Essential Iron Man volume 4

Essential Iron Man volume 4 consists of issues #39 to #61 including a back-up in issue #44 featuring Ant-Man. The writing sees runs by Gerry Conway and Mike Friedrich plus other issues by Robert Kanigher, Gary Friedrich, Roy Thomas, Jim Starlin and Steve Gerber. Most of the art is by George Tuska with other contributions by Herb Trimpe, Barry Windsor-Smith and Jim Starlin. The Ant-Man tale is written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Ross Andru.

This volume comes from the early 1970s and sees a slow attempt to update the character at a time when real life events had made arms manufacturers not particularly popular in the States. At the same time it also tries to modernise the portrayal of some of the characters and roles, with the most notable success being Pepper Hogan who returns to her old job position but is now much more a strong executive assistant rather than the simple typist, telephone answerer and diary keeper she had been in earlier years. On multiple occasions the factory is surrounded by protestors, whether students protesting the manufacturing of weapons or the workers out on strike due to devious propaganda, and eventually this leads Tony to start diversifying the output. However it takes a while to assert full control.

The early issues see Tony facing a challenge in the boardroom as Simon Gilbert, the chairperson of the board of Stark Industries, tries to have Tony removed as president of the company, only to be threatened with his own removal as chairperson by Tony. The problem with this kind of corporate drama is that it relies on the reader having a clear knowledge of the basics of corporate governance in order to understand how such power is wielded when Tony holds the majority of shares. Boardroom drama can be exciting when the threat is obvious and the resolution dramatic but here it descends into two men in suits each trying to remove the other through the exercise of some undefined power or other. Eventually Tony succeeds in the boardroom leading to Gilbert hiring the Firebrand to blow up a munitions plant, only to die in the explosion himself. The Firebrand is revealed to be Gilbert's son, adding a new level to his enmity with Iron Man.

There's a protracted storyline involving Tony's engineer and friend Kevin O'Brien who adopts the Guardsman armour to protect Stark Industries but inexperience and paranoia overwhelm him, not helped by his jealousy of Tony over Marianne Rodgers. Partially egged on by Gilbert and other board members, Kevin winds up facing a group of students protesting over arms manufacturing and deploys his repulsors on them, apparently killing four of them. (We're subsequently told they were only injured but as it comes solely via dialogue and captions it feels like emergency editing to tone down the storyline.) This leads to a confrontation between Iron Man and the Guardsman over their respective methods and ends in tragedy when Kevin is caught in a tank explosion. The funeral leads to soul-searching on Tony's part and triggers an issue mainly devoted to recounting the origin, which also supplies the cover, used for the volume as a whole.

Marianne Rodgers is probably the best woman that Tony's yet been involved with. She has a degree of Extra Sensory Perception that leads her to heightened concern for Tony, and also leads her to realise that he and Iron Man are one and the same, but contrary to his long standing fears she doesn't reject them. Instead they grow ever closer, to Kevin's disappointment, and soon get engaged. However her ESP leads her to visions of Iron Man's doom if she stays with him and after a battle with the Super-Adaptoid that leaves Tony desperate for help in recharging his power, Marianne instead deserts him. When the final confrontation comes with the Adaptoid in its new form of the Cyborg Sinister, rebuilt by Tyrr and Jarr from a microworld called Bast, Iron Man ultimately defeats the prophecy by overwhelming it with acid and then destroying it but trust has broken down between Tony and Marianne, leading them to call off the engagement. Marianne goes off to work but finds her ESP wreaks havoc in the workplace and she is subsequently hospitalised. Meanwhile Pepper Hogan returns to Tony's life when she accepts once more the job of his personal secretary but amidst the jet setting it becomes clear Tony still has feelings for her even though she is now married. Meanwhile Happy Hogan is getting more and more jealous of the situation, especially when the newspapers start assuming Tony and Pepper are an item, and soon announces he is leaving by means of a telegram.

The early part of the volume sees a string of incredibly forgettable foes, whether introduced here or reused from another series. Those in the former category include the White Dragon, a Chinese scientist and inventor with troops who feels all too like a Mandarin knock off, the Slasher and Demitrius, a pair in silly costumes, Mikas the Soulfather, an android with ESP powers who believes himself to be an all powerful mutant, a robot copy of the Night Phantom, Raga, the "Son of Fire", a cult leader with the ability to control flames, and his teacher, the Black Lama. There's also an encounter with Princess Python, temporarily solo from the Circus of Crime, and her pet snake Precious. All in all it's a very dull set, made worse by several being agents of the mysterious "Mr Kline", who also appears in the contemporary Daredevil. Unfortunately that seems to be the main place for explaining and dealing with him, with the result that in this volume he's just a shadowy figure responsible for some events but ultimately left unexplained.

Towards the end we get two issues that have the biggest impact on long term Marvel continuity although their impact on Iron Man is rather less. Issue #54 sees the introduction of the space travelling Madame MacEvil, later better known as Moondragon, who takes control of Iron Man's armour remotely and pits him against Sub-Mariner as part of scientific investigations into human hybrids. She's the kind of character who appears to have a large unrevealed backstory that explains her actions but all we get here is an amoral scientist who swears vengeance when her plans come to nothing. The following issue is much better known as it sees the introduction of both Thanos and Drax the Destroyer. And also of the Blood Brothers but they don't get talked about so much. The issue debuts a powerful alien conqueror foe with a strong backstory and a pre-existing nemesis, making for a memorable confrontation and it's hard to deny the significance of this issue given that Thanos has been incredibly successful for Marvel in the long run. The tale as a single piece is quite strong and leaves the reader wanting more. But, as is often the case with big cosmic events and particular those involving Thanos, the host title can wind up feeling a rather odd place for the event. Iron Man does not generally get caught up in interplanetary conflict and this story would probably be more at home in Fantastic Four or Thor or Avengers. And when read with the issues around it, it feels like part of a general ream of randomness near the end of this volume as the writers struggle to find a new direction and purpose for the title.

As they search we get an odd confrontation with the "menace" of Rasputin, a magician with poor powers who brings a statue to life. Then we get a strange tale that starts off with the Mandarin in disguise fomenting unrest amongst the Stark Industries workforce but which diverts into a tale of a search for new power rings and sees the Mandarin and Unicorn temporarily swap bodies. There's a return by a vengeance seeking Firebrand and then finally a clash with Daredevil's old foe the Masked Marauder. None of these tales feels in any way spectacular and the result is just a drudge through the end of the volume.

There are some signs of further developments for Tony with the situation of him crawling away from a successful fight in search of a power recharge now starting to get tired (though read in an era of fast draining smartphones it feels even more familiar now than over forty years ago), and towards the end there are signs that he is increasingly able to survive for periods without a functioning chest plate pacemaker, suggesting that his transplanted heart is finally being accepted by his body. I have no idea how scientifically plausible this scenario is, but the signs are encouraging that Tony is finally conquering his main physical weakness and showing hope for the future in spite of the stunted series around him.

