 10
272 pages, Hardcover
First published May 20, 2014
15 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
About the author
Len Wein
1,587 books154 followersLen Wein was an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel superhero team the X-Men (including the co-creation of Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus). Additionally, he was the editor for writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons' influential DC miniseries Watchmen.
Wein was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2008.
Wein was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2008.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 29, 2022
The killing spider car? Stegron the dinosaur man? The fly man?
Nah. I don’t think so...
Nah. I don’t think so...
May 1, 2023
Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Volume 16 by Len Wein is the end of Spiderman's adventures in the 1970's to the 1980's. Marvel Masterworks takes older comics and restores them with a newer glossy printing. Marriage is on the mind of many Spiderman side characters as Betty Brandt and Ned Leads get married and Harry Osborn and Liz Allen get engaged, putting undue pressure on Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. This issue leads Mary Jane to go on a date with Flash Thompson since Peter is not around. Peter is thinking about sharing his secret, that he is Spiderman, for the first time. This book is packed full of notable villains and great action scenes. The Villains featured are Doctor Octopus, Hammerhead, Kingpin, Jigsaw, The Lizard, and the latest version of the Spider Slayer. It also featured less notable villains, The Tinkler, who was brought back from the second issue of the Amazing Spiderman, The Human Fly, Willow of the Wisp, and Stegon, who was bought back from Marvel team ups and is a mutation of a man to Stegosaurus with the power to take old dinosaurs bones and reanimate them to dinosaurs. This volume also featured a couple of good guys like X-men's Nightcrawler and The Punisher. The action scenes and Spiderman quips are great and make this volume stand out amongst others. I like how further stories are being set up with a lead into the next issue, there's an art to this and it was executed very well. Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Volume 16 collected Amazing Spider-Man (1963-1998) issues 156-168 and Annual #10.
Plot Summary: Doctor Octopus is back and he goes to see his almost bride to be... Aunt May. Doctor Octopus was last seen evading a nuclear explosion while he was fighting Hammerhead. Doctor Ock is being haunted by the ghost of Hammerhead, that he's trying to rid himself of, but things don't go so well as he accidentally brings Hammerhead back to life. He will go after Aunt May, Spiderman or Doc Ock. Spiderman beats a dangerous robber that puts up a good fight without powers, he gets powers and becomes the Human Fly and he wants to rob weddings he picks the wedding of Ned Leeds and Betty Brandt to rob and ruin. The Spidermobile is back and it's possessed. The Spidermobile last scene at the bottom of the Atlantic when he battled Mysterio, is gon when Spiderman goes looking for it, then it stalks him. Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler visits New York city for R and R, but he gets caught up in an assignation plot involving The Punisher and Spiderman. Each hero thinks the other was responsible but it was all a ruse to get them together and take them all out. The Kingpin wants to use Spiderman's life force to bring back his son from the grave, Dr. Kurt Conners helps Spiderman, but an accident sets off his transformation into The Lizard. Stegon captures Billy as he needs Conners to help him bring dinosaurs back to earth. J. Jonah Jamison is sent pictures of Spiderman getting rid of his clone, more convinced than ever Spiderman is evil he teams up with a partner to make a new version of the Spider Slayer to take Peter Parker out.
What I Liked: The Doctor Octopus and Spiderman team up to beat Hammerhead is the best. The Mary Jane and Peter Parker relationship deals with grown up issues. I loved seeing the Kingpin back and has one heck of a fight. The best two part issue is Nightcrawler v. Spiderman v. The Punisher. The Spiderman and Nightcrawler fight was awesome. With Spiderman not knowing Nightcrawler's transportation ability thinks he killed him. It was a really good story for Nightcrawler which was cool since Len Wein the writer of the issue helped create him. His is kind of the first introduction of Jigsaw one of the Punishers greatest foes. The possessed Spidermobile story was actually not bad and I liked what they did with the car, and how Spiderman returned it.
What I Disliked: The Willow of the Wisp antihero had a good introduction but ended up being pretty lame and the two last issues really brought down a really great volume at the end.
Recommendation and Rating: Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Volume 16 was a better volume of the series than previous volumes, the stories for the most part were fun, full of adventure and still kept the human nature of Spiderman. I rated Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Volume 16 by Len Wein 4 out of 5 stars. At the same time this comic came out they released a revamped version of The Spectacular Spiderman by former Amazing Spiderman writer Gary Conway that explored the human side a little bit more, which I will start reading to get the whole spiderman story.
