Well, I'm running behind..as usual. Teaching, Labor Day, acolyte training...life never seems to stop, does it?
But, anyway, here we're up to #4. The choices are starting to get harder!! Well, today a bit of whimsy, I guess. Let's go with Web of Spiderman #70.
This issue is part two of a two-part story. The cover alone is terrific! "Spider smash!" indeed! It's also representative of the craziness that is Peter Parker's life and indicative of a more subtle and profound change in the Spidey comics.
In the 1990s, Peter's life would get very complicated. It was like the writers at Marvel decided that nothing good could happen to Peter. Oh, there were bad things prior to this time [cf. Gwen Stacy, 1st app of the Punisher (gunning for Spidey)], but mostly his life wasn't the parody that it would become in the movies. He has some good times and some bad times; things always seemed to even out in the end.
Things would get worse. Venom and Carnage wanting Pete dead, MJ "dying" and then returning only to separate from Peter, selling his marriage to the Devil...the new Spidey just couldn't catch a break. Things seem to be more on the minus side of teh balance sheet--it's all in the red. Poor Peter.
By itself, this is a great storythat links all the way back to Fantastic Four #51 with its villain. It's all just plain out FUN. Spidey pulling off the Bruce Banner signature move of getting angry and big and green. You have to read it to get it.
