BHOC: PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #25

I had skipped the last couple of issues of PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, having come to the conclusion that the series was relatively superfluous to the life of Marvel’s wall-crawling hero. The stories were mostly fine, but nothing of any particular consequence seemed to happen in them, I can recall looking at both issues repeatedly on the spinner rack on subsequent weekly trips, but leaving them behind each time. The fact that #24 was the introduction of the notorious Hypno-Hustler was a big factor in my disinterest, too. Even in 1978, I knew he was a turkey. So I’m not sure what made me take the leap on this issue, apart from maybe liking this strongly Steve Ditko-influenced cover by Keith Pollard. Could have simply been that I had an extra 35 cents and didn’t want to leave without spending it. Either way, I bought the book and was back in the fold.

This issue was the start of the storyline that introduced Carrion, and as somebody who hadn’t been around for the earlier mysteries of the Green Goblin’s identity and the like, it hooked me completely. That said, the identity of Carrion was changed at the last minute. Writer Bill Mantlo, who was trying to take big swings in the title (no doubt a result of other readers feeling about the book the way I had) intended for Carrion to legitimately be Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, brought back from the dead. He wrote the story with that intent for several issues, literally getting up to the unmasking panel issues later. And that’s when it hit the fan. As I understand things, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN writer and editor Marv Wolfman became aware of the reveal at that point and was unhappy with the idea of bringing back Norman in such a fashion, as the Goblin’s death along with Gwen Stacy was such a seminal storyline in the character’s history. As the ASM writer and editor, he had seniority and the right of way, and so Mantlo had to struggle to come up with an alternative reveal that would still be effective. Not knowing any of this at the time as a reader, I thought he did a good job of it, and I never noticed the abrupt course-correction. But we’ll leave that reveal for when we get to that issue.

The issue opens on a meeting inside the inner chambers of the headquarters of the Maggia, the criminal organization that was Marvel’s barely-concealed equivalent to the Mafia. There, “Big M”, the Maggia leader known as the Masked Marauder, is petitioned by a strangely desiccated figure calling himself Carrion. Carrion intends to kill Spider-Man for some unexplained slights, and so he wants the Maggia to stay out of his way. Big M is not down with this line of thinking, as Spidey and Moon Knight just busted up one of their operations two issues ago, and he gestures to a bunch of his boys to ventilate Carrion–which gives the new villain a chance to show off his bag of tricks, which includes the ability to walk on air and become substantial, and a pouch filled with a deadly dust of death. Having dispatched his attackers, Carrion himself disappears in a puff of mist, having delivered his ultimatum to Big M.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man himself is web-swinging across the city skyline thinking about his assorted personal problems. This provides Mantlo with an opportunity to recap the recent events in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, specifically the return of Betty Brant and the fact that she is attempting to renew a romantic relationship with Peter Parker, despite still being married to Ned Leeds. This was pretty racy subject matter for a super hero comic book in 1978. Elsewhere, Mantlo’s creation the White Tiger, who had taken up residence in SPEC SPIDEY as a sort of secondary hero, prevents a street gang, the Savage Skulls, from stealing a car. When the Tiger is informed that the gang is hitting this specific car because it belongs to a hood who’s been selling drugs in the neighborhood, the Tiger winds up smacking the dealer in the mouth and telling him not to come back. Unfortunately, almost all of the characters in this sequence are depicted visually in a manner that has not aged well–they feel like cartoon stereotypes.

That evening, the Masked Marauder and his Maggia henchmen stage a heist at the Citicorp Center on 59th Street, a real location, using techniques and equipment first established in the Marauder’s earlier appearances years before in DAREDEVIL. Spider-Man happens across the crime in progress and drops in for the issue’s pre-requisite battle sequence. The Marauder himself hangs back, wary of confronting the web-slinger directly, instead allowing his men to take the brunt of the fighting.

But at a certain point, Spidey is disoriented when the flying Bird-Drone that has been guiding the heisters to their target suddenly detonates the door to the vault, disintegrating it completely. Before our hero’s astonished eyes, having gained access to the safety deposit boxes within teh vault, the Bird-Droid begins to change its form, becoming more human-shaped. This thing is the Tri-Man, a silent android servitor possessing, as his name implies, three separate forms in which to operate. He too dates back to the Marauder’s conflicts with Daredevil–and in his man-shape, he’s more than strong enough to hurl Spidey around like a rag doll.

And now we get to the climax, and a pretty great climax it is, too. Because as the wall-crawler rallies and prepares to re-engage the Tri-Man, the Masked Marauder finally steps out from concealment and catches Spider-Man directly in the face with a blast from his Opti-Ray. As was established in those earlier Daredevil issues, anybody struck by the Marauder’s ray loses their vision–so Spider-Man suddenly finds himself struck sightless in the middle of the life-or-death battle. To Be Continued! There isn’t really a lot of story to this issue–it’s mostly a collection of disparate scenes that don’t really add up to much together–but this close definitely piqued my interest and made me want to come back for more next time. So I was hooked. (Also, I really liked Mantlo’s pun title for this issue, “Carrion, My Wayward Son”–in part because I got it.)