What If...? 6

What If the X-Men had Lost Inferno?

What If...? #6
Writer: Danny Fingeroth
Penciler: Ron Lim
Inker: Keith Williams
Colorist: Tom Vincent
Letterer: Gary Fields
Editor: Craig Anderson
Ed-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

In this alternate reality S'ym and the Soul Sword were returned to Limbo simultaneously and so he was able to grab the sword and return to Earth where he joined with Madelyne Pryor and slew all the X-Men and X-Factor, bar Wolverine whose demonic form was kept as a pet, then sacrificed Nathan Christopher to open the dimensional rift permanently with the whole of Earth invaded. Dr Strange organises a group of sorcerers including his arch enemy Baron Mordo supported by surviving heroes. Wolverine, the Hulk and S'ym lead an attack from which only Strange, Mordo, Shadowcat and the Human Torch escape. S'ym plans to expand Limbo across the Multiverse and then will be powerful enough to resist the Living Tribunal when it shows up to judge the Earth but time is not on his side. Dr Strange discovers the mannequin of Rachel Summers and frees her. Strange plans to use the Phoenix Force to purge the Earth of all demonic influence though it will kill many humans as well. S'ym, Madelyne and Wolverine attack with Mordo revealing he has betrayed the resistors. In a brutal fight all bar Strange and Rachel are killed with multiple betrayals. Rachel summons Phoenix who engulfs the planet just as the Living Tribunal arrives and allows Earth to live. The survivors of humanity are reduced to starting again in caves. Nine months later Alicia Storm gives birth and names her son after Johnny.

Just eight months after Inferno had ended came this alternative take (don't be fooled by the cover dates; this was slap bang in the middle of Marvel bringing them closer to publication). It's a good idea in principle but it falls into the traps of a lot of What If...? stories that feel the need to show a whole legion of characters from across the Marvel universe even if not strictly necessary - Reed Richards and Dr Doom working together for S'ym is the most obvious needless appearance - and taking a bit too long to explain both the events in the regular universe and the point of divergence in detail that limits the amount of space to tell the story in which is thus limited to Dr Strange rushing around trying to find the magic or power that will stop the demons. Also far too many What If...? stories go for gratuitous killing of popular characters in general fight scenes with many deaths failing to advance the plot. Here at least some of the deaths drive the plot such as Shadowcat's.

The general premise of What If...? is that one thing is changed though here there are actually two changes from regular continuity. The big one is S'ym getting the Soul Sword and returning to Earth in time but other details include Alicia Storm being pregnant when she was not in the regular reality (nor was she actually human but that is a later retcon). Also Dr Druid is shown amongst the group of sorcerers when at this point he was lost in the time vortex though it doesn't affect the flow of the story.

Overall this What If...? focused on characters but doesn't really tell us very much about them through placing them in alternative circumstances. Wolverine is shocked out of his demonic nature when he kills Kitty but his friendships with a succession of young girls have done much to provide the innocent contrast and this reveals little. Dr Strange is shown battling the Inferno demons when he was otherwise engaged during his own series (including being temporarily in the body of a female rat) but again we get little insight into him. Baron Mordo, S'ym and Madelyne Pryor all turn on their respective allies but none was exactly trustworthy. The Human Torch dies heroically but again that's not surprising for the Fantastic Four. When the biggest "revelation" in an issue is that a character then assumed to be human is human and giving birth to a human instead of being a Skrull in disguise who lays eggs and all that is only a revelation because of a retcon a few years later then the story has a problem. This was the very early days of the second series of What If...? and it still hadn't found a workable formula to explain the moment in history that is changed and how, build an altered world, and tell a strong story all in 28 pages. All this really offers is just the chance to see Dr Strange fighting demons and little more of interest.

Web of Spider-Man 48 - Inferno

The All-New All-Daring Jason Macendale the Replacement Hobgoblin pursues Spider-Man into the sewers.

Web of Spider-Man #48

Writer: Gerry Conway
Penciler: Alex Saviuk
Inker: Keith Williams
Letters: Rick Parker
Color: J. Cohen
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

Spider-Man briefly hallucinates about the demons and flees the Daily Bugle. Coming to his sense he realises New York is even worse then he imagined and sets off to find Mary Jane. Others deal with the demons in their own way. Gloria Grant's date Eduardo Lobo takes out a fork-lift truck with a pipe, winning her affections. The Kingpin punches a demon into oblivion, irritated by the distraction. Meanwhile the Hobgoblin is struggling with the changes inflicted on him and thinks he's mad when he sees a giant lizard the size of a man. Spotting Spider-Man he follows him as the wallcrawler reaches the studio where Mary Jane had a session then goes down into the sewers where the model and her crew are under attack by demons. The Hobgoblin catches up with Spider-Man and is now much faster and more powerful, with Spider-Man at times barely able to sense his foe's blasts. Meanwhile Mary Jane comes up with the idea of setting off a gas explosion to deal with the demons and when Spider-Man and the Hobgoblin come into view the latter's cape proves highly flammable. Out in Queens Aunt May sees the storm over Manhattan and worries about Peter.

