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Spider-Man (1990) #18-23
Spider-Man: Revenge of the Sinister Six
The villainous Dr Octopus regroups his team of Spider-Man's greatest enemies - the Sandman, Mysterio, the Hobgoblin, the Vulture, and Electro - to form the Sinister Six to further his quest to rule the planet. Spidey learns the hard way that he is no match for the collection of criminals.
128 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1994
2 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
Erik Larsen
961 books75 followersAs a child growing up in Bellingham, Washington and Albion, California, Erik Larsen created seveal comic books featuring versions of a character named 'Dragon.' He eventually published a fanzine, which led to his doing professional work on a comic book called Megaton for creator Gary Carlson. It was here that he introduced the Dragon, a super powered superhero, to the comic-reading masses.
After a multitude of mailings, showing his work, Erik became aquainted with Jim Shooter, who was, at that point, Marvel's Editor-in-Chief. Erik eventually met Jim at a convention in Chicago and Jim was impressed enough with Erik's work that he consented to co-plot a story with him on the spot. That story was a battle between Marvel Comics characters Hulk & Thor. Although it wasn't actually published until years later, it did impress a variety of Editors enough to get Larsen some more high-profile work in the funnybook field.
Erik jumped around various books in this part of his career. He did an Amazing Spider-Man fill-in story at Marvel, a few issues of DNAgents for Eclipse, and he eventually took over the art chores on DC's Doom Patrol. Soon afterwards, he left DC and moved on to the Punisher for Marvel. Five issues of that book was about as much pain as that poor Minnesota boy could stand. Erik wanted to write and when a Nova serial was given the thumbs up to run in Marvel Comics Presents with Erik as the writer/artist, he gladly left the Punisher. But it was not to be! The powers that be had other plans for Nova and Erik's yarn didn't fit in with the impending New Warriors series. Editor Terry Kavanaugh gave Larsen an Excalibur serial to draw for Marvel Comics Presents while the poor bastard waited for his big break.
When ever-popular artist Todd McFarlane left his artistic duties on Amazing Spider-Man, Larsen was chosen to be his successor. That run was astoundingly well-recieved, and included popular stories like 'The Return of the Sinister Six', 'The Cosmic Spider-Man', and 'The Powerless Spider-Man'. Although he was comfortable with his position as Amazing Spider-Man penciller, he was frustrated drawing other people's stories. Larsen found that his ravenous desire to write had only gotten stronger. He left Amazing Spider-Man, quite pooped.
By this time, the New Warriors was going full tilt and Erik tossed together a proposal for a Nova ongoing series. While he waited for it to get the nod, Todd McFarlane left the new Spider-Man title that he had launched. Erik was called upon once again picked up the torch - and he ran with it. Larsen created a memorable albeit brief run on that title, despite a traumatic event in his personal life - his house burned to the ground, destroying all of his childhood drawings and comic books.
After this period, creator Rob Liefeld invited Larsen to help found a new comic book imprint called 'Image' at Malibu comics, alongside notorious creators Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino. Erik's flagship comic book at Image (which soon left Malibu and became the third lagest comic book publisher in the United States) was an updated version of his childhood creation -- 'The Savage Dragon.' Larsen has been succeeding with his ideas ever since, through his creations Freak Force, Star, SuperPatriot and the Deadly Duo as well as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which he helped revitalize and bring to Image.
As of 2004, Erik Larsen became the Publisher of Image Comics and shows no sign of slowing down.
After a multitude of mailings, showing his work, Erik became aquainted with Jim Shooter, who was, at that point, Marvel's Editor-in-Chief. Erik eventually met Jim at a convention in Chicago and Jim was impressed enough with Erik's work that he consented to co-plot a story with him on the spot. That story was a battle between Marvel Comics characters Hulk & Thor. Although it wasn't actually published until years later, it did impress a variety of Editors enough to get Larsen some more high-profile work in the funnybook field.
