It's not where I first noticed it, but going back across Stern's run, this is the first place you see it, when the Black Cat targets purveyors of black market high art. ASM # 232 Mister Hyde stalks the Cobra Then you have Tarantula picking up where Cobra left off. Cobra chasing down Nose Norton was yet another instance: ASM #231. Ned Leeds and Marla Madison are caught in the middle of this one! Then, Ben Urich's caught up when Tarantula picks up the trail. So Norton is sort of the second hunted villain in a story line, in that someone besides the cops or Spidey is tracking a character who we'd agree is not deliberately on the side of angels. But the next storyline has even more villains chasing each other. Will O' the Wisp returns for revenge against Brand and ends up fighting their latest, fatal experiment. Tarantula's transformation scared the heck out of me! I just got to peep a few pages while I waited on Mom at the grocery store. I didn...

So, in his initial series, Spider-Man, Denny has the most ideas, initially, bringing in new characters the first few months.  Calypso, Madame Web, Hyrdo Man recur in later stories- such as Todd McFarlane’s smash-selling vehicle Spider=Man title in 1991, and the Madame and Hydro Man even return in cartoons.  Peter even gets an opponent at the Daily Globe, photographer Lance Bannon- before O’Neil abruptly shifts gears and does away with the Daily Globe newspaper era started by Marv Wolfman in a single issue, #210. However, those characters do not generally add much to any ongoing saga.   In some ways, while the stories in the middle do continue into each other, from 213-218, most O’Neil Spider-Man stories exist in an almost stand-alone fashion.  Hydro Man- who suffers from the most glaring flaw in this era’s villains, his obstinate motivation of revenge, like the Wizard in the next issue- does come back for a sort of humorous rivalry with Sandman ov...

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...

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...

1st Marvels: John Romita, Jr. INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #115 Mantlo’s run becomes history, and Layton/ Michelinie/ Romita makes history Paired with the inker who would notably join him on Uncanny X-Men- Marvel’s best direct market seller- the son of Silver Age Spider-Man artist John Romita followed his namesake over a decade after that future Art Director came to Marvel. I virtually forgot John Romita, Jr. got his first assignment drawing a back-up for Amazing Spider-Man Annual #11 in 1977. His full-book premiere comes in Invincible Iron Man #115, a 1978 issue which, with a few fill-ins, marks his regular tenure there. When new writer and new inker David Michelinie and Bob Layton begin directing Iron Man, next issue, a definitive Bronze Age team comes together, making a modern look and feel for the mechanized marvel that influenced Jon Favreau and his own team on the box-office smash Iron Man movies. But everyone’s got to start somewhere, and it so happens JR, Jr., as he’s often n...