Essential Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man, Vol. 1

Essential Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #1

by Gerry Conway, Archie Goodwin, Jim Shooter

Spidey faces some of his most fearsome foes - including Tarantula, Kraven, Lightmaster, Vulture, Hitman, Morbius, Brother Power, Hate Monger, Beetle and the Enforcers! Guest-starring the Fantastic Four, Inhumans and Champions!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Spider Man, Science Fiction, Superheroes, Comic Book, Marvel

568 pages, Paperback

First published February 2, 2005

About the author

Gerard Francis Conway (Gerard F. Conway) is an American writer of comic books and television shows. He is known for co-creating the Marvel Comics' vigilante the Punisher and scripting the death of the character Gwen Stacy during his long run on The Amazing Spider-Man. At DC Comics, he is known for co-creating the superhero Firestorm and others, and for writing the Justice League of America for eight years. Conway wrote the first major, modern-day intercompany crossover, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 2 out of 5]

Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man was the first ongoing secondary Marvel Comics title. This volume features the debuts of Lightmaster, Hitman, Razorback, Hypno Hustler, Latino super hero the White Tiger and more! The White Tiger led storyline is by far the best tale; this volume includes 2 issues drawn by Frank Miller! Collecting Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #1-31. 5 out of 12 overall.

2014 read

[Harriet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this collection of the first 31 issues of Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man. It works within the Amazing Spider-Man chronology and refers back to events happening in the main title a lot, but we never get caught up in any confusing crossovers; the stories are all standalone reads. I loved the art, especially Jim Mooney's wonderful pages, and there are a couple of issues by the iconic Frank Miller, which I wasn't expecting.

Not many of Spidey's main villains show up. Vulture appears, and Kingpin and Doc Ock are referenced, but mostly the collection included appearances by lesser-known foes like Lightmaster and Carrion. I really liked Razorback - I'd happily read a series all about him if he could be written and drawn just the way he is in these issues. As far as super friends, Daredevil, Moon Knight, Angel, and The Inhumans all make guest appearances and, although Moon Knight's is probably the weakest, all are enjoyable.

The Spider-Man solo stories are just great fun. Peter's life outside the costume is explored in detail, especially his social life, but somehow without reverting to the repetitive soap opera patterns that ASM sometimes indulges in. The New York setting is as flavourful as ever and I particularly loved seeing the subway scenes and Peter's wanders around the city in the winter. These settings managed to feel cosy and nostalgic for me, even though I've never been to NYC.

Overall this was nothing but fun to read. I would like to see these issues in colour but as far as I'm aware there are no colour collections available, and although a quick browse at my local comic shop tells me the single issues aren't too expensive yet, the out-of-print Essential editions are still the easiest way to catch up on the majority of the run. I have volume two ready and waiting to be read and, if the standard continues, I'll definitely be seeking out the next three.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the greatest of Spidey collections. For me this title doesn't really find its legs until book two as Pete begins grad school with Bill Mantlo at the helm. But we get Carrion,s origin in a fun 70's finale.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars might be a little high for this, but it's Spidey, so I'm willing to give it a little boost as this new title finds its feet. While most of the stories are pretty average, there is nothing outright terrible in this volume, and there are a couple of great stories. So, a 4 it is.