Erik jumped around various books in this part of his career. He did an Amazing Spider-Man fill-in story at Marvel, a few issues of DNAgents for Eclipse, and he eventually took over the art chores on DC's Doom Patrol. Soon afterwards, he left DC and moved on to the Punisher for Marvel. Five issues of that book was about as much pain as that poor Minnesota boy could stand. Erik wanted to write and when a Nova serial was given the thumbs up to run in Marvel Comics Presents with Erik as the writer/artist, he gladly left the Punisher. But it was not to be! The powers that be had other plans for Nova and Erik's yarn didn't fit in with the impending New Warriors series. Editor Terry Kavanaugh gave Larsen an Excalibur serial to draw for Marvel Comics Presents while the poor bastard waited for his big break.
When ever-popular artist Todd McFarlane left his artistic duties on Amazing Spider-Man, Larsen was chosen to be his successor. That run was astoundingly well-recieved, and included popular stories like 'The Return of the Sinister Six', 'The Cosmic Spider-Man', and 'The Powerless Spider-Man'. Although he was comfortable with his position as Amazing Spider-Man penciller, he was frustrated drawing other people's stories. Larsen found that his ravenous desire to write had only gotten stronger. He left Amazing Spider-Man, quite pooped.
By this time, the New Warriors was going full tilt and Erik tossed together a proposal for a Nova ongoing series. While he waited for it to get the nod, Todd McFarlane left the new Spider-Man title that he had launched. Erik was called upon once again picked up the torch - and he ran with it. Larsen created a memorable albeit brief run on that title, despite a traumatic event in his personal life - his house burned to the ground, destroying all of his childhood drawings and comic books.
After this period, creator Rob Liefeld invited Larsen to help found a new comic book imprint called 'Image' at Malibu comics, alongside notorious creators Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino. Erik's flagship comic book at Image (which soon left Malibu and became the third lagest comic book publisher in the United States) was an updated version of his childhood creation -- 'The Savage Dragon.' Larsen has been succeeding with his ideas ever since, through his creations Freak Force, Star, SuperPatriot and the Deadly Duo as well as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which he helped revitalize and bring to Image.
As of 2004, Erik Larsen became the Publisher of Image Comics and shows no sign of slowing down.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
February 23, 2024
A pretty piss poor "event" if you call it that. Basically Erik can draw but his writing...not so much. This revenge tale is pretty bad and Doc Ock is so fucking overpowered and dumb here. Yeah, this was a bad 90's story to a tee.
February 25, 2020
Tohle bylo tak devadesátkově debilní až to vlastně bylo zábavný😃
Obří svaly, roboti, kyborgové, obří prsa, zadky a milion zmíňek o Arnoldu Schwarzeneggerovi je vlastně celkem fajn komiksovej akční koktejl. Bohužel finále mě tak hrozně moc nudilo a hrálo moc na "hrdinská pomoc za pět minut dvanáct", že házím hvězdu dolů.
Obří svaly, roboti, kyborgové, obří prsa, zadky a milion zmíňek o Arnoldu Schwarzeneggerovi je vlastně celkem fajn komiksovej akční koktejl. Bohužel finále mě tak hrozně moc nudilo a hrálo moc na "hrdinská pomoc za pět minut dvanáct", že házím hvězdu dolů.
June 24, 2025
tres 90
July 15, 2022
An odd series of events that barely coheres as a 'story'. The creative team behind this type of series typically got a sliver (about 4%) of the company's book sales for these registered characters - Ghost Rider, Hulk, Spiderman, Electro, Dr Octopus etc, etc, the Fantastic Four make an appearance, and other "post-Liefeld" style horrible militants appear in loud pro-wrestling colors toting machine guns and "laser canons from another dimension". Some robots appear also, but the action sequences are so convoluted, with acres of splintering timber, metal shards, and splash pages obscured by capital-lettered FROOM SKOOOOOOSSH and SKAKAKAKAKAAAAAF lettering that much of what is happening is impossible to parse. Worse still, Spiderman is almost always pictured floating in mid-air, even while leaving a hospital at one point, he seemingly floats along the cityscape in a convenient evasion of that nasty illustrative challenge called "perspective".