One possibility for diversifying things up a bit would have been to introduce a back-up strip featuring a second hero, as happened in a number of other comics at this time, though mainly over at DC. Issues #43 & #44 contain first an Ant-Man reprint and then an original tale respectively at a time when Marvel expanded the size and cost of the comics, only to contract them back after a couple of months. The original tale is included here but it's a rather forgettable piece of a sweet shop owner attempting an insurance scam through arson whilst Hank Pym encounters the intelligent Scarlet Beetle once more, with his foe coming to an extremely undignified end. It doesn't leave the reader desperate for a regular series of Ant-Man back-ups and suggests the subsequent reversion to normal sized issues was wise and Marvel heroes don't generally prosper when hiding in the back of others' titles.

In general this is a rather slight and disappointing volume. In spite of the ongoing threads involving Marianne Rodgers, Simon Gilbert, Kevin O'Brien or Mr Kline, overall the whole thing feels slow and disjointed. The first half or so of the volume does make an effort to find a direction and stick with it even though it's not the most exciting thing, but the latter half shows a series just floundering about and trying all manner of situations and foes in the hope that something will eventually stick. This is not the series at its best.

Essential Hulk volume 1

Essential Hulk volume 1 contains, in the original edition, all six issues of the original Incredible Hulk series and then the Hulk strips from issues #60-91 of Tales to Astonish (the anthology series that also starred Ant-Man/Giant Man and which later featured Namor the Sub-Mariner). Everything in the volume is written by Stan Lee. Jack Kirby draws the first five issues before being succeeded by Steve Ditko who carries on into the early Tales to Astonish stories. Kirby then returns for a few issues before switching to do layouts which are finished by a mix of "Mickey Demeo" (Mike Esposito moonlighting whilst at DC), Bob Powell, Scott Edward, John Romita and Bill Everett, then issue #84 is credited to "Almost the whole blamed Bullpen". After this (and probably not coincidentally) we get full pencils from John Buscema and Gil Kane. Later editions have added the Hulk's guest appearance in the Giant-Man strip in Tales to Astonish #59 (written by Stan Lee and drawn by Dick Ayers) which served as a trailer for the Hulk's own strip. (This strip can also be found in Essential Ant-Man volume 1.)

This is literally a volume of two halves albeit unequal ones. The first consists of the original Incredible Hulk series that lasted just six issues back in 1962-1963. Reports are divided as to whether it actually a poor seller or if it was just a victim of Marvel's limited number of titles due to its distribution deal and displaced by Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandos. But either way the result was that the Hulk soon lost his own title and was relegated to wandering through the pages of other books such as the Fantastic Four, the Avengers and even the Amazing Spider-Man. Then after about a year and a half without his own feature, he was given a slot in Tales to Astonish.

This disjoint in the early years has often affected how they've been viewed. The original six issues have been reprinted many times - a pocketbook reprint lent to me by a friend many yeas ago was the first time I read any Silver Age Marvel stories (but I honestly can't remember what colour the Hulk was in the first issue) - but there's been much less attention given to the Tales to Astonish strips. Indeed a note at the start of the original edition of this volume specifically states that many of them hadn't been reprinted "since... well, even Stan Lee can't remember when!" (The Masterworks didn't start on them until a few years later.) It's apologising for the variation in reprint quality due to the nature of the archival material, but it's also a reminder that the Hulk entered his first forgotten era earlier than almost any of his contemporaries.

(The reprint quality is more than passable though. Indeed the worst looking page in my edition is actually one with 1990s artwork! It's a divider page between the two series with the front and back cover art on either side. Unfortunately one side seems to have the images overlaid on each other, like a double exposure. Later editions have better reproduction and lack the note.)

The Hulk's origin story is mostly timeless but there's one element that has bcome dated. Scientist Bruce Banner develops a powerful bomb emitting a special kind of radiation but gets caught in the blast of an undelayed test whilst saving a teenager who has wandered onto the site for a bet, and the resulting energy causes him to change into a monster - that's pretty easy to map to any era. Yes there's a bit of silly science about the effect of the rays. The arms race may have been a more prominent factor of the Cold War but even today nuclear weapons are a live and argued issue and it doesn't matter if it fits current US weapons testing policies. It's the presence of a Communist agent amongst the test staff and the interest of the Soviets that makes the first issue a little dated, though one could reasonably airbrush Igor into being a generic foreign spy of an unnamed or fictitious country. (Making him an alien infiltrator in disguise might be simultaneously timeless and also true to the spirit of some of the era's science fiction but... well... "Yeeesh!") The origin is retold in issue #3, for no real purpose (unless it was to fill up the page count), but with all the spy elements removed.

There are some other aspects to the series that show the silliness of the time, most obviously the way that Bruce is able to obtain a lot of scientific equipment on the sly and easily assemble everything from a gamma machine to the door to the Hulk's underground prison, with a ten foot thick concrete slab held in place by a steel rod. Later on Rick Jones is able to obtain and install a replacement rod with no-one noticing. And there's one issue where Rick is able to charter a private plane at only a few minutes' notice to fly him and the Hulk to confront the latest villain.

One thing rapidly becomes clear that there didn't seem to be a strong sense of direction for the series. At first we get the tale of a man who transforms into a brutish monster at night - a latter day take on Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, or at least the popular impression of it. But this doesn't last and soon we shift towards the scenario of the Hulk being a mistrusted hero and Bruce controlling the transformation through a gamma ray machine. However issue #6 shows signs that the control is beginning to break down with delayed and incomplete transformations and then signs that the change can be brought on by extreme aggression. Issue #6 also sees the Hulk granted a Presidential pardon, suggesting a further shift in direction but the run ends before we can see where it goes. The Hulk's personality is initially that of a simple giant but midway through Bruce gains control of the monstrous form. However there are signs that either Bruce is losing control to the Hulk's personality or else he is changing with the power, as the Hulk becomes ever more brutish.

We also see the debut of the most prominent of the Hulk's supporting cast, with all of them introduced on the first few pages of the original issue. Rick Jones is a carefree orphaned teenager who sneaked onto the test site for a bet, but he rapidly becomes loyal to Bruce for saving his life. Rick is about the only teen sidekick in the early Silver Age Marvels - teenagers are otherwise the stars, full members of teams or absent altogether. But unlike many DC sidekicks, Rick largely helps away from fights, looking after Banner/the Hulk, obtaining equipment for him and so forth. At one stage a second accident temporarily results in the Hulk being under Rick's control, a very different arrangement from the norm. At the end of the series Rick and friends form the "Teen Brigade" (well it was 1963) of amateur radio operators across the country to help when needed. The slang was probably dated even at the time but it's good to see some independent organisational initiative. However the main romantic interest is a bit of a washout. Betty Ross at this stage is a rather weak Daddy's Girl who has fallen for Bruce and will defend him against her father's criticisms but otherwise seems to spend most of her time pining for Bruce, being scared by the Hulk or serving as a damsel in distress to be rescued. It's only in the very last few panels that she and Bruce step out together.

