Ordeals! Lefty Donovan cruelly leaves the once-heavily-armed crew with whom he stole chemicals to die in burning creosote-soaked timbers. I’m reminded the Hobgoblin mystery’s tension comes from his devious schemes and ability to murder people for his goals! Realistically, he’s still hurt from the first battle with Spider-Man, seems, so using other pawns would be a way to move forward anyway-but he’s also setting up Donovan to BE the Hobgoblin AND to be his test subject for the Goblin serum. Enjoying that the Hobgoblin will be Out There for me these October, 2017 nights, so this can become a time ol’ Fright Face can make memorable, as when I was only ten! His hood and mask make him like a living totem of some horrid demon, beyond the grave and madness. The Goblin takes over the minds of men with this equipment’s power and ruthless destructive power. Something makes them fashion their lives and plans around a secret existence of villainy. The avatar, this time, moves fr...

“Confrontations!” From page one, Peter’s life as “boy photographer” (over in Marvel Team-Up, where he encounters some Thinker-constructed androids) has been clashing with his threadbare academic career, so he’s rushing to confront the grade posting following his emergency test-taking after bringing Felicia Hardy to safety, in Peter Parker #76. So, with that really dramatic experience with Black Cat so recent, life’s hurling another beautiful woman at Peter Parker’s location- not even Spider-Sense will save him now! Amy Powell, after nearly a year of stories where she clearly thinks mysterious Peter Parker’s naturally playing hard to get, has gone from dictating their last call to pushing their date straight to his house, and grabs the first opportunity to introduce him to what kind of fun’s on the menu. So- what a scene to find, as MJ to unlocks Pete’s door! But that’s where we end, as romantically-flavored support character stories have replaced the crime comic atmospher...

Does the world really need me to make a book about 80’s Spider-Man, cartoons, video games- all of it? I’ll admit freely, if that was paying work, it sounds divine! But who knows. Just like, who knows who is this mystery Osborn Industries prowler, with the dangerous idea to utilize Norman Osborn’s instruments of mayhem- and possibly, the secret of Spider-Man, too? One point worth making: Stern’s underscored how he thinks of the Spider-Sense as Spidey’s unique, defining, most useful power. He’s provided his own set-up for Hobby robbing Spidey of that one secret, most crucial ability. If you’ve been reading all along, he’s set up the more assured, experienced Spider-Man to end his run with the most nuanced, multi-layered challenge yet! Three story lines mingle with the Hobgoblin mystery to provide texture, to build suspense and provide a passage of time the villain uses to grow as a threat. You have the Amy Powell scheme to mix Peter into her open relationship games with his...

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #239 The abstract Hobgoblin face in the night sky- the first use of this symbolism for this character- hovers above Osborn Industries, the maker of fine Goblin paraphenalia in the days of Norman O’s secret life. He died with his own equipment- his glider, right, like the first Raimi Spider-Man movie-rammed into his heart. What dramatizes the birth of the new supervillain, the peril as he acquires deadly new equipment, than to have this never-before-seen Battle Van, come roaring out of the heart of Osborn Industries (New Jersey), with a visage of the Hobgoblin lurking at the edge of visibility? The image says he’s still hidden, he’s literally behind the scenes. He’s a smart villain. He will not reveal himself, but be discovered through Spider-Man (and Roger Stern’s) intimate knowledge of Green Goblin operations. Not only would this work as an opening scene- in comics, giving it one page was the way to conserve space for cheesecake and other narrative fabric ...

Shadows: you notice how important they are while hardly giving them a second thought. There’s simply an undeniable elevation of the game after Stilt-Man-seriously- when we open Amazing Spider-Man #238, from 1982, to discover Roger Stern’s back on full writing chores along with John Romita Jr.- inked by John, Sr! The craft uses that one thoughtful notion, shadows, and classic, nay, archetypal renditions of Pete, May, Robbie, and their masterpiece, the metamorphosis to Goblin. It’s as breath-taking as the original story it echoes, the suspenseful heir to Steve Ditko plotting at his finest, Stan balancing the Being of Spider-Man/ Peter Parker. Interactions? Pitch-perfect. If Brand Saga brought to an end the radical re-purposed string of Avengers and X-Men-based foes (Brand is the greatest, beside the two “actual Spider-Man villains”), here, one stop, Stern makes an actual new Spider-Foe, tangled deeply and unwittingly with defining Spider-Man moments and secrets, a mystery man w...

One thing I love about the Brand saga in Amazing Spider-Man #231-6 is the way it begins with Spider-Man caught between Cobra and Mr. Hyde, so a main plot, initiated as a Bugle expose-in-progress, actually circumscribes the hero vs. villains plot. Cobra, newly ensconced in his sneaky and lucrative plans to rob police precincts, enjoys his ill gains in a plush apartment. His treasures fit in a vault beneath the fireplace. He glories in his new solo fortunes with the macabre Hyde no longer haunting him. The one man who holds his secret, however, is caught up in his business of trading secrets, connected to dangerous physical and corporate power. The Brand saga mixes corporate villainy with established super-villains, drawing in Spider-Man through informant Nose Norton, but really pulling in Peter through concern for supporting cast members Ned Leeds and Betty Brant. We get maybe the best use of the Daily Bugle to date, as regular folks ply their heroism against non-powered Brand ...

To Beat The Unfightable Foe! We’ve traced Roger Stern’s run on the Amazing Spider-Man through his ongoing sagas of the Vulture, the Foolkiller (from our Peter Parker retrospective) and the Black Cat. Continuing with his art team of John Romita, Junior, and Jim Mooney, Stern borrows a lost X-Men foe- another that, following his appearance here, is fully restored to the regular roster of Marvel villains-for the greatest mismatch in the title’s history. Just as I wondered where I’d get the material for my next step of the journey, I discover my local library’s 741.59 stash of graphic novels-including The Sensational Spider-Man: Nothing Can Stop The Juggernaut! If the O’Neil run was in any way considered a lackluster collection of foes, and the Wolfman run, one where Spider-Man fought enemies at a power level appropriate for his ill-fated live action TV series, Stern roars back with drama and one of several mammoth-powered antagonists-this time, perhaps the most mighty terrestrial ...

Download this episode (right click and save) More personal questions and early career stories with Ron Frenz, leading up to his full-time work at Marvel in the mid-1980s. Ron shares about growing up, formative experiences, his first actual comics for sale, and how his life of drawing came naturally to him.

Ron Frenz, at the end of a long night of conversation, talks Thor with me. Learn Ron's favorite aspect of telling Thor's story! Learn also the central trait to telling Thor's stories, and how he and Tom DeFalco did so in a personal favorite from their run. Link to download, here!