Peter Parker finds a voice in Roger Stern (1980-81)

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man, seemed in 1976 to fill distinct market and story-telling needs. There was enough demand for Marvel’s mascot hero and enough room in his well-developed life for a second title devoted to telling it. Already, he headlined most months in Marvel Team-Up, a commercial vehicle widely used to pare him with lesser known and new characters, but these adventures were first and foremost action stories that rarely played upon developments in his life as student/photographer Peter Parker. Marvel Tales kept a steady supply of his five year-old adventures, already paid for, in print and selling better than a lot of new material of other characters- not to be confused with his adventures for five year-olds, the easy-readin’ Spidey Super-Stories.

PPSSM filled another need for a while, too: a Spider-Man title for then-editor-in-chief Gerry Conway, without evicting Amazing Spider-Man scribe Len Wein. His campus-oriented stories carried over the supporting cast’s lives and attempted to cross-over with events in ASM, but despite modest successes like Frank Miller’s guest stint featuring Daredevil and the mainstreaming of Marvel’s first Hispanic superhero, the White Tiger, three years in, two problems faced one title: a lack of continuity for its characters to go with its lack of a distinct cast, and lack of a strong recurrent art team. It was capably told, but in a very workman-like fashion that lacked spark and inspiration. Some might argue 1980 was not an overall high point for the wall-crawler’s adventures in Marvel Comics, but without a strong direction, PPSSM seemed increasingly superfluous.

Enter new freelancer Roger Stern.

His new full-time writing career, after both editing by day and writing Incredible Hulk and Dr. Strange by night, soon included a reputable nine-issue run on Captain America, another title languishing in creative doldrums. The chance to write Spider-Man, however, daunted Stern at first; he was wary of the high-profile and the magic of the character. As told in his interviews years later, the saving grace mentally was his ability to look at the Peter Parker title as “not really Spider-Man,” free of the responsibility of getting the flagship Amazing Spider-Man title right. Here, he developed his affinity, not only for the voice and decision-making characteristic of Spider-Man, but also for the milieu, the challenges and supporting cast stories that work best for Webhead.

He also mastered the question, “what makes a compelling Spider-Man opponent?”

To this end, from his very first issue, #43, Roger tried his own creations. It’s arguable, especially when the writer does not have primary control over the main character, that the choice of foe holds the greatest creative freedom. A noir, pulpish villain did not yet exist in Spidey’s rogues gallery, and an entrepreneur as that villain’s foil expanded the opportunity to tell a crime story about something besides simply mobsters. For that matter, female opponents: Marvel was just trying its hand again at seriously revamping its heroines, so the day was right to introduce more female costumed characters. Why not combine those elements in the mysterious Belladonna? He went a step further in giving her a unique motivation: aside from her criminal activities, Spider-Man’s appearance and m.o. seemed creepy to her. She hated him because he scared her. This added back another long-lost element to Spider-Man: he’d become the focus of so many toys, cartoons, even a TV show. His wit and his identifiable alter ego had made him a kind of daylight character beloved by children. But from the start, Spider-Man as rendered by Ditko had a shadowy, enigmatic quality- a young nerd who became a faceless creature of the night! His disconcerting inhuman “face” and spidery movements had a terrifying quality, underscored by the fears of this one villain. Her power set relied on gadgets, like many early low-powered rogues- such as The Crime-Master in ASM #26 & 27.

Roderick Kingsley, meanwhile, provided an opening for plots into the world of high fashion as well as finance- good stuff for artists to enjoy, and an opportunity for crime and above-average resources for plotters. But best yet, Kingsley not only carried a subtly-delivered secret- that his brother played his double when it suited their advantages-but from the start of Stern’s co-creation of the Hobgoblin over in Amazing a couple of years later, Roderick Kingsley was Stern’s secret pick to be the arch-villain’s alter ego!

That’s a really strong opening gambit. Only the coming months would allow Stern to develop an identity for the supporting cast, which soon featured more of Aunt May (knock off the innuendo, it’s Spidey’s aunt, man) (not his Ant-Man, yo)- and a long-neglected chance for her to move on from lonely widower and worry wart to a fuller human being with a love interest! Rog attempted to develop Peter’s Teaching Assistant graduate student colleagues - but temporary cast members always marked Peter’s ongoing phases of development. Contrasting takes on Captains Bird and Keating spice up police partnership. White Tiger wraps up his supporting hero career, in a rare, realistic retirement for a street level hero.

The Smuggler was actually a returned early Avengers foe Power Man, a.k.a Eric Josten, who would recur with other picks in Stern’s small army The Masters of Evil in his epic Avengers storyline years later. A built-in development put Josten in Spidey’s weight class, if his portrayal as small-time mastermind is not precedented or followed-up. He gets a return story where he’s a victim caught in the middle, which is an inventive use of a known villain- a plot twist to which Stern will return with The Cobra in Amazing. In fact, Stern sets up Cobra’s troubles in #46 by having him break up his partnership with Mr. Hyde- which seemed like a practical idea at the time, sure. Cobra’s the first of several interesting match-ups with villains created for other Marvel heroes (Thor)- like Power Man (Avengers), Nitro (Captain Marvel) and exemplified in Amazing by the Mad Thinker (Fantastic Four) and, best of all, the X-Men’s foe The Juggernaut!