Betty's father becomes the Hulk's main foe. General "Thunderbolt" Ross rapidly decides the Hulk is a menace, in part because of Betty's fear of him. Most issues see him trying to capture or destroy the Hulk and sometimes the former is achieved but not for long. Although other military officers are shown with a sceptical view of the Hulk's attempts to do good, Ross believes the worst at all times and thinks others are tricked. The result is a tense backdrop as the Hulk is often on the run and in hiding.

The Hulk battles several other foes in these tales but it's surprising how obscure most of them have remained. The first issue features the Gargoyle, a man deformed by bomb tests who is now a genius working for the Soviets but wishing only to be normal again. He gets his wish in the issue and dies at the end. Death isn't normally an obstacle for a Marvel villain but as far as I'm aware he's never returned outside flashbacks. Issue #2 has that traditional type of enemy, an alien race seeking to invade Earth, though with the Toad Men we actually get an entire invasion armada, rather than just an advanced scoutship as is more normally the case. Issue #3 sees the first big name villains in the form of the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime. And at this stage it's amazing they can get away with their trick - they turn up in a small town, hold a circus performance where they hypnotise the audience and make them hand over all their valuables before going round the rest of the town to do the same to the handful of inhabitants who didn't come. Then they leave for another. It's little surprise that the FBI soon spot the connection. Issue #4 sees an attack by Mongu "the Gladiator from Outer Space!" but he's just a Soviet agent in a giant suit trying to catch the Hulk and I don't think he's been seen since. The following issue introduces General Fang, a Chinese warlord, and Tyrannus, another underground ruler. Finally issue #6 sees the debut of the Metal Master, an alien with the power to control and change the atoms of all metal. Oddly, despite the tendency of Marvel to leave few ideas unmined, very few of these foes have made many return appearances. The Ringmaster and the Circus of Crime and Tyrannus are about the only ones who've popped up a lot but the rest have made few to none.

These early issues show a series in flux, not really sure whether it wants to be a monster saga or a superhero series. Elements of both genres are present but without a firm sense of direction and at some points such as issue #3 it feels as though the intention is to start again, retelling the origin and transforming the Hulk. Whereas later eras of the Hulk would make a virtue out of constant change, here it feels more like uncertainty. The result is a weak series that deserved a break and a chance to try again later.

Tales to Astonish #59 has been added to later editions and at the time it would have served as a mini recap of the Hulk's status quo. Giant-Man and the Wasp head to New Mexico in the hope of convincing the Hulk to rejoin the Avengers but interference by the Human Top results in Giant-Man and the Hulk battling it out. It's interesting to see some minor changes in the Hulk from his portrayal in his original series - now Bruce Banner changes when he gets stressed and the Hulk doesn't seem to have any of Bruce's mind in control (although he retains the memory that Giant-Man is after him). We're on the Hulk's initial stomping ground and both Betty and Thunderbolt Ross are reintroduced (Rick, however, is now hanging out with the Avengers and Captain America). It's a fairly straightforward tale that could be forgotten.

The revived series in Tales to Astonish picks up largely where things were left off, although Rick is initially away with the Avengers. Early on, we're introduced to the military base's new security chief Major Glenn Talbot, a further antagonist for both the Hulk and Bruce, and a rival for Betty's affections. Talbot is rather unlikeable for much of the run but towards the end he has temptation dropped in his lap when he takes a call clearing the Hulk and could delay relaying the news until it's too late, thus giving him a chance with Betty, but instead realises his duty is to pass on the message immediately.

Once the strip is restored, it rapidly establishes that Bruce transforms into the Hulk at moments of extreme stress and anger, the best known cause of change between the characters. Curiously it's also used to change him back to Bruce until issue #67 when calmness and rest now achieve this. Up until issue #66 the Hulk talks fluently, albeit in a slightly "gangster" manner, but then he starts speaking in the more primitive "Hulk smash!" speech pattern best associated with the character. Issue #70 sees Bruce's mind once more controlling the Hulk but steadily the latter's brutish nature takes over.

Issue #64 sees Rick confessing Bruce's secret to the President (not shown, either because the issue came out near election time or nobody wanted to repeat a notorious mistake Action Comics made when an issue went on sale featuring John F. Kennedy just after his assassination), feeling he will never betray it and can give help. From a modern perspective it's odd to see such reverence given to a mere elected politician. From at least Richard Nixon onwards the phrase "If you can't trust the President of the United States, who can you trust?" has had a very different meaning. The President makes a few further appearances with less reluctance to show him as Lyndon Johnson, but an executive order giving Ross the power to grant the Hulk an amnesty comes too late. Later on when the Hulk is believed to have been destroyed, Rick confesses the secret to Talbot in the hope of clearing Bruce of charges of being a traitor to his country. This has the effect of changing the long term dynamics of the series as Bruce will be ever more a fugitive, though at this stage he's able to hold off the army and prove his worth.

One reason why many of the stories appear to have had few reprints is the continuous serial nature of them. With only ten pages an issue the strip opted to tell an ongoing epic with each issue flowing into the next from issues #60 through to #79. This suits a continuous reprint format series perfectly, but isn't so good for pick 'n mix collections which is probably half the reason why so few had had recent reprints when this volume first came out. The early issues focus on an epic story involving the Leader, another human exposed to gamma rays but on this occasion his brain has been enhanced instead of his strength. The Leader has developed much technology, including his "Humanoid" minions, an artificial lifeform especially grown, and he is seeking to steal various forms of further technology to advance his goals and spots the potential for using the Hulk. This ultimately leads to his sending the Hulk to the home of the Watcher to obtain the "Ultimate Machine" - something that looks like a goldfish bowl but contains all the knowledge of the universe. Here the Leader's intelligence is his own downfall as the machine overloads his mind and kills him.

The Leader is by far the biggest foe introduced in these issues, though in the last few issues we also see the debut of the Abomination. Otherwise the new foes introduced are comparatively minor players for the Hulk, though some have played bigger parts elsewhere - the Amphibian, the Secret Empire and the Boomerang. We also get a handful of foes from other series including the Chameleon, the Executioner, the Mole Man and the Stranger. It's interesting to see a number of themes that would appear again during Peter David's epic run on the character. As well as a Hulk who seemingly fuses both his and Bruce's personalities, there's a trip to a dystopian future, and conflict between different sub-surface rulers (also a step towards tidying up some of the duplication in the early Marvel universe). In a way it suggests the Hulk was taken back to his roots, even if those roots were pretty obscure.

