Collects Enter the Spider-Verse (2018) #1; Spider-Man Annual (2019) #1; Spider-Ham (2019) #1; plus the Spider-Ham material from Marvel Tails Starring Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham (1983) #1; Marvel Tales (1964) #209-210, 230, 233. The Spider-Verse is full of amazing arachnids - none more anthropomorphic than the Spectacular Spider-Ham! The porcine protector from a world of animal adventurers swings into action in these mighty "Marvel Tails" - including Peter Porker's dynamic debut, taking on the Masked Marauder and the Gopher Gang with Hulk Bunny and Captain Americat along for the ride! Meet Mary Jane Waterbuffalo as our hammy hero tackles the Hobgobbler! Then, Spider-Ham joins Peter Parker, Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen and Spider-Punk in a cross-reality team-up - and embarks on a multiversal quest to round up his deadliest foes! All this plus - at last - Spider-Ham meets Howard the Duck!
David Jason Latour (b. 1977) is an American comic book artist and writer known for his work for Image, Dark Horse, Marvel and DC comics on titles such as Wolverine, Winter Soldier, Southern Bastards and Spider-Gwen.
I saw this one in Boise at Barnes and Noble and couldn't resist it. I thoroughly enjoyed the time capsule that is this collection of comics. The different stories and art styles truly span the decades and make for a diverse read. I was greatly entertained!
Not being an aficionado of the Spider-Man comic genre, ever since I saw the movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse back in 2018, I’ve been (understandably?) curious about Spider-Ham. Well, this volume seemed a good smorgasbord of an intro – broad, but by necessity, not too deep into any one story. My initial impression was that the humor was just too unrelentingly punny for my taste, and that Spider-Ham was a pretty one-dimensional character. But I mean, he’s a freakin’ anthropomorphized, superhero pig, so what did I really expect? However, as I continued on, I started to appreciate the multiverse stories, the metafictional humor, and even the cleverness of the puns more and more. Peter Porker may not exactly be my kind of superhero, but I have come to appreciate him nonetheless!
Recommended for those who fell in love with Spider-Ham from the movie. Peter Porker is a treasure and sure knew how to hog the scenes in the movie. In this collection, I squealed in delighted at all the puns, especially when Porker hammed it up! Definitely one that all Marvel fans should read.
I've been sitting on this book for a while. With the release of No Way Home this weekend, I thought now would be the appropriate time to review it.
Starring that scene-stealer of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, Spider-Ham has been a previous featured character of Family Comic Friday. Introduced in the 1980s, Peter Porker was a spider who gains the powers and features of a pig after being bitten by a radioactive Aunt May!
Spider-Ham has long been a kids feature starting with his first appearance in Marvel Tails: Starring Peter Porker: The Spectacular Spider-Ham one-shot from November 1983. Reprinted in this volume, that first comic also starred animal versions of the Hulk and Captain America.
Shortly after that initial appearance, Spider-Ham returned a couple years later in a short-lived but very well received series under Marvel's all-ages STAR COMICS imprint. Sadly none of those issues are reprinted here. I say sad because I am still missing a few issues from that run.
After cancellation, Spider-Ham starred in about 3 dozen shorts in the back of the Spider-Man reprint title, Marvel Tales. A trio of those stories are added to this book. There's also the first modern starring a team of Spidey variants called the Web Warriors, a teen rated tale set firmly within the confines of the Spider-verse. Lastly, Spider-Ham's movie inspired Spider-Man annual is included.
I was okay with the inclusion of the Web Warriors story. But that annual is a bit of a stinker. I've read and reviewed it before as it's a book I own in my personal collection. The first story is all over the place. The follow-up starring Porker and Howard the Duck is just too meta to enjoy. Maybe it's cause I am looking at everything in this book being enjoyed by a family as a whole as to why I am more negative than previously reviewed. But those later stories are too complicated for readers under 15 to enjoy. There's a bunch of mash up characters that only the parents will know and appreciate. Plus, the whole existential thing between discussed by Spider-Ham and Howard is something that even the adults might get confused on.
I understand that this book is trying to show a progression of Spider-Ham through the years. But I would have rather had more of the older stuff included. Keep the Web Warriors thing. And maybe just show a fraction of the stories from the annual. This collection starts off so well and then shows how lame Marvel Comics has gotten in the past 5 years or so. I can't understand why Marvel kills DC in sales. The talent at the House of Ideas just isn't up to par of 75 previous years of artists, writers and colorists. If it wasn't for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I don't think Marvel COMICS would be relevant anymore!
A collection of Spider-Ham tales that span the ages. Just not something that could be shared for family members of all ages.
None of it's worth reading until you get to the 3rd installment, the one about The Circus of Crime. And I liked it. But man, you better be ready for a hogwild onslaught of pig puns. 'Cause they'll be web-shooting at you nonstop.
Silly, but perfectly fine as a book to fill those dull moments in life. Though… I was surprised how the comics at the end used that silliness for different themes, such critiquing the “crisis” nature in comics in one issue and then, in another one, about finding your motivation even when overwhelmed. It was interesting to see how this character has been used as both a throwaway joke and as lens for more interesting ideas.