Product Description: Spider-Man is as amazing as ever against adversarial alumni like the Lizard and the Kingpin, as well as up-and-coming enemies such as Stegron and Jigsaw - with the lesser-known larcenies of the Big Wheel and the Spider-Squad to fill his spare time! Featuring the first appearances of Rocket Racer and Will O'the Wisp! Forgotten chapters from the Green Goblin legacy and the Clone Saga! Spider-Man's origin and Peter Parker's college graduation! And J. Jonah Jameson at his best and worst! Guest-starring the Punisher, Nova the Human Rocket, the Human Torch and the X-Men! Collects Amazing Spider-Man #161-185 & Annual #11, Giant-Size Spider-Man #6 and Nova #12.
The Punisher is now more important than the Green Goblin to Spider-Man I already knew that I graduate high school the same year as Homer (and Marge) Simpson as well as Kevin and the gang on "The Wonder Years," but while reading "Essential Spider-Man, Volume 8" I discovered that I would have graduated from college the same year as Peter Parker. The only problem was that I graduated a year early while it took Peter "twelve" years to get his degree (he graduated back in 1965, but of course comic book years have their own weird math that you never really bother to figure out). Then again, despite what you see on the cover Peter Parker does not really get handed his diploma in this volume (what you see above is not the cover of the actual book, so just go along with me here for now), and you get one guess as to what alter-ego messes up Peter's graduation plans. However, do not start panicking that you do not see Aunt May at Peter's "graduation," because there is a reasonable explanation for her absence (although Joe Robertson should not be on the cover given that explanation).
That last observation is not really a digression, but speaks to why I was becoming less and less interested in reading Spider-Man comics back in the mid-1970s when these particular stories were first published (1976-78), which is that too many of the stories struck me as second-rate versions of ones I had enjoyed the first time I read them, when they were written by Stan Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko and Johnny Romita (Sr.). For example, once again Aunt May is at death's door and once again being Spider-Man is causing problems in saving her life, because once again Harry Osborn is running around as the Green Goblin (okay, it is more complicated than that but once again amnesia seems to be hereditary). Once again Spider-Man thinks he is going mad, once again J. Jonah Jameson trots out another version of the Spider-Slayer, and once again Peter stands at Uncle Ben's grave and rededicates his life to the proposition that "with great power comes great responsibility."
My biggest disappointment is that there is this subplot running through the early issues where we know that JJJ has photos of Spider-Man dumping the corpse of Peter Parker into a smokestack. We know that this was the clone of Peter, but JJJ does not know that. This could turn into something interesting but when we finally get to the payoff, it lasts exactly four pages and that is it, which only underscores that you will only find one really memorable moment in these stories, and it has to do with Peter rather than Spider-Man (and it is not his graduation from college. I also discovered that because the Frank Miller version of the Kingpin from his run on "Daredevil" comics turned the character into a major super villain, right up there with Doctor Doom and Magneto, seeing Wilson Fisk as a more pedestrian villain in these old issues is rather disappointing. Peter's relationship with Mary Jane seems like it is just as much on and is it off at this point, at least when Lee Wein is scripting the stories, and then Marv Wolfman shows up and immediately ups the ante. In the blast from the past department I liked the reappearance of Betty Brant (notice she is seen on the aforementioned cover), who provides a nice perspective on Peter's life.
The best stories here are those involving the Punisher, who first shows up when Spider-Man is tangling with Nightcrawler, and then again when the Hitman is the bad guy. At this point the Punisher provides a strong contrast for our hero, embodying the good vigilante versus the bad vigilante, which also provides a critique a comic book world where you wonder how many times a supervillain can get out of jail.. But then we have Stego the Dinosaur Man, who ends up being a tag-team with the Lizard, and one of the other new villains--Will-O'-the-Wisp, Photon, Rocket-Racer, and Big Wheel--are that impressive either. The net affect is that the character is treading water, and if it were not Spider-Man I probably would not have been reading these comics then or now. "Essential Spider-Man, Volume 8" brings together issues #161-86 of "Amazing Spider-Man," Annual #11, the cover of "Giant-Size Spider-Man" #6 (go back to Volume for Annual #4 for what was actually in that one), and, for purposes of continuity, "Nova" #12. Len Wein is the writer for most of these issues, with a few exceptions, until Marv Wolfman took over as scripter on #182. Ross Andru is the penciler on almost every issue here, with Sal Buscema doing #181 and the "Nova" issue. The title might be in descent, but at this point it is only suffering from a slow leak.
GREAT COMIC IF you like Spider-Man you'll love this one and don't forget to get the ones before this Volume because then you'll be clueless on whats happenen so great buy now...
Response to previous review The previous reviewer stated that Giant-Sized Spider-Man #6 is not included in this volume. This is not entirely true. The contents of that issue are not re-printed, but the cover is included in this volume. There is also a note on the table of contents stating that Giant-Sized #6 reprints the contents of Annual #4. It doesn't make a huge difference since you still don't get the actual contents of the issue, but I thought it should be made clear what this volume contains.
Great stuff -- but false advertising I love this era of The Amazing Spiderman. Maybe I'm biased because the very first Spidey title I ever bought was ASM #168, but I love Len Wein's writing. Most of his 30-issue arc can be found in this volume (the first section, issues 151-160, are in Essential Spiderman vol 7) and it's a great ride. While some of his plots were a little cheesy (Hammerhead's ghost and the Kingpin's "life-force" machine), his narration and dialogue were first-rate. And his cliffhangers were truly exciting. In addition, he made great use of ASM's supporting cast and gave each of them new dimensions. Furthermore, he and artist Ross Andru really incorporated New York City into their plots which gave the series a real sense of place.
BUT --- on both the front and back covers this volume lists Giant-Size Spiderman #6 as being included and it is NOT. I'm not sure what happened. Maybe the editors realized at the last minute that #6 reprints ASM annual #4 (which is already featured in an earlier Essential Spiderman volume) and therefore why reprint a reprint? Maybe they were thinking that people who will purchase this volume already have the earlier volume and wouldn't want to see the story twice. If that's the case - they're in error. This is the first Essential Spiderman I've purchased and I would have appreciated reading GS ASM #6, reprint or no reprint. Why not simply go ahead and include it anyway? They included Amazing Spiderman Annual #11 (not written by Len Wein) and it's pretty bad.
In any event, not only is GS ASM #6 advertised on the front cover (as well as in it's press release) but they use the cover image for this volume's back cover as well!
It's a small quibble, I know, and there are more important problems in the world, but I figured it's better to speak up than to remain silent. Peace!
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