Towards the end of the volume there appear to be signs of the series meandering with some abrupt changes of direction. Issue #81 introduces the Secret Empire, a shadowy criminal organisation, and over the next few issues there's considerable build-up as we see the start of a power struggle. But then the Secret Empire abruptly disappears from the strip and the only acknowledgement comes a few issues later when Boomerang comments on how they've now been "smashed". Possibly this is a consequence of the art chaos as the crucial issue would have presumably been #84 which is drawn by "Almost the whole blamed Bullpen", suggesting a rush job to get the issue to the presses in which key plot points were lost. (Actually the Secret Empire was picked up in the other half of Tales to Astonish in the Sub-Mariner strip but there's nothing here to actually tell the reader of this.) Later on there's a report of an attempt on Betty's life but we never see it. The art situation also results in the last four issues here being some of the worst art in the entire volume. Gil Kane drew many great comics in his career but all artists can have their off moments and this is one of his. The art is far too cartoony, with both the Hulk and the Abomination looking especially silly, and it detracts from a crucial moment as for the first time the Hulk battles a super strong foe that is the product of gamma rays. Often the best foes for a hero are those who offer a dark reflection of them and the Abomination is the obvious candidate to serve that role with the Hulk. Unfortunately we get a rather limited clash here before the Stranger takes the Abomination away, and the art just lets it down completely.

In general the Tales to Astonish strips aren't really anything spectacular. When read together they flow quite quickly, but readers at the time must have found the ongoing stories took forever to complete. Although we get a couple of new foes with strong potential, one is killed off in his first storyline and the other taken away from Earth. Neither of these necessarily restrict a villain's use in the future but they can leave the series in a weakened state in the meantime. The chaos surrounding the Secret Empire is a real let down, especially as all the issues have the same scripter. Add in the repeated pursuit and conflict with the military, which can eventually tire, and it's all a bit of a letdown. Consequently this era of the Hulk somewhat deserves its obscurity.

Overall this volume shows that the Hulk is a great idea on paper but very difficult to realise in practice. The original series shows a complete uncertainty about what to do with the character and when revived later on he's let down by very long storylines, repetition with the military and some artistic confusion. Perhaps the original series had a mercy killing and there's not a great deal in the rest of the volume to suggest the best direction for the Hulk had yet been found.

Essential Ant-Man volume 1

1962 saw Marvel launch more than one hero based on an arthropod (arachnids are technically not insects). But whilst one soared to great fame, the other wandered along, went through multiple identities and ultimately has remained a minor player in the Marvel Universe. That hero was Ant-Man.

If you ever find yourself on QI and are asked "Which was the second Marvel superhero strip of the Silver Age?" think very, very carefully before risking an answer.

(For those unfamiliar with it, QI is a British television comedy quiz show devoted to obscure trivia and pedantry. Often the questions asked have a seemingly obvious answer that is in fact wrong and giving this answer sets off a klaxon and loses you points.)

"The Man in the Ant Hill!" from Tales to Astonish #27 is part of another, now obscure genre - the science fiction/fantasy and monster stories that Marvel had been telling prior to the superhero revival. It's the all too common tale of a scorned scientist seeking fame but finding his invention backfires on him, as Henry Pym's shrinking formula reduces his body in size too quickly, and he has to find a way to get to the growth formula with the complication of facing down ants. This is really part of the old genre rather than the new, although the divide between the two is far more blurred than is often assumed. There are no real signs of the traits of the superhero era that was growing - there's no costume, no real villain and no great characterisation of Pym beyond being a stock fame-seeking scientist. It wasn't until issue #35 in September 1962 that he became a regular feature and a costumed hero. So his claim to be the second hero feature after the Fantastic Four is contentious (as are some of the other claimants' but let's not go into those now).

As for Tales to Astonish itself, this was another of the various Marvel anthology series that morphed into a superhero title and is best known for carrying the Incredible Hulk from issue #60 onwards, eventually transforming into the Hulk's own title. The later issues would also carry Namor the Sub-Mariner, who took over Ant-Man's slot. We'll look to see why a vacancy opened. Essential Ant-Man volume 1 carries the Ant-Man/Giant-Man strips from Tales to Astonish #27 & #35-69, including the various back-up strips featuring the Wasp either solo or telling a story. All but a couple of the issues are plotted by Stan Lee who also scripts many, with others scripted by Larry Lieber or H.E. Huntley. The other two issues are written by Leon Lazarus and Al Hartley. The art sees runs by the likes of Jack Kirby, Don Heck, Dick Ayers, Carl Burgos and Bob Powell, with Steve Ditko contributing one issue and Larry Lieber drawing all the Wasp features, which he also scripts over Stan Lee plots.

The publication of this volume was a landmark back in 2002. Up until this point the Essential series had only focused on the biggest name heroes and teams and the idea of an Essential Ant-Man was largely just idle speculation on Usenet. But Marvel took the plunge in bringing one of its more obscure heroes' series back into print and the success of the volume has led to many other Marvel series being rescued from the depths of obscurity and brought back into print, including the Human Torch in Strange Tales, The Man called Nova, Ms. Marvel, Dazzler, Godzilla and many more.

But the volumes has also revealed just why these adventures are so forgotten. Frankly this is a series that's never quite sure why it's there, which does little to develop the world around the hero and which sees motivations, costumes, powers and identities regularly changed. And few of these changes feel like natural developments but rather sudden alterations made in individual stories. The result is that the series never gets a clear identity for itself. Perhaps that’s appropriate given Hank Pym's subsequent career with yet more identities to the point that he’s never really been clearly identified with a single one.

On the face of it a man who can shrink to a tiny size and communicate with ants sounds plainly silly. But aren't some of the other Marvel heroes equally silly? A blind man with enhanced senses becoming an all action crime fighter is patently absurd. So's a teenager getting the powers of a spider. Or another teenager who can turn into living flame. Or a man who can stretch his body in all manner of ways. But we've already made those leaps of faith and it's how the concepts are handled that has determined whether or not such characters have durability. One could easily nit-pick the shortcomings in Ant-Man's powers or question some of the leaps of logic (such as how exactly does a man move around so quickly either flying on the back of an ant or by catapult?) but such silliness is part and parcel of the era and a good writer in a later generation could doubtlessly easily come up with explanations for some of that if it was deemed necessary.

The real problem stems from the limited scope and development in the series. Apart from the Wasp the only recurring supporting cast that I can spot is a US government agent who appears twice. Otherwise we're limited to just Hank Pym and, from issue #44 onwards, Janet van Dyne. And Hank's motivations for why he does what he does change a bit without clear explanation. In the initial story he's just a fame seeing scientist whose invention gets out of control and he destroys it. But then he becomes an ongoing series and suddenly his serum is back with no explanation for why he brought it back. Nor is it clear why he's switched from using it as a way to cut down storage and travel to becoming a crime fighter. Nor is it clear why a biochemist is suddenly able to discover the means by which ants communicate and devise artificial means to enter that conversation.

