Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection, Vol. 22: Round Robin

Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection

by David Michelinie, Al Milgrom, Mark Bagley (Illustrator)

Spidey gets by with a little help from his friends! If he can survive a rematch with the Tri-Sentinel, this time without Captain Universe powers, Spider-Man will face a sidekick's revenge! But wait, he never had a sidekick. So who is the Secret Empire's cyborg powerhouse, Midnight? To get to the bottom of this mess, the web-slinger will need to do a little old-fashioned teaming up. How's Moon Knight, Punisher, Nova, Night Thrasher and Darkhawk?

COLLECTING: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) 351-360, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL 25, SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL 11, WEB OF SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL 7 (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN EPIC COLLECTION VOL. 22)

Genres: Comics, Spider Man, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Collections, Science Fiction, Adventure

472 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 2015

Reviews

[Sean Gibson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some fun early Mark Bagley art. A weird Spidey team-up with Darkhawk, Nova, Moon Knight, and Thrasher (some of whom were, at least at the time, “New” Warriors, though one assumes they are now “Old” Warriors, or perhaps “Less Current” Warriors at the very least, given that these stories are about three decades old). Concludes with a fun Conway/Lee/Andru joint wherein Spidey teams up with Silver Sable to take down “Baroness” Zemo and a bunch of other Nazis in a spooky old castle (always a good time).

On balance, better than a bucket of warm spit. Somewhere north of 3 stars, not quite 4.

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is the fastest I’ve finished an EC in quite a while.
It does help when you basically skip or skim through everything…

With that in mind, there really isn’t too much for me to say about this. It’s not filled with an iconic storyline that has maintained its popularity through time. And I can’t say it was a brilliant idea to follow up a Moon Knight story within the main series.

It would have made more sense for Spidey to go to MK's series if they wanted to use his popularity.
Though I think they had already tried that, so it might not have worked the first time.

The biggest thing we see is Cletus Kasady's Carnage for the first time.

Only pick this up if you really want to read every Spider-Man story.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collecting a massive amount of material from between 1991-1992, this collection is, as you'd expect, of varying quality.

We open with three Annuals that tell the Vibranium Vendetta story, which teams Spidey, Iron Man, and Black Panther against Ultron, Kingpin, and the Ghost. It's a very topical story of the time I think, dealing with a new type of Vibranium that isn't all it appears to be, but it's a decent little story. Each annual also has loads of little stories in them too featuring other characters like Silver Sable or Venom, so it's nice that they're collected here for completeness.

The Amazing Spider-Man issues begin with a two-part team-up between Spidey and Nova against the Tri-Sentinel which is a nice follow-up to the previous Epic Collection's Cosmic Spider-Man battle with the creature. Then comes the Round Robin story which goes on a little too long, but has so many guest stars that it probably needs as many pages as it gets to give everyone a good showing. And finally there are two issues that team Spidey with Cardiac, which are the weakest of the bunch, because every story with Cardiac in it tends to end the same.

There's also an OGN collected here that teams Silver Sable and Spider-Man together which is surprisingly good, I didn't think things like this got collected at all anymore outside of enormous oversized hardcover formats.

It's typical of the time that Spidey doesn't go a whole issue without some kind of team-up, but considering how intermingled the Marvel Universe is now, it was probably a much bigger deal back then than it is now. Also, the Round Robin story is the debut of Mark Bagley, which is always a treat.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Vibranium Vendetta 3 parter from annuals is the only good selection in the the book. And features Ghost, one of my favorite villains who later becomes a Thunderbolts character.

The Round Robin story was a 6-parter that I didn't much care for and I even skipped over the last 4 chapter. The other material collected here was also of poor quality. Just not a Spidey book to my tastes.

[Kieran Westphal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best era of Spider-Man comics, not the best bang for your buck as a collection. I think the Epic Collection format of packing a year or two worth of books together chronologically is the ideal way to make these old comics accessible, sometimes for the first time since their original release (and unlike the old Essentials line, they're actually in color!). I'm glad this book exists, but it is easily the most skippable of the line. Most of the collection is comprised of a six part dud story and backup material from annuals that are extremely hit or miss. Like a lot of comics at the time, the good is pretty good, the bad is very boring.

[Marcelo Soares · Rating 3 out of 5]

De todas as coleções do Homem Aranha, essa, com certeza, é a mais fraca. Coincidentemente, o Micheline estava de férias e só escreve as últimas edições com o Cardíaco - que, como todas as aparições do Cardíaco, não é lá essa coisas.
Entretanto tudo começa com a Vingança Vibrânica; a Roxxon descobre uma maneira de fazer vibranium na barateira e quer comercializar pra deixar o mundo um lugar melhor, quem vocês acham que não gosta disso? O Doutor Destino, tirano da Latvéria? Magneto, líder do Asteróide M? Caveira Vermelha, o nazistão da Germânia?
Nenhum desses dá bola. Vou dar mais duas pistas para quem não gosta disso e resolve invadir a Roxxon e roubar segredos industriais: usa roupa de gato e já perdeu coroas mais vezes do que eu quando vou no Clube da Saudade.
Isso mesmo, o vilanesco Pantera Negra quer manter o monopólio do vibranium e quer destruir toda e qualquer empresa que queira compartilhar essa tecnologia com o mundo, ainda mais, se for a preços mais acessíveis; toda a opulência da corte wakandiana não se paga sozinha; para isso ele recruta o mercenário Homem de Ferro - um cara que, literalmente, trabalha para uma concorrente da Roxxon - e a ameaça aracnídea que assola Nova Iorque, o Homem Aranha.
Se unindo a causa da Roxxon, mostrando simpatia e solidariedade, um dos homens de negócios mais influentes da América, Wilson Fisk; um dos primeiros seres artificiais, até hoje discriminado pela sociedade, Ultron e um pacífico manifestante pelo fim do capitalismo exploratório, o Fantasma. Claro nem a união desse trio de heróis conseguem evitar que a grotesca parceira Pantera-Ferro-Aranha destruam o plano do "Vibranium para todos" da Roxxon.
Claro, depois disso, o Aranha, o Cavaleiro da Lua, o Nova, o Radical, o Falcão de Aço e o Justiceiro se unem para enfrentar o Império Secreto e seus ciborgues numa história para lá de descartável, mas é por aqui que o Mark Bagley começa a desenhar o Aranhoso.