Although Inferno still has two more Spider-Man issues to go we've come to the climax of the Hobgoblin part of the story. However with so much else going on in the issue we get little more than the Hobgoblin coming to terms with how he's been changed, with his face taking time to become truly demonic, and then a brief fight with Spider-Man. But it's sufficient to establish the Hobgoblin's new enhanced powers and gives the character a sense of dignity and menace for about the first time since he took over the costume. It somewhat puts the character's weakness in earlier issues in perspective as they have been setting up his search for strength and greater power whilst it also provides a personal angle to the conflict as the Hobgoblin blames both Spider-Man and Harry Osborn for the events that led him to become a demon and now seeks revenge.

There's a few scenes of other characters with some interesting moments. Harry Osborn pops by Aunt May's and from his thoughts it seems as though he knows Peter helped him last issue - so has he remembered Peter's identity? It's a subtle moment not touched upon for a while. Another mystery comes with the strange super strength of Eduardo Lobo but the standout moment has to be with the Kingpin. Coming out of his office to find his henchman the Arranger and various thugs cowering from a demon in the reception the Kingpin calmly destroys it with one punch and then tells his subordinate to get back to day to day business whilst he makes further plans for dealing with Daredevil. Despite being less than two pages long the scene is promoted on the cover and provides a fantastic moment that is all the better for its briefness.

This issue is struggling to balance the immediate needs and the ongoing storylines but manages to provide a good set of moments to bring a satisfactory conclusion to the Hobgoblin saga that serves to re-energise the character and make him a viable threat going forward.

Web of Spider-Man 47 - Inferno

The series finds a writer who will last a good while.

Web of Spider-Man #47

Writer: Gerry Conway
Penciler: Alex Saviuk
Inker: Keith Williams
Letters: R. Parker
Color: J. Cohen
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

Whilst New York continues to experience random demonic madness and Peter and Mary Jane briefly stay with Aunt May, placing Kristy with her for a time, the Hobgoblin is searching for something first at the ruins of the Osborn chemical factory and then later at Harry Osborn's home out just outside the city. Peter is visiting Harry to find him obsessed with finding something when the Hobgoblin attacks demanding Harry give him some unspecified formula. Peter becomes Spider-Man and fights back but the Hobgoblin is only sent away when Harry claims the formula can be found in the safe at his factory. The whole situation is contributing to Harry's anxiety as he realises the face in the mirror was his own.

Web of Spider-Man had long been the runt of the litter. Launched back in 1984 as a replacement for Marvel Team-Up (at a time when team-up books where generally fading away; reportedly this was because it was one of the concepts that did not transfer well from the newsstands to the direct market) it soon got into a creative mess. A glance at the credits would suggest that a new Spider-Man editor ditched the initial creative team of Louise Simonson and Greg LaRocque (carried over from Marvel Team-Up) too rapidly then struggled to find not only replacements but also a purpose for the book. There was a brief period when it focused on Peter Parker going out of New York with reporter Joy Mercado on assignments for Jonah's magazine but that ended after a terrible story involving the Troubles in Northern Ireland with David Michelinie and Marc Silvestri hurriedly moved on and the series then drifted into an almost permanent fill-in without even making a virtue of being a showcase book. The presence of Spider-Man's name in the title kept it as one of the top sellers but something had to give. By this time the series had finally found a lasting penciller with Alex Saviuk having reached nearly a year (albeit with the odd issue skipped for other projects) and he would go on to chalk up nearly seven years in total on the book but no writer had done more than seven issues in a row. Until now.

At first glance it appears that this and the next issue were simply assigned to a regular writer on one of the other Spider-Man books simply to make it easier to co-ordinate the crossover. But after one further issue by a passing writer Conway would stay around for nearly two years and together with Saviuk the title would finally get some stability. Perhaps some warning siren should have sounded that only two lasting Spider-Man writers could be found at any given time and maybe there should have been a reassessment of the need to have three separate Spider-Man titles on the market although it probably wasn't commercially viable at the time to simply cancel one and permanently double the frequency of another. But for now big things were finally happening in the title.

This is the second Hobgoblin and already signs of problems with the character are apparent. How the original Hobgoblin's identity was revealed and the situation that led to the character being killed off and replaced by Jason Macendale (previously Jack O'Lantern) has been discussed in many places as a sign of the general editorial mess in an earlier period of the title. It's not worth going into detail here save for noting that one consequence was that one of Spider-Man's major foes was now a character generally treated as a loser whose incompetence often led to his downfall. Here it's notable that he charges in on the attack and doesn't stop to specify just what he is searching for. A more rational approach would have been to capture Liz and little Normie Osborn as hostages then calmly present his demands to Harry. This is basically what the original Hobgoblin had done although by that stage the only secrets of the original Green Goblin to be discovered was a notebook with a duplicate list of hideouts already raided. But this Hobgoblin was never written as being on the same level as the original. Instead he was all too often a mindless thug to hit first, think later and was sometimes used to demonstrate other foes' strength such as when Tombstone had thrown him out of the Kingpin's window in one of his earliest appearances. Although he presents a clear danger to civilians such as the Osborns and does make good use of some new weapons such as a tear gas sprayer, one way or another something needed to be done about the legacy of the Green Goblin to have a more dangerous goblin foe.

The Hobgoblin's not the only one who doesn't think things through too carefully. Peter is very concerned that Harry may come to remember his identity as Spider-Man yet he changes into costume to deal with the Hobgoblin all too quickly and makes no attempt to protect his identity such as suggesting he's been following the goblin or declaring that he's got Peter to safety. At the end he swings away to go to Manhattan with no indication that Peter would make a further appearance. It may be a convention of the genre that those around the hero don't notice such things very often but this is in a storyline when Peter is especially concerned about keeping his secret.

