Spectacular Spider-Man 158 - Acts of Vengeance

We come now to one of the biggest moments in comic science since a spider decided to wander around a radiation experiment.

Spectacular Spider-Man #158

Writer: Gerry Conway
Breakdowns: Sal Buscema
Finishes: Mike Esposito
Colourist: Bob Sharen
Letterer: Rick Parker
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Okay since he appears on the cover, let's tackle the first problem with this story. Spider-Man has fought the Trapster before, including in this series (#42), three times as part of the Frightful Four and once solo. And both Gerry Conway and Sal Buscema were present for one of those encounters (Marvel Team-Up #2 and #58 respectively). But then it is particularly difficult to find villains that Spider-Man hasn't encountered before, given his multiple titles, former team-up book and many guest appearances have meant he's been around the Marvel universe far more than just about any other hero.

However this isn't the only continuity error that sticks out here. Although much of the chronology of "Acts of Vengeance" is debatable, the three Spider-Man books have a clear order as established by previous crossovers (which have been surprisingly few; it wasn't until 1993 that the Spider-Man books began routinely running multi-part storylines across each other). Thus it's strange to see the Kingpin here recruited to the central alliance (otherwise so far consisting of Doctor Doom, Magneto and the Wizard) when in Amazing Spider-Man #326 he was said to be the one who sent Graviton to deal with Spider-Man and thus already a part of the scheme. This lack of co-ordination within the Spider-Man office is not a good sign and more broadly there will be a number of questions about the order of involvement of the leaders of the alliance and their various hidden motivations. Now is not the best time to discuss the presence of Magneto as he's not a major presence in this issue and there are ones coming up that are more appropriate, but overall it's an interesting start to the scheme by bringing together three major villains plus a has-been like the Wizard.

The Wizard isn't the only one with a poor reputation. The Trapster took on his current name nearly a quarter of a century earlier, but he's never been able to shake off the ridiculous initial one "Paste-Pot Pete", with both Spider-Man and the Kingpin using it. His abilities have also long been mocked yet here he overpowers Spider-Man in the space of just three pages using a mixture of paste and grease. He's been specifically picked by the Wizard so it's understandable that he's gone in with weapons to overcome Spider-Man's ability to stick to walls, yet it's an astonishingly quick and one sided encounter, with no real distractions to explain how Spider-Man can be taken down so easily. This is the problem with deliberate defeats to set up subsequent encounters and it stands out the more when the foe comes with all the baggage of an acknowledged loser that the Trapster has.

But this is only a prelude to a major transformation. Doing some work in a science lab, Peter Parker gets exposed to an energy burst which enhances his sense and powers. He becomes invulnerable to electricity, starts generating giant sized hands made of webs, fires energy bolts from his fingers and can sense just about everything for miles until he gets that under control. It's an interesting step-up in his power levels and leaves Spider-Man scared of what the consequences might be. For a crossover event in which the balance of power is going to be deliberately altered, it's actually quite appropriate for one of the heroes to be suddenly more powerful than usual, making the encounters more unique which is handy given the already mentioned limitations of finding foes Spider-Man hasn't fought before.

This issue also briefly touches on the later stages of one of the more bizarre Spider-Man stories from the period where Joe "Robbie" Robertson was sent to jail for not having reported a crime when he was a young reporter. The problem with the story has always been the absurdity that a witness gets jailed for being intimidated into silence. The judge may have been corrupt but a judge is not the whole system and it shouldn't have to take a presidential pardon for such an absurdity to be overcome.

Overall though this is a fairly solid issue that brings some local mysteries alongside the wider event, helped by some always spectacular artwork.

Spectacular Spider-Man #158  has been reprinted in:

• Spider-Man: The Cosmic Adventures (1993)
• Acts of Vengeance Omnibus (2011)
• Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: Cosmic Adventures (2013)