A change of tack comes in issue #44 when we suddenly learn a whole new element of Hank's backstory. Now we discover that he once married a Hungarian woman called Maria who had fled communism but choose to visit the country on their honeymoon, where she was recognised, kidnapped and executed. And so the widowed Hank was motivated into fighting crime back home. Some of that just doesn't add up, and after being introduced in this issue the whole point is then ignored for the rest of the series save one issue when he goes on a mission behind the Iron Curtain. And there's also the uncomfortable point that Janet looks very much like a younger Maria, a point explicitly remarked upon at the time. And this was nearly two decades before a similar plot point was used in X-Men.

With the introduction of the Wasp the series takes a shift but in no way is this a partnership of equals. The Wasp may be brave and resourceful in battle, but all too often she is otherwise presented as a silly, flighty girl who spends her time wishing Hank would be more romantic or worrying about clothes and the like. Between issues #51 & #58 she gets her own back-up feature but in nearly all of these stories she is just narrating various science fiction stories to either orphans or veterans. The early 1960s were not yet a time for enlightened women, but even compared to Marvel Girl over in the X-Men the Wasp is not the most advanced character of her era. And Hank's attitude to her may not be overtly sexist but he frequently doubts her word and makes comments that border on misogynistic. And there's a late development when Hank devises the means to change size merely by thinking commands into his headgear - and he also adds the ability to make Janet shrink down without having to do anything herself! I don't know how many young girls were reading Tales to Astonish at the time (or many women have picked up this volume) but I doubt many dreamed of growing up to be the Wasp.

Throughout the run there's a succession of changes in the way that Hank operates his shape-changing powers. At first he pours a serum on himself but later he switches to a gas, then later to pills and finally to some undefined method of incorporating the size-changing into both his and Janet's bodies and activating it by cybernetic enhanced thought. There are several times where the method of the day fails, either because Hank gets cut off from what he needs to change size or because a foe makes use of them instead, but it rarely directly leads to him looking for a new method that will prevent such repetition.

Issue #49 sees the big change when Hank now starts growing and takes on the identity of Giant-Man. (Very rarely is the "Gi-Ant Man" pun actually exercised within these pages.) Yet it's here that his identity problems begin. He retains his power to shrink and for some strange reason he continues to use the moniker "Ant-Man" when he shrinks down, despite the difference between Ant-Man and Giant-Man being merely one of size. There's no attempt to pretend that the two are in any way separate individuals so one has to wonder why he uses the two separate names instead of finding one that can cover multiple sizes. The problem is resolved in issue #68 when it's revealed that his encounter with the Hidden Man's sill absorbing rays in the previous issue has robbed him of the ability to shrink down to Ant-Man (a point that makes no sense as Hank can still shrink to human size, albeit with more difficulty now) but up to this point it has left the hero with an inconsistent confusing identity. The final issues also see Hank settling down into a single size for his Giant-Man form but it's another change to add to the mess. And the structure of the stories isn't one of a long, ongoing journey of development so this doesn't feel like a natural turning point but just one more change in a long line of them.

The stories are also inconsistent on some basic details. For example exactly what communication is received from the ants - is it just normal words or just pictures? Are Ant-Man/Giant-Man and the Wasp's identities meant to be secret or not? Several stories use them as a plot point but in others both are pretty free about taking off their helmets and masks, and Hank is not exactly hiding his connections to the giant hero. He is also quite easy to contact in an emergency, especially when various foes strike.

Quite a number of the villains introduced in these stories have made appearances elsewhere, including Comrade X, Egghead, the Scarlet Beetle, the Hijacker, the Voice (although here he's mainly identified by his real name, Jason Cragg), the Chiltarians, the Porcupine, the Living Eraser, Supremacy, the Human Top (who later underwent a name change to something less hilarious), El Toro and the Beasts of Berlin. We also get the Black Knight, a modern day descendent of a hero from the 1950s "Marvel" (I forget what they were called at each precise stage). However without checking every single subsequent appearance in databases, I'm not sure how many of the "returns" are in fact reprints or flashbacks or other features reliving these adventures. And I suspect if they have shown up in further issues, they've been selected precisely for their ultra obscurity. The villains who appear to have never been seen since include various generic Communists, the Protector (who is running, surprise, surprise, a protection racket), Kulla the ruler of an alien dimension (who, amazingly for an alien in an early Silver Age Marvel, isn't trying to conquer the Earth - but then this is Tales to Astonish), the Time Master, the Kosmosians, Trago, the Magician, Colossus (no relation to the X-Men member), Second-Story Sammy, the Wrecker (no relation to the Thor villain), Madame Macabre and the Hidden Man. Villains from other series are strictly limited to Attuma and hordes of Atlanteans, from the pages of Fantastic Four. So really there are only three villains of any lasting note in this volume - Egghead (a name that back then was the equivalent of "nerd" or "geek"), who is still very much Hank Pym's enemy whatever title he's in, the Human Top who is better known as Whirlwind, and the second Black Knight who didn't last long anyway before being replaced by his nephew as a hero, and in any case was a revamp of a 1950s character. Consequently, the most significant villain to exclusively come out of the pages of these issues is none other than Whirlwind. That says a lot about why these stories are so often overlooked.

As for the stories themselves, they are frankly not at the cutting edge of early Silver Age Marvel. Rather they feel very generic. The artwork is generally okay but suffers from a turnover of pencillers and even though several of them are amongst the biggest Marvel names of the early 1960s such as Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers or Don Heck, few seem to be giving their best. The writing is also rather pedestrian - other than his relationship with his partner the hero experiences no present day problems outside of his adventuring. There's no supporting cast to interact with. Some of the villains are hooded but usually only one suspect is presented - this is especially true of the Protector. Few present any real lasting threat. Nor does the hero face any problems with public adulation, beyond getting irritated by visits from his fan club. This series is very much a conventional superhero feature from a company that was elsewhere doing a lot to beak down the pre-existing conventions.

There are, however, a few signs of the Marvel changes breaking through in the later issues. We get a couple of stories with big name guest-stars, including a battle with Spider-Man that is probably the volume's best known tale, and a fight with the Hulk that set up the latter's transfer to Tales to Astonish. That was the first sign of Giant Man's popularity starting to collapse. Up until issue #59 his page count had steadily grown, even if some of the pages were devoted to the Wasp's stories (which aren't terribly memorable - in most the protagonist finds their cunning backfires on them), culminating in issue #59 containing an eighteen page story plus a five page feature reminding us of our heroes' powers. But then the Hulk took up residence in half the book from issue #60 onwards, forcing the Giant-Man feature to shrink to fourteen pages, then twelve, until finally issue #69 ends on an ambiguous note as Hank worries about the danger he has put Janet in, and she wonders if he's about to retire. Issue #70 saw the feature replaced by Namor the Sub-Mariner.

