As presented in PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN Nos. 9 & 10.
Though DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU ended with the February 1977 installment, Bill Mantlo was by no means finished with his co-creaton, Hector Ayala, a.k.a. the White Tiger. Also the writer of PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, Mantlo brought Hector in as a supporting character on that series in very short order. Hector and/or the White Tiger appeared in several issues of Mantlo's run, but I don't intend to look at all of them here. I will, however, examine issues 9 and 10, the Tiger's first encounter with Spider-Man, and next week we'll look at issues 19 and 20, as they feature a major event in Hector's life.
"...LIKE A TIGER IN THE NIGHT!"
Writer: Bill Mantlo | Artists: Sal Buscema & Mike Esposito
Letters: John Costanza | Colors: Phil Rache | Editor: Archie Goodwin
"TIGER IN A WEB!"
Writer: Bill Mantlo | Artists: Sal Buscema, Mike Esposito, & Frank Giacoia
Letterer: Irving Watanabe | Colorist: Sam Kato | Editor: Archie Goodwin
Writer: Bill Mantlo | Artists: Sal Buscema & Mike Esposito
Letters: John Costanza | Colors: Phil Rache | Editor: Archie Goodwin
"TIGER IN A WEB!"
Writer: Bill Mantlo | Artists: Sal Buscema, Mike Esposito, & Frank Giacoia
Letterer: Irving Watanabe | Colorist: Sam Kato | Editor: Archie Goodwin
That night, the White Tiger arrives at ESU to steal the Erskine papers, and finds Peter Parker in the science library for a project. The Tiger and Peter have a scuffle and the Tiger gets away with the papers. Peter chases him into the hallway to find the Tiger fighting a group of armed, costumed men. The Tiger beats these men into retreat, and then departs. ESU's President Dwyer then arrives and announces the school is under a state of emergency. Spider-Man does some research on White Tiger, chatting briefly with Blackbyrd in the process, and then returns to ESU. Meanwhile, White Tiger has done the same, entering Professor Vasquez's office to find the professor looking at the Erskine Manuscripts. A moment later Spider-Man arrives as well.
Spider-Man and White Tiger return to campus, where Dwyer has come around to the students' point of view, but still believes Vasquez led the costumed gang onto campus. However, Blackbyrd arrives with police and the arrested gang, revealing that they were operating independently of Vasquez, attempting to steal the Manuscript under cover of all the campus unrest. Dwyer decides not to press charges against Vasquez, and promises to find a way to keep night classes open.
Continuity Notes: The events of this story take place on the first day (and night) of Hector's enrollment at ESU. He meets Peter Parker during the night class protest in issue 9's opening scene.
A footnote informs readers that the Erskine Manuscripts are papers written by scientist Abraham Erskine, inventor of the Super Soldier process that created Captain America. Peter also notes that the papers are a source of pride for ESU, and a reason why many budding scientists choose to attend the school.
Spider-Man's investigation into the White Tiger in issue 9 brings him into contact with Blackbyrd, who fills the Web-Slinger in on the Tiger's history -- including telling Spidey his real name -- and his story ends with the little tidbit that, following DHoKF #32, White Tiger did not join the Sons as they had suggested -- and that the Sons left soon after for Africa to search for Abe. Later, when Blackbyrd tracks down the gang thanks to Spidey's description of their outfits, he recognizes them as the Black Hand, the group who worked for his old enemy, Snake Eyes, in DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU's Sons of the Tiger/Iron Fist team-up.
My Thoughts: Bill Mantlo was writing stories about white privilege before it was in fashion to do so! At the beginning of this story, Hector tells Peter that he shouldn't worry about the night class situation because he's white and it's not as big an issue for him as it is for the minority students. And Peter himself is conflicted. He understands that cancelling night school will heavily impact students of color, but he also struggles with the idea of ESU selling the prestigious Erskine papers if that's truly the only way to keep the classes going. It's all done very subtly and I like it. It's the sort of low-key social commentary Stan Lee used to do in the sixties, which is how I, personally, like to see this sort of thing tackled in comics.
Beyond that, this is a solid Spider-Man story, as well. Spidey finds himself involved in a surprising number of mystery stories, especially circa the seventies and early eighties, and this is one of the better ones. Knowing Hector is the White Tiger and has a bit of a hair trigger, I fully accepted and believed that he had stolen the Erskine Manuscript. It's only in the final couple pages of issue 9 that this is cast in doubt, as Mantlo clearly intended. Of course, from that point, it's pretty obvious what actually happened, but that's fine -- the second part is a fun enough action story that it doesn't really matter if readers know what's going on before the big reveal.
So I maintain that, despite my low opinion of his 1980s Spider-Man work, Bill Mantlo's 1970s Spidey is a really fun read! And we'll see more of it next week, in another SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN two-parter that came around exactly ten issues after this one, and which contains a massive turning point in the life of Hector Ayala.
Got to give Mantlo credit for writing a socially aware story in the 1970s that wasn't cringeworthy in how it handled race, used a fairly deep reference from Captain America, used the White Tiger, and masterfully told the reader where to go next to read more. Without trying hard!
ReplyDeleteSay what you will about Mantlo's overall talent, he was the very definition of a solid writer who you could bring in off the bench and work on everything-and I think still that Micronauts, ROM, and his Hulk run were pretty damn good. He did some books better than others, and he could occasionally write some purple as hell prose, but he was, basically, a guy who could deliver stories in an era where Marvel had a lot of issues with deadlines.
My issue with Mantlo's 80s stuff -- and again, this is pretty much entirely his Spider-Man material because I haven't read much else he's written -- is that it feels too overwrought and self-important. Like he felt he had Very Important Things to say, and the adventures of a radioactive, wise-cracking super-hero were the vehicle by which he would say them.
Delete(And as I mentioned above, no less than Stan Lee himself used Spidey as a means for some bits and pieces of social commentary, but he also never lost sight of the fact that he was writing a comic book. For all Stan's desires to see comics become serious literature, he nonetheless maintained a light and breezy feel for Spidey, pretty much all the way through.)
I have heard great things about both ROM and MICRONAUTS, however -- and I own three trade paperbacks collecting Mantlo's full HULK run from the 80s, but I've never gotten around to reading them yet. I have read a bit of his ALPHA FLIGHT, though, and I wasn't really a fan. I liked the Byrne stuff that preceded it more.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this pretty well, and so feel bad that what really stood out to me were errors and oddments, but…
Early in #9 we see a shadowy figure poring over a Daily Globe feature on the White Tiger. One presumes when first reading that it’s Hector, but in retrospect it’s likely Vasquez (unless Hector keeps vanity clippings on hand to look at while he enjoys an interior monologue). The opening spread of the “special color edition” is black-&-white — and, of course, nobody’s costume demands to be appreciated in color less the White Tiger’s.
So it shouldn’t have been a surprise when the Black Hand refers to WT as “one lousy guy in a tiger suit,” despite no part of his suit actually resembling a tiger beyond the amulet. Hey, Black Hand goons are dressed entirely in green!
Plot-wise, Blackbyrd telling Spidey the White Tiger’s civilian name kinda screws up #19-20 a bit.
So what did I like? Mantlo’s social consciousness is appreciated, especially like you say for not going too big — even if I don’t really buy the Dean’s sudden turn to sympathy and compromise. And I have great love for when fantastical elements are subtly worked into relatively mundane, real-world situations like the Erskine papers being held by ESU.
I agree; I did find the Dean's 180 a little hard to swallow here. I think it would've been more believable to have him open up negotiations withe the student body or something, rather than state unequivocally that he would find a way to keep night classes going.
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