This issue serves to reintroduce the Hobgoblin and set him up as a threat to Harry Osborn but also demonstrates well how something needed to be done to get past the mess that had been left by replacing the character in the first place. It also shows a Spider-Man surprisingly casual about his secret identity. This may have been a rush assignment given the wider problems on the book but it isn't the best start for a permanent writer.

Spectacular Spider-Man Annual 8 - The Evolutionary War

Spider-Man faces new revelations about the Original Clone Saga.

Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #8

1st story: Return to Sender
Script: Gerry Conway
Pencils: Mark Bagley
Lettering: Rick Parker
Inks: Keith Williams
Color: Bob Sharon
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

The High Evolutionary is making a couple of final investigations in this penultimate chapter of the event. He goes out into space to investigate the Young Gods, a group of twelve humans genetically advanced by the various pantheons on Earth and taken away by the Celestials, but judges them "only children with god-like powers" and leaves to continue his plans. However Daydreamer reads his mind and discovers his plan with the Young Gods dividing in two over whether they should seek to stop him or not interfere in human destiny. One faction goes to confront the Evolutionary on Earth with the other following to stop them. Meanwhile Spider-Man encounters the Purifiers chasing a woman and is shocked to discover she resembles his dead former girlfriend Gwen Stacy. He soon realises this is her clone and catches up with her when she is captured by the Purifiers. Transported back to the Evolutionary's base Spidey gets caught up in the battle between the Purifiers and the Young Gods whilst the Evolutionary makes a careful study of Gwen's clone and comes to a startling revelation.

There's a lot going on in this annual so let's get the biggest problem out of the way first. The Young Gods simply do not fit into Spider-Man's world. They are a very obscure group of characters originally introduced by Gerry Conway in his early 1970s run on Thor with a later writer refining them and adding the Celestial connection. They have had very few appearances over the years, primarily because few other writers have touched them and Conway was either not at Marvel or working on inappropriate series. Here they just stick out like a sore thumb and it's easy to see why there was no great demand for them to return or be given their own series. The fight scene in the Evolutionary's headquarters (now a giant submarine) could have featured any group of heroes for all the difference it makes. And Daydreamer's role at the end doesn't match her powers which are given in the "Fact Pages" later in the annual as "Limited precognition, verbal and telepathic thought control, the ability to create 'visions'". None of this explains how she is able to neutralise and reverse the effects of a genetic virus that transforms a person "on a cellular level into a near duplicate of the original" and restore "Gwen" to her true self.

This brings us to what the annual should be notable for as the retcon here should by rights have completely stopped one of the most notorious Spider-Man stories of all time. Contrary to myth the heavy retconning of the events of the Original Clone Saga began in the 1980s before anyone had heard of Ben Reilly. The clone of Gwen Stacy had not been seen since the end of the original saga (which was also Conway's last issue of Amazing Spider-Man) when she made her peace with both Peter and what she really was and there was never any real need to bring her back. But here we get the revelation that she isn't a clone after all. The Evolutionary reveals that he wondered how a university professor could have come up with cloning (clearly forgetting that in the Marvel Universe numerous academics have been able to access and develop all manner of advanced technology) and instead that he had developed the genetic virus then kidnapped another woman similar to Gwen and infected her to create what appeared to be a complete genetic duplicate. (Incidentally the name "Joyce Delaney" doesn't appear in this annual despite what some synopses online state.)

There is so much about this that just doesn't make sense. Firstly why is the Evolutionary so concerned about the work of a long dead university professor whose work has left only one remaining clone around? There is nothing indicating that his plans for genetically advancing the human race can be derailed by this. Secondly if cloning was beyond the ability of Warren then how did he come up with the genetic virus? Thirdly if Gwen Stacy wasn't a clone then what about the others? Who was the Spider-Man clone? Carrion claimed to be a clone of Warren gone wrong so who was he actually? Finally if Gwen's clone was actually another woman then how come her disappearance wasn't noticed?

Some of this would be resolved in a forthcoming issue of Spectacular Spider-Man but it began the trend of partial retcons of the Clone Saga that didn't cover every detail and which would require further stories & retcons to clean things up, often including explaining how Carrion fitted into the new version of events. But it's also notable that the revelations in this annual should have closed off the possibility of bringing back any other clones as the genetic virus could simply have been purged from the system. (However instead the annual was largely ignored for much of the Clone Saga with the revelations here simply brushed aside until a persistent assistant editor managed to get the only issue of Scarlet Spider Unlimited to address them. But that's a story for another day.) It's a pity as the genetic virus approach would have been a much easier way to get the story settled once and for all.

It's not clear why (presumably) Conway felt the need to revisit the Clone Saga at all. Was it because there was growing public awareness that cloning did not lead to fully grown identical duplicates being made in laboratories? Was it to shut down the possibility of other writers bringing back the clones? If so then it was spectacularly unsuccessful. But the result is a big retcon of a story from thirteen years earlier that could have just left things there and then.

(On the subject of continuity this story also repeats a common continuity error by Conway. For some reason he repeatedly got the details of Peter's high school years wrong, here claiming that Peter and Mary Jane knew each other then when in fact they didn't meet until Peter was at university. Time and again he would make this error and also imply that Peter had dated Liz Allen in high school with Mary Jane disliking her then. This has appeared so many times and so clearly in his Spider-Man stories from both the 1970s and 1980s that it can't be a mere misinterpretation.)

