From the back cover
"Spidey faces some of his most fearsome foes - including Tarantula, Kraven, Lightmaster, Vulture, Hitman, Morbius, Brother Power, Hate Monger, Beetle and the Enforcers! Guest-starring the Fantastic Four, Inhumans and Champions!"
Overall review
Spectacular
is a fun, action-intense and occasionally ridiculous comic book. Many of its
storylines loosely tie in with those of The
Amazing Spider-Man. What separates Spectacular
from Amazing is the former series,
which debuted years later, shows a more mature Peter Parker, and Spectacular’s writing is often better. Spectacular Vol. 1 is worth owning.
Story arcs
"Twice Stings the
Tarantula!” [#1] ─ “And
There was Lightmaster!” [#3]: A mysterious man hires the Tarantula, a South
American assassin, and Kraven the Hunter to kidnap civic leaders and a college
professor ─ leading the Tarantula and Kraven on a collision course with
Spider-Man. This three-issue arc introduces Lightmaster, a head-blaster of a
bad guy.
“The Vulture is a Bird of Prey!” [#4] ─
“Spider-Kill!” [#5]: Spidey squares
off against the Vulture and Hitman, the latter a gun- and gadget-using
professional. Behind the scenes, Mr. Morgan works a protection racket and keeps
Hitman in work.
On
the Peter Parker’s-friend front, Flash Thompson continues to be concerned about
the sudden reappearance and disappearance of his Vietnamese friend, Shan Shan ─
she was last seen in The Amazing Spider-Man,
issue #109.
“The Power to Purge” [#6]: Spider-Man
and Johnny Storm (a.k.a. The Human Torch) battle Michael Morbius (a.k.a. the
Morbius the Living Vampire) on a college campus.
Meanwhile,
Flash Thompson obsesses over his kidnapped friend, Shan Shan.
“Cry Mayhem ─ Cry Morbius!” [#7]:
Morbius the Living Vampire, in part controlled by a mysterious being ─ the
Empathoid ─ returns. Morbius kidnaps Glory Grant, a Daily Bugle co-worker of Peter Parker’s. Morbius’s reasoning: to
lure Spider-Man to him. The living vampire succeeds in doing so. This is the
Empathoid’s first appearance in Spectacular
Spider-Man.
“And Only One Shall Survive!” [#8]: The
web-slinger, now possessed by the Empathoid, fights Morbius, who wants to end
the mega-destructive threat of the alternate world creature. But not all is at
it seems.
While
this happens, Flash Thompson rescues Shan Shan from her captor ─ only to
receive a heart-rending blow.
“. . . Like a Tiger in the Night!” [#9] ─
“Tiger in a Web!” [#10]: Spider-Man
must contend with another college campus protest. While doing so, our hero must
recover a stolen and priceless document, the Erskine Manuscripts (named for the scientist who wrote them, and
created the “Super Soldier” formula that turned Steve Rogers into Captain
America).
A
more immediate concern for the wall-crawler is the appearances of the
tough-to-beat White Tiger (also seen in another Marvel title, the Deadly
Hands of Kung Fu), and a group of criminals, known as the Black Hand.
“A Life too Far” [#11]: While trying to
retrieve an anti-venom vial to save a boy’s life, the web-slinger is forced to
confront Medusa from the Marvel series
the Inhumans, who has the vial for
her own desperate reasons.
“Brother Power, Sister Moon” [#12] ─ “The Final Rage!” [#15]: Spider-Man,
Razorback (a.k.a. Buford Hollis) and Flash Thompson try to eliminate the global
threat of Brother Power (Achmed Korba, a former Vietnamese smuggler) and the
Hatemonger (Korba’s animalistic puppeteer), who have taken Shan Shan and Bobby
Sue Hollis (Razorback’s sister) into their cultic thrall.
Parts
of this story are crazy fun, others feature dumb character interactions. This
is Razorback’s first appearance in Spectacular
Spider-Man.
“The Beetle and the Badge!” [#16]: Sad
tale about Joey Macone (a NYC cop) who gets caught up in a dust-up between
Spidey and the Beetle. This issue has a PSA feel to it.
“Whatever Happened to the Iceman?” [#17]
─ “My Friend, My Foe!” [#18]: The
web-slinger and the Angel (a.k.a. Warren Worthington III), formerly of the
X-Men and the Champions, combat a brainwashed Iceman (a.k.a. Bobby Drake).
Iceman is being controlled by a physically crippled villain, Rampage, also
called Stuart Clarke.
This
issue ends on a cliffhanger note, with an appearance by lovebirds Flash
Thompson and Shan Shan.
“Again, the Enforcers!” [#19] ─ “Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?”
[ #20]: The Lightmaster (a.k.a. Edward Lansky) hires The Enforcers (Fancy Dan
Montana and the New Ox) to fight Spider-Man, before Lansky enters the fray.
Unfortunately for the bad guys, the White Tiger ─ also called Hector Ayala ─ is
in the same area at the same time. (The Lightmaster was last seen in issue #3.
“Still Crazy After All These Years”
[#21]: The Scorpion ─ once a P.I. named Mac Gorgan ─ comes gunning for the man
who helped turn him into a villain: J. Jonah Jameson. Of course, Spider-Man is
there to save the day.
“By the Light of the Silvery Moon Knight!”
[#22] ─ “Guess Who’s Buried in Grant’s
Tomb” [#23]: Spider-Man and Moon Knight meet each other, then tangle with
Cyclone, who has been hired by M [a.k.a. the Masked Marauder], leader of the
Maggia.
“Spider-Man Night Fever” [#24]: Maggia
soldiers hijack a plutonium truck. Peter Parker, against his will, is taken to
the Beyond Fever disco, where the Hypno-Hustler and the Mercy killers stage a
robbery.
“Carrion, My Wayward Son!” [#25] ─ “Till Death Do Us Part!” [#31]: Spidey, with help from the White
Tiger and Daredevil, engages in extended conflicts with the Masked Marauder and
his Maggia minions, as well as Tri-Man, a living biped bomb. Things get creepy
when Carrion, born of a tragic misunderstanding, unleashes his clone-based
horror on the web-slinger and those around him. This may be one of my favorite
multipart story arcs in this collection.
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