Title: The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual
Issue Number: 9
Release Date: September 1989
Highlights
- Story I: The Serpent In The Shadow
- First appearance of Brother Elton
- Many folks are flocking to the West Side Armory to get Dr. Tyrone's miracle cure for drugs and alcohol addiction, which Spider-Man is taking photos of in hopes of selling to the Bugle
- Dr. Tyrone administers the injection to a man on the stage, and he professes that his shakes and chills have gone away instantly
- Spidey spots Cloak, and when he attempts to get answers as to why he's there, Cloak vanishes
- Dagger intervenes, but it's only a distraction for Cloak to fold Spider-Man inside of him, and both of them vanish
- From a monitor, Ghaur watches Dagger, and proclaims she'll make a good bride for Set, and to mark her
- In a conversation between Cloak and Dagger, we learn that Cloak was there to seek out the cure from Dr. Tyrone for himself
- Dr. Tyrone turns out to be Tyrannus, and he takes Dagger captive
- Reference is made to The Amazing Spider-Man Annual 23, Captain America 344, and Marvel Team-Up 111
- As Peter develops his film, he notices a serpent tattoo on Brother Elton's wrist, and heads to the Armory for answers
- Spider-Man intercepts Cloak on the way, and learns of Dagger being taken
- Spider-Man sneaks inside the Armory, and unknown to him, Cloak phases through the walls and floors, following Dagger's light directly to her
- Dr. Tyrone tells Cloak to get him a certain book in a museum, or else he won't release Dagger from her comatose state
- Meanwhile, Spider-Man comes across junkies strapped to gurneys, and wonders why they are being restrained
- Within mere moments, Cloak returns with the book, and Tyrone orders him to be killed
- Lizard creatures attack, and we learn that these are the junkies, who have been transformed with a lizard serum created by Viper
- An explosion knocks Dagger out of her trance, and gives Cloak the needed opportunity to engulf her, and vanish to safety
- Back at the ambulances, Spider-Man witnesses a man transform into a lizard
- In a cliffhanger ending, Spider-Man is captured by Dr. Tryone
- Story II: Free Fall
- First appearance of Charles Weiser, and Nattie
- First appearance and death of Neal Mulligan
- This story evolves around Hobie Brown and his persona, the Prowler
- Working at a construction site, Hobie sees Neal Mulligan falling from the rafters, and though he attempts to save him, he fails
- Hobie returns home for a night out with his wife, but instead finds a note on the fridge stating that class is running late
- Hobie heads to his drawing table, and continues work on the safety devices he was designing, but just as he gets started, he falls asleep
- When Mindy returns home, she wakes him, and he shows her the designs for the compact glider
- Mindy tells Hobie he needs to sell the design to someone who can execute them
- He tells her they aren't ready due to some design flaws
- Thinking she's helping, Mindy takes the plans when Hobie falls back asleep, and the next morning delivers them to Hammer Industries
- Hobie freaks out when he finds out
- Reference is made to The Amazing Spider-Man 305
- That night, Hobie suits up as the Prowler, but as he heads to Hammer Industries to steal his designs back, he sees someone stealing classified microfilms from one of Hammer's competitors
- The thief is using the glider design he created
- Prowler easily defeats him, and after unmasking him, learns he's an employee of Hammer named Charles Weiser, and the only reason he committed the crime was because Hammer promised him a promotion
- Story III: The 25 Most Important Women In My Life
- The fun art of Fred Hembeck returns for another gallery, this time on the women Peter and Spider-Man are fond of in their lives
- Story IV: Sweet Revenge
- Mary Jane's first solo story
- Mary Jane sneaks out at night, and makes her way to the state prison
- She subdues a guard, and steals his keys, making her way to Jonathan Caesar's cell
- After a cheeky encounter with him, she tell him she wants her life back
- Mary Jane pulls out a revolver and shoots him dead
- She awakens at a modeling interview to her name being called
- Inside the office, she's once again turned down for the job
- As she leaves, the man makes a call, and informs the individual on the other line that Caesar owes him one
- Mary Jane returns to Aunt May's home to a surprise birthday party
- Two days later, Jonathan Caesar receives a photograph from Mary Jane of her and Peter embraced in a kiss
- Story V: Saga Of The Serpent Crown Part VI
- First appearance of Regina
- These Atlantis Attacks annuals are too long, and extremely difficult to get through
- Story I: The Serpent In The Shadow
- Having not read all the various annuals across Marvel Comics, I've no clue what happened to She-Hulk from The Amazing Spider-Man Annual 23
- This story is continued in Daredevil Annual 9
- This in and of itself is a problem, see oddities
- Story V: Saga Of The Serpent Crown Part VI
- It has nothing to do with Spider-Man, and since I'm not reading the other chapters, I skipped this one
Oddities
- Story I: The Serpent In The Shadow
- Editor's Day Off: After meeting a group of homeless people, Spider-Man thinks about his living situation with Aunt May, and concludes, "At least we have place a live."
- Editor's Continued Day Off: In the same panel of a typo, Spider-Man's eye lenses are colored red
- Is The Editor Coming Back: As Spider-Man spies on some ambulances, he thinks, "I have a read bad feeling about this."
- Editor Is Fired! The end of the story references that it continues in Daredevil Annual 9
- The problem is that Daredevil was only up to Annual 4 at this point
- Further the cliffhanger ending of Story VI references Daredevil Annual 4 as the continuation point
- Story II: Free Fall
- Odd cliffhanger ending where Hobie learns that Mulligan was dead before hitting the ground, having gotten his skull bashed in while walking the rafters
Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)
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