And it's hard to get upset about the fate. The series was not the most dynamic or ground-breaking being put out even at the time and little was being done to develop the characters. Instead we have a comic pot-boiler, produced by many great talents passing time between more amazing assignments. The result is a series that doesn't try to push against the conventions or really develop the lead character but instead wanders through a succession of generic situations. Ant-Man may have had outrageous powers but in themselves that should have been no impediment to doing something bold with the character. The Wasp is equally not the most developed sidekick and so neither of the characters is really given a strong core for later writers to build on. Many have complained that they've found it difficult to take Hank Pym to a point where his late lashing out at the Wasp is forgotten, but it's clear from the character's roots that there wasn't a lot to the character to fall back on. This volume is very much one for completists.

Some non-essential Spider-Man Essentials

Spider-Man has made many guest appearances in other titles over the years. Thanks to the Essential series many of the earlier ones have also been reprinted. I’m going to skip the numerous cameos but there are a number of more substantial stories that are worth noting here. A full listing of appearances can be found on SpiderFan.org, who have an amazing year by year timeline of all appearances from full issues down to one panel cameos at Comics: By Year. I’ve made use of that timeline to track down the substantial guest appearances. (Sometimes when checking an issue I’ve discovered the appearance is just a cameo so I’ve not included it here, in case there’s you see something on SpiderFan.org’s list that isn’t here.)

I’ve decided to split this into in several sections – first all the substantial guest appearances from the first twenty years are listed as broadly most of these issues have now been “Essentialised” and it’s possible to list the few absentees. In turn I’ve broken the first twenty years in two at 1972, partially for length but also because the cut-off point roughly coincides with the launch of Marvel Team-Up. After 1981 I will just list the handful of ones from the remaining thirty years that have so far been covered in the Essentials. I don’t have access to every single one so a selection only follows:


Strange Tales Annual #2, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (with Steve Ditko inking), reprinted in Essential Human Torch volume 1 and also in Essential Fantastic Four volume 2

Strange Tales was one of a number of anthology series produced by Marvel that carried various genres during its run and is best known for introducing Dr. Strange, then also running Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD. But before that the Human Torch was given his own solo feature from issue #101 onwards (although from issue #123 the Thing became a co-star), which has become probably the single most forgotten of Marvel’s 1960s superhero features. The second annual has Spider-Man’s first ever guest appearance in another title. The story has what would become a fairly standard plot – one hero is framed for a crime, the other hero fights him for a while before realising his innocence and the two team up to bring the real criminal to justice. There’s some interesting features here such as Spider-Man seeking the Torch in the hope that if he can convince a publicly acceptable hero he can more easily clear his name, the Torch being a jealous hothead angry that Spidey gets all the headlines, there’s the first time Spider-Man adapts his webbing to deal with a particular foe – here adding supercold crystals to neutralise the Torch – and the real criminal is identified by a police inspector taking just a few minutes to go through the files. Curiously despite Spider-Man being framed for a crime and the newspapers falling for it, there’s no sign of Jonah or the Bugle. Indeed in general Spider-Man’s supporting cast are often completely absent in his guest appearances. Otherwise it’s a pretty fast-paced tale and only seems unoriginal in hindsight after so many later takes on the same formula. Unfortunately the art is an example that Jack Kirby generally just couldn’t draw a great Spider-Man, even with Ditko’s inking. The story also suffers from having the worst reproduction in this particular Essential volume. But it shows how Spidey and the Torch make for a good pairing, despite their irritations with each other.

The theme of the relationship of irritation between the two is covered again in #115 of the regular comic by Stan Lee & Dick Ayers, though Spidey himself makes only a cameo appearance. The Torch is informed that Spider-Man’s foe the Sandman is back in town, but instead of tipping off Spider-Man he challenges the Sandman himself, even disguising himself as Spidey when the Sandman doesn’t want to fight anyone else. The Torch succeeds but at the end Spidey arrives on the scene and notes the tensions between him and the Torch.

(Oh and another interesting story in this Essential volume, albeit absolutely nothing to do with Spidey, is #114 which has the first Silver Age appearance of Captain America – in a way. This Lee-Kirby story was widely forgotten about, even by Lee himself, until the late 1990s, when the team behind the brief-lived series Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty rediscovered it and created a sequel, with Cap and the Torch commenting on the absurdities of the original.)

Fantastic Four Annual #1, a back-up story by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (again with Steve Ditko inking), reprinted in Essential Fantastic Four volume 1

This six pager is the first retelling of a Spider-Man story, as it expands on the two & a third pages in Amazing Spider-Man #1 detailing Spider-Man’s first meeting with the Fantastic Four. This is literally just an extended fight sequence as Spidey takes on each of the Four one by one in more detail before Mr Fantastic stops the fight. A caption at the start claims this was created by popular demand after the letters received from readers. I hope the contemporary audience was satisfied – this was one of the earliest Marvel annuals but like many back-up features in subsequent annuals it’s entirely skippable.

Tales to Astonish #57 by Stan Lee and Dick Ayers, reprinted in Essential Astonishing Ant Man volume 1

Tales to Astonish was another of the anthology series, best known for giving a home to both the Incredible Hulk and the Sub-Mariner. But before that Ant-Man debuted way back in issue #27 and returned (by popular demand) in issue #35 for a run that lasted until issue #69. En route he gained a sidekick in the form of the Wasp, and then inverted his powers to also become Giant Man. Additionally the Wasp gained her own back up feature, first merely narrating stories but from #57 it became a more conventional adventure story. Issue #57 was also the issue in which the Wasp was given her “sting” weapon – and it features an encounter with Spider-Man. This time the villain Egghead tricks Giant Man and the Wasp into fighting Spider-Man as a distraction whilst he steals a payroll truck. When Giant Man discovers the crime the fight is cancelled and the heroes track down and defeat the villain. Once again we have an early example of what would become a stock formula for team-ups in years to come. And this is the third time that Spider-Man’s encounters with other heroes leads to a fight between them. The Wasp’s dislike of Spider-Man is introduced here and would remain poor for years – “I guess it’s because wasps and spiders are such natural enemies!” But the Wasp doesn’t have any real wasp power in her and it’s just a silly dislike. Also noticeably absent is Spider-Man’s witty banter during the fights. Here he’s just a standard hero, if a little angrier than most when attacked, and really anyone could have filled his role. In general this is a fairly mundane piece and entirely forgettable. But someone remembered it...

The story gained additional interest thirty-five years later in 1999 when John Byrne wrote and drew the 12 issue series Spider-Man: Chapter One retelling & refining Spidey’s first year. For some reason he opted to devote the penultimate issue (#11) to retelling this story even though I don’t think it was on many people’s list of key adventures to cover in the limited space available (condensing some 20+ issues into 12). Was the intention to show an example of Spidey’s usual early relationship with other superheroes? (That would at least explain why this one and not a Human Torch story.) Or was Byrne under pressure to include at least one story that isn’t in Essential Spider-Man volume 1? Or was it just creative indulgence?

