Delivered with yesterday's wave 11.5 was a heaping bag which George of G.I. Jigsaw called, Wave 12. He has been hammering away at these at a rapid pace, and I'm all about it. More, more, more, more, more. Or as Pac-Man would say, waka-waka-waka-waka-waka-waka....I don't know, it sounded cool in my head.
Falling right out of the bag was the unwrapped Doppleganger. This villain made his first appearance in The Infinity War, issue 1, but quickly made his way into Spider-Man titles. He died in issue 37 of Spider-Man during the events of Maximum Carnage.
Next we head back to the sixties for some early Spider-Man villainy with Fancy Dan, a crew member of The Enforcers.
He was joined by fellow member, The Ox, who serves as the muscle, but sadly, not the brain.
The trio of Enforcers was rounded out with the lasso wielding Montana.
In the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man issue 10, the first appearance of The Enforcers, we also got our introduction to Big Man, AKA Frederick Fosswell. As Big Man, he was one of the biggest crime bosses of New York. However, after serving his time, a reformed Fosswell spent the rest of his days as a Daily Bugle employee, dying when sacrificing his life for J. Jonah Jameson.
Next up was one of the few villains bold enough to go up against the Green Goblin, and ultimately lose his life as a result, Crime Master.
Speaking of Green Goblin, this wave also featured the OG (original Goblin) himself, Norman Osborn.
We then head over to the world of Peter Parker for an introduction to his crotchety landlady, Mrs. Muggins.
The 70's era of Spider-Man also brought us new supporting characters, like Peter Parker's next door neighbor, Glory Grant.
We dive headlong into villains, in this very heavy bad guy filled wave, with the baddest bad guy of them all, Eddie Brock, AKA Venom. Co-creator, David Michelinie, originally wanted Venom to be a female, but was told by editor Jim Salicrup that fans of Spider-Man wouldn't go for their hero beating on a woman. Thus, Eddie Brock was created to take up the mantle.
Michelinie also co-created Cardiac with Erik Larsen during the 90's run following Todd McFarlane's departure, but just before Mark Bagley's epic era.
Another newer character to the Spider-Verse was the 1989 created Demogoblin, a reincarnated (of sorts) Hobgoblin. He would go on to feature in 132 issues before his death in the pages of Spider-Man 48.
As the Spider-Clone saga unfolded for the second time in the 90's with it came Kaine Parker, another clone iteration of Peter Parker. While adding this one to the checklist, I realized that I not only had a misspelling of his name, but he was on the list twice. As such, I made room for George's second iteration of Symbiote Spider-Man, aptly naming it, Spider-Man 1/2 - See number 319 on the checklist. The name fit with it being a half and half character, while playing on the 90's nostalgia of Wizard Magazine having limited 1/2 numbered promotional comics.
Carrion was one of the few characters birthed within the pages of The Spectacular Spider-Man. He's come and gone multiple times with various people behind the mask. The first, Miles Warren, appeared in issue 25, and died in 31. The second used his powers on himself, reverting back to his alter ego Malcom McBride, who to this day sits in a jail cell. The current version, William Allen, occasionally shows up to run a muck.
Created in the 70's, Rocket Racer was intended to be a throw away villain, and he serves just that purpose. I can't help but feel like he was thrown out there as a quick, "We need an issue tomorrow," remedy. He was never perceived as a major threat to Spider-Man, nor the police.
Speed Demon, another throw away character of the week was crafted from blue collar employee, James Sanders. Tired of working his job, he was offered the opportunity to become a villain by the Grandmaster. Yes, it was corny back then, but we got a ton of characters as a result.
Mobster turned drug dealer, turned self-proclaimed scientist, Silvermane made a name for himself in the underworld by kidnapping teens and testing drugs on them. He inadvertantly created the heroes Cloak and Dagger as a result.
Branching back over to Spider-man himself, we have the awesome silver Spider-Armor suit, which Peter first wore in issue 100 of the classic Web of Spider-Man series. This was back in the day where we didn't get a new spider suit every other day, so it was kind of a big deal.
Last up may forever be my favorite in the entire series from George, thus why I saved it for last. Bag-Man was the persona that Peter took up for the final pages of The Amazing Spider-Man 258 when Reed Richards removed the symbiote from him. Without any other clothing to wear, Johnny Storm gave him a Fantastic Four uniform, and a paper bag with eye holes. It was enough to get our hero from the Baxter Building back to his apartment, and it was an instant classic. I can't believe George made the paper bag by hand. Awesome!
I said the above was the last, but I think we all know at this point that George provides (at minimum) one secret figure. This one threw me off, but it wasn't my fault. I actually guessed what it was, but backtracked on it, and had to ask George. See, I thought, and was right that he was going for Captain Kangaroo, but without the mustache, factory error, I doubted I was right.
I already came up with the story for how he fits into the world of Spider-Man, which George said I should write and illustrate. I might, actually.
And of course, everything wraps up with that lovely checklist. George has almost knocked out two whole pages. He's already made 143 characters. That's fantastic!
This line of "figures" is the absolute greatest!
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