[Henry Arrambide · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fleshes out the flatness of Wein's Villain of the Week formula, the melodrama of Amazing feeling weightless whereas here the seeds of more modern sensibilities begin. There's a redundancy to the resolutions, bad guys just sort of suddenly overpowered or punched out, but the buildups hold more sociology, more spidey cast, more slice of life pacing. Stories run five to seven issues, grounded in more violent consequences, Frank Miller appearing here with Daredevil, Carrion a grimdark nyarlathotep to what the 80s would do to comics.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gems include Tarantula shakesdown Abe Beame, Tarantula & Kraven bicker, Spidey v. golden Human Torch, Vulture v. Boss Morgan, Vulture v. Hitman, Torch v. Morb, Morb kidnaps Glory, Sha Shan Nguyen rejects Flash, Peter v. Tigre Blanco, Tigre karates Spidey’s webbing, Spidey mistakes Medusa for Doc Ock, Spidey & Flash v. Legion of Light, Razorback gives Spidey & Flash a lift in Big Pig, Hatemonger unmasks as Man-Beast, rage of Man-Beast, Beetle says ACAB, Champions split, Spidey v. Iceman, gold Human Torch thinks Hector Ayala is Spider-Man, Tigre unmasks, Spidey wishes Ms. Marvel were here, Spidey v. Moon Knight v. Cyclone, Maggia meets in Grant’s Tomb, Spidey v. Hypno-Hustler & His Mercy Killers in the disco, Masked Marauder fires Carrion, MJ-Betty-Mamie Muggins collision, Spidey microaggresses DD, blind Peter v. Carrion in the library, Darter v. Tigre, & Carrion boils away a pool & Red Deaths Darter

[Menelina g · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never thought that I would like reading a graphic novel because, when I was younger I never understood them so, I never like them so, I never tried reading them after grade 2. I really liked it this time. now I will know what my dad and brothers are talking about... well, after I read about 100 more. these comics were written in the 1980's I wonder if they have been re-written because I would love to compare them if there are.

[Harrison Delahunty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a perfectly serviceable collection of college-age Spidey stories. There are definitely a couple stinkers in here, but overall, the art is good (with some shockingly great Frank Miller art randomly thrown in), and the stories aren't painfully bad by any stretch.

[Theo · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were actually some great stories in this spin-off series - some really good explorations of Peter's personal life and his relationships with his aunt, friends, and potential lovers. However there were also quite a few dull storylines, and the villains were not particularly exciting.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean, it was just okay. Carrion was probably the redeeming arc. 2.5/5.

[amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

hell to the yeah

[Zack! Empire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much. It was a nice mix of what I love of the old issues, and the things I’ve enjoyed about the new issues. There is a fantastic emphasizes on the story, but you can see that the artist are starting to play around a bit more with the page. In some of the early issues the art can seem a bit stiff at times, as the artist was working on tight deadlines, and within a “house style”. It seems that why they are still working well with in these two limitations, there is also an urge to break out of the box. Some of the early issues were also drawn with the idea that they would be printed in color, so you can see where artist were allowing the color to carry a page. In this collection there was a much more solid effort to have the page stand alone, as a piece of art by itself.
I enjoyed the villains in this collection as well. I have the first two Amazing Spider-Man collections, which feature the introduction of the most classic Spider-man villains and little else. Don’t get me wrong, I love all those guys, but when you’re seeing them over and over again it can be fun to break away from that a bit. Although I think some of those guys could have been major players and were taken out a bit too easy. Lightmaster could have been a serious threat. I’m surprised he isn’t a more featured villain. If you think about he has the same power as green lantern.
My biggest complaint about this collection is the lack of stories about Peter. I love how in the early Amazing issues you can almost draw a line between the issues with ten pages of Peter on one side and ten pages of Spider-man on the other. This seemed to concentrate more on just the Spider-man part of it. Though I’m unaware of what was going on in Amazing at the time, so maybe this book was made for the Spider-Man lovers and Amazing was for the Peter lovers?

[Adam Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

There were already two Spider-man titles when Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-man premiered in 1976. So what could this new series add? Quite a bit actually. This book collects the first 31 issues of the book.

Seven of the first eight issues were written by comics legend Archie Goodwin and Spider-man legend Gene Conway who contributed tales of classic Spidey villains like Kraven and the Vulture appearing for one-off adventures and then a sensational three parter involving Morbius the Vampire.

At that point, the book fell to Bill Manlo, who wrote all but two of the remaining twenty-three issues of the book. In many ways, the tales Manlo crafted were better than what was going on in the main series. It featured some epic story arcs such as Spidey teaming up with an Arkansas based superhero in a pig costume named Razorback to battle a new age cult, and Spidey teaming up with Moon Knight to battle the Maggia. The hispanic hero, The White Tiger made several appearances and became a regular guest star. Of course, there's some 1970s goofiness as Spidey battles a disco-based villain and the Carrion arc is not without its flaws, but had some great action and features Spidey losing his sight and declaring himself the worlds only blind superhero when standing a few feet from Daredevil. This book also includes Frank Miller's first art on Daredevil, a character he'd redefined a few years later.