Avengers #11, by Stan Lee and Don Heck, reprinted in Essential Avengers volume 1

This story sees the Avengers’ enemy Kang the Conqueror create a robotic duplicate of Spider-Man who successfully tricks the Avengers into believing the absent Iron Man has been kidnapped and taken to a temple in Mexico. The Avengers each make their own way there whilst Kang time teleports the robot over, and one by one the robot picks them off, helped by a soft nerve gas in the area dulling the heroes’ abilities. But before the robot can send the Avengers to Kang’s time the real Spider-Man shows up and declares his spider-sense spotted the duplicate and so he followed it to see what it was up to. Spidey fights the robot, eventually finding its deactivation switch and destroying it. This is a rather silly issue and I get the impression that it had a late in the day rewrite to include the real Spider-Man, possibly in place of a suddenly returned Iron Man who appears on the cover but not in the tale, either because Iron Man’s own story went a different way (but I’m not too familiar with contemporary Iron Man continuity) or because someone in Marvel realised it would be cheating the readers to lure them in with a promise of Spider-Man and not deliver the real thing. The most ludicrous point is the real Spider-Man suddenly showing up in Mexico – there’s no way he could have followed a teleporting robot there, and then since he doesn’t directly interact with the Avengers how is he to get back home? The artwork of Spider-Man is also quite bad (although there’s an even worse example in this volume in a cameo in issue #3, drawn by Jack Kirby) – he looks too muscular and the web lines aren’t kept under control. Overall this is a pretty poor story also let down by some of the silliness of the early Avengers years such as their rigid adherence to meeting protocols and their limited equipment that prevents them all going to Mexico together. This feels like the first case of a gratuitous guest appearance for the sake of sales rather than to tell a decent story.

Daredevil #16-17, by Stan Lee and John Romita, reprinted in Essential Daredevil volume 1

When Daredevil’s series originally launched the cover proclaimed it was in the same Marvel tradition that had brought Spider-Man, and Daredevil himself was given an early boost by his guest appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #16 (which came out the month between Daredevil #3 & 4). It’s surprising that it took so long for Spider-Man to make a reciprocal full appearance (these issues came out the same months as Amazing #36 & #37). This two part appearance saw John Romita draw Spidey for the first ever time, coming out a few months before he took over on Amazing Spider-Man. Romita’s first take on Spider-Man is a little different from what would come, as at this stage he’s largely trying to match Steve Ditko’s version of both Spidey and Peter Parker. However he gets Jonah straight off and doesn’t do too badly with Aunt May.

Plotwise we have a near rerun of the Giant Man and Egghead plot. Once again a villain is planning a big crime and as a distraction he frames one hero to trick another into fighting him, whilst the real crime happens. On this occasion the villain is the Masked Marauder but curiously it’s the host hero, Daredevil, who is framed whereas my impression is that it’s more usual for the guest hero to fall victim to this (although with Jonah briefly appearing, Spider-Man gets blamed by the Bugle anyway). Also unusually the Marauder doesn’t hide his own involvement with many assuming one or other of the heroes is in league with him. The second part sees a climax as Daredevil sets a trap for both Spider-Man and the Masked Marauder and the two heroes fight once more before the villain shows up, forcing them to join forces. The main point of originality in the story comes at the end of the first issue as Spider-Man searches for Daredevil with his Spider-sense and finds Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson’s office and assumes Foggy is Daredevil. Spidey breaks in to challenge Nelson upfront, even dangling him out of the window. Often the Spider-Man we get in guest appearances seems more hotheaded and aggressive than in his own series, and this is more than just presenting events from others’ point of view. Spidey’s accusations would also have repercussions in Daredevil’s series as Foggy is in no rush to deny them when secretary Karen Page asks if they’re true, instead enjoying her assumption that he’s a heroic adventurer. However at the end the escaping Marauder overhears them...

In general we’re yet again seeing a use of a stock formula of a framing, a fight and then a team-up. When read in close succession the heavy reliance on this formula does stand out, although during the original publication these stories came out months if not years apart and readers may not have noticed the similarities so readily.

Daredevil #27, by Stan Lee and Gene Colan, reprinted in Essential Daredevil volume 2

The Marauder storyline concludes in this issue, which contains a small guest appearance by Spider-Man. He is fighting a few thugs when Daredevil cuts in, to Spidey’s annoyance as this can damage a hero’s reputation. Daredevil asks if he’s seen Stilt-Man (who was actually taken seriously in those days) and they go their separate ways whilst Stilt-Man and the Marauder team up to kidnap Matt, Foggy and Karen in order to learn Daredevil’s identity. Stilt-Man is sent to find Matt’s twin brother Mike (actually Matt in disguise – don’t ask!) but runs into Spider-Man who is eventually defeated with a gas pellet. Meanwhile Daredevil has defeated the Marauder, who falls to his death, and then disables Stilt-Man’s mechanism. For Spider-Man this is quite a brief encounter that shows his continued tense relationship with other heroes.

X-Men #35, by Roy Thomas and Werner Roth, reprinted in Essential Classic X-Men volume 2

This appears to be the first time a substantial Spider-Man appearance was written by someone other than Stan Lee. Spidey had had a previous brief cameo in issue #27, also by Thomas and Roth, where he beats the Beast and Iceman to capture some bank robbers. With the X-Men badly understrength at this point Spider-Man is offered membership but he declines, having recently gone through the mess of the Avengers’ offer (in Amazing annual #3).

Issue #35 is another fight due to wrong assumptions but they’re accidental this time. The issue is part of a wider story involving the kidnap of Professor X by Factor Three. The X-Men’s ally Banshee locates Factor Three’s base where he encounters a robotic spider guard, and before he passes out he sends a message “Beware the spider” to the X-Men. Meanwhile Peter Parker has gone a motorcycle ride outside New York and finds himself strangely drawn up to Westchester where a metal egg appears of the sky and lands, revealing the robotic spider. Peter changes to Spider-Man and fights the robot, tricking it into destroying itself. Meanwhile the X-Men’s computer Cerebro detects mutant activity in the area and the X-Men dash to deal with it. They assume Spider-Man is the menace Banshee warned off and battle him until Marvel Girl contacts them with the news Cerebro’s activity has ceased suggesting Spider-Man is not the menace. Spidey tells them about the robotic spider but refuses to let the X-Men give an apology and explanation. This is quite a packed issue and generally Thomas gets the hang of Spider-Man’s dialogue, though the journey into the countryside and “drawn by fate” seem at odds with the regular series. However we get yet another fight for the sake of it which doesn’t really contribute to the ongoing storyline, and more jerkish behaviour from Spider-Man as a hero who’s been misunderstood more times than any other is reluctant to give the X-Men the benefit of the doubt. The artwork also doesn’t quite capture Spider-Man correctly. Again this feels like an appearance for the sake of it.