The STORY is just a frame for the (not genuinely great) artwork. What happens is: (no SPOILERS!) Sandman, vengeful after Dr Octopus (perhaps) has bombed his surrogate family's home goes to start a fight with him. BUT, Octopus has new Adamantium Arms™ and plans to put the Sinister Six together to take over the world. Spiderman punches people. Human Torch punches people. Hulk punches people. Ghost Rider punches people. People get punched. Because the violence is for a general audience, deadly laser blasts, machine gun fire and explosives seem to simply "tire" characters or they get "nearly killed" but then wake up or walk away looking at their feet. Whatever the case - the story is nearly plotless, save for a brief sequence where Spiderman has a hairline fracture fixed by a shadowy science company - this could have been developed into a plotline, but the notion is then dropped, soap opera style, to be possibly recycled for some crossover element at a later date. (no author pulls this kind of cheap in-action cross marketing, but Marvel excels at it, because they deploy marketed character images, not functional plots.)
As an armchair critic, I must point out the delirious levels of sexism this all-male comic book team offer in R.O.T.S.S. Spiderman's partner Mary-Jane must first ponder the reality of dying giving birth to Spiderman's 'mutant offspring', then decides against it in favor of standing around in skimpy lingerie and makeup, offering support to Spiderman. Because she's so underwritten as a character (even by Marvel standards) she then re-appears in brief interludes over some sixty pages discussing her "threat" to Spiderman that she is going to do a nude sex scene in a film with Arnold Schwarzenegger. She ridicules Spidey as being a "square" for not supporting her, and he glares at her like a Muslim cleric in the darkest corners of provincial Saudi Arabia. Eventually she just makes Spiderman a giant cake and surprises him with a birthday party, following the "good girl" trope of being a suburban housewife in extremely tight clothes with makeup and pin-up girl oversize breasts.
Eric Larson is best known to the public as the-guy-who-isn't-Todd-McFarlane (by quite some ways; the shading on Spiderman's legs are frustratingly bad looking, finished lines and forms aren't really solid enough, and worst of all, he can't correctly draw the characters rear leg behind his body in one of the all-too-familiar poses that feature in Spiderman comic book art, a character that, as mentioned above, is drawn floating in mid-air in roughly 50% of the book's panels). At any rate, the story gets a few points for at least three or four great (though not large) illustration panels in the series, also for putting a lot of characters in one plot line, which is mostly just a crossover point for sales value. The book features, mostly, stock plot devices, very convoluted, confusing and meaningless action sequences, and typically a lot of death and destruction that's completely neutered for young adult readers, although that said the book doesn't offer themes, characterization, rich dialogue or social conscience of any sort either.
The STORY is just a frame for the (not genuinely great) artwork. What happens is: (no SPOILERS!) Sandman, vengeful after Dr Octopus (perhaps) has bombed his surrogate family's home goes to start a fight with him. BUT, Octopus has new Adamantium Arms™ and plans to put the Sinister Six together to take over the world. Spiderman punches people. Human Torch punches people. Hulk punches people. Ghost Rider punches people. People get punched. Because the violence is for a general audience, deadly laser blasts, machine gun fire and explosives seem to simply "tire" characters or they get "nearly killed" but then wake up or walk away looking at their feet. Whatever the case - the story is nearly plotless, save for a brief sequence where Spiderman has a hairline fracture fixed by a shadowy science company - this could have been developed into a plotline, but the notion is then dropped, soap opera style, to be possibly recycled for some crossover element at a later date. (no author pulls this kind of cheap in-action cross marketing, but Marvel excels at it, because they deploy marketed character images, not functional plots.)
As an armchair critic, I must point out the delirious levels of sexism this all-male comic book team offer in R.O.T.S.S. Spiderman's partner Mary-Jane must first ponder the reality of dying giving birth to Spiderman's 'mutant offspring', then decides against it in favor of standing around in skimpy lingerie and makeup, offering support to Spiderman. Because she's so underwritten as a character (even by Marvel standards) she then re-appears in brief interludes over some sixty pages discussing her "threat" to Spiderman that she is going to do a nude sex scene in a film with Arnold Schwarzenegger. She ridicules Spidey as being a "square" for not supporting her, and he glares at her like a Muslim cleric in the darkest corners of provincial Saudi Arabia. Eventually she just makes Spiderman a giant cake and surprises him with a birthday party, following the "good girl" trope of being a suburban housewife in extremely tight clothes with makeup and pin-up girl oversize breasts.