The stories didn't always line up with what was going on in Amazing Spider-man but Manlo made an effort when he could. However, his blindness in two issues of Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-man made no impact on Spidey in his main book.

Still, these are great classic Spider-man tales and in many ways, far more similar to the character's glory days under Lee and Conway than what was going on in Amazing Spider-man at the time.

[Matt Masdeu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally I wasn't into the Essentials collections. Who wants black and white comics? But now, I'm really getting into them and it's not just because I've become a shill for the Marvel Special Projects Department!

The idea that for $16 you can get a year and a half's worth of back issues in one volume. You can't get that at that price in color. Each volume gives you a chance to catch up on continuity that you may have missed for whatever reason, in this case because I wasn't born yet.

It really enjoy seeing the way that great characters are drawn and written throughout time. I grew up with a married Spider-Man, so it's interesting to see him in college and having girl-problems, heaped on his money problems, and his time management issues. Whenever he has something important to do he goes out in costume and always gets into a situation, and misses his appointment/date/physics final.

If you're a fan of comics, especially classic comics get your hands on as many of the Marvel Essentials you can.

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reprints Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man #1-31. Peter tries to balance college and his life as Spider-Man while encountering people like the Tarantula, Morbius, the Champions, and the White Tiger. The Peter Parker series has what the last ten or fifteen years of Spider-Man have been missing. The stories are serialized but can stand alone, the characters are consistant, and the plots carry over between Spectacular Spider-Man and Amazing Spider-Man without having to read the other books. There are occassional issues that really don't work, but for the most part the series is enjoyable. The White Tiger and the revelation of his identity was a good way to allow the readers at the time to see what would happen if Peter's identity was exposed.

[Ari · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had never really read any superhero/supervillan comics, so I wanted an introduction to Spider-Man (seemed as good a place to start as any). This was a great introduction. However, some of the 'monster-of-the-week' types got just tedious. I almost quit reading when the Hate-Monger showed up because he was just boring. My favorite helpers were DareDevil, the White Tiger, and The Angel (although he's pretty lame, he was sweet which was a change). All in all, this was a good introduction and worth reading if you want to learn about Spider-Man and how he works, but at almost 600 pages, it was too much at once. I'll be taking a break before I read any more Spider-Man.

[Helmut · Rating 3 out of 5]

Der Zweite Spidey-Titel

...ist leider nicht von der Qualität der ursprünglichen "Amazing Spider-Man"-Geschichten. Neueinsteiger sollten eh bei Amazing Spider-Man beginnen, da viele Charaktere hier einfach so in die Runde geworfen werden und man davon ausgeht, sie und ihre Motivation zu kennen. Irgendwie lassen mich diese Geschichten hier aber recht kalt. Zeichnerisch ist es Marvel Standardware, erzählerisch typische Superheldencomics. Nichts herausragendes, nichts schlechtes.

Für zwischendurch ein Snack halt.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This compilation covers issues #1-31 and it was fantastic!
Tarantula, Kraven, Vulture, Morbius, Beetle and the Enforcers.
First published starting in 1976 and this is comics the way they should be done - focusing on story (although the art was great too).

Of course I will be continuing!
Highly recommended.

[Dan Debono · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this run - back in the late 70s/early 80s I collected this entire run because I knew I couldn't get most of the Amazing Spiderman run(too expensive!). Great stories! I think it fostered my love of science as well ...

[Asher · Rating 5 out of 5]

The old spider-man is a lot more goofy, but but more engaging, which I enjoy very much.

[ಆದಿತ್ಯ|Aditya · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good collection of spectacular spiderman stories. Filled my time, as required:)

[Ijlhosting]

ok

[Charlie Carden · Rating 4 out of 5]

first published in the year of my birth, it's 70s gold.

[Sean Brennan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow start but getting better with each issue.