This annual would have worked a lot better as an earlier chapter in The Evolutionary War when it would have made more sense for the High Evolutionary to be exploring genetic anomalies as he is a natural character to use to explore the truth behind Warren's experiments. It doesn't feel like a penultimate chapter at all and instead feels like a fill-in marking time between the two Avengers annuals. The obsession with the Young Gods also weighs this story down further. However there are some good moments such as the two scenes between Peter and Mary Jane as they face the memory of Gwen and just what it says about their relationship with each other. But overall this is a mess of a story weighed down by a disproportionate focus on inappropriate guest stars and a needless retcon that makes little sense.


2nd story: Opposing forces
Writer: Gerry Conway
Pencils: Mark Bagley
Inker: Mike Esposito
Letters: Rick Parker
Color: Bob Sharon
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

Several of the Young Gods have travelled to Jerusalem where they discover an ancient robot buried in the hills that feeds off anger and is triggered by the presence of the Young Gods and an Israeli army patrol fighting a group of teenage Palestinian protestors. The Young Gods argue over whether to get involved and charge in but only achieve success when several come together to form the Uni-Mind.

Rather than a back-up focusing on some Spider-Man characters we instead get a solo tale for the Young Gods that shows off the differences in their philosophies about getting involved with human affairs as well as a demonstration of their powers and a rather forced message about the power of working together. This tale just shows why the Young Gods have not interested other writers as they're a rather dull cliched set of characters. Putting the story here along with five "Fact Pages" about them just adds to the sense that they've taken over Spider-Man's annual unnecessarily. It ends with a caption announcing "To Be Continued... Watch future issues of Spectacular Spider-Man to find out where!" but instead they wouldn't be seen again until a multipart story in Marvel Comics Presents in the early 1990s. And it's easy to see why. This is just a waste.


3rd story: The High Evolutionary: Kindred Spirits
Story: Mark Gruenwald
Breakdowns: Ron Lim
Finishes: Tony DeZuniga
Letters: Ken Lopez
Colors: Gregory Wright
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Chief: Tom DeFalco

This chapter tells of how the High Evolutionary returned to mortal form albeit far more advanced than contemporary humans, the creation of Counter-Earth and his relationship with Adam Warlock. The Counter-Earth saga has a notably more scientific approach and veers away from the Biblical parallel of the original story whilst there's also a retelling of the final (for then) showdown between Warlock and the High Evolutionary.

Once more the saga is retelling past Marvel stories though the encounter with Warlock was another flashback due to his own title ending before it could happen (although it was prophesised) and he was soon after killed off. That was one of Mark Gruenwald's earliest pieces of continuity surgery so with this chapter he has now come full circle. Also coming full circle is the way the Evolutionary starts and ends the chapter in his energy thought form, almost as though anyone missing this annual (such as someone who read both Avengers books but not the crossovers) would not feel they were missing something. However it's a pity that the reasons behind Warlock's false belief that Counter-Earth has been destroyed is not explained here beyond speculation that his Soul Gem is interfering with his perception. Otherwise it's a straightforward summary of a distinct period of the Evolutionary's appearances.

Other material includes "The Young Gods Fact Pages!" outlining their origin and each of the characters. Yet again it reinforces the idea that this annual wants to be a Young Gods annual. For some reason a lot of 1980s Spider-Man annuals have a tendency to forget who was the star of the series and suggests that many creators were longing for the days of Marvel Team-Up. This is especially disappointing given how important the revelation in this annual should have been for Spider-Man continuity in the long-term.

Web of Spider-Man 65 - Acts of Vengeance

"The Last Act of Vengeance" is the title of this issue and many readers (and perhaps even some editorial staff) were no doubt going "We hope!" It concludes as the group of villains seek money from the Kingpin whilst Spider-Man has to find a way to get back down to the ground.

Web of Spider-Man #65

Writer: Gerry Conway
Penciler: Alex Saviuk
Inker: Keith Williams
Letterer: Rick Parker
Colourist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Spidey's solution of webbing a plane and then clinging to it until it lands and Graviton's power wears off is somewhat on the fantastical side but, as often with Acts of Vengeance, there's a famous Silver Age precedent, here Spider-Man's mission to repair a space capsule in the very first issue of Amazing Spider-Man. Elsewhere the Chameleon has abandoned the hideout and left faked documents implying he's working with the Kingpin, causing the six villains to go and seek the money they expect from him. It's such an obvious ploy it's amazing that they fall for it, but numerous villains have been gullible over the years.

After some localised subplots about the Daily Bugle building having been so damaged as to have to be condemned and Mary Jane discovering that Harry Osborn has the Green Goblin costume and equipment stored in his flat, we get to the final battle. Once again Spider-Man takes advantage of some of his foes' lack of experience of working with each other to pick them off one by one and it's a pretty straightforward fight. Strangely there's a moment where Titania leaps on Spidey and they both fall a long way before he breaks clear and leaves her falling, assuming she's strong enough it will only stun her. However on landing she gets hit by a bus and there's nothing in the story suggesting Spider-Man's even aware of this yet it's the classic type of situation that would give him a major guilt trip. The Kingpin watches the fight bemused, unaware that this is all a set-up by the Chameleon to destroy his rival's reputation.

This issue is ultimately almost as light as something Graviton has used his powers on. There's not much substance, the team-up between the six villains doesn't provide any further insights and Spidey quickly proves he's able to take each and every one of them down with greater strategy. This epilogue is ever more distant from the big crossover and it's a relief that this is the final book with an "Acts of Vengeance" banner on the cover.

Web of Spider-Man #65 has been reprinted in:

• Acts of Vengeance Crossovers Omnibus (2011)

Web of Spider-Man 64 - Acts of Vengeance

Three months after the conclusion of "Acts of Vengeance" came this issue of Web of Spider-Man with "Acts of Vengeance is Back!" on the cover. This issue and the next provide a further epilogue to the series. The story sees the Chameleon arrange the release of several of the villains Spider-Man defeated in the saga and then offers them $500,000 between them to kill Spider-Man.

Web of Spider-Man #64

Writer: Gerry Conway
Penciler: Alex Saviuk
Inker: Keith Williams
Letterer: Rick Parker
Colourist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

It's yet another throwback to the Silver Age where numerous villains sought to defeat Spider-Man in order to cement their position as the leading crime lord in the city. This time the Chameleon isn't bothering with trying to do it personally but has instead made an offer to a group of foes with mixed powers who all want revenge now that Spider-Man no longer has his powers. The villains are a motley group - Titania, Graviton, Goliath, the Brothers Grimm and Paste Pot Pete the Trapster - but they prove sufficiently willing to work together for a mutual goal, given leadership and incentive. It stands in stark contrast to the squabbling committee of the leading super-villains during the crossover.

As Peter Parker, Spider-Man is facing further problems as Nick Katzenberg, the sleazy rival photographer at the Daily Bugle, produces photos showing Peter dressed as Spider-Man for a shoot, leading to editor Joe "Robbie" Robertson sacking him with a rant about journalistic ethics, perhaps because of his own lingering guilt at having failed to report Tombstone in his youth that recently put him in jail. It's often been speculated that Robbie has deduced Spider-Man's identity but keeps it to himself, but his reaction here, even disagreeing with J. Jonah Jameson who is willing to overlook it all as it isn't a news photo, suggests otherwise. Peter storms off and has an angry confrontation with Katzenberg before storming off.

The later battle shows some repeat tricks, with Graviton once again lifting up the Daily Bugle building, but also the need for better leadership in the field as Spidey manages to trick the Brothers Grimm and the Trapster into taking each other out, but Graviton's powers proved rather harder to defeat with strategy.

This is an odd issue. After such a long crossover there wasn't really a crying need for yet more "Acts of Vengeance" issues. These also came out in the run-up to a major story in Amazing Spider-Man entitled "Return of the Sinister Six", reuniting more conventional Spider-Man foes so yet another story involving a group of villains teaming up feels repetitive even if it did manage to come out first. Nor does it present much of a lesson in how teams of villains can work effectively, since Spider-Man is able to play off the limitations and lack of expectations. This is just another demonstration of the problems of having three monthly titles for one character without distinctive purposes, leading to a speedy rehash of recent events.

Web of Spider-Man #64 has been reprinted in:

• Acts of Vengeance Crossovers Omnibus (2011)

Web of Spider-Man 61 - Acts of Vengeance

We come now to the penultimate Spider-Man issue in the crossover, though we'll be seeing Spidey rather more than just one further time in this crossover. However this chapter has all the hallmarks of a filler designed to mark time.

Web of Spider-Man #61

Writer: Gerry Conway
Penciler: Alex Saviuk
Inker: Keith Williams
Letterer: Rick Parker
Colourist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

As noted before, Web of Spider-Man was often the series that didn't seem to know just why it was there and this especially shows here as we get a chapter putting the hero through a classic cycle of quitting his role only to come running back at pretty much the first sign of trouble. It's easy to lose track just how many times this has been done with Spider-Man now. Sometimes it works as part of a broader plot or even relaunch. But at other times it becomes all too simple a plot device. There is admittedly the added complication that he's struggling to handle the additional powers he's gained, but Peter should know all too well by now that no matter how often he tries, he can never ditch the web slinging for good. And it seems his foes know this as well, with both the Kingpin and Doctor Doom doubting the Wizard's reports of what he's heard. Nevertheless the Wizard decides to use a discarded mask as a scent to send Dragon Man to find and destroy Spidey.

(Noting the continuity errors surrounding the leading villains can be tiresome but two things stand out here. Firstly it's not clear how the Wizard could just casually bring Dragon Man to the meeting room and hide him behind a curtain, especially given the Red Skull's failure to bring the Controller into the room. And the Mandarin is wearing his hideous bare-chested costume rather than the blue armour he donned nearly a year earlier and which he wears in most of his other appearances in the crossover.)

The actual fight with Dragon Man is extremely straightforward with Spidey ultimately just exhausting the android's flames before webbing it up, though it's good to see a positive reaction from the people he's saved. But otherwise this issue advances a number of plots, with Doctor Doom trying to assimilate the energy that Tess One absorbed from Spider-Man, a plan that worries the mysterious stranger who assembled the villains. Doom's plans reach a conclusion here but it's such an anti-climax it's as though developments in the main parts of the crossover were suddenly brought up, necessitating a speedy resolution. Elsewhere we get a scene with Mary Jane and her bulimic cousin Kristy. This was a storyline that seems to have started out with good motives, though appears to have been targeting a non-existent part of the audience and so fizzled out. It's a pity as one of the features of Peter and Mary Jane's marriage should have been to introduce complications from the in-laws but Kristy seems to have been about the only one ever used and fading out fast rather than hanging around a good while and becoming another obstacle for the secret identity to navigate.

This issue is clearly just marking time before the conclusion of the cosmic powers story and it's a pity, though it continues to confirm the problems of giving one hero three titles with relatively little to distinguish them.

Web of Spider-Man #61  has been reprinted in:

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

Web of Spider-Man 60 - Acts of Vengeance

Spider-Man's cosmic adventures continue as he faces ever bigger foes but also the curse of awkward continuity.

Web of Spider-Man #60

Writer: Gerry Conway
Penciler: Alex Saviuk
Inker: Keith Williams
Letterer: Rick Parker
Colourist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

A glance at the cover suggests that Alex Saviuk did not receive complete information about the lead villains in "Acts of Vengeance" as Magneto is depicted in the costume he wore for a few years in the mid to late 1980s rather than his more traditional garb which he had recently returned to. Inside Magneto is in the right costume but Gerry Conway  also seems to be somewhat misinformed as he writes the Kingpin, Dr Doom and Magneto as all working together out of a specific headquarters rather than meeting as a central committee and otherwise largely carrying out operations independently of one another as has happened elsewhere in the crossover so far (though some villains have been shown as rather more active than others). It wouldn't be the first or last time that a big crossover event saw inconsistency on the details, but these things do erode the ability to appreciate the story as a coherent whole.

Rather than simply finding a foe of the week for Spider-Man to fight before the other titles bring further developments, here we get some right now. Spider-Man now discovers he has the ability to fire energy blasts from his eyes whilst Doctor Doom finally manages to start analysing the cosmic powers. Peter also seeks Aunt May's advice about how to handle having power over life and death, a poignant subject for a woman whose fiancée (Nathan Lubensky) has a terminal heart condition. Amidst all this the latest goings on around the Daily Bugle as Thomas Fireheart continues to push a pro Spider-Man line seem trivial.

Once again Spider-Man has fought this issue's foe but not in this form. He's been Power Man, the Smuggler and now Goliath, with the complication that two of those names have also been used by heroes at various stages, but his previous fight with Spider-Man came before either of them received their current powers. And so we get a battle between a cosmically powered webslinger and a giant, then in the rematch later in the issue Goliath absorbs Spider-Man's energy blasts to grow ever larger, albeit at a risk to his heart. This story is taking on the concept of ever greater power quite well as Spider realises both he and Goliath are becoming ever greater dangers.

This chapter of the story is that surprisingly rare thing - an important issue of Web of Spider-Man. It shows that when a determined effort is made the series can turn in important developments and handle them in an effective style. It's just a pity there's a noticeable discontinuity between here and other parts of the crossover.

Web of Spider-Man #60  has been reprinted in:

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

Marc Spector: Moon Knight 10 - Acts of Vengeance

It feels as if Moon Knight was forgotten about by both the villains and the editors co-ordinating "Acts of Vengeance". In his third and final issue in the crossover he once again encounters villains as a side-effect of the events rather than being targeted by the conspiracy.

Marc Spector: Moon Knight #10

Words: Charles Dixon
Pencils: Sal Velluto
Inks: Keith Williams
Letters: Ken Lopez
Colours: Nel Yomtov
Edits: Danny Fingeroth
Chief: Tom DeFalco

What's also surprising is the poor level of checking. Thus one of the villains he encounters here is the Ringer, who was one of many lame villains killed off by the Scourge of the Underworld some years earlier. This is even acknowledged in the story itself, with the comment "Well, I'm the new Ringer. I'm even better than the original!" But new versions of deceased foes simply isn't what this event is all about and this panel is the only acknowledgement of this state of affairs. Thus it's hard to avoid the obvious conclusion that it was only after the story was pencilled and inked that someone realised the character had been killed off and hastily came up with this brief exchange to patch it over. The villains seen here - the Ringer, Coachwhip and Killer Shrike - have all come to New York in the hope of taking part in the grand conflict going on but have so far been unable to find any heroes to fight and agree to team up in the hope of discovered ng some action. It's a pretty incoherent teaming with their abilities easily used against each other. It's also a terrible motivation to simply attack a hero they've never encountered before for the sheer sake of it.

Moon Knight starts the evening saving a young student from killing themselves after getting poor marks, then has to overcome a small boy's fear of costumed figures in order to save him and his mother from a fire. Then the trio of villains find him and attack. A repeated theme throughout this issue is Lula, the suicidal student, steadily rediscovering the importance of all life and realising that she can go on. It's one of the more positive features in an otherwise dull script, though the art does help to bring the fish scenes to life and creates a real sense of tension as Moon Knight/s pilot and friend Frenchie is wounded.

But despite the good art this issue reads like the series was added to the wider crossover event as an afterthought with no proper attention given to Moon Knight by either the editors of the villains. As a result this is a highly forgettable chapter in the crossover.

Marc Spector: Moon Knight #10 has been reprinted in:

• Acts of Vengeance Crossovers Omnibus (2011)

Avengers West Coast 53 - Acts of Vengeance

Avengers West Coast was the series that brought John Byrne back to the mainstream Marvel universe after a two-and-a-half-year absence over at DC, latterly also working on a bit of the New Universe. At this stage he'd been writing and drawing the title for nearly a year making bold changes such as literally deconstructing the Vision, to be rebuilt as an all-white, emotionless being, or bringing back the Original Human Torch. In the process a lot of this change has wreaked havoc on the Scarlet Witch.

Avengers West Coast #53

Writer/Penciler: John Byrne
Inker: Keith Williams
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Colourist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Howard Mackie
Ed.-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

But also Byrne was now writing both of the Avengers team titles, in a period when Marvel was trying to build a clear franchise mentality, much as it later did in the mid-2000s. One factor to watch out for is just how this crossover handles the perceived second tier status of the West Coast based team. Were they subordinate to the New York team, with the latter being THE Avengers, or were they the co-equals of the "East Coast Avengers"? Over at DC the recent expansion of the Justice League International had seen the existing title renamed "Justice League America" but that was at least close to the team's historic title, so it was less of a problem to give parity of esteem to "Justice League Europe" (and even to "Justice League Antarctica"). But over at Marvel the Avengers retained their historic title and there were often periods when readers of that book might as well not have been aware of the existence of the West Coast title. Hopefully a major crossover based on the Avengers with both teams written by the same writer would not fall into this trap.

However this particular issue is focused more on getting its characters caught up in the crossover rather than advancing the wider plots, whatever Magneto and/or the mysterious lackey may think in the opening pages. One thing that does seem clear is that the lackey isn't Immortus (not that he was a strong suspect anyway), who is shown operating his own schemes to eliminate alternate timelines as part of some unspecified plan involving the Scarlet Witch. Otherwise we have an issue in which various characters are still coming to terms with recent events, with the Scarlet Witch having suffered a breakdown due to recent events, the Vision determining to switch to the east coast team and the Human Torch still coming to terms with learning about the death of his partner, Toro. Into this mix comes an attack by the U-Foes, a group who recently clashed with the east coast team but are predominantly obscure Hulk foes. Their mixed abilities mean they're a good match for this current crop of Avengers (Scarlet Witch, Vision, Original Human Torch, Wasp, Hank Pym and Iron Man) but ultimately the fight is set-up as a holding tactic to occupy the team until the U-Foes discover they've been set up whilst Hank discovers much bigger things are going on.

This isn't a bad issue for bringing the West Coast Avengers into the bigger event, but we've already had a lot of issues in the crossover (even if we stick to just publication dates a good dozen came out before this one) and a chapter written by the head writer in one of the main books really should be advancing the overall plot at this stage rather than still going through the preliminaries.

Avengers West Coast #53 has been reprinted in:

• Avengers West Coast: Darker Than Scarlet (2008)
• Acts of Vengeance Omnibus (2011)
• Avengers West Coast: Darker then Scarlet (Panini pocketbook, 2015)
• Avengers by John Byrne Omnibus (2016)

Web of Spider-Man 59 - Acts of Vengeance

The problem of finding villains who haven't fought Spider-Man recurs in this issue, though here there is explicit acknowledgement that Spider-Man and Titania have fought before in Secret Wars, although not their subsequent encounter a few years later. But it makes a mockery of Doctor Doom's claim that Spider is "a less-familiar opponent - against whom you will be equally fresh, unsuspected and irresistible."

Web of Spider-Man #59

Writer: Gerry Conway
Penciler: Alex Saviuk
Inker: Keith Williams
Letterer: Rick Parker
Colourist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Rather this issue sees Titania again trying to overcome her irrational fear of Spider-Man that has made it difficult for her to beat him on previous occasions. It's also interesting that this time round it's Doctor Doom who sends a foe after Spider-Man, after the Kingpin and the Wizard dispatched Graviton and Paste-Pot Pete the Trapster in earlier issues. Maybe the leaders of the alliance are rotating who takes charge of dealing with a particular foe or maybe there's a taxi-rank principle that sees the next one available step in. But also Spider-Man's new powers have already attracted Doom's attention and he seems personally interested, suggesting the alliance leaders are not quite all working for the same ends.

Meanwhile the Daily Bugle has been making itself even more of a target since it was brought out by Thomas Fireheart, aka Puma, as part of his attempt to repay a debt of honour to Spider-Man, with the result that it is now running ridiculously pro-Spider-Man coverage and this makes Doom suggest it as the best target to draw the wall-crawler out. The eventual battle is rather disappointing, with the complications of Puma intervening, Spider-Man still struggling with his enhanced senses and Titania being unknowingly boosted by one of Doom's devices. As a result Spider-Man comes across as confused and clumsy, only winning through because of his new powers and ultimately lashing out in a rage.

This issue is from about a year into Gerry Conway's run on the title and two from Alex Saviuk, bringing a stability it had previously lacked but there's still a real sense that this is one Spider-Man title too many, existing purely for the sake of having a third title on the stands. It also means that Spider-Man's new powers are being developed at a frankly tedious pace. Historically it was actually quite unusual for the different Spider-Man titles to run the same story at this stage - including three sets of annuals this is only the eighth time it had happened and five of those (including two sets of annuals) were part of wider Marvel crossovers. Perhaps it would have been better to allow each series to handle the concept in its own way rather than putting them all together for such an extended length.

Web of Spider-Man #59  has been reprinted in:

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

Essential Marvel Saga volume 2

Continuing the proper in-depth look at each volume of The Official History of the Marvel Universe. These posts rewrite and expand a previous brief effort.

Essential Marvel Saga volume 2 contains issues #13 to #25, continuing to retell old stories by copying & pasting panels and adding some additional text and the occasional pieces of new artwork to tell a coherent history. The order and new material is written by Peter Sanderson apart from one issue by Peter David, and drawn by Keith Pollard, Ron Frenz, James Fry, Al Milgrom, Tom Morgan, Steve Buccellato, Bruce Solotoff, Phil Lord, Steve Geiger, José Marzan Jr, Hector Collazo and Keith Williams.

This volume continues the practice of summarising key storylines from Marvel's Silver Age, aided by reproducing many panels and using text captions and the occasional piece of new art to accelerate the retellings. Once again the origins are enhanced by later additions to the mythology such as Daredevil's debut including his history with Elektra and Stick as well as the original story. There's also some good tying together of stories to show their impact, such as the Crime-Master launching his attempt to take over the New York underworld at a time when the Fantastic Four are powerless and in hiding, Thor has departed for Asgard for the Trial of the Gods and Captain America is still making his way home through the South American jungle following his final showdown with Baron Zemo. Such a placing goes well beyond a mere wish to have a reading order and helps to show the Marvel Universe as a more integrated whole than it was realised at the time.

The choice of which characters to devote space to retelling their first adventures is a surprise, such as the many pages given over to the debut of Diablo compared to single panels each for the likes of the Grey Gargoyle, Kraven and the Owl's first outings. The cliffhangers to each issue aim to end on a dramatic point midway through a key story but occasionally the story in question is underwhelming or the foe has rather declined in stature since the 1960s. Issue #20 ends with the Frightful Four invading the Baxter Building and the final panel is the Wizard holding the Human Torch hostage. It's a reminder that the Wizard has rather plummeted off the A-List of foes since the Silver Age, his participation in the Prime Movers of the "Acts of Vengeance" crossover not withstanding, making the ending rather underwhelming.

Issue #22 sees a change of approach to the series (and a new editor - Adam S. Balustein succeeding Danny Fingeroth) and is devoted to Peter Parker and Mary Jane's relationship, as the Spider-Man wedding was close. So we see the whole course of it from Aunt May's first matchmaking through other girlfriends and the failed first proposal up to the wedding day, all in one issue. It's a different pace from before and also notable for being about the first place to suggest Mary Jane knew Peter was Spider-Man right from the outset. But there's also an odd moment at the end as a page from the Spider-Man vs. Wolverine one shot is reproduced to try to support the two being made for each other, yet it shows Peter crossing the lines of friendship before realising his mistake - almost as though it was intended to support the two not being together. Whilst it's nice to see an entire issue devoted to the background to one of the biggest events in Spider-Man's life, it would have been much better off as a stand-alone special rather than slotted into the regular series.

The remaining few issues see the saga focus in on specific events for the Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer, rather than the broad approach of showing all the key events across the whole universe. Did the new approach kill the series or was it an unsuccessful attempt to save it? Either way it's a rather unsatisfactory change of course and all the momentum of the first twenty-one issues is lost as we get a narrow focus on the wedding of Reed and Sue, the discovery of the Inhumans and then the coming of Galactus and the Silver Surfer with their origins retold from later issues, showing in particular how the Surfer's past influenced the feelings Alicia reawakened within him. It's unfortunate as the wedding annual was the first significant time almost the entire Marvel universe was caught up in the same story and where it fits into the various series's continuities is something that isn't particularly well explained. We get the origins of Galactus and the Silver Surfer but surprisingly not the Inhumans.

The defeat of Galactus is presented as "a turning point in the history of the cosmos... [the] day humanity's representatives first proved themselves more than equal to the task of mastering the great challenges set them by the cosmos", and thus the point on which to end the series with a three page coda describing some significant events to come, ranging from Spider-Man's famous triumph in the remains of Doctor Octopus's headquarters to the battle between Dormammu and Eternity through to the Dark Phoenix Saga. There's a bit of a "and they triumphed and lived happily ever after" to some of the summaries such as Thor facing off against a witch doctor with the last of the Norn Stones or Namor rescuing Dorma and recovering his throne. Finally the Watcher reveals himself as the narrator of the whole series

Overall this volume shows the misfortune of the change of direction, abandoning the integrated tapestry of the Marvel universe in favour of retelling individual stories with additional backstories added in. That said, the latter approach could be a way to bring new readers up to speed on key characters, without having to subject them to expensive trade paperbacks (in the days before the Essentials but even with them it can take a lot of time and money to build up a complete run and the Epic series's habit of jumping about isn't conducive to chronology) or lengthy and controversial retellings. In the early 1990s this approach was followed with a couple of mini-series including Spider-Man Saga and Wolverine Saga, and there have been some more recent one shots in a similar format.

But that would be individual histories and not really worthy of the title "The Official History of the Marvel Universe" which should have been restricted to a total history across the line rather than segmented sections. The original broad concept of the series is a good one though in an era when so many of the original comics are easily available in reprint form it can now feel a little overlong in its retellings. But even with the issues available the big picture is lacking and this series set out to provide it. It's a pity that got abandoned when it did but the first two thirds of this volume maintain the original aims and good standards.