Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection, Vol. 10: Big Apple Battleground

Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection

by Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, Bill Mantlo

The Green Goblin rides again as New York City falls into super-villain mayhem - with Spider-Man caught in the center!

J. Jonah Jameson has uncovered proof that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, and that’s just the
beginning of the web-slinger’s problems! Dinosaurs are fighting Lizard on Broadway. Dr. Faustus is set to drive our hero insane. The Molten Man and Punisher are back in town. That’s just another day in the Big Apple for Spider-Man, but when the Green Goblin returns, all bets are off. Spider-Man’s secret identity, the lives of Aunt May and Mary Jane — everything is on the line! Also featuring a team-up with Nova, the first appearance of Rocket Racer, the return of the crime boss Silvermane, an Annual with more spiders than men, and Peter Parker proposes to Mary Jane! Will she accept?

Amazing Spider-Man (1963) 165-185, Amazing Spider-Man Annual (1964) 11-12, Nova (1977) 12, Marvel Calendar 1978; material from Marvel Treasury Edition (1974) 14; F.O.O.M. (1973) 17-18, 22

Genres: Comics, Spider Man, Marvel, Graphic Novels

520 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 2024

About the author

Len 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.

Reviews

[Sean Gibson]

Spider-Man is the ultimate comfort food comic, and Ross Andru is just wonderful. These are facts.

[Tim Schneider]

I finished up Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection, Vol. 10: Big Apple Battleground which collects Amazing Spider-Man #165-185, ASM Annual 11 and Nova #12 along with some other material. This one picks up right where vol. 9 left off and includes the remainder (the bulk of) Len Wein's late 70s run on the book and the first few issues of Marv Wolfman's run. It also sees Ross Andru leave the book with #185 after his very long tenure on the art.

I'm a fan of Wein's run though I recognize it's not as good as the Gerry Conway run that preceded it. Part of that is nostalgia. I was buying a lot of issues of Amazing at the time, including the two-part battle with Stegron and the Lizard that opened the book (#s 165-66). Add those two to the preceding issues with Kingpin and I bought four issues of ASM in a row. That was a huge accomplishment at the time. I LOVE that two-parter with Lizzie and Stegron still.

This is a solid batch of Bronze-Age superhero funnybooks. Plenty going on in Spidey's personal life. A new Spider-Slayer. A decent new villain in Will O' the Wisp. A not so great new villain in Rocket Racer. The centerpiece of the book is the five issue storyline with the return of the Green Goblin. I think Wein did a good job putting a nice twist on the return of one of Spidey's greatest villains.

I will say that Wolfman didn't set the world on fire in the first few issues of his run that close out the book. It's clear he didn't want to deal with what Wein had set up with Peter and Mary Jane so he punted. I know I bought at least a few of the later Wolfman issues but I don't really remember them at this point. This was the end of my personal Spider-Man golden age.

[Alex Andrasik]

Pretty decent 70s fare! Len Wein does the hip swinging 20something vibe very well. Highlights are the New Goblin arc, Spider-Man's recap at Uncle Ben's graveside, and the debut of conflicted villain Will o' the Wisp. Marv Wolfman takes over as writer towards the end, and he does the swinging 20something much less well; too much with the cuttin' off of the g's from the ends of gerunds, and just a half notch too much with the Spidey mid-battle quips. Shuffling Mary Jane away in what might be the first recorded instance of Editorially Mandated Parker Arrested Development was a great misstep too. But! Fun enough.

[Darik]

The comics aren't as sharp as when Gerry Conway was writing 'em, and the quality REALLY takes a nosedive when they swap out Len Wein for Marv Wolfman (who clearly had a bug up his ass about the Mary Jane relationship, and clumsily shuffles her out of the picture so he can even MORE clumsily bring back Betty Brant as a love interest)...

But overall, this is still some solid monthly storytelling.

[Jimbo]

I really enjoy Spider-man, but honestly, he is kind of a nitwit. I mean, he steps into trouble all the time. He supposed to be a science genius, but barely puts two and two together and don't get me started on his Aunt May (who should be his great aunt because she's drawn as a ninety-year old and he's barely 21.)
She should have died at least four times, if not more, I was never sure why they kept her alive. It didn't make him a better character. It made him an ungrateful ass.
This collection had some good moments, but even when he wasn't supposed to graduate, the writers came up with one credit short? Hell, I was one credit short and talked to the head of my department and graduated. Simple.
Will'o'the wisp and Rocket Racer were terrible villains without giving them better back stories (at least Rocket Racer) Will'o was a tragic villain and deserved better.
Hitman and Punisher storyline was decent.
Green Goblin was great. Nova crossover was kind of a mess and I always loved Nova. It was cool trying for a murder mystery, ala Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie, ultimately was weak.
It's worth reading, but don't think "wow" will happen.

[Bob]

Gems include Spidey v. Stegron, Lizard v. Stegron, Spidey v. Will o’ the Wisp, Spidey v. Will o’ the Wisp on a gin billboard, JJJ tries to unmask Peter, Spidey v. Doc Faustus, Spider-Squad, & Rocket Racer, Hitman kidnaps JJJ, Spidey rides in the war wagon, Green Goblin tosses Flash out the window, Goblin crashes Silvermane’s WTC meeting, Goblin ghostbags Spidey, Harry twist, Goblin v. Goblin, Peter pops the question, Rocket Racer v. Big Wheel, Spidey v. White Dragon, & JJJ Scholarship for Journalistic Integrity

[Doug Duncan]

some fairly good stories in here, this is largely good overall but there also isn't any standout stories really. most noteable moments are peter asking MJ to marry him and his "graduation" which both really don't work out in this volume anyways.

[Rachel E. Meyer]

A great Spider-Man collection, with only a few issues I didn't enjoy.

[Eldon Farrell]

An excellent batch of Spidey adventures :)

[Carson]

i think len is writing a few too may crossovers but i love the green goblin of it all, and happy graduation peter

[Chad]

Some solid Spidey stories from the 70s. There's lots of villains you don't see much of these days like Rocket Racer, Will-O'-the-Wisp, Big Wheel (Yes, this was a real villain who drove around in a giant wheel.) Stegron, the Molten Man, Silvermane (before he became a cyborg) and classics like the Lizard and the Green Goblin. I really like the pairing of Len Wein and Ross Andru. Their stuff is a lot of fun. Marv Wolfman comes on at the end and it's surprisingly not as good. He jettisons some subplots like Pete failing out of college to sort of have him graduate as if it didn't happen along with MJ kicking Pete to the curb. It was all in preparation for setting him to be an adult. He also has Pete go from not being able to pay the rent one month to buying an engagement ring the next which makes zero sense. That whole subplot felt pretty dumb.

[Mistress of the Weird]

My husband's book, keeping it on my list for record keeping.