FEATURING:
By 1985, it's safe to say the thrill was arguably gone from celebrating the achievement of a title's 100th issue. The major books, most of which dated back to the Silver Age, threw their confetti in that respect in the '70s, with the last issue I recall still in the general neighborhood being The Defenders #100 from October of 1981, followed by Marvel Two-In-One #100 in June, 1983. Thanks to the X-Men spin-offs, however, two other X-titles were able to have their own landmark 100th issues as late as the turn of the century--X-Factor #100 in 1994, and the anniversary issue of the second X-Men series in May of 2000. Todd McFarlane's Spider-Man book, later renamed Peter Parker Spider-Man, fell just short of the mark of receiving its own recognition, ending with issue #98 at the end of '98 (quite a coincidence there). That would leave Web of Spider-Man (which I dropped pretty early in the series), which published its 100th issue in 1993, as well as Ultimate Spider-Man #100 in 2006.
The Spectacular Spider-Man issue, clocking in at thirty-nine pages, bills itself on its splash page as "a momentous milestone in the life and times of the spectacular Spider-Man," which would indicate a significant change or development occurring in Spider-Man's life. Whether or not that actually takes place is debatable (and more on that shortly); but regardless, there's little in the story to indicate we're holding a book considered as an achievement in the series, while its cover design by artist/writer Al Milgrom lauds the anniversary aspect yet clutters and slants the magic number so as to all but obscure it. As for its guest-stars, there are two who are singled out on the cover as being prominently featured in the story--but depending on how you feel about the Black Cat and her facile preoccupation with Spider-Man, you may find yourself grateful for, of all people, the Kingpin of Crime.
The story continues from the previous issue which introduced the bizarre individual known as... well, the Spot (aka scientist Johnathon/Jonathon Ohnn)--hired by the Kingpin to investigate the powers of Cloak & Dagger but whose experimentation led to a power which mimics Cloak's and originates from a half dark/half light dimension. Only now, he's not so sure it's in his best interest to disclose his findings to his employer.
As for Spider-Man, he has two concerns while swinging through the city--one, his recent extrication from an alien "costume" which was bent on taking permanent control of him, having no idea that the being has escaped from confinement and has already assumed control of another for the time being.
And his other concern being the Black Cat--specifically, the Kingpin's hold over her which Spider-Man intends to see broken. But the Cat has her own reasons for wanting to confront the Kingpin herself.
That brings us to the Spot's rematch with Spider-Man. But while both men are occupied, the Cat learns that her powers were given to her by the Kingpin as a way to take revenge on her for prior actions against him--and, worse, that they are also having an effect on Spider-Man, forcing her to face the prospect of having to leave him.
Finally, that leaves us with Spider-Man's battle with the Kingpin--or vice versa, depending on which of the two you ask. Either way, it's a nice series of panels action-wise*, though we know from a later story that Spider-Man is capable of delivering far worse punishment to this foe.
*Frankly, I would have preferred Milgrom restricted his pencils to layouts in this story and let a different inker handle finishes, as the pencil work suffers throughout, IMO.
Afterward, Spider-Man meets the Cat and learns of her conversation with the Kingpin--but before she can say what she's resolved to say to him, she learns that they both have the same intent, but for different reasons.
Assuming this was the "milestone" the title page hinted at, it's hard to say how significant this development is for or to Peter--probably more so for Felicia Hardy, who, as Peter says, saw him as Spider-Man first and Peter Parker second. (If at all.) At any rate, I remember closing this issue without giving much thought to that turn of events... or Flash Thompson's deteriorating relationship with his girlfriend, Sha Shan... or his pro-football tryouts... or his affair with the married Betty Leeds (née Brant)... or Peter's sunbathing neighbors Randi, Candi and Bambi. I did give a passing thought, however, to the absence of those captions we usually see on a 100th issue that trumpet its status as such--presumably swallowed whole by one of Mr. Ohnn's many spots.
3 comments:
What, exactly, are these, uh, "bad luck powers" (for want of a better term) and how the heck do you give 'em to somebody?!
Also, I've always been rather surprised when the Kingpin gave Spider-Man trouble in a fight. I mean, maybe back in Fisk's earliest appearances I could see it, because Spider-Man didn't seem as powerful back then.
To me, anyway. He fought a lotta un-powered bozos in them days.
M.P.
While this is a fairly unremarkable issue, I certainly remember it. I was only 1-2 years into my comics collecting so anniversary issues were still a big thing. This is what I recall.
1) Despite his rather lame status, I always liked the Spot as a villain. Perfectly serviceable as a street level supervillain. I was angry when he was relegated as merely a joke villain. I understand why, but I never liked it when writers made villains a joke. Far too easy and only undermined the suspension of disbelief.
2) The break up of Spidey and Black Cat was a "big deal" at the time. Although later events would downgrade the importance of the Spidey-Cat romance.
3) I thought the Milgrom storyline of the Kingpin exploring how to use/create super powered criminals was very appropriate while still keeping to the noir aspects that Miller's DD had established. It was a nice build up to the idea that Black Cat's powers were hurting Spidey.
Overall, an enjoyable - if forgettable - issue. ASM was obviously superior in quality to PPTSSM in quality, but I think PPTSSM held its own. Many fun issues.
Not quite momentus. Though I don't think ANY issue 100 was really momentus in retrospect (except maybe for X-Men #100 which set up Phoenix).
Chris
M.P., as I understand it, once she began seeing Spider-Man, a battle with Mr. Hyde convinced the Black Cat that her lack of bona fide super-powers would make her a liability to him. So she "shops around" to seek out those who could help (Tony Stark, the FF, the Avengers), until she receives an anonymous offer from someone who had the notes left behind by the deceased Harlan Stillwell: her services, in exchange for the super-power she sought, obtained from a latent gene within her that enhanced her "subliminal catlike nature." (Which is textbook comic book contrivance, but what can I say.) Only when she's tested her new abilities does the Kingpin reveal himself to be her benefactor.
Chris, aside from Steven Lang getting his comeuppance, X-Men #100 also appealed to me because of its underlying aspect of the new X-Men facing their predecessors--one of the few times when the fighting prowess of the original team (well, with Havok and Polaris along for the ride) was showcased well and put to good use (thanks to Dave Cockrum), even if they were only artificial duplicates of the real McCoys.
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