Comics Corner: Web Of Spider-Man Annual 5

   

Title: Web Of Spider-Man Annual
Issue Number: 5
Release Date: November 1989

Highlights

  • Story I: War Zone: New York
    • First appearance of Megasaur, Trish Fox, and Todd Tremaine
    • First appearance and death of General Epititus
    • Trish Fox stands in Battery Park, reporting on what is soon to be the first war on American soil since 1812
      • On hand for protection with the military are Spider-Man, and the Fantastic Four, which includes a fifth member, Ms. Marvel, AKA She-Thing
    • The Atlantean army attacks
    • Reference is made to Avengers Annual 18
    • The Atlantean army are pushed back by the heroes, and just as they appear to be in full retreat, but a second wave appears, riding a giant Megasaur
    • General Epititus tries to warn Attuma that they cannot win the battle, and that he is being deceived by Ghaur and Lady Llyra
      • Attuma shoots him dead for daring to suggest any of this
      • Turns out Epititus was right, and Lemurian troops are attacking Atlantis at the same time
    • The Atlantean army also makes its way through Washington, and as they bare down on some American soldiers, are stopped by a mysterious figure intervenes, ripping a chunk out of the wall, and blocking the enemies attacks
      • After the smoke clears, he's vanished
    • Back in Manhattan, the Fantastic Four all go down to the Megasaur, leaving Spider-Man standing ground on his own
    • Ghaur claims one more bride for Set in Susan Storm
    • The third wave of the attack comes from Attuma and his men storming the streets
    • Spider-Man lures the large creature to an electric billboard, jumping out of the way as it attacks
      • The electricity from within shocks the creature, going all the way to the Atlantean driver atop, knocking him out, but not affecting the Megasaur
      • Without a driver, the creature instinctively returns to the sea
    • NASA picks up on the nuclear explosion in Atlantis from the Lemurian surprise attack
    • Attuma receives word of the attack, the destruction of Atlantis, and no signs of life
      • As all the Atlantean troops retreat, Attuma stays behind, and surrenders, realizing he's been a fool
    • Reed Richards holds a press conference, where he confirms his wife is missing
      • The reporter asks if Spider-Man will assist, and he responds that he will if Reed wants him to
    • The story is continued in West Coast Avengers Annual 4
  • Story II: A Random Miracle
    • Story by Gerry Conway, with art by Steve Ditko, inked by Al Milgrom
    • First appearance of Quantum Mechanic
  • Story III: Petey
    • Fred Hembeck takes you into the life of young Petey Parker
  • Story IV: Spider-Man's Most Dubious
    • Another fun Fred Hembeck drawn gallery of Spidey's accessories, friends, foes, and situations
  • Story V: A Mute Player For Deaf Ears
    • First appearance of Jannsens, Bettermanh, Zahl, Madeline, and Frau Kuryova
    • First appearance and death of Kuryova
    • A solo story featuring Silver Sable
    • Sable attends the funeral of one of her Wildpack operatives, Kuryova, where she is approached by his wife, Frau Kuryova
      • The widow asks how she will feed her children with her husband gone
      • Sable coldly answers that she prays, and then elaborates by saying to pray that the Pack Board doesn't find her husband as grossly incompetent as she does
        • Again, the guy is dead
    • As anger fills Sable upon her return home, we're taken to a flashback mission with her, Kuryova, and other Wild Pack soldiers
      • The flashback is interrupted by her accidentally breaking a crystal cat statue in her home, which takes her to another flashback of her father training her
        • It serves as an origin story, I suppose
    • Silver Sable remembers another mission with Kuryova, calling him a coward and incompetent for abandoning his post, allowing good men to be killed
    • The story then flashes to her and her uncle, explaining how she came up with her name
    • We learn now how Kuryova died on the mission
      • In a cowardice attempt to retreat, he leaves injured men behind, but as he climbs the ladder to a rising helicopter he's hit by enemy fire
    • The Pack Board determines him a coward, insubordinate, and derelict of his duties, denying all benefits his wife would have received upon his dead
      • Silver Sable coldly instructs her to be told all of this
  • Story VI: Saga Of The Serpent Crown Part XI
    • Art by Mark Bagley, inked by Keith Williams
    • First appearance of the Serpent Cartel, and members Gergory Gideon, Justin Hammer, Leland Owlsley, Sebastian Shaw, Obadiah Stane, and Cornelius van Lunt
Low Points
  • Story I: War Zone: New York
    • It's unfortunate the story continues in an Annual I won't be reading
  • Story II: A Random Miracle
    • The story is all about Captain Universe, and doesn't feature Spider-Man at all
      • Get your own book!
  • Story V: A Mute Player For Deaf Ears
    • Another story that doesn't feature Spider-Man, but at least Silver Sable is a character who got her start in the pages of his books, and occasionally reappears
  • Story VI: Saga Of The Serpent Crown Part XI
    • I didn't read the other nine parts, so I didn't read this one either
Oddities
  • None
Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)



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