Comics Corner: Web Of Spider-Man 19

   

Title: Web Of Spider-Man
Issue Number: 19
Release Date: October 1986

Highlights

• First appearance of Humbug, AKA Buchanan Mitty, and Now Magazine staff member, Richie
• First appearance of Solo, AKA James Bourne, but only seen from the shadows
• Spider-Man frantically searches for a fight to see if his spidey sense still works after the previous issue (see low points below)
• Humbug waits in the shadows on the docks for some thugs to finish loading a van, and makes his own plans to steal it when they're done as his first crime
• Spider-Mans sees the thugs, and gives them a chance to hit him while his back is turned, they never get the chance as his spidey sense kicks into high gear, relieving him of his fears that it was gone
• Seeing the fight, Humbug decides to head home, and runs off
• Spider-Man is content that his spider sense not warning him on the train tracks was just a one-time fluke - oh how much he will come to find out
• Reference is made to Web Of Spider-Man 17, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 113, and "recent issues" of The Amazing Spider-Man, and Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man
• Across the world, a hostage situation goes down in West Berlin, but Solo appears on the scene, killing all the criminals, and leaving a note

• J. Jonah Jameson informs Joy Mercado and Peter Parker he's sending them to Europe, first class with spending money
• Peter spends his money on roses for Aunt May
• As Peter arrives at her house to give her the flowers, he sees Martha and Sophie moving out, shaken up by the recent events where thugs broke into the home, and took them all hostage
• Aunt May tells Peter she's asked Nathan Lubensky to leave, saying that after he helped the police kill one of the thugs, that she just doesn't feel the same about him
• Humbug tries to steal an armored car, but is stopped pretty quickly by Spider-Man

Low Points

• Spider-Man makes reference to the events of being pushed on the train tracks in Web Of Spider-Man 18, as happening "a few minutes ago"
• Well that throws off the timeline of Spider-Man's supposed chronological reading order - Oh well
• We get Humbug's origin, and it's pretty lame
• A college professor who was using his research money to prove insects were friends to humans, until his funding was pulled for such nonsense
• Now he needs cash by any means to continue his research, but doesn't like that it means he has to be a villain
• I think Marvel is literally going for gags with Humbug

Oddities

• None

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man Annual 19

   

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man Annual
Issue Number: 19
Release Date: July 1985

Highlights

• First appearance of Alistaire Smythe, Johnson, the Spider Slayer VII, and the drug dealers, Lenny, and Charlie
• Reference is made to The Amazing Spider-Man 259
• Peter has an evening dinner at Mary Janes, but he doesn't show up on time, causing her meal to be cold, burnt, and overall ruined
• Arriving two hours late, Mary Jane goes off on Peter, and ends up slamming the door in his face
• Reference is made to Web Of Spider-Man 2
• Alistaire Smythe, Spencer's son, has taken on work with Kingpin, using his money to carefully plan his revenge against Spider-Man for killing his father
• The hat which Kingpin returned to Spider-Man in Web Of Spider-Man 2 was repaired by Alistaire, and he put a tracer in it, hoping to use it to finally figure out Spider-Man's true identity
• Kingpin terminates Smythe's employment
• Smythe sets to his plan to kidnap whoever has the hat, and lure Spider-Man to him
• Mary Jane sits at the G&W Restaurant with Aunt May and Aunt Anna, while Peter searches all over for Mary Jane, just wanting to talk to her
• Just before Smythe arrives at the restaurant with his new Spider Slayer, Anna borrows Aunt May's hat, putting it on
• Smythe crashes through the building, grabbing Aunt Anna and Mary Jane
• Smythe deduces that Mary Jane is Spider-Man
• Having gotten the hat from Kingpin, Spider-Man concludes he's behind the kidnapping, and storms his tower
• Using this distraction to run his operations, Kingpin calmly directs Spider-Man towards Smythe's location in Soho
• Seeing that Smythe will kill her Aunt if she doesn't admit she's Spider-Man, Mary Jane tell him what he wants to hear, and tells him she'll show him where her endoskeleton suit is
• Mary Jane convinces Smythe to get her a camera from a local store so that she can film his victory, and leaves a note while doing so
• Spider-Man rescues Anna, and she quips that he's such a nice and polite young man
• Mary Jane's note leads the cops to Aunt Anna, just as she's rescued, and they tell Spider-Man the note informed that she was luring Smythe to the Bugle
• Realizing that Mary Jane is just playing games, Smythe throws her to her death, but she's rescued in the nick of time by Spider-Man
• Spider-Man destroys the Spider Slayer by tricking Smythe into crashing into the power lines for the subway
• Peter tells Mary Jane that he realizes now they can never be together because it would just put her in constant danger

Low Points

• The story is a bit over the top, and the artwork inconsistent from panel to panel

Oddities

• None

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: Ka-Zar The Savage 19

   

Title: Ka-Zar The Savage
Issue Number: 19
Release Date: October 1982

Highlights

• Kraven the Hunter makes a cliffhanger ending appearance

Low Points

• Still no Spider-Man appearance in the story arc

Oddities

• When Norm radios from the plane, he informs the person on the other end that they have, "a sick man onboard", except he's not sick, he was shot in the head - Maybe instead say, "critically injured"?
• In issue 18, they're referred to as Ramona and Dr. Cortland. In issue 19, it's now Courtland

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 19

   

Title: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man
Issue Number: 19
Release Date: June 1978

Highlights

• First appearance of the newest member of the Enforcers, Ox, AKA Ronald Bloch
• Reference is made to Marvel Team-Up 40, Daredevil 86, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 10 - 15
• Peter Parker says finals are only a few months away - Will he finally graduate college?
• Holly Gillis and Hector Ayala (AKA White Tiger) start dating
• Lightmaster claims he knows who Spider-Man is behind his mask, hinting that he thinks it's Hector Ayala

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• Editor's day off: Panels have the white's of Spider-Man's lenses colored red

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: Marvel Team-Up 19

  

Title: Marvel Team-Up
Issue Number: 19
Release Date: March 1974

Highlights

• First appearance of Stegron, AKA Vincent Stegron
  
• Reference is made to The Amazing Spider-Man 103, 104, and Marvel Team-Up 13

Low Points

• Boring, and overly wordy
• Typical villain wants to take over the world story
• Ugh...It continues in the next issue

Oddities

• We skip Marvel Team-Up 18, because the issue doesn't have Spider-Man in it, and is not relevant to his story line
• First lines in the story, "The sun has been up since September." What the heck does that mean?
  

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 19

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man

Issue Number: 19

Release Date: December 1963

Highlights

• Human Torch joins the fight (ties back to Strange Tales 127, but is not a necessary read for Spider-Man's story line)
• Sandman and the Enforcers return 
• Peter Parker meets Ned Leeds
• Mysterious cliffhanger ending

Low Points

• Spider-Man and Human Torch don't capture Sandman because they both get tangled up in Spider-Man's webbing

Oddities

• The Enforcers have a backpack that sprays foam to extinguish Human Torch
• Betty is concerned she's lost Peter as a boyfriend, yet she's actively dating Ned Leeds

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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