Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Vulture: Mad Schemes (Marvel, 1983)

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 rival, Lance Bannon; you have May’s boarders and new boyfriend, who are more than just innocents to threaten with car chases; you have Peters grad school doings, as he gradually moves away from school into the work-a-day world and even more full-time Wall-Crawling. That move’s precipitated largely by the advent of the Black Cat, who’s recuperating in these stories after her dramatic mangling in the Peter Parker title- but she isn’t the only factor. These things move so organically, the wonder is how few pages Stern/Romita really has to budget- but without those touches, the Hobgoblin’s a Saturday cartoon story. A Great One, admittedly. This is really the secret to the success of the Hobgoblin legend! Seven issues over fourteen issues, with one divergence into PPTSSM for balance.
Every time Spidey mentions he should be out looking for the Hobgoblin we’re reminded, this is the biggest ongoing threat in his superhero life!

He even sees Hobby in a nightmare- this is what kicks off his visit to Aunt May and Nathan, leading him to battle the Vulture, to search for yet another corrupt business exec who’s been kidnapped. They get the golden parachute, while Spidey has to web-spin his own…

But a parachute might be a great idea for high-dangling Greg Bestman! We don’t quite know why Vulchy’s hot to fry Bestman’s feathers, which builds a bit of mystery leading into the second part. There’s a similar thread in the sympathetic origins given by Stern here and SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING. Here, as is often the case, the character using the devices is the inventor. Dating back to Osborn swindling Mendel Strom, being cheated of money or credit produced a vengeful villain.

There’s no space really to discuss whether the bright-eyed old inventor was already greedy- seems a little pat to suggest getting ripped off made him a thief, though if Adrian Toomes never took a big wad of cash off a desk before, maybe he hadn’t discovered the rush! And I say “villain” but self-interest isn’t always evil. You can believe the Keaton version in HOMECOMING really does want all the best for his family.

But if Toomes has no family, either, perhaps he let his work become everything to him, and this accounts better for why he flips out and becomes The Vulture! He’s still stealing for a lucrative living- like The Cobra, the reason we haven’t heard from him is that he’s after easy pickings and staying away from superheroes, like a reasonable thief. Maybe just having someone he trusted get over on him just left such a bitter taste. After all, he gives up his reasonable scheme, and makes like Mr. Hyde in #232: comes after his treacherous old partner. It’s a re-worked pattern of motives.

I applaud having Spider-Man use strategy, in this case, police helicopters- some air power! That walkie-talkie he borrows from Keating: such a great touch! You have in Keating an time-honored cop who doesn’t like Spider-Man for being a self-deputized super-powered freak scoff law, yet, you have Spider-Man working together with the police.

The Vulture’s story is now a matter of record, too, thanks to that walkie-talkie. He loses to Spidey, but he wins his objective: he terrorizes Bestman, smashes up his convention display but good, and leaves him in no doubt who now is the powerful one of the two, wrapped in a new headache of fraud investigation sure to leave him in knots. If you ask me, mission accomplished!

The Lance/ Amy nude photo shoot is a sign: the times have arrived in this mag!
Not enough? They give you a minute to wonder why Lance Bannon’s passing up dinner with Amy for twilight city scapes and….will his confrontation with Pete be in a Hobgoblin suit?

That’s my thoughts. The art speaks best for itself: have Vulchy and Spidey ever looked cooler in battle? On each valued page, the sense of graphic design brings the drawings together in pleasing layouts. Not to knock your favorite 70’s Spider-Artists, but in the big picture, I think the strip’s never looked better, at least not since elder Romita’s run. But we also get such dynamic positioning and evocative angles, in addition to well-crafted, agile anatomy.