The theme of returning in Amazing to his set-ups in Peter Parker would give that title a strong sense of development: now even the villains had continuing stories and arcs! An example is Killer Shrike’s struggle with Will O’The Wisp, who appears next in the Brand storyline following Cobra/Hyde.
Using existing Spider-Man enemies always pleases a certain long-time contingent of fandom- so long as it’s done well, all the better! He revamps The Beetle- yet again, with a weaker villain, the Ringer, and then Martin Blank, the Gibbon, caught in the middle as pawns- in a trilogy with which he essentially ends his Peter Parker run. He calls back to the earliest Spidey stories in a big way, as he revisits the solitary visit with “aliens” in #2/ Peter Parker #50, tying Mysterio in, very satisfyingly. But he’s best known for his work on his favorite classic Spidey villain, The Vulture, bringing him onboard for four different stories! I hope to talk to him about The Vulture’s big turn as the villain in Spider-Man: Homecoming. If I reach him at fan-run message board IMWAN as I did before, to discuss Machine Man, I may even let you laugh at why I vainly waited for his reply these past few weeks. Peter Parker #48

Speaking of Machine Man, that ill-fated title did spawn its share of new villains, but the one with any real staying power came along at its end, the Ditko-designed Jack O’Lantern. The cover where he faces Spider-Man stayed with me as a child: I didn’t get to read or own it then, but wow, what a visual1 I wanted to go home and play that out! Both characters looked pretty spooky, and not since ASM #188 had anyone done such a cool interpretation of Spider-Man’s effect when fought in the darkness. Plus, it turns out Jack has the kind of lower-powered, armament-based m.o. that marks many classic Spidey villains, in addition to a ghoulish appearance so suited to the art of even later Steve Ditko.

Interestingly, that character would become tied to Stern’s Hobgoblin in unforeseen ways: as his successor in that guise! So his appearance in PP #56 is one of many keys to the as-yet-unwrit future. That issue was also drawn by editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, in a great rush: that’s a sign of how strapped for regular artists the title remained, after Marie Severin, all through Stern’s run.

Oh, but what could’ve been…

I got my hands on the fifty cents I needed to stop by the Fina gas station around the corner from my house and purchase, for the first time, my very own comic book for myself. It’s Peter Parker #58: the one issue of the title drawn by John Byrne! My expectations were raised beyond measure. Stern made the issue very funny, even if the bits about the teaching assistants punishing one of their own for yanking a head-covering off TA Marcy Kane confused me at the time. I loved the menace of the mystery villain who kidnaps and threatens the Ringer, who himself had really neat gadgets.
Good Daredevil or Moon Knight opponent, potentially, even after this...and he even came with a pre-existing philosophical outlook that might’ve spun another good encounter. But against Spidey? Ouch. His ongoing struggles with dental care add another down-to-earth touch. I mean, how many times can these guys hit each other’s faces without needing new teeth- or at least some caps or veneers. At least his gadgets offer him a momentary advantage! “No! Come back!” is probably some kind of villain first. What a bizarre fight!
Spider-Man finally remembers not to stand up poor Debbie Whitman for a change, leaves their battle after laughing at The Ringer, then comes back to pick it up. There’s a moment when The Ringer’s terrified that he’s going to die for failing to beat Spider-Man, but the explosive belt clamped around his waist has just enough charge to total it after serving its purpose: to transmit data to the newly-re-armored Beetle! Byrne wished to draw for Stern again after their Cap stint, and what a solution that would’ve been, John Byrne as regular penciler on the title that Roger Stern finally mastered. Byrne didn’t find an inker for his new run as writer/author of Fantastic Four, however, so he didn’t have time...until Rog was on ASM, which had an artist.

My last word on that lucky one-off collaboration again involves the villains: the one you see, and the one you really don’t. The barely-alarming encounter with ex-army college freshman Greg Salinger’s a precursor to trouble ahead- once more, paid off in Amazing. He seems like a nice, ordinary fellow, a likely new friend for Pete. Then he gets followed by men in suits...and not without reason.
In fact, the follow-up’s one of the very first stories Stern writes when he joins that title and soon gets the regular assignment. Greg’s ties to the past also tie into my personal future. His alter ego is The Fool Killer: this identity is the second incarnation, first written by Stern while filling in for the original Fool Killer’s creator, Steve Gerber, on a byzantine title I’d come to cherish for its way-out execution and unfulfilled potential: Omega The Unknown. (That’s also where Stern first wrote Nitro, who acquires a symapthetic daughter and the former lawyer for the now-defunct Champions- like Brand Corporation, more of Roger’s able use of existing Marvel characters.) That very early fill-in assignment’s only the second writing credit I know of for Stern at Marvel, who’d written some issues of Guardians Of The Galaxy in Marvel Premiere- following Steve Gerber. Steve’s become such a huge influence and delight to me. I came to know his rather-mature, nuanced work well into my adulthood. He broke ground writing Man-Thing and Defenders, basically setting the mode for how those characters and titles would be written for years to come. The regular writer who followed Gerber on Defenders? The creator of The Ringer: Dave Kraft, who would become one of my favorite people, a genuine, unique friend (to Steve Gerber, too). Ringer’s anti-capitalist take had been refreshing when he faced Nighthawk, but his power set marked him the hapless fall guy, in a rare outright “all’s well” ending for Spider-Man.

Kraft wrote this Peter Parker Annual of the era.
Endings, tied to beginnings...the continuity of events and ideas adds another layer of texture to the execution of well-written comics. It’s something that only comes with time. Something’s got to click from the start, and as detailed in his interview for Marvel Masterworks, for Roger Stern, it’s his identification with nebbish Peter Parker. His Midwestern Everyman take on life suits Parker well, and as he humorously put it, his collaborator John Romita, Jr., the urbane city-culture guy, is the flashy Spider-Man to his common-problem, down-to-earth values Peter Parker. We’ll have a lot to say about that collaboration, as we go post-by-post through the story arcs of the watermark Stern-Romita issues of The Amazing Spider-Man. Can ya swing that?