Fantastic Four #73, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, reprinted in Essential Fantastic Four volume 4 and also in Essential Daredevil volume 2

This is a crossover climax to a storyline in Daredevil (hence appearing in both Essentials) in which Daredevil and Doctor Doom briefly swapped bodies. After the process is reversed Daredevil escapes and heads to warn the Fantastic Four, but Doom is able to mimic Daredevil’s voice and tells the FF that Daredevil is Doom in disguise, coming to attack them. After briefly overpowering the Human Torch, Daredevil runs into Spider-Man who believes him and agrees to help, and then goes off to get another pair of hands – Thor, who has recently had his powers stripped from them. This leads into a protracted battle as Daredevil fights Mr Fantastic, Thor the Thing and Spider-Man the Human Torch, defeating him by luring him into a chemical plant and overpowering him with fumes. The entire battle is ended by the arrival of the Invisible Girl who confirms that Daredevil is the real one because he can’t be Dr. Doom as she’s just seen the real Doom on television, giving a speech in Latveria. (Now which Marvel villain has more robotic duplicates than any other...?) This particular issue as a whole is pretty poor and little more than an excuse to have the Fantastic Four fight some guest stars. However it does show that Spider-Man’s relationship with other heroes is evolving in that he is first willing to trust Daredevil and then able to talk Thor into joining them by suggesting he’s a coward. This issue came out the same month as Amazing #59 and is a sign of how Spidey’s early antagonistic relationship with other superheroes has been refined to one where he’s more willing to work with others and even knows which buttons to press.

Silver Surfer #14, by Stan Lee and John Buscema, reprinted in Essential Silver Surfer volume 1

The Surfer’s original series ran into early troubles sparking radical changes, including ditching the bi-monthly double sized format in favour of a standard monthly, and then started running guest stars in most issues. Spider-Man was the first of the regular guest stars and we get another fight when Spider-Man’s webbing accidentally catches the Surfer’s board and the two soon come to blows as Spidey wants off but the Surfer believes he is being tricked by humans so he can be attacked yet again. Spidey is pretty aggressive, pursuing the matter further but the Surfer declines to use his full force. The police and military show up to take down the Surfer, but when he leaves himself vulnerable to save a boy both they and Spidey back off. Spidey leaves realising he’s been guilty of the same misjudgement he is so often the victim of. Spidey once more shows his aggressive, hotheaded side that is so often the main focus of his guest appearances and the similarities between the way the world treats him and he treats the Surfer aren’t as fully explored as they might be. Given the direction of the book it’s hard to deny this is an audience boosting appearance though.

Captain America and the Falcon (as it was then titled) #137-138, by Stan Lee, Gene Colan (#137) and John Romita (#138), reprinted in Essential Captain America volume 3

This story focuses upon the relationship between Cap and the Falcon, with the latter feeling undervalued and seeking to prove his worth, and a Harlem gang lord blackmailing the government by threatening to start riots. The Falcon spots Spider-Man and decides to bring him in to prove his worth, and he sends his companion hawk Redwing to follow Spider-Man, leading him to Peter and Harry’s flat. The Falcon assumes Harry is Spider-Man and captures him, only for the real Spider-Man to save him, knocking the Falcon out in the process. The following issue sees Spider-Man seeking the Falcon for a rematch and to learn why he attacked him, only to find the Falcon has been captured by the Harlem gang lord. Spidey rescues the Falcon and fights him, with Captain America and Redwing joining in, until the Falcon realises he’s been a jerk and they all team up to take down the gang lord. Similar to the earlier Daredevil appearance we see heroes proving rather better than everyone else at getting close to other heroes’ secret identities, only to accuse the first able-bodied man in sight upon arrival. The Falcon’s motivations for fighting Spider-Man are understandable, though Spider-Man’s reluctance to leave the matter after his first fight isn’t so clear. The story is mainly a spotlight on the Falcon but as a hero with a poor relationship with the law, Spidey is one of the few who could serve the role in this story and so his appearance here feels more natural than many.

Daredevil #77 by Gerry Conway and Gene Colan, reprinted in Essential Daredevil volume 4

An interesting little tale that starts with Spider-Man seeing Daredevil passing in the night and each man reflects on his recent relationship issues – Spider-Man on Gwen Stacy thinking he killed her father and how she doesn’t know Spider-Man is her boyfriend (this issue came out the same month as Amazing #97), Daredevil on how Karen Page does know his identity couldn’t marry him with both his identities. It’s a nice little compare and contrast moment between the two heroes. Peter gets back to his flat where he’s visited by Mary Jane (although the inker confuses her with Gwen so in black & white, at least, she looks blonde). However Peter quickly aborts the meeting because of commotion outside which also draws in Daredevil. In Central Park a glowing giant teardrop speaks, demanding to speak to Namor the Sub-Mariner who has been drawn there. Just as Namor approaches, Daredevil shows up and assumes Namor is responsible and the two get in a fight. Spider-Man subsequently arrives and also engages in battle, refusing to accept Daredevil’s claim it’s his fight, and the two take on the Sub-Mariner with Spider-Man almost competing with Daredevil. The fight is stopped when the teardrop explodes to reveal a mysterious woman who demands Namor come with her, and having detected vibrant young power within Spider-Man she asks for him also. The woman, Namor, Spidey and the teardrop all vanish, leaving Daredevil to head home. Whilst there are some subplots advanced in this issue, the main part feels very much like both Namor and Spider-Man are intruding upon Daredevil’s title. Spider-Man is given some good scenes in the early part of the issue that tie in well to then-current events in his own title, but once in action he acts like the jerk he so often is in guest appearances, refusing to back off and being quite competitive.

Spider-Man and Namor’s story continues in Sub-Mariner #40, again by Gerry Conway and Gene Colan, but as Daredevil didn’t accompany them that issue isn’t included in his Essential run, whilst the Sub-Mariner has probably been served worse by the Essentials than any other Silver Age Marvel hero, with just one solitary volume so far that only gets as far as the first issue of his series, and that didn’t appear until 2009. Maybe one day we’ll get further volumes that reach #40 and I’ll be able to come back and add my thoughts on that particular issue.


With the exception of that Sub-Mariner issue, that’s all the major appearances I’m aware of from this era. And look how few there were. Spider-Man may have been an early hit whose popularity then grew and grew, but he wasn’t mercilessly dropped into numerous other series to boost them (though the Silver Surfer appearance was an exception). Instead the guest appearances are limited and aiming to tell good stories, to mixed success. Spider-Man also encountered a number of other heroes in his own series, but wisely Marvel limited those and created a specific title for team-ups at the end of this period.

The thing that stands out the most in many of these appearances is just how much of a hot-headed jerk Spider-Man can be, getting into fights all too easily. It’s little wonder that so many other heroes automatically assume the worst of him. But it’s also disappointing that so often this is almost all there is to Spider-Man. Whilst it would be possible to present him as a mysterious, uncertain figure as seen from the host character’s point of view, the stories invariably assume familiarity and show or reference his life as Peter Parker, so removing that angle of approach. This just leaves a jerk who easily gets into fights for the sake of it – but very often that’s all he’s there for.