Friday, August 22, 2014

Blue Ribbon Digest -- Spider-Man in the Bronze Age

Doug: Back again with another opportunity for readers to put together their very own Blue Ribbon Digest featuring a Bronze Age mag. Previously we've had a bit of fun with the Avengers, the X-Men, and Captain America. This time around, though, I'm going to open it up a bit and feature a character that appeared in multiple magazines during the Bronze Age. Yep, Spidey could be found in multiple slots on the ol' spinner rack some 35-40 years ago. So today it's all fair game: Amazing Spider-Man, Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man, Marvel Team-Up... shoot, if you so desire, you can choose an issue of Spidey Super Stories!

Doug: This is quite challenging, as it forces us almost to consider specific eras that center around storylines or creators we loved. In the past, the only real run I voted for was the Magneto/Savage Land epic for the All-New, All-Different X-Men. But for the most part, we've jumped around and chosen our issues from across the ages (and included Annuals, too!). The Spider-Man juggernaut that was rolling in the 70s and 80s certainly gives us a whole lot of fodder, doesn't it?

Doug: So I'm going to cop out here at the beginning, and largely defer to our readers. However, I'll picture a favorite story that introduced (to the mainstream, at least) a favorite character. And isn't this a great cover? Have fun today!



12 comments:

Edo Bosnar said...

Wow, there's so much material here it's really hard to choose.
I'll just go with an easy one: an all team-up digest, but one that only includes team-ups that did NOT occur in Marvel Team-up.
So here it is:
Amazing Spider-man #s 161-162 (Nightcrawler)
Amazing Spider-man # 187 (Capt. America)
Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-man #42 and Fantastic Four #218 (vs. the Frightful Four)
Amazing Spider-man Annual #14 (Dr. Strange)

Doug said...

I like that theme, Edo!

Also, the 2-parter in PPTSSM with Iceman and Angel, and the cross-over with Nova in ASM #171 and Nova #12 (I think I have those numbers correct, off the top of my head). I enjoyed both of those stories way back when!

Doug

Anonymous said...

Dang, I think Edo hit the first pitch out the of park. I hoped you called your shot, Bro, that would've been so cool.

And I also think with the wealth of material, you could have Spidey Digest that just pull from specific books.

Anyhoo, that's not why I called. Here's my Amazing Spider-Man Digest. Amazing Spider-Man 89-90, The Death Of Captain Stacy, Amazing Spider-Man 121-122, the Death Of Gwen Stacy and finally, Amazing Spider-Man 149-150, the Death of The Spider Clone. Or was it!?! Dunt dunt done!!!!

Or at least the death of good Spider stories. As some say.

The Prowler (was just shoe horned into the Silver Age).

PS: WTF is camiocam anyways?

William said...

There are so many reprints of Amazing Spider-Man stuff from that era, that I think I'll focus on Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man.

So, here are the 8 issues of Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man that I would include in my digest.

#1-3 -- Which features a 3 part story with Spidey battling The Tarantula, Kraven The Hunter, and Light Master. I remember buying all these when they first came out.

#4-5 -- This two-parter has Spider-Man going up against The Vulture and The Hitman. It's cool little good old fashioned hero vs. villains romp.

#9-10 -- Spider-Man vs. The White Tiger, nuff said. Sorry Doug, not to copy your idea, but this is one of my all-time favorite stories. These comics made me love the character White Tiger (Hector Ayala), and he remains a favorite to this day. (BTW, thanks for killing him off Bendis).

And last but most definitely not least I'd include #58 -- As the cover clearly states: "Here's the web-swinger you demanded! Fighting! Joking! Defying death in a savage rooftop battle!" How could anyone resist? And it's written by Roger Stern and drawn by John Byrne. Definitely the bast single issue every of PPTSSM.

These are the kind things I'd like to see Marvel reprint in color. Not the most well-known or popular Spider-Man stories, but some real good (and fun) stuff that has been all but forgotten over time.

Doug said...

William, that's funny that you bring up the first three issues of PPTSSM. I was in on that title from the beginning and had every issue up to around #30, which is when I quit buying comics.

But specifically to your comment, a couple of days ago when I was organizing some comics for sale, I found the first three issues of the series -- but mini-comics! I'd sent away for them in a promotion from Hi-C fruit drink. There were actually four in the promotion, but I can't find the fourth one. They're not in great shape, but maybe some eBayer will want them!