Plot Summary: Doctor Octopus is back and he goes to see his almost bride to be... Aunt May. Doctor Octopus was last seen evading a nuclear explosion while he was fighting Hammerhead. Doctor Ock is being haunted by the ghost of Hammerhead, that he's trying to rid himself of, but things don't go so well as he accidentally brings Hammerhead back to life. He will go after Aunt May, Spiderman or Doc Ock. Spiderman beats a dangerous robber that puts up a good fight without powers, he gets powers and becomes the Human Fly and he wants to rob weddings he picks the wedding of Ned Leeds and Betty Brandt to rob and ruin. The Spidermobile is back and it's possessed. The Spidermobile last scene at the bottom of the Atlantic when he battled Mysterio, is gon when Spiderman goes looking for it, then it stalks him. Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler visits New York city for R and R, but he gets caught up in an assignation plot involving The Punisher and Spiderman. Each hero thinks the other was responsible but it was all a ruse to get them together and take them all out. The Kingpin wants to use Spiderman's life force to bring back his son from the grave, Dr. Kurt Conners helps Spiderman, but an accident sets off his transformation into The Lizard. Stegon captures Billy as he needs Conners to help him bring dinosaurs back to earth. J. Jonah Jamison is sent pictures of Spiderman getting rid of his clone, more convinced than ever Spiderman is evil he teams up with a partner to make a new version of the Spider Slayer to take Peter Parker out.
What I Liked: The Doctor Octopus and Spiderman team up to beat Hammerhead is the best. The Mary Jane and Peter Parker relationship deals with grown up issues. I loved seeing the Kingpin back and has one heck of a fight. The best two part issue is Nightcrawler v. Spiderman v. The Punisher. The Spiderman and Nightcrawler fight was awesome. With Spiderman not knowing Nightcrawler's transportation ability thinks he killed him. It was a really good story for Nightcrawler which was cool since Len Wein the writer of the issue helped create him. His is kind of the first introduction of Jigsaw one of the Punishers greatest foes. The possessed Spidermobile story was actually not bad and I liked what they did with the car, and how Spiderman returned it.
What I Disliked: The Willow of the Wisp antihero had a good introduction but ended up being pretty lame and the two last issues really brought down a really great volume at the end.
Recommendation and Rating: Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Volume 16 was a better volume of the series than previous volumes, the stories for the most part were fun, full of adventure and still kept the human nature of Spiderman. I rated Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Volume 16 by Len Wein 4 out of 5 stars. At the same time this comic came out they released a revamped version of The Spectacular Spiderman by former Amazing Spiderman writer Gary Conway that explored the human side a little bit more, which I will start reading to get the whole spiderman story.
October 15, 2020
I didn't enjoy the previous volume so much, but Volume 16 gets back on track with some fun stories, villains, and character development for Peter Parker and his friends. It opens with the wedding of Betty Brant and Ned Leeds (interrupted of course by new supervillain The Mirage on a wedding-robbing spree). The homeless man who'd been lurking in the subplots of previous issues is revealed to be Doctor Octopus and his mysterious persecutor is the "ghost" of his nemesis Hammerhead. That conflict pulls in Aunt May and takes a fun few issues to resolve.
There's also a fun crossover with Nightcrawler (a brand new character at the time) and the Punisher, which leads into the first appearance of Punisher badguy Jigsaw. The Kingpin makes a cool appearance as well, wrapping up some plotlines from Captain America about his son's involvement with Hydra (and making me want to read some '70s Captain America). Then there's a great confrontation with Stegron and the Lizard.
The volume wraps up with a new sympathetic villain called Will-o'-the-Wisp whom I'm not familiar with, but liked quite a bit in spite of his connection with the generic bad guy responsible for Hammerhead and the revamped Kangaroo from earlier issues. More disappointing than that behind-the-scenes villain-maker was the issues-long build-up to some huge plan of Jonah Jameson, only to reveal that it's just yet another Spider-Slayer robot. Those never work and I'm tired of Jameson trying them.
In Peter's personal life, he and Mary Jane reach a new stage of their relationship. She's surprised by her genuine feelings for him and a little frightened by her reaction to his constantly running off to "take photos" whenever danger is near. She's never been in a serious relationship before and doesn't know how to handle it, so she uses Flash Thompson to make Peter jealous until Flash and Peter realize what's going on. Peter very briefly misunderstands Flash's role and there's an awkward confrontation, but Flash refreshingly affirms his friendship with Peter and declares that he doesn't want to hurt his genuine pal. Which leads to an honest, grown-up conversation between Peter and MJ. I'm impressed by the maturity that writer Len Wein is allowing the cast to grow into.
Oh, and Harry proposes to Liz and she accepts. I don't know where that's leading, but I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, especially when Harry's therapist makes an appearance and seems super sleazy.