[Zack! Empire · Rating 3 out of 5]

So the stories in this book are pretty good, but the book does have some problems that I feel keeps it from being a 5 star book.
We are getting pretty close to when I started reading Spider-Man, so there is a level of nostalgia here. Mark Bagley was the artist on Spider-Man when I started reading it, so in a lot of ways, his version his the version I prefer. It certainly is a real treat to see his artwork be such a big part of this book.
Story wise I really dug this book. I wasn't looking forward to reading the first story, which runs across three Spider-Man annuals, mostly do to the artwork, but ended up really enjoying it. It was cool to see how the characters involved aren't completely aware of for most of the story. They all have there own interest and it's not till the end that it all comes together.
The Amazing Spider-Man issues are really 90's with characters like Night Thrasher, Nova, and such showing up. For some people it's probably a bit stupid, but I loved seeing these guys.
The two problems I have are that, one, the book reads more like a Marvel Team Up book. Spider-Man teams up with someone in every story except the last one. I love a good team up, but it was a bit much.
The other thing is that, because of all the team ups, we don't get much time with Spider-Man's extended cast. In fact, we basically get none. One of my favorite parts of Spider-Man is all large cast so it sucked that they weren't around.
Overall, it's a good book, with just a couple of problems.

[Daniel Santos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um desfile de participações especiais..
Com direito a situações bem pouco provaveis como o Rei Tchala visitar uma fábrica sem nenhum segurança para protege-lo.
A Roxxon produzindo vibraniun generico e sendo hackeada pelo Homem de Ferro além da presença do Aranha quer dizer três pesos pesados da marvel fazendo espionagem industrial ?
Um quadrinho com dNA dos anos 90 e todos os seus defeitos
diverte quem for menos exigente , mas não espere que seja um novo clássico.

[Crazed8J8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection, with some great artwork and fun stories. Some good Cardiac and Cletus (cameos) stories. There is a LOT of Nova in this run, and it kind of pushed the New Warriors, who are new to the scene. Good guest appearances by Punisher, Moon Knight, and others.
Fear Itself kind of sucked and had no lasting impact.
All in all, a good read with some interesting characters, but not top-tier stories...

[Maurício Dantas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Essa fase não envelheceu bem.

Adamantium Agenda é cross de anuais, era moda na época, história fraca do Michelinie e artistas rotativos variando muito a qualidade. Aí vem o cross com o Cavaleiro da Lua, Radical, Justiceiro, Nova,etc... e é bem fraquinho. Valeu o evento em Superalmanaque Marvel da Abril, mas não sobreviveu ao tempo.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gems include Spidey & Panther v. Ghost, Ultron v. Ghost, Ultron & Kingpin ally, Darkhawk v. Midnight, NT suckerkicks Spidey, Punisher & NT are the hard cases wile Spidey & MK are the soft cases, Spidey won’t MK & NT fight, Punisher infiltrates Secret Empire, cyborgs assemble, Carnage escapes, & Carnage’s first victim

[Carson · Rating 3 out of 5]

the namesake of this collection is the worst part, way too little spidey and way too many others especially for six issues straight, no thank you round robin! the annual series was alright and the individual comics were great, i just wish there were more of them and less of spidey barely being the main character in his comic. carnage next, yay!

[Patrick Book · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s almost as though they thought in the 90s that one of the most iconic comic book characters of all time couldn’t hold people’s interest unless he was matched up with whatever flavours of the day the company was trying to make stick.

[Michael Potts · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really representative cross-section of Marvel during this time period. Great look at Punisher and Moon Knight, not to mention characters like Dark Hawk and Night Thrasher that basically don't ever show up anymore. Interesting blast from the past.

[B · Rating 2 out of 5]

This felt like a way-too-long bad annual


The best thing you can say about it is that you can tell Michelinie has real affection for the Sunturion.

[Terrance · Rating 2 out of 5]

Likely the most yawn-inducing era of Spider-Man comics.

[Steve Howells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some great stories. I liked the classic art work allot.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

The annuals at the beginning sucked, but I enjoyed the Tri-Sentinel and Round Robin stories. The ending novel was ok, nothing special.

[Matt Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has a lot of crossovers with other characters my favorites being when Spider-Man teams up with Punisher and Nova. Focused more on action than story. 1991-1992. 7/10

[Mistress of the Weird]

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

[Harrison Delahunty · Rating 2 out of 5]

An overlong series of mediocre-to-bad crossover slop, capped by the surprisingly decent Fear Itself.

In spite of poor Bagley coming onto the scene in the middle of all the drudgery he still manages to deliver his expected great pencils, and Guang Yap and Marie Severin elevate the annual stories to, at the very least, be fun to look at. Andru’s work on Fear Itself features some questionable character design work, but his Spider-Man is always unique in a great way.