Doug

Edo Bosnar said...

Doug, those are some good suggestions as well.
I was also considering ASM #123 (in which Spidey tussles with Luke Cage), but whenever I put these together, I always try to ensure that the page count roughly corresponds to the DC digests (about a hundred or so).
By the way, PPTSSM #s 27-28 (featuring Daredevil, with art by Frank Miller) also came to mind, but those came smack dab in the middle of that Carrion story, and I don't like to include "loose-end" issues.

And William, I also loved that 2-parter that introduced White Tiger. And I loved #58 too - that was the start of a really enjoyable 3-part story.

Dr. Oyola said...

How about a collection focusing on J. Jonah Jameson and the Daily Bugle?

I LOVE PPTSSM #80 which is a JJJ focused issue called "I Cover the Waterfront" - which shows him returning to his reporter roots to cover a story, not realizing until the end that Spider-man is looking over him and makes sure he doesn't get hurt the whole time.

It could also have ASM annual #18 "Scorpion Takes a Bride"

I am sure there are a lot more, but don't have time to seek them all out.

Another possibility is a digest of issues that focus on Peter Parker, not Spider-Man.

Like Web of Spider-Man #11 & #12 which deals with him stopping a crime as Peter Parker and the fall-out.

Anonymous said...

Another good theme might be Spidey taking on villains that he normally didn't fight...so maybe:

Amazing #221(vs. Ramrod), #223(vs. Red Ghost), #229-230(vs. Juggernaut)
Spectacular #46(vs. Cobra), #55(vs. Nitro), #88(vs. Mr. Hyde), #91(vs. Blob)

Mike W.

Edo Bosnar said...

Osvaldo, I really like the idea of a focus on JJJ and the Bugle. I think ASM Annual #15 would be perfect for that one, as it's interspersed with panels featuring the front page of the Bugle and little editorial meetings between JJJ, Robbie and various reporters.

Along the lines of William's comment about things that would be really nice to see reprinted in color, here's two more themed digests:
a) with a focus on White Tiger - PPTSSM #9-10, 19-20, 49-51 (only the White Tiger back-up stories) and 52 (in which WT almost dies and then decides to retire from super-heroing).
b) team-ups with Black Widow in Marvel Team-up #s 57, 82-85, and 98 - mainly just because I love that 4-part story in the middle.

William said...

Edo, great minds must think alike. LOL.

I wrote up this idea, and when I went to post it I saw your last entry there. Too funny.

Oh well here it is anyway.

How about a Marvel Team-Up martial arts themed Spider-Man digest.

Mine would include the following 7 issues.

MTU #39-40, featuring Spider-Man, The Human Torch, and The Sons of the Tiger versus The Enforcers, Sandman, The Big Man, and The Crime Master.

MTU #57, with Spider-Man and Black Widow vs. The Silver Samurai.

and finally MTU #82-85 staring Spider-Man, Black Widow, Nick Fury, and Shang-Chi vs. Silver Samurai, Viper, and Boomerang.

Some really great stuff that has never been included (to my knowledge) in any full color TPB collection. I especially love he four part story from 82-85. That one made a really big impact on me as a kid.

Edo Bosnar said...

William, it's especially nice to know that there's someone else out there who likes MTU #s 82-85 as much as I do. Even though I keep my purchases of single issues to a minimum, I did track down and buy those, just because it looks like we'll never see them reprinted anywhere (although, here's a suggestion for Marvel: a Spider-man & Black Widow tpb or HC that reprints their many encounters and team-ups, i.e., all of the issues mentioned above, plus ASM #86 and maybe also MTU #s 140-141; I'm sure there's a few more I'm forgetting).

William said...

Hey Edo, I'd buy that book.

And oh yeah, I love me some MTU #82-85. For it's time it was truly epic, as 4 issue story arcs were pretty rare back then. It was like a superhero, James Bond, martial arts action movie extravaganza.

Back in the early 90s I sold off a big chunk of my comic collection. And, as the years went by, I found that I missed having a few of the comics I had let go. So a couple of years ago I went hunting and tracked down some back issues that I really wanted to read again (a lot of MTU and M2in1, and some other random stuff). Luckily most of them were not all that expensive to reacquire.

And now I have a very select collection (just a couple of long boxes) of only comics that I really really love, and MTU #82-85 is among that elite collection.

In fact I may go dig it out and read it again this weekend.

Related Posts with Thumbnails