Eric Larson is best known to the public as the-guy-who-isn't-Todd-McFarlane (by quite some ways; the shading on Spiderman's legs are frustratingly bad looking, finished lines and forms aren't really solid enough, and worst of all, he can't correctly draw the characters rear leg behind his body in one of the all-too-familiar poses that feature in Spiderman comic book art, a character that, as mentioned above, is drawn floating in mid-air in roughly 50% of the book's panels). At any rate, the story gets a few points for at least three or four great (though not large) illustration panels in the series, also for putting a lot of characters in one plot line, which is mostly just a crossover point for sales value. The book features, mostly, stock plot devices, very convoluted, confusing and meaningless action sequences, and typically a lot of death and destruction that's completely neutered for young adult readers, although that said the book doesn't offer themes, characterization, rich dialogue or social conscience of any sort either.
April 18, 2022
Erik tries so hard to make things speedy and exciting, but fail when everybody talks and talks and talks. All the speedy and fast grinds to halt.
Messy art, too long story and a wee possibility to see Mary-Jane in nude. So many fails.
Messy art, too long story and a wee possibility to see Mary-Jane in nude. So many fails.
April 18, 2017
third or fourth time I read it. It's my favorite spiderman book.
September 12, 2022
Precisely what I want from a 90s Spider-Man book.
Eric Larsen isn't as famous as McFarlane or as notorious as Liefeld. But I'd argue he's the better creator. He has the over-the-top zany 90s gun-wielding buff superheroes but it's still rooted in good story telling. His artwork is a bit nuts with constant contortion and movement, but it stays close enough to good proportions.
Doc Ock has new adamantium arms and wants the Sinister Six to... take over the world!!! With the Avengers and Fantastic Four out of town, it's up to Spider-Man with some help from the Hulk, Ghost Rider (and a couple other heroes I've never heard of) to save the day. The climax in the final issue is complete chaos.
There's also a fun b-plot with Mary Jane trying out for an Arnold Schwarzenegger film... but she has to get nude for the part which Peter Parker disapproves of.
Eric Larsen isn't as famous as McFarlane or as notorious as Liefeld. But I'd argue he's the better creator. He has the over-the-top zany 90s gun-wielding buff superheroes but it's still rooted in good story telling. His artwork is a bit nuts with constant contortion and movement, but it stays close enough to good proportions.
Doc Ock has new adamantium arms and wants the Sinister Six to... take over the world!!! With the Avengers and Fantastic Four out of town, it's up to Spider-Man with some help from the Hulk, Ghost Rider (and a couple other heroes I've never heard of) to save the day. The climax in the final issue is complete chaos.
There's also a fun b-plot with Mary Jane trying out for an Arnold Schwarzenegger film... but she has to get nude for the part which Peter Parker disapproves of.
March 29, 2021
While it doesn’t get talked about as much as other classic Spider-Man stories, like Kraven’s Last Hunt, Death of the Stacies, Birth of Venom, and Maximum Carnage, this is my all time favorite Spider-Man story. It’s got so many elements that make it feel right to me. Spider-Man and other superheroes teaming up to fight the Sinister Six. This arc also showcases why Doctor Octopus is a serious threat in the Marvel Universe not to be taken lightly, as he soundly defeats and slaps the Hulk around once he gets his adamantium (the same material that comprises Wolverine’s claws) tentacles back. Not a traditional Spidey story, but a fun one. Give it a read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 31, 2021
Lots of fun. Lots of guest stars, too. Larsen seems to take to his writing chores a little more quickly than McFarlane: he's pretty good right out of the gate. I think Larsen's art is getting better, too, as it seems slightly better here than it was in Amazing Spider-Man, though it was getting better there, too. All around a good, if not ground breaking, story.
July 2, 2017
Trash.
July 30, 2017
Tohle je tak strašně devadesátkově špatné, až je to skvělé
January 30, 2020
The most 90s miniseries imaginable. Erik Larsen got a lot better with his original work later.
December 8, 2021
Shameless fun.
October 4, 2022
Complete nonsense, wonderful!
February 12, 2024
2,5* | Idk, I didn't feel it. It was all very rushed.
October 30, 2016
One of my all time favorites, I read this set of issues over and over again. Yeah, I'm silly that way.
I was going through yet another comic box and cataloging when I ran into this set of issues from the days when the Pirates didn't suck, some guy named Cowher wasn't even a Steeler yet, and oh yeah, Marvel still wrote escapist fun comics.