So, anyway: good volume. I'm back to being excited about the next group of stories.
There's also a fun crossover with Nightcrawler (a brand new character at the time) and the Punisher, which leads into the first appearance of Punisher badguy Jigsaw. The Kingpin makes a cool appearance as well, wrapping up some plotlines from Captain America about his son's involvement with Hydra (and making me want to read some '70s Captain America). Then there's a great confrontation with Stegron and the Lizard.
The volume wraps up with a new sympathetic villain called Will-o'-the-Wisp whom I'm not familiar with, but liked quite a bit in spite of his connection with the generic bad guy responsible for Hammerhead and the revamped Kangaroo from earlier issues. More disappointing than that behind-the-scenes villain-maker was the issues-long build-up to some huge plan of Jonah Jameson, only to reveal that it's just yet another Spider-Slayer robot. Those never work and I'm tired of Jameson trying them.
In Peter's personal life, he and Mary Jane reach a new stage of their relationship. She's surprised by her genuine feelings for him and a little frightened by her reaction to his constantly running off to "take photos" whenever danger is near. She's never been in a serious relationship before and doesn't know how to handle it, so she uses Flash Thompson to make Peter jealous until Flash and Peter realize what's going on. Peter very briefly misunderstands Flash's role and there's an awkward confrontation, but Flash refreshingly affirms his friendship with Peter and declares that he doesn't want to hurt his genuine pal. Which leads to an honest, grown-up conversation between Peter and MJ. I'm impressed by the maturity that writer Len Wein is allowing the cast to grow into.
Oh, and Harry proposes to Liz and she accepts. I don't know where that's leading, but I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, especially when Harry's therapist makes an appearance and seems super sleazy.
So, anyway: good volume. I'm back to being excited about the next group of stories.
January 15, 2022
I definitely think this volume is better than the previous volume, bringing in some fun villains and adding to Peter Parker's personal storyline. Also I feel like someone should have figured out Peter is Spider-Man by now, with the way he's always disappearing. You'd think someone would put two and two together at some point.
There are some cringey moments when Spider-Man is fighting Kingpin, specifically in the comments that Peter makes about his weight. Those definitely did not age well.
But the Lizard comes back in this one and all I can think about is all those TikToks about Dr. Connors in No Way Home, insisting that everything can be fixed by changing everyone into lizards.
There are some cringey moments when Spider-Man is fighting Kingpin, specifically in the comments that Peter makes about his weight. Those definitely did not age well.
But the Lizard comes back in this one and all I can think about is all those TikToks about Dr. Connors in No Way Home, insisting that everything can be fixed by changing everyone into lizards.
December 20, 2022
I know these issues are from the mid-‘70s, but that doesn’t excuse the way that Len Wein wrote them. Spider-Man is supposed to represent the little guy, yet he mouths off with a ton of fatphobic and “ugly” comments. He also made a ‘joke’ to MJ about giving her a fat lip. These are not the actions of our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
Yes, he’s always used some fatphobic comments, but this particular book turned them up really high. And the funny part is that his enemies usually blasted something about his fighting style, as opposed to attacking a feature that he couldn’t help. How messed up is it that the enemies got this one right and Spidey got it wrong?
Yes, he’s always used some fatphobic comments, but this particular book turned them up really high. And the funny part is that his enemies usually blasted something about his fighting style, as opposed to attacking a feature that he couldn’t help. How messed up is it that the enemies got this one right and Spidey got it wrong?
July 19, 2023
I like Aunt May getting more respect and independence. I like Peter and MJ working through issues in their relationship. I like the dinosaur man and will o' the wisp. I don't really like the Kingpin story here because Spiderman is fighting to save his own life while believing that his success will mean death for Kingpin's son. The fact that he doesn't even question whether he should or not, doesn't feel characteristic to Spiderman for me. Overall, an enjoyable volume though.
December 25, 2017
A slightly weaker volume with no real standout issues.
September 26, 2021
Its Spider-man - do I have to say any more?
October 10, 2021
A nice improvement over the last volume. At times it almost recaptured the feel of those wonderful Silver Age Spidey stories.
January 30, 2025
I'm not a fan of Len Wein's run on Spider-Man so far. It's almost completely side-lined Mary Jane and the plots that it does focus on are far from interesting.
September 17, 2025
The Len Wein/Ross Andru run is tight as a drum. Great reads. I've read this run a few times before and it holds up decades later.
February 15, 2016
The Marvel Masterworks volumes are fantastic reprints of the early years of Marvel comics. A fantastic resource to allow these hard to find issues to be read by everyone. Very recommended to everyone and Highly recommended to any comic fan.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews