Twelve recommended Essentials

For my final post, I have decided to pick twelve volumes that especially stand out. The only restriction is that there is no more than one from each series. These aren't automatically the best stories - and the nature of the beast is that there are times when the incredibly good is collected with the incredibly dire - but twelve cases of the Essential series at its best. And the order has been chosen by lot.


Essential Moon Knight volume 2

Contains: Moon Knight #11 to #30

Moon Knight began as a foe for the Werewolf and then developed in the direction of a Batman clone but also acquired his own themes and the unique feature of his multiple identities that started to take on lives of their own. It took a while but soon it had found its own niche and cult following. This was one of the first series to be sold only in the direct market and it took full advantage of the shift to offer varied length stories that are free of the Comics Code Authority restrictions yet never being puerile or gratuitous just to show off its freedom. This volume represents by the middle issues of the series when it was at its height.


Essential Captain America volume 4

Contains: Captain America and the Falcon #157 to #186

Captain America was originally created during a great wave of patriotism and revived during another. But by the 1970s the US was changing and Cap seemed a man out of time in more ways than one. Then came new writer Steve Englehart who, together with artist Sal Buscema, set out to explore just what Cap's role is in this new world where the old certainties are gone and it's no longer so clear just what "serving my country" means anymore. The height of this approach comes in the Secret Empire story as Cap discovers a conspiracy that goes to the very highest levels, which in turn leads him to abandon his costume and the Falcon steps up to the forefront as the country is still facing threats.


Essential Dazzler volume 1

Contains: Dazzler #1 to #21 plus X-Men #130 & #131 and Amazing Spider-Man #203

When this was first announced many declared "Essential Dazzler" to be an oxymoron. But the Essentials have brought attention to many obscure series and characters, allowing them to be assessed anew without listening to decades old myths and assertions. This volume collects the first half of her series, allowing readers to judge for themselves and see a series that isn't the disco chaser of myth but instead shows a strong independent ordinary character trying to get by in life with the added complication of her powers. The Essential volume is a well-deserved rescue from obscurity.


Essential Black Panther volume 1

Contains: Jungle Action #6 to #22 & #24 and Black Panther #1 to #10

"Panther's Rage" was one of the first comic storylines to be written as though it was to be collected as chapters in a book and this volume does that and more so. Very often the biggest developments in comics are made in obscure series starring less well-known characters, and here is almost the definitive example of a hidden classic plus the start of "The Panther vs. the Klan!", taking the character to further heights. Sadly the volume also demonstrates how the Essentials scoop up the bad as well as the good with the start of Jack Kirby's run on the title that might as well be from an alternate reality, but that doesn't detract from the majesty of the bulk of the volume.


Essential X-Men volume 2

Contains: X-Men #120 to #144 and, in later editions, Annual #3 to #4

The All-New All-Different X-Men burst forth in the mid 1970s, presenting a highly crafted team of strong, well-defined characters who were put through a variety of situations. This volume covers the latter part of the Chris Claremont and John Byrne run when the team faced a range of scenarios from Alpha Flight trying to reclaim Wolverine for the Canadian government to Arcade subjecting them to his funhouse of horrors, but the high points come with two of the most influential X-Men stories of all time, the "Dark Phoenix Saga" and "Days of Future Past" which explore the problems with controlling great power and the dangers of anti-mutant prejudice run wild respectively.


Essential Rawhide Kid volume 1

Contains: Rawhide Kid #17 to #35

Marvel have printed many titles in numerous different genres over the years but haven't reprinted too many of them in recent years. But when they do it's often an eye opener. This volume is the sole Essential representation of the western genre, offering a good set of done in one enjoyable stories that mix the adventures of the lead character with other generic tales of the west. Very much a representation of the Atlas style before the Marvel superhero revolution, this volume is nevertheless a good, light fun read.


Essential Ghost Rider volume 4

Contains: Ghost Rider #66 to #81 plus Amazing Spider-Man #274 and New Defenders #145 & a bit of #146

It's rare for a long running series to end in a truly satisfactory way but Ghost Rider got one of the best conclusions going, allowing him to ride out on a high in what almost feels like it was the long term plan. The Ghost Rider may have begun as a fusion of the horror and stunt fads of the 1970s but he outlasted the fads to become something much stronger. Here the long running saga of the battle between Johnny Blaze and the demonic Ghost Rider reaches its climax here but there's time taken to remind and reintroduce the key elements for readers who haven't been along for the whole journey before the final end.


Essential Thor volume 3

Contains: Thor #137 to #166

Thor was a title that took a good while to really find its feet and get a long term permanent creative team but once it did Stan Lee and Jack Kirby proceeded to produce an amazing run of tales that combine Norse mythology and cosmic space adventure, with occasional interludes on Earth. By the time of this volume they had found out what worked and defined the character, with the stories here representing the absolute peak of their collaboration, ranging from battling the Mangog in Asgard to the conflict between Galactus and Ego the Living Planet in deep space. Truly this is the definitive Thor.


Essential Marvel Team-Up volume 2

Contains: Marvel Team-Up #25 to #51 plus Marvel Two-in-One #17

There's a sense of fun to a team-up book, often allowing the chance to enjoy both the regular and guest heroes in some nice one-off tales that don't require too much familiarity with the guests to follow them. But when in the right hands they can be even more. This volume contains some of the best of all the team-ups, ranging from the silliness of a team-up with Hercules where he tows the island of Manhattan through the seas to the deadly grittiness of a time travel saga that takes Spider-Man back to Salem in 1692 for a dark battle against the backdrop of the witch trials. This is a book that knows how to put together an epic out of several different guest stars and put the leads, whether Spider-Man or the Human Torch, through adventures they'd be unlikely to have in their own titles.


Essential Punisher volume 4

Contains: Punisher #41 to #59 and Annuals #4 to #5

The Punisher has always been a difficult character to handle because the approach of a self-appointed executioner is often at odds with conventional superhero ethics whilst the high fatality rate amongst both his foes and allies leaves limited scope for character development. It took a long time before he received an ongoing series and then in turn it took longer to really flesh it out but by the time of this volume it was coming together nicely. Here we get a mixture of traditional one-off tales against individual foes done well along with steps towards greater development with the handful of foes who have greater lasting power, most notably "The Final Days" epic that puts the Punisher in a marathon of endurance under pressure from the Kingpin.


Essential Warlock volume 1

Contains: Marvel Premiere #1 to #2, The Power of Warlock #1 to #8, Incredible Hulk #176 to #178, Strange Tales #178 to #181, Warlock #9 to #15, Marvel Team-Up #55, Avengers Annual #7 and Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2

Warlock was a highly experimental strip that routinely sought to push the boundaries of what was possible, most notably with its approach to religion. The volume collects the two 1970s epics that saw Warlock first go to Counter-Earth to drive out a dark force and redeem it and then into deep space to take on the corruption and hypocrisy of an inter-galactic church presided over by none other than his evil future self. The title character has no desire to be a hero and is merely a good man searching for himself but gets caught up in the horrors all around him. Twice the title was cancelled but each time the saga showed it could survive by resolving itself in another series with a spectacular climax.


Essential Spider-Man volume 1

Contains: Amazing Fantasy #15 and Amazing Spider-Man #1 to #20 & Annual #1

This volume encapsulates just why Spider-Man took off the way he did. It covers the single most creative period in the character's history, introduces most of the top villains and tells some amazing stories all at once. Spider-Man broke the mould in many ways and even today these tales stand up well as a strong set of adventures that need no replacement. Bringing big chunks of the Silver Age at affordable prices was one of the aims of the Essentials and it hit the ground running. This was the very first Essential I ever picked up and it's still great to this day.

Essential Warlock volume 1

Essential Warlock volume 1 contains material from quite a number of series, namely Marvel Premiere #1-2, The Power of Warlock #1-8, Incredible Hulk #176-178, Strange Tales #178-181, Warlock #9-15, Marvel Team-Up #55, Avengers Annual #7 and Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2. That's an awful lot of titles!

As previously noted, Marvel Premiere was yet another try-out series that launched and re-launched a whole variety of characters. Warlock was then given his own title but it only lasted eight issues. In those days Marvel had a policy to wrap up outstanding storylines wherever possible and so a conclusion appeared in the Incredible Hulk. Then a new Warlock storyline was begun in Strange Tales, which had originally been one of Marvel's anthology series that spawned variously the Human Torch solo tales, Doctor Strange and Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD. This is one of the earlier cases where Marvel's numbering gets somewhat confusing. In 1968 Strange Tales was transformed into a solo Doctor Strange title which carried on the numbering from #169 onwards. However in 1973 Strange Tales was revived... numbered at #169 again. The revived title had carried a few horror strips such as Brother Voodoo and the Golem before Warlock appeared for four issues. Subsequently Strange Tales would once more become a home to Doctor Strange. Meanwhile Warlock got his own series again, now simply entitled Warlock, which carried on the old numbering and lasted another seven issues. With the second cancellation once again a storyline was concluded elsewhere in series more familiar here, through first a team-up with Spider-Man and then a two-part conclusion teaming up first with the Avengers and then adding both the Thing and Spider-Man to the mix.

The Marvel Premiere issues are written by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane. Both carry onto The Power of Warlock where Kane is succeeded by Bob Brown and Thomas gives way to a mix of Mike Friedrich and Ron Goulart. The Incredible Hulk issues are then written by Gerry Conway and Tony Isabella and drawn by Herb Trimpe. The Strange Tales, Warlock, Avengers and Marvel Two-in-One issues are all written and drawn by Jim Starlin. The Marvel Team-Up is written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by John Byrne. Because of the large number of titles and creators, a separate post has been created for some of the labels.

Adam Warlock has been associated with Jim Starlin for so long that it's almost a surprise to be reminded of the character's long history before that. Originally created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for a story in Fantastic Four, the artificial being known only as "Him" then appeared in Thor but not too much more was done. Then came all the stories collected in this volume - but Starlin doesn't arrive on the character until about half-way through. This volume contains first the saga of Warlock's adventures on Counter Earth and then Starlin's cosmic saga of conflict with the Magus, Thanos and other foes in between. Both sagas followed a similar course of being launched in a try-out anthology then migrating to their own title early on, only for that title to be cancelled before the storyline could be completed and the wrap-up having to come in another series. Perhaps mindful of this, Starlin's saga does establish a looming end point in Warlock #11, but even then it wasn't enough to allow the series to last just long enough.

The two sagas have also had different track records when it comes to repeats and latter day exposure. The Starlin stories had an aborted reprint run in about 1980 in the second series of Fantasy Masterpieces but the title ended before it could get through them all. Then a few years later they were collected in a six issue series called Warlock Special Edition on higher quality "Baxter" paper, the prestige format of the day. This series was reprinted (minus the Editori-Al introductions) in the early 1990s under the name Warlock, and then there was a Masterworks edition in 2009. But from what I can see the earlier saga has had far fewer reprints. The Incredible Hulk stories were included in a Treasury Edition in 1979 but the whole saga had to wait until it was all collected in a Masterworks edition in 2007, and then came this Essential in 2012. Unintentionally this has had the effect of reinforcing the prominence of Starlin's work on the character at the expense of earlier creators.

The first story is a clear, self-contained saga of the type the American comics industry was experimenting with in the early 1970s. And this one had pretty strong ambitions as Warlock heads to the newly created world of Counter-Earth to rid it of the presence of the Man-Beast and other renegade New Men. It's impossible to ignore the religious themes that are present right from the first issue. The High Evolutionary became the ultimate being, immortal and one with the cosmos. He creates a world in a very short space of time - seven-score - and intends it as an ideal utopia but a dark force infects the world in the form of on of the creator's previous creations now fallen. This being influences the humans upon it, starting with the crime of murder. The Evolutionary contemplates destroying the world as beyond redemption, but Warlock argues it can be saved and so heads down from the heavens to cast out the darkness. He even rapidly becomes the son the Evolutionary never had. "I am only... what I am" says "Him" to the High Evolutionary upon their first encounter. There may be the odd individual piece altered of the parable but overall it's pretty clear who is who.

Once he came to [Counter-]Earth from [the] heaven[s]... Warlock soon accumulates followers. His first four are teenagers Jason Grey, David Carter and twins Eddie and Ellie Roberts. They are the children of a businessman, a Senator and a Colonel. At one stage he sees them deny him to save their own skins [but it's an illusion created by the Man-Beast]. However Warlock can't save everyone and early on Eddie dies when thrown from the top of a tower by the monster Triax before Warlock can reach him. There's an early encounter with a prophet who identifies Warlock as the saviour of the world. The head of the dark forces takes Warlock away to tempt him, offering him power over men. Warlock's power is enhanced by the faith of his followers. Porcupinus, one of Warlock's later followers, is told he is the base upon which a house of good will be built. Later Warlock is captured whilst presiding at a grand supper. The ruling official asks the crowds to decide his fate and the punishment is death on a cross. Whilst on the cross Warlock asks his [adoptive] father "Why have you abandoned me?" but gets no answer. The body is wrapped and placed in a cave. On the third day Warlock rises, more powerful than before and proceeds to drive out the vile force in the world. He warns his followers of the danger from the evil still within man, then ascends into [the] heaven[s]. Could the series be less subtle?

However it's not until Incredible Hulk #177 that the point is made explicit when captions describe the Man-Beast as "the Satan of this Counter-Earth... the Lucifer of the fallen New-Men". Okay one of the curses of resolving a storyline in another character's title is that some narrative short-cuts have to be taken to bring readers of that title up to speed, but it still feels lazy to be so explicit about the parallels.

Still the story offers a strong adventure that takes the existing superhero concepts but pushes them with the twist of a world which has had no heroes until Warlock arrives, making the hero a scary prospect for some and an inspiration for others. Warlock is a powerful innocent who sees the good potential in Counter-Earth and quickly saves it from the High Evolutionary's intention to destroy the world. Once on Counter-Earth he soon acquires followers and faces the good and the bad of humanity. Counter-Earth's development has been interfered with such that no heroes have come forward. This has the odd result that Victor von Doom, his head encased in an iron mask after a lab accident, is now a noble friend and colleague of Reed Richards's. Doom is one of the few who never loses faith in Warlock and gives his life to save the world. Reed Richards also appears but he never received his powers and broken because Sue has been in a coma since that fatal trip to the stars. However the Man-Beast has manipulated him so that he turns into a Thing-like monster called the Brute.

Warlock himself is a complex character, wanting to do right but horrified at the consequences, especially the deaths of Eddie Roberts and later Victor von Doom. At one point he retreats into his cocoon to revitalise and escape but is coaxed back by his followers. He faces the mixed reactions of those around him with stoicism, especially when new US President Rex Carpenter goes from a supporter to ordering his arrest then backing down then stepping up - in part because of reacting to public opinion, but also because the Man-Beast is possessing him. However Warlock's powers aren't always clearly spelt out. He can fly and has a high endurance, but his main powers come from the "Soul Jewell" the High Evolutionary gave him, the first appearance of any of what were later called the "Soul Gems" and now the "Infinity Gems". The jewel here gives him the power to blast energy, rearrange molecules and even de-evolve the Man-Beast and other New-Men back into the animals from which the High Evolutionary evolved them.

It took two and a half years to tell the story, including an eight month gap between the cancellation of The Power of Warlock and the wrap-up in the Incredible Hulk. For an early 1970s comics readership that either made it a truly great epic or an annoying never-ending story. Unfortunately the cancellation of the series suggests the audience reaction was the latter. The trouble was that the extended storyline that could later be collected together in a single edition was a concept ill-suited to the American comics market at the time (although in Europe the album format was already strongly established) and many such attempts didn't last long enough to tell the full story. Fortunately the conclusion in the Incredible Hulk doesn't really disrupt the flow when read here, though multiple references are made to the Hulk making an earlier visit to Counter-Earth and it might have helped to see that, and there's a real feeling the conclusion is what was planned all along.

It can be risky to draw so explicitly from one religion, but here it's done in a way that's both respectful to the Gospels and doesn't actually make statements about the existence of God and the Devil. (And on top of everything else some other Marvel stories have been rather more explicit in that regard, particularly Ghost Rider.) However Warlock himself is not a pacifist like Jesus Christ; instead he's willing to take action and even has followers assembling weapons. Perhaps the superhero genre just doesn't allow for such a basic convention to be ditched. Still the saga works well and shows it's possible to do things differently.

Jim Starlin's run takes the character out into space and into a realm that is dark and surreal. Some of the scenes are very strange, particularly Strange Tales #181 where Warlock is strapped into an artificial reality helmet and subject to a bizarre realm of clowns. The reality contains many great starscapes and imagery as Warlock journeys through the heavens, including the bizarre scene in which he returns to the Solar System only to discover he has grown too large to interact with it. There's also some horrific concepts, such as the revelation that the Soul Gem (now named as such) on Warlock's forehead can steal souls and has locked Warlock's in so he cannot escape it, or the nature of some of the foes.

During this run we get the first appearance of a number of cosmic characters who would go on to prominence in either later Warlock stories and/or Marvel's cosmic stories more generally. The Inbetweener first appears in issue #10, and his comments suggest he's been brought into existence solely for the purpose of taking Warlock away to become the Magus. Nevertheless he's subsequently been opened out into a broader cosmic character and concept. His creators Master Order and Lord Chaos are mentioned at this stage but don't make their first appearances until Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2 right at the end of the saga. The Gardener first appears in Marvel Team-Up #55 and would go on to become first one of the great cosmic entities who would turn out during special events such as Secret Wars II and later one of the Elders of the Universe. The saga also establishes that the Soul Gem is one of six, with the Gardener and Stranger each owning another, then in the final story Thanos combines the power of all six for the first time. At a lesser level we meet for the first time Pip the Troll, Warlock's sometimes comic sidekick, and Gamora, known as the deadliest woman in the whole galaxy. And completing the appearances of the future Infinity Watch, although she is a pre-existing character, we also get Warlock's first meeting with Moondragon when he unites with the Avengers, though the two don't get much time to discuss things individually.

The stories also introduce one of Warlock's best known foes and see him first clash with another. The Magus is an interesting concept, the hero's future self turned villainous. I'm not sure just how original this was back in 1975 (this was around the time Avengers revealed that Immortus was Kang the Conqueror's future self and for a bonus added an intermediate self who had resumed the Rama-Tut identity, with Kang fighting the other two). But it certainly makes for a strong sense of despair as Warlock faces the darkness he will become, and also seems powerless to prevent his transformation into a foe who knows his every move, right down to the very words he is about to speak. Visually it's fortunate that Warlock changes his costume early on in the storyline as the Magus wears the original one albeit with different colours, a distinction lost in black & white. Otherwise the only physical difference between the two is the Magus's hairstyle. In a twist on the earlier saga, Warlock is now cast in the role of a heretic facing an all-powerful church, with his future self as the church's deity. There's little exploration of the actual faith of the church itself beyond the revelation that the judge Kray-tor genuinely believes in the faith and sees Warlock as a dangerous heretic. Instead the focus is on the structure of the church, with the church's head, the Matriarch, plotting for power for herself, and the hypocrisy in preaching peace whilst at the same time engaging in military expansion to spread the word to already peaceful worlds. It is a dark vision and it's odd that the ultimate saviour turns out to be Thanos. The Titan doesn't even hide that he has some greater scheme in the works, though he won't divulge the details even to his ward Gamora, and that both the Magus and Warlock may threaten that plan. He proves a highly resourceful and dependable ally when fighting the Magus, and an equally dangerous foe in the climax.

After the defeat of the Magus the series gets rather bitty for its last four issues. We get a tale of Pip going to free a beautiful woman and biting off more than he can chew, then a two-part tale in which Warlock faces the Star Thief, a human who lacks sensory input and has instead developed huge mental powers who now seeks to blot out the stars as revenge on Earth. The story is resolved when the Star Thief's nurse escapes his charge's power and shoots him dead. In the process we get the odd scene where Warlock returns to the Solar System to discover that, due to the uneven expanding universe theory, his body has expanded at a much faster rate and so he is no longer able to interact with his home planet which is now about the size of his fingernail. It adds to the sense of loneliness and frustration in his final issue, but it's rapidly done away with in the Marvel Team-Up issue with a comment that warping through space has partially undone the process and something unexplained during a teleportation cancels the effect completely. Oddly none of the other characters who interact with Earth in any way seem to have been affected. Perhaps the aim by Starlin was to keep the character under a degree of control by making him unable to interact with the regular Marvel universe, but it's an odd piece of pseudo-science and it's easy to see why it was scrapped at the first opportunity. I believe it was later explained away as an illusion but that issue isn't included here.

Warlock's defeat of the Magus involves the bizarre move of stepping into another plane where he sees his potential future paths and purges and destroys the one that leads to the Magus. Then he steps into his own future and uses the Soul Gem to take his life. This has the effect of wiping out the Magus's timeline (with the comment that only Warlock, Pip, Thanos and Gamora will remember it having been at the epicentre of the change) but also results in a hero who now knows he doesn't have long to live, predating Starlin's work on another terminal hero in The Death of Captain Marvel by several years. Warlock is even more contemplative in the last issues as he faces his oncoming end and learns that in the process he will become hated and everything and everyone he cares for will be destroyed in the process.

However the series ends and this isn't quite how the saga is wrapped up - for instance we never see Warlock kill the High Evolutionary despite this being predicted. Once again the storyline was concluded in other titles, with Marvel Team-Up restoring Warlock to human size and also establishing the existence of other Soul Gems. Then came the grand spectacle, spread across two annuals.

With seven Avengers plus a guest appearance by Captain Marvel plus (in the second annual) the Thing and Spider-Man there's not much room for individual character focus. We get a monstrous scheme of Thanos's to destroy the stars using the power of the Soul Gems combined, and the Avengers and Warlock race to stop him. In the process Gamora and Pip are killed by Thanos and Warlock suffers the same fate, going down after barely a page of battle. It is at this stage that his younger self arrives to take his soul, whilst Iron Man and Thor drive off Thanos and destroy his weapon, and the Avengers annual ends with Warlock being reunited with Pip, Gamora and many others in the world inside the Soul Gem. However all is not over as Thanos regroups his forces in the Marvel Two-in-One annual, and attempts to use the one remaining Soul Gem to destroy the Sun. Spider-Man and the Thing turn up, with Lord Chaos and Master Order manipulating things from behind the scene, and the climax sees Warlock's spirit briefly return to reality to turn Thanos to stone. The story ends with the funeral of Warlock and his friends as they experience peace and tranquillity within the Soul Gem, whilst Thanos is left in sorrow, forever denied his beloved Death. Invariably there are some short cuts taken and we're denied the promised spectacle of Warlock bringing about his own destruction, but we get a pretty solid action adventure that ties in with what had come before, wraps up all the characters and gives a real sense of closure to Warlock's saga.

Overall this was a series that tried to do things differently and it that it succeeded massively. Warlock is at heart a good man driven by the horrors all around him, and terrified when he realises what he has already become, let alone what he will one day be. He will help others but has no desire to be a leader or a worshipped hero and instead is ultimately searching for himself. The spiritual elements are more prominent in his first saga but it's appropriate that it ends with Warlock rewarded in the afterlife, showing he has achieved his purpose. The novel in comic form was a difficult thing to achieve at the time but the resulting stories both work well when read in this form, finally allowing Warlock's saga to achieve its purpose like its star.

What other Essentials has Spider-Man appeared in?

Happy New Year everyone!

Next month will see the release of the next Spider-Man volume - Essential Marvel Team-Up volume 4, containing issues #76-#78, #80-#98 & Annuals #2-#3. I'll be reviewing the volume in due course and also adding my thoughts on issue #79, which has been omitted due to rights issues.

In the meantime, this post is response to another enquiry about a minor aspect of the Essentials, namely which volumes from other series include issues from the various Spider-Man titles. I've already covered the issues not yet reached by their own volumes, but for the sake of completism here is a full list of all the volumes that contain any issues from the various Spider-Man series. The individual issues are linked to the posts containing the relevant reviews and the relevant volume links are to those reviews. As ever the co-stars of Marvel Team-Up issues are identified:

Essential Classic X-Men volume 3

• Amazing Spider-Man #92
• Marvel Team-Up #4 featuring Spider-Man and the X-Men

Both issues come from after the X-Men's original series was cancelled and replaced by a reprint run. The Amazing issue would appear to be the first significant appearance of any of the X-Men post-cancellation.

Essential Werewolf by Night volume 1

• Marvel Team-Up #12 featuring Spider-Man and the Werewolf

This was one of the earliest Marvel forays into traditional horror following reforms to the Comics Code Authority in the early 1970s. As with so many other Marvel characters, the Werewolf popped up across the Marvel universe and invariably met with Spider-Man.





Essential Punisher volume 1

• Amazing Spider-Man #129 
• Amazing Spider-Man #134 
• Amazing Spider-Man #135 
• Giant-Size Spider-Man #4 
• Amazing Spider-Man #161 
• Amazing Spider-Man #162 
• Amazing Spider-Man #174 
• Amazing Spider-Man #175 
• Amazing Spider-Man #201 
• Amazing Spider-Man #202 
• Spectacular Spider-Man #81
• Spectacular Spider-Man #82 
• Spectacular Spider-Man #83 

As noted previously, Essential Punisher volume 1 is an odd entry in the series as it collects the character's earliest appearances from multiple series rather than concentrating solely on his own titles. However it's not the only Essential volume out there to take such an approach...

Essential Marvel Horror volume 2

• Marvel Team-Up #24 featuring Spider-Man and Brother Voodoo

Essential Marvel Horror is one of the more unusual of the Essential series as it collects stories based around the various horror-based characters, mostly from the various anthology series, rather than a chronological run of an individual series. Volume 2 brings together stories featuring the likes of the Living Mummy, Gabriel the Devil Hunter, Brother Boodoo, Golem, Scarecrow and Modred the Mystic. Note that the stories in the Marvel Horror volumes are not always in chronological order...

Essential Marvel Horror volume 1

• Marvel Team-Up #32 featuring the Human Torch & the Son of Satan
• Marvel Team-Up #80 featuring Spider-Man and Dr. Strange and Clea
• Marvel Team-Up #81 featuring Spider-Man and Satana

...hence Volume 1 appearing on this list after Volume 2. The first volume carries stories featuring either Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan, or his sister Satana. (I am astounded that Marvel was able to get away with using the name "Satan" in the titles of any of its series in the 1970s.)

Essential Defenders volume 2

• Marvel Team-Up #33 featuring Spider-Man and Nighthawk
• Marvel Team-Up #34 featuring Spider-Man and Valkyrie
• Marvel Team-Up #35 featuring the Human Torch and Dr. Strange

Although the Defenders are famous for their "non-team" status, some characters were more Defenders than others and all three of the above guest-stars fall into this category.

Essential Killraven volume 1

• Marvel Team-Up #45 featuring Spider-Man and Killraven

This is one of the odder series Marvel has ever put out. Having obtained the comic rights to H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, Marvel created a sequel series set in a post-invasion apocalypse future in which the protagonist was a freedom fighter battling against the Martians. Whilst time travelling back from the 17th century Spider-Man accidentally wound up in the era and teamed up with Killraven.

Essential Marvel Two-in-One volume 1

• Marvel Team-Up #47 featuring Spider-Man and the Thing

This was half of the first ever crossover between any of Spider-Man's titles and another series, bringing the stars of the two main rotating team-up books together. It's a pity there was never a crossover with Super-Villain Team-Up to round things out.

Essential Warlock volume 1

• Marvel Team-Up #55 featuring Spider-Man and Warlock

Following the cancellation of Warlock's own series (for the second time) his story was partially continued in this issue of Marvel Team-Up. The climax then came in a two-part story run in Avengers Annual #7 and Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2. The latter part saw Spider-Man show up to help save the day, and it is discussed in my second post on guest appearances.

Essential Nova volume 1

• Amazing Spider-Man #171 

As previously discussed, this was the first crossover between Amazing and another series, bringing together Marvel's biggest star and their newest (and the Nova issue also appears in Essential Spider-Man volume 8). Looking back it's astounding to think that Nova was seriously expected to be the next Spider-Man. But then predicting The Next Big Thing has never been an easy science.

Essential Iron Fist volume 1

• Marvel Team-Up #63 featuring Spider-Man and Iron Fist
• Marvel Team-Up #64 featuring Spider-Man and the Daughters of the Dragon

I believe the latter issue is the first time "the Daughters of the Dragon" were billed under that name. More normally they were part of Iron Fist's supporting cast.

Essential Man-Thing volume 2

• Marvel Team-Up #68 featuring Spider-Man and the Man-Thing

The title of this volume makes many people laugh but back in the 1970s Marvel actually went one further and produced a comic with the title Giant-Size Man-Thing. How on earth did that one ever get past the Comics Code Authority? (And yes, every issue was printed with the CCA seal of approval.)

Essential Moon Knight volume 1

• Spectacular Spider-Man #22 
• Spectacular Spider-Man #23 

(Contrary to some early reports and many online listings, Marvel Team-Up Annual #4 is not included.)

Similar to the Punisher, Moon Knight began life as a one-off villain in another series (in this case Werewolf by Night) but proved so popular he kept returning and eventually graduated to a series of his own. His encounter with Spider-Man came midway through this journey.

Essential Dazzler volume 1

• Amazing Spider-Man #203

Dazzler was being steadily built up to be one of the Next Big Things from Marvel as part of a wider tie-in with a record company, but for various reasons the tie-ins were cancelled before they could happen and her actual series didn't materialise until 1981 when the disco fad was already fading. But before then one of her earliest appearances was in Amazing Spider-Man, an issue which ends rather suggestively between Spidey and Dazzler but unfortunately this was never followed up on.

Essential Spider-Woman volume 2

• Marvel Team-Up #97 featuring Hulk and Spider-Woman

Well okay Spider-Man himself doesn't actually appear in this issue, one of the few of the later Marvel Team-Ups without him, but I've included it for completism's sake and in any case Spider-Woman does.

Essential Defenders volume 5

• Marvel Team-Up #101 featuring Spider-Man and Nighthawk
• Marvel Team-Up #111 featuring Spider-Man and Devil-Slayer
• Marvel Team-Up #116 featuring Spider-Man and Valkyrie

Once again these are team-ups with some of the more regular members of the Defenders in this era.

Essential Defenders volume 6

• Marvel Team-Up #119 featuring Spider-Man and Gargoyle

...and yet again we get a team-up with one of the main Defenders.

Essential Ghost Rider volume 4

• Amazing Spider-Man #274

Notably Ghost Rider himself doesn't actually appear in this issue, but instead we get Zarathos, the spirit previously bonded to him. This issue was also a crossover with Secret Wars II.

And so that's all the volumes I'm aware of. Unsurprisingly the vast majority of volumes reprint issues from Marvel Team-Up due to the policy of collecting some significant appearances of characters alongside their own series. However Essential Punisher volume 1 balances out the numbers somewhat.

New releases: Essential Warlock volume 1

Just a quick update post to note that this week sees the release of Essential Warlock volume 1 (at least via Diamond distribution to comic shops; bookshops appear to be two weeks behind on trade paperbacks). Amongst other issues reprinted it includes Spider-Man’s guest appearance in Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2, which has also been reprinted in Essential Marvel Two-in-One volume 2, and also from the regular Spider-Man issues Marvel Team-Up #55 which was reprinted in Essential Marvel Team-Up volume 3.

Since both the Spider-Man appearances have already been covered in previous posts, I won’t be looking at them again (though I’ll add the cover where appropriate). Warlock is one of the more unusual series of its era (the mid 1970s) and is very, very different from the contemporary Spider-Man stories, offering a highly philosophical cosmic adventure. It appeals to some but not others. I’m most definitely amongst the some.

More non-essential Spider-Man Essentials

Time now for another look at Spider-Man's guest appearances. Today I'm looking at a stretch from 1972 until 1981, ending at the twenty year mark which is also broadly at the point where the Essentials start getting bitty – in particular the Fantastic Four and Avengers series don't (yet) get beyond here and most of the other series that start in the Silver Age are even further behind. It's not the neatest of points but it serves its purpose. With that said:

Daredevil and the Black Widow (to give the book its full cover title at the time) #103, written by Steve Gerber and drawn by Don Heck, reprinted in Essential Daredevil volume 5

This issue tied in with Marvel Team-Up #12 (a Man-Wolf issue) which saw Peter sent to San Francisco to get photographs of Daredevil and the Black Widow, who had teamed up and were briefly relocated there. This issue continues Peter's efforts to get the story – curiously he's written here as a journalist as well as a photographer. Peter makes it into the Black Widow's mansion where he's secured the chance to get the story, but suddenly new villain the Ramrod shows up, stealing a box of papers for his shadowy masters who reconstructed his body after an accident. Daredevil and the Black Widow pursue him, with Peter changing to Spider-Man and following at a distance, recovering the papers. The fight continues on the skyline until the Ramrod loses his grip and plunges to his doom. Spidey takes off and Peter shows up to finally get his interview. Whilst it's nice to see Spider-Man interacting with other heroes on good terms, rather than hot-headedly getting into a fight, this appearance feels rather short and certainly not a substitute for the lack of an early Team-Up with Daredevil and/or the Widow as the interaction between them and Spidey is limited to the actual fight. And Spider-Man doesn't really contribute much to the right that Daredevil or the Widow couldn't have done themselves. Peter seeking an interview also feels out of role – I suppose one could argue Jonah wanted to save on air fares but in Team-Up #12 he was specifically sent on a photo assignment. Ultimately this is a gratuitous unnecessary appearance.

An issue I'm going to have to skip as it hasn't yet been Essentialised is Sub-Mariner #69 written by Steve Gerber and drawn by George Tuska. As before if the Essential Sub-Mariner gets further volumes and reaches it (this one would be in volume 5 by my reckoning) I'll try to remember to return to this post and add my thoughts on the issue. However I suspect that won't be for many years yet.

Howard the Duck #1, written by Steve Gerber and drawn by Frank Brunner, reprinted in Essential Howard the Duck volume 1

Amazing as it may seem, Howard the Duck was once one of Marvel's biggest properties, leading to a much publicised creators' rights dispute over Howard's ownership, followed by a notorious mid 1980s movie often considered one of the worst films of all time. Before that came Howard's own series which launched in 1975 (and was reportedly more popular than the contemporary revival of the X-Men!). The key to understanding the series is that it's an existentialist satire in which the difference between seriousness and silliness is a point of view. With that said...

Spider-Man makes a short guest appearance in the first issue in which Howard encounters Pro-Rata, a cosmic accountant who lives in a tower made of credit cards located by a river in Cleveland and who sends Howard through a portal to a dimension of barbarians in order to retrieve the missing key for the Cosmic Calculator, which will allow Pro-Rata to become the Chief Accountant of the universe. Steve Gerber made this up, not me. Midway through the issue Jonah sends Peter to Cleveland to get photos of the mysterious talking duck sighted there, and late in the issue Spider-Man follows the sound of the explosion to reach the tower where he and Howard in turn save each other's lives. It's a fairly gratuitous appearance by Spidey that doesn't really add anything other than to lure readers in. Unfortunately the issue plays the guest appearance for straight rather than making a wider comment on the conventions for comics to do such appearances, missing an opportunity. Spider-Man makes a further brief cameo appearance in issue #10 (also in this volume) when Howard has a breakdown and several past characters appear in a surreal nightmare. It's notable for the image of Howard turning on a tap only to get webs as Spidey comes out of it. It's an example of the sort of madness that happened in Howard's series.

To keep this listing complete I'll just note Marvel Two-in-One #17, written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by Sal Buscema, which is reprinted in Essential Marvel Two-in-One volume 1 but which has also appeared in Essential Marvel Team-Up volume 2 as it crossed over with Team-Up #47 (which in turn is also reprinted in the Two-in-One volume). My thoughts on the issue are in my regular piece but I'll just repeat my comment that the creative teams on the two series seem to have been swapped around, and there's some dialogue in one series that would more suit the other, suggesting that the chapters were originally created to appear in the opposite series as someone got the schedule mixed up and assumed the issues would come out the other way round, then when the mistake was discovered the two stories were simply swapped over. Ah the mess of arranging crossovers.

Another one that I've already covered in the main run is The Man Called Nova #12 written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by Sal Buscema. This crossed over with Amazing Spider-Man #171 and both issues are reprinted in Essential Spider-Man volume 8 and also in Essential Nova volume 1. This time at least the chapters appeared in the books they were specifically created for. Later on in the series issue #15's cover promises an appearance by Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man and the Hulk, but it's very brief and they're only robot duplicates so like a lot of other brief cameo appearances I haven't included it in this overview. As previously noted, Nova was created in part as a deliberate homage to Spider-Man (and less deliberately drew upon elements of Green Lantern) so the series may be worth checking out to see how such a homage worked out in practice. It's all contained in that single Essential volume.

Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2, written and drawn by Jim Starlin, reprinted in Essential Marvel Two-in-One volume 2 and also in both Essential Avengers volume 8 and Essential Warlock volume 1

This was a continuation of the story from Avengers Annual #7 (in which neither Spidey nor the Thing appears), which in turn served as the conclusion to the saga of Adam Warlock and Thanos that Jim Starlin had been telling back in Warlock's own series before it was cancelled. The storyline climaxed with Thanos combining the power of the six Soul Gems (later renamed the Infinity Gems) and assembling a giant space fleet to wipe out much of the universe as a gift to regain the favour of the embodiment of Death. In the first part the Avengers, Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock attacked, destroying the main star destroying weapon but Warlock lost his life to Thanos and his own time-travelling younger self (it's a little complicated to summarise here) and was drawn into the world of the Soul Gem.

The Marvel Two-in-One annual opens with Peter Parker sleeping, receiving a telepathic message from Moondragon about how Thanos re-gathered his forces, overwhelmed and captured the Avengers and now plans to use the last surviving Soul Gem to destroy Earth's sun. Spidey sets out for the Baxter Building, observed by Master Order and Lord Chaos (two cosmic entities making their first appearances) where he gets the help of the Thing and they set off in the Fantastic Four's space shuttle. Once aboard Thanos's flagship they battle Thanos's army but get captured and brought before Thanos who rapidly subdues the Thing. Spider-Man panics and actually swings away until he realises he's doomed anyway so decides his best chance is to free the Avengers, which he does by throwing himself into the machine holding them in stasis. All the while Order and Chaos comment on how Spider-Man is meeting path of destiny they've set out for him but the ultimate job is to bring forth Adam Warlock. As Spidey recovers he finds himself strangely drawn to the Soul Gem which he releases from its container whilst at the same time Adam Warlock finds himself being called from inside the gem back to reality for one last missing. Warlock's spirit bursts out and turns Thanos into living stone. Thanos's army surrenders and the heroes bury Warlock then head for home.

As you can gather from that outline this is quite a different sort of story from the type Spider-Man is normally involved in, even in some of the more fantastic Marvel Team-Ups. Indeed in the story itself both Spidey and the Thing comment on this. I'm also not too comfortable with the whole idea of Order and Chaos manipulating Peter Parker's destiny so that he would become Spider-Man in the first place – the idea of mortals being micromanaged by powerful cosmic entities is so far detached from the norm for Spider-Man stories that it really sticks out. However this is a guest appearance so a little latitude can be allowed and Spider-Man is ultimately the catalyst for saving the Earth. I guess Marvel's leading solo hero has to do that at least once. And Two-in-One was a team-up book so his appearance wasn't even gratuitous. Still I bet a few Thing fans thought the regular hero should have had a greater role.

Spider-Man made another debut issue guest appearance in The Human Fly #1, written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by Lee Elias. However this is another issue that has to be omitted in this run as the Essentials haven't yet touched the Human Fly (nothing to do with the Spider-Man villain who sometimes go by this name and sometimes as just "the Fly", although Spider-Man is investigating the similarity of names), which seems to be one of the most obscure of all Marvel series. It was reportedly based on a real-life stuntman although there has been a degree of uncertainty about this.

Defenders #61, written by David Anthony Kraft and drawn by Ed Hannigan, reprinted in Essential Defenders volume 4

This story sees the Defenders trying to catch a serial killer who murders lawbreakers who has been striking on the Empire Statue University. Trying to lure him out they decide to erect a statue to a lawbreaker – and choose Spider-Man, in hideous modern art. Both Spidey and the vigilante show up but the latter knocks out the Valkyrie's flying horse and throws the statue's tarpaulin over Spidey, then uses the distraction to escape. Spidey and the Defenders agree to dismantle the statue. Whilst the Defenders was a series that made a virtue of a high number of guest stars (to the point that Defenders membership was never formally defined until the New Defenders era), Spider-Man's presence is largely unnecessary and any fugitive or criminal could have served as the basis for the statue. The fight is chaotic with too many heroes taking on one lone killer who escapes all too easily. This is yet another gratuitous appearance.

Fantastic Four #207, written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by Sal Buscema, reprinted in Essential Fantastic Four volume 9

When I originally wrote this post, Essential Fantastic Four had not yet reached this issue so I had to make do with a promise to come back to it when it eventually arrived. As that's now happened I can give my thoughts on this one.

This issue sees Peter on his first photo assignment for the Daily Globe and might have made a reasonable addition to Essential Spider-Man volume 9 because it shows him being hired by the Daily Globe, a precise point jumped over a bit in Amazing #194. In the space of less than one page Peter enters the Globe office, gets put on the salaried staff with an understanding about his time commitments and sent on his first assignment! Said assignment involves obtaining photographs of the students at Security College, a specialist institution for the offspring of the rich and famous who might otherwise be subject to kidnap attempts, including one Johnny Storm. The debate on journalism ethics has come a long way in the last three decades so it may just be the passage of time, but I was surprised Peter so readily accepted an assignment that effectively involves intrusion of privacy, even if he is photographing students out and about on the campus rather than in their private rooms. During the course of his attempts he discovers that the students are being hypnotised and used for nocturnal stealing by the Fantastic Four's old foe the Monocle. He convinces the Human Torch this is happening and they bring down the operation. The Monocle himself escapes the two heroes, but he'd tried to break away from the Enclave who blow up his rocket. All in all this issue feels rather awkward. The rest of the Fantastic Four don't appear at all as they're off on the planet Xander dealing with the left-over events from Nova and although Johnny's attendance at Security College was built up in previous issues, the whole thing feels as though it was scripted as a potential (fill-in?) issue of Marvel Team-Up. This is probably the reason why we get such a rushed introduction to Peter's career at the Globe and in the wrong series to boot – the script probably originally had him receiving a standard assignment but then the issue went out at a very awkward point in his own titles for this. However that doesn't excuse running part of a major development in Peter's life in another series.

Uncanny X-Men #123, scripted by Chris Claremont and drawn by John Byrne, reprinted in Essential X-Men volume 2

This is really quite a short appearance by Spidey that helps to establish continuity with the Marvel Team-Up issues with Captain Britain by bringing back the villain from that story, Arcade. Spidey bumps into Cyclops and Phoenix in New York, then sees them captured by Arcade's garbage truck and rushes to warn the rest of the X-Men by phone – only for it to be answered by Arcade who tells him he's too late. Spidey then smashes the phone box in rage. He doesn't appear in the rest of the story and really only served to provide a degree of continuity and explanation to introduce the story's villain.

Although not yet reached in its own Essential series, Fantastic Four #218, written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by John Byrne, has been reprinted in Essential Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man volume 2 as it crosses over with issue #42 of that series, and thus my thoughts on it are in my review of that volume.

Dazzler #1-2, written by Tom DeFalco and drawn by John Romita Jr, reprinted in Essential Dazzler volume 1

As I touched upon in my introduction piece about Spider-Woman, the Dazzler originated in a plan by Marvel to have a singer-superhero with a real-life singer doing promotion appearances. Eventually Marvel launched her in their first direct market only title in 1981. As part of the run-up to introduce here, she guest-starred in Amazing Spider-Man #203 and Spidey returned the favour in her own title. The first issue includes a cameo as the Dazzler takes on a group of muggers but falls into trouble and is helped by the arrival of Spider-Man. She goes on to get a job as the singer in a top nightclub, where in the second issue the opening night sees the attendance of about half the heroes in New York. When the Enchantress shows up, seeking a cosmic rift that will open on the site giving her great power, everyone joins a battle with her and the monsters she conjures up. The Enchantress is defeated but the night club is destroyed in the process; however Dazzler is given a tip for an interview about a singing contract- and all the heroes go to give her support and make sure she gets auditioned. Spider-Man's appearance here is very much a part of crowd support, both within the story itself and for sales (he's quite prominent on the cover of issue #1, reproduced as the Essential volume cover) but he gets a few good moments such as when Peter rushes into the gents to change into his costume and finds the other heroes have taken all the cubicles!

Given Dazzler's origins in the disco scene, there was rather a missed opportunity for her to fight one of Spider-Man's old foes. Why did no one think to pit her against the Hypno-Hustler?

(I've decided to leave out the What If series. Quite apart from it not having been Essentialised yet, it is by definition explicitly set in alternate timelines and often takes characters in quite unusual directions. Plus in most appearances Spider-Man was invariably a banner feature, not a guest star.)

Okay that's everything from 1972 until 1981. There's only a few guest appearances I could find that haven't yet been in the Essentials. Again it's surprising that there weren't more such appearances but I guess that Marvel Team-Up was able to meet a lot of that demand.

What's surprising about the appearances covered here is that in contrast to guest appearances in the 1962-1971 period there's far less of a hot-headed jerk in the Spider-Man costume. Equally there's very little of the resort to the stock formula of the hero being assumed to be a criminal, either inadvertently or deliberately due to a villain framing them. Instead we get Spider-Man interacting with other heroes on more respectful terms. The character was steadily developing in his own series and these guest appearances reflect that well.