The Amazing Spider-Man: Crime Campaign

Marvel Novel Series #8

by Paul Kupperberg

Book by Paul Kupperberg

Genres: Spider Man, Marvel, Adventure

192 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1979

About the author

Paul Kupperberg is a nearly 50-year veteran of the comic book industry as a writer and editor for DC Comics, Archie Comics, Marvel, Bongo Charlton, and many more. He is also the author of more than three dozen books of fiction and nonfiction for readers of all ages, as well as of short stories, articles, and essays for Crazy 8 Press, Heliosphere, Titan Books, Stone Arch Books, Rosen Publishing, Citadel Press, Pocket Books, TwoMorrows, and others.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty good Spider-Man prose novel, the eighth in the series that Pocket published at the end of 1970s. Peter faces off against Kingpin, who's forcing a popular newscaster to run for mayor so he can act as a figurehead for Wilson to control. (Little did they suspect in those days that Kingy would be elected on his own when he became Daredevil's arch for.) Peter has a host of other problems, too, of course, what with school and work and family and a new girl friend, who happens to be Jameson's niece. (Comics characters sure have big families, don't they?) Kupperberg was a comics writer best remembered for his work at DC and Archie. I didn't think he quite hit the right tone of Spider-Man and the whole Marvel angst thing, but it's not a bad read.

[Ross Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back in the 1970's, I discovered the joys of Spider-man. It started with the cartoon series (you know the one- from the 1960's). Next came the Electric Company - but that Spider-man was a bit..thin on words. Then, came the TV movies. And later, as I started to learn that there was more to comic books then pictures, I started reading the comics.

Read this book reminded me of those days, when I was discovering that Spider-man was more complex of a hero. He had issues and problems. And was charming, once me moved pass his nerdy beginnings. Sure, there is none of the struggle - will he make rent, which girl will he date, what villain of the month will he be fighting - but all of the excitement.

The story line, in many ways, has parallels to today - a media personality (news anchor) is forced to run for political office, after being blackmailed (and backed) by a criminal kingpin. But this time, we have a hero to help save the day.

One thing that bothered me was the Girl of the Week. This time, it is the niece of J. Jonah Jameson (I know, right). But there is talk of Betty Brant and Mary Jane Watson. BUT NOT ONE WORD ABOUT GWEN STACEY!!! (I suppose the editors, realizing that this book would be read by pre-teens and teens, more than 40 year old fan boys. Therefore, better to NOT touch upon the death of Peter's true love - even though fans of the comics would already know of her passing).

And finally, I guess it is the result of having watched the 90's cartoon, but whenever the Kingpin spoke, I would hear the voice over actor's voice. Weird, I know. But then again, when Peter spoke, I heard the voice from the "Spider-man and His Amazing Friends" voice.

[Tim Deforest · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun well-written superhero novel, this one thrusts the webslinger into the middle of a gang war.

The Kingpin (and a consortium of other gang leaders) has kidnapped the daughter of a famous Walter Cronkite-esque anchorman. The idea is to force the man to run for mayor and, if he wins, essentially hand the city over to the criminals.

But Silvermane--the other top leader of organized crime in New York, is planning a double-cross. Also, a fake Spider Man is showing up at the anchorman's rally and threatening the man's life. The real Spider Man has to figure out what's going on, stop his evil "twin" and also figure out why his new girlfriend is lying to him about being J. Jonah Jameson's niece and persistently asking where Peter Parker gets all those great Spidey photos.

It all culminates in a finale in Silvermane's mansion, with thugs shooting at each other, Silverman unwisely firing explosive bullets at Kingpin and Spiderman caught in the middle of it all.

It all really is fun, with the author effectively catching the personalities of the various characters while moving the story along at a brisk pace.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a pure novel in the sense that there are few illustrations, and then only small ones at the start of the chapters. Therefore, the action is all textually described, given the quality of the artwork found in the Marvel Comics group managed by Stan Lee, this is a difficult task.
This story has the powerful Kingpin as the villain, a man that is large and powerful, but does not have any super technology or powers at his disposal. Therefore, when his rage is described in the text, the reader must provide any associated imagery. Readers familiar with this particular villain may be able to satisfy that deficiency, but others will miss one of the strongest features of Marvel stories.
This is a good story about Spidey and some of his difficulties in dealing with life when he is not in uniform and on the prowl. However, the lack of the usual high-quality imagery is a hurdle that is not quite overcome.

[Ben Sheffield · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you can get past some of the cheesy 70s dialogue of Spidey here, (In one scene, after a character asks him for alone time, he replies, “yeah I can dig it”) it actually is a pretty fun story. The fight scenes are incredibly visual and J Jonah Jameson is written perfectly. First time reading a marvel “novel” and I enjoyed it.

[Ekenedilichukwu Ikegwuani · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's ok. Not excellent, but not terrible. Some story things don't make sense, and I'm not particularly fond of this characterization of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, but overall, not a bad story.

[Michael P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eighth book in the interesting but failed experiment to turn Marvel super-heroes into a series of paperback novels for grown-ups. The authors were burdened by telling two stories, the mail plot, plus they had to fill in all the character background that non-comic readers needed to know. The books told fairly typical comic book stories, but in prose. Prose is not ideal for these stories. Finally, most of the writers were comic book writers, not seasoned prose stylists. In an earlier experiment, prose writers here hired to write Marvel novels. The writing was better, but they got the characters wrong. Here the characters are right, but the writing is wrong, and so it is with this book. A curiosity, but not to be read for pleasure.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty much a regular Spidey story. The one interesting part was a new love interest for Peter. Don't know if this carried over into the comics, I only read the comics occasionally.

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good novel adaptation of the comics. if you are a comic super hero fan these are Very recommended.