(Yeah, I'm bitter. The more I think on it, the angrier I get, not matter how good the stories are nowadays. They just aren't good stories for the Marvel that lasted forty years, and unlike the Onslaught thing, can't be easily retconned.)
This is a silly slugfest from start to finish, full of Larsen splash pages, lots of sound effects, and Peter doing patter all over the place, increasing the worse things get. Doc Ock wants to get serious after finding his adamantium arms from way back in an old Daredevil comic, so he teams up with those lovable losers from the Sinister Six, beat the crap out of Spidey and the Hulk, and we're off to the races.
We get cameos or appearances faster than a Robert Kirkman Marvel Team-Up arc, ranging from Ghost Rider, the Hulk, Dum Dum Dugan, Nova, a really stupid Punisher clone named Solo, and even the Fantastic Four, among others, as Peter tries to take on his old foes and keeps getting beat up in the process.
It's rather odd seeing Larsen write about the villains upgrading to killing, since now that's par for the course, But instead of dwelling on it, we accept it and move on because that's what you do when you're reading visual science fiction. (Sorry, there I go again.) We know Spidey will save the day, and that's enough for me.
Again, this is just a silly slugfest with fun art and great dialog, which to me makes for a perfect Spider-Man arc, though usually I like a bit more angst for Peter. Lost in the shuffle that was 90s Spidey, I think this is a jewel that fans of fun comics will like a bunch. The scenes with Peter and Banner jockeying back and forth for best lines in a slugfest is particularly enjoyable. I've re-read this countless times since I first got the issues, and each time, I enjoy it that much more. (Personal Collection, 10/07)
I was going through yet another comic box and cataloging when I ran into this set of issues from the days when the Pirates didn't suck, some guy named Cowher wasn't even a Steeler yet, and oh yeah, Marvel still wrote escapist fun comics.
(Yeah, I'm bitter. The more I think on it, the angrier I get, not matter how good the stories are nowadays. They just aren't good stories for the Marvel that lasted forty years, and unlike the Onslaught thing, can't be easily retconned.)
This is a silly slugfest from start to finish, full of Larsen splash pages, lots of sound effects, and Peter doing patter all over the place, increasing the worse things get. Doc Ock wants to get serious after finding his adamantium arms from way back in an old Daredevil comic, so he teams up with those lovable losers from the Sinister Six, beat the crap out of Spidey and the Hulk, and we're off to the races.
We get cameos or appearances faster than a Robert Kirkman Marvel Team-Up arc, ranging from Ghost Rider, the Hulk, Dum Dum Dugan, Nova, a really stupid Punisher clone named Solo, and even the Fantastic Four, among others, as Peter tries to take on his old foes and keeps getting beat up in the process.
It's rather odd seeing Larsen write about the villains upgrading to killing, since now that's par for the course, But instead of dwelling on it, we accept it and move on because that's what you do when you're reading visual science fiction. (Sorry, there I go again.) We know Spidey will save the day, and that's enough for me.
Again, this is just a silly slugfest with fun art and great dialog, which to me makes for a perfect Spider-Man arc, though usually I like a bit more angst for Peter. Lost in the shuffle that was 90s Spidey, I think this is a jewel that fans of fun comics will like a bunch. The scenes with Peter and Banner jockeying back and forth for best lines in a slugfest is particularly enjoyable. I've re-read this countless times since I first got the issues, and each time, I enjoy it that much more. (Personal Collection, 10/07)
January 17, 2008
Again, nothing fancy here--just Spidey and lots of his friends (and foes) with JUST enough of a story to justify all the quips and punching and general chaos.
As a quick aside, these sort of stories work great (for me, at least) in comics. BUT like so many others, it tends to drive me nuts in a comic-book adapted into a movie. Spider-Man 3 and Batman & Robin springing rather readily to mind...
As a quick aside, these sort of stories work great (for me, at least) in comics. BUT like so many others, it tends to drive me nuts in a comic-book adapted into a movie. Spider-Man 3 and Batman & Robin springing rather readily to mind...
April 26, 2015
Interesante mezcla de personajes, aunque el dibujo no es de mis favoritos y la historia no es que se diga "apasionante".
Lo peor es el machismo que destila siempre la relación con M.J.
Lo peor es el machismo que destila siempre la relación con M.J.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews