SPIDER-MAN BY ROGER STERN: AFTERWORD

Counting my split of SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #60 into two installments and the White Tiger serial as its own review, I've written a series of more than sixty posts on Roger Stern's Spider-Man, covering the gamut from his early days on SPECTACULAR to his beloved run on AMAZING, including some annuals, a couple guest spots in AVENGERS, and the coda in HOBGOBLIN LIVES and its sequel, "Goblins at the Gate", plus the more recent "Something Can Stop the Juggernaut". That's a lot of material. Other writers have produced more Spider-Man issues than Stern -- Stan Lee, David Michelinie, and Brian Michael Bendis spring to mind off the top of my head -- but few have captured the character, his supporting cast, and his trappings as well.

I figured that, while all these issues are relatively fresh in my mind, I might as well mention some of my favorites. Five seems like a nice, round number. These aren't in any sort of ranking order other than chronological; they're just my personal top five issues from throughout Roger Stern's time with Spider-Man. Some of them probably seem like the safe or obvious choices, but it occurs to me that certain things are obvious for good reason:

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #629

"WITH GREATER POWER..."
Writer: Roger Stern | Artist: Lee Weeks
Color Artist: Dean White | Color Assist: Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: VC'S Joe Carmanga | Assistant Editor: Tom Brennan | Editor: Stephen Wacker
Executive Editor: Tom Brevoort | Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley | Executive Producer: Alan Fine
Web-Heads: Gale, Kelly, Slott, Van Lente, Waid & Wells

The Plot: As Captain Universe confronts Spider-Man and Juggernaut, an earthquake hits. Spider-Man realizes that the Uni-Power has taken control of Captain Universe so that he can repair damage done to the fault lines beneath New York caused by Juggernaut's escape from the concrete in which Spider-Man had buried him years before. When Captain Universe's vendetta against Juggernaut proves more important to him than accomplishing his mission, the Uni-Force deserts him and possesses Juggernaut instead.

Juggernaut imprisons Spider-Man and William Nguyen, the former Captain Universe host, in an energy sphere, then heads beneath Manhattan to fix the fault line. Meanwhile, Spider-Man uses some ingenuity to get William and himself out of their makeshift prison. But Juggernaut arrives immediately after to finish off William. Spider-Man convinces Juggernaut to spare the young man, and the Uni-Power leaves Juggernaut after he agrees to do so. Juggernaut departs.

A few weeks later, William has become a minor celebrity, having written a book about his experiences with Juggernaut and the Uni-Force.

THE UNBOXING - DECEMBER 2014

Merry Christmas to all! It's been a busy couple months for me, but there's always time to unbox a new shipment of books. First up this month is something we actually already covered a couple weeks back, DANGER GIRL: MAYDAY -- so I won't waste any time talking about it here. A full review of this story, as well as all the other Danger Girl installments to date, is available on the DANGER GIRL reviews page.

Marvel, meanwhile, brings me two books this month: One is INVADERS: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION volume 2, the second and final volume in the series. Now, along with Volume 1, all of the original INVADERS series from the seventies is collected. These World War II adventures of Captain America and his cohorts are stories I've wanted to read for quite a while, so I may crack these two open sooner rather than later.

Lastly is the X-MEN: INFERNO PROLOGUE volume. As I've noted in the comments to my X-Men Collected Editions chart, this welcome book fills in a notable gap in the Chris Claremont X-Men canon, as well as covering several issues each of X-FACTOR and NEW MUTANTS. And it's an oversize hardcover to boot, something which has become rarer and rarer for the X-Men these past couple years!

And that's a wrap on a year's worth of Unboxings. What will 2015 bring? I know of a few items, which I've already pre-ordered, but for the most part I'm eager to find out which classic collections will come my way next.

ONSLAUGHT OMNIBUS ON THE WAY

I mentioned this in the comments on my X-MEN COLLECTED EDITIONS page a while back, but now we have enough information for a real post: Coming in July, filling a gaping hole in Marvel's oversize hardcover X-Men collections, is the long-awaited, highly anticipated ONSLAUGHT OMNIBUS:

Merry belated Christmas to all, says Marvel! The Collected Editions page will be updated with this info in the near future.

SPIDER-MAN: SPIRITS OF THE EARTH

Written and Illustrated by Charles Vess
Lettered by Gaspar Saldino | Edited by Jim Salicrup
Editor-in-Chief, Tom DeFalco

Well, it's the day after Christmas, but I thought I'd talk a little bit about a Christmas present I received some time back. SPIRITS OF THE EARTH, an original graphic novel from Marvel, was published in 1990. I'm not absolutely sure that I got it that year; it could've just as easily been '91 or maybe even '92.

I do, however distinctly recall the circumstances under which I received it. I was at the local comic shop (Flying Colors in Concord, California) and my mom was with me, and I saw the book on one of the shelves. It seemed to call to me. Even back then, apparently, I was a hardcover comic book snob, because the fact that the book was a nice sturdy volume was the first thing that drew me to it. Here was a comic book, starring Spider-Man -- but in hardcover format! Surely it had to be something far more special and wonderful than any old issue of his monthly series, right?

I wanted it then, but I didn't have the money for it and the $18.95 cover price was a bit much for an impulse buy from my mom. But apparently she kept it in her mind even as it drifted from mine. I moved onto other things, but come Christmas morning of that year (be it 1990, '91, or '92), SPIRITS OF THE EARTH was under the tree waiting for me. I read it right there on Christmas Day and, at the time, I really liked it.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #628

"VENGEANCE IS MINE!"
Writer: Roger Stern | Artist: Lee Weeks
Color Artist: Dean White | Letterer: VC'S Joe Carmanga
Assistant Editor: Tom Brennan | Editor: Stephen Wacker
Executive Editor: Tom Brevoort | Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley | Executive Producer: Alan Fine
Web-Heads: Gale, Kelly, Slott, Van Lente, Waid & Wells

The Plot: Captain Universe announces his intention to kill Juggernaut, then hurls him out of the armory with Spider-Man hanging on for the ride. The captain pursues, but Spider-Man attacks him to keep the still-unconscious Juggernaut safe. Captain Universe flies around the city trying to be rid of the web-slinger, while Juggernaut comes around and goes in search of his foes.

Captain Universe leaves Spider-Man in a construction yard and heads under the Earth's surface, beckoned by the Uni-Force to repair a fault line. But when Juggernaut reaches the yard, Cap abandons his mission and returns to the surface to finish his vendetta against the unstoppable villain.

The Sub-Plots: None to be found this issue.

Continuity Notes: While Spider-Man and Captain Universe skirmish inside Juggernaut's cell, the video screen outside shows Juggernaut still unconscious with nobody nearby, thanks to the wall-crawler setting the security camera on a loop last issue.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #627

"SOMETHING CAN STOP THE JUGGERNAUT?!?"
Writer: Roger Stern | Artist: Lee Weeks
Color Artist: Dean White | Letterer: VC'S Joe Carmanga
Assistant Editor: Tom Brennan | WHAM!ed: Stephen Wacker
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley | Executive Producer: Alan Fine
Web-Heads: Gale, Kelly, Slott, Van Lente, Waid & Wells

The Plot: Peter Parker suffers an intense blast of spider-sense while on a date, and ducks out to investigate. Following the danger to its source, he finds the Juggernaut, fallen from the sky, crash-landed in Central Park. Before the web-slinger can investigate, the police arrive and Juggernaut is taken into custody. Later that night, Spider-Man finds a car parked atop a large structure in Washington Square. The vehicle's drunk driver tells Spider-Man he was deposited there by a blue-and-white figure.

The next day, Spider-Man infiltrates the Inwood Armory in Upper Manhattan, where the Juggernaut is being held. He questions the villain about his current state, and Juggernaut also cites a blue-and-white "flying guy" as the cause of his crash-landing in the park. Then, as if on cue, the all-powerful Captain Universe appears, declaring his intention to destroy Juggernaut.

The Sub-Plots: At the story's start, Peter is on a date with Carlie Cooper, a CSI investigator. They have a second date later in the issue, which is how Peter learns where Juggernaut is being held. Also, Carlie and Peter discuss the fact that Peter recently lost his job at Front Line, the newspaper which replaced the Daily Bugle when the latter ceased publication.