The Intermediate Era After the Clone Saga Before the Volume 2 Relaunch

[Mister Mets]

And now the first month of Identity Crisis, or most of it.



Sensational Spider-Man #27
While disguised as new superhero the Hornet, Spidey takes on the Looter. Flashbacks reveal how Hobie Brown helped him come up with a new costume- I like the idea that Hobie had a prototype that didn’t work for him because it’s too heavy- not exactly a problem for Spidey. This story seems a bit more lighthearted, as Spider-man struggles with new aspects of his costume like the dangers of flying.
This works okay as a single issue story setting up Norman Osborn’s interest in Hornet, as well as a showdown with the Vulture, and a breaking point with poor Billy, Peter's earnest colleague. And there’s solid art and storytelling by Mike Wieringo.
B+

Amazing Spider-Man #434
In his new guise as Ricochet, Spidey busts bad guys trying to steal Beanie Baby knockoffs. He’s looking for info about recurring villain Black Tarantula, when Delilah, an agent of the Rose, seeks out his help to take him out. Meanwhile, Robbie’s trip to Greece brings him close to Alison Morgaine, an agent of Norman Osborn’s who was betrayed by the Scriers. I do know that subplot ends badly. A professor of Mary Jane’s may have a connection to one of Black Tarantula’s henchmen.
This issue is getting really busy and highlights why it doesn't really work to have Spider-Man in multiple titles, which have their own ongoing stories but are interconnected. Bennet’s art is fine. In terms of writing, the main thing I appreciate is MJ’s role in coming up with the Ricochet identity, and Spider-Man’s efforts coming up with a new voice for him.
B-





Peter Parker Spider-Man #91
It opens with Trapster overcoming agents of the Hand; this era was his highlight- he has never been bigger. Romita Jr has some great art, mixing a horror movie atmosphere with funny storytelling like when Spidey accidentally puts on all of his new costumes at once. Sometimes the dialogue is just way too obvious, but the story engine of Spider-Man realizing that Trapster probably framed him, and trying to save him from Norman in order to clear his name is a good one. There is a decent handle on Peter & MJ’s relationship- She loves him, but she is frustrated.
In his guise as Dusk, Spider-Man saves the Trapster from the Shocker and it’s a decent fight scene. I remember being annoyed at how often the same villains were popping up in the run, but it is a bit like Frank Miller’s Daredevil where you had a lot of stories with the Kingpin, the Hand, Elektra and Bullseye and that was pretty good.
The story ends with an odd cliffhanger of Spider-Man working with the Trapster, so if all you’re reading is this one title, it makes sense and if you’re reading all four books, you could kind of imagine events in the other titles happening at the same time. The unnecessary approach of four different identities in four titles is wearing thin, and is a showcase for why it makes more sense to dump most of the satellite books and just publish Amazing Spider-Man more.
B

[Alan2099]

Seeing this again, I can't help but miss the Slingers. I'd so much rather have them back than the majority of the modern "Spider-family" characters.

[HypnoHustler]

Seeing this again, I can't help but miss the Slingers. I'd so much rather have them back than the majority of the modern "Spider-family" characters.

I can’t believe people complain about the 90s when it gave us the most important members of the spider-family such as Ben, Kaine, Miguel, and the Slingers. I’d take any of them over Silk, Spider-Gwen, Alpha, Spider-Boy, or even Miles.

[Mister Mets]

Identity Crisis continues.



Amazing Spider-Man #435
Defalco & Bennet do get into why Spider-Man would want multiple costumes, even if I’m still not sold on the idea in an opening where Spidey as Dusk follows Black Tarantula’s henchmen.
In the main story, Spidey disguised as Ricochet teams up with Deliliah against Bloodscream and Roughouse- generic 90s D-listers from a recent Wolverine story (also written by Tom DeFalco.)
There’s a scene where Spidey keeps trying to use his webshooters forgetting he’s disguised as someone else, which does get to why it’s kind of dumb that he’s pretending to be four new superheroes. But I will admit that it pays off in the final sequence, and there is a compelling complication for Peter.
A funny anachronism is that Spidey thinks about how crooks have changed when they're worried about missing an episode of South Park. Now, South Park is an institution. The kids of the original fans are watching it. Kaine makes a cameo, and I think that's it for this era of the comics.
B



Sensational Spider-Man #28
The opening’s a bit of a recap, though I do like the response to Hornet from other superheroes and Peter’s realization that someone may know his secret. The Human Torch goes after Hornet in response to a cryptic comment about how no one has to worry about Spider-Man any more. That’s a bit of an ananchronism from the days before modern social media when it’s possible for the Human Torch and the Vulture to pick up on something that isn’t widely discussed.
Peter has a legitimately painful conversation with a colleague, before going to an event as Hornet and getting ambushed- It is a bit repetitive with other titles featuring Peter’s new alter egos getting close to Osborn. A showdown with the Vulture gets to an interesting complication that makes the Hornet useless as an alter ego.
It’s a fun comic with some excellent storytelling from Mike Wieringo. In retrospect, I wonder if it was a waste of his talents, though Hornet has a good costume and this story has a mix of good action sequences with the Vulture and the Human Torch, and some decent Peter Parker scenes. Still, a set-up where an artist with Wieringo’s talents was on a twice or thrice-monthly Amazing Spider-Man would probably have been better.
B+



Peter Parker Spider-Man #92
While in his persona as the mysterious Dusk, Spider-Man works with the Trapster- the guy who framed him for killing hoodlum Joey Z- to expose Norman Osborn. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, but John Romita Jr remains one of the best artists on the planet and there is a sense that this work is getting too much for Spidey, something MJ picks up on from Psych 101. I guess this is the series that focuses on Peter’s grad school problems and the Stacys and I don’t care about any of that, although I do like Spider-Man getting to know the Trapster a bit more.
There is something a bit off-putting about the foreign mercenaries going after the Trapster here, especially in the context of the crime business in Amazing Spider-Man, and the awareness that similar stuff is going on in Daredevil, Punisher and Wolverine. The crime just adds up too much. At least, Spider-Man’s plan fits the larger arc and this issue brings us one step closer to a sort of resolution to the bounty on him.
B

[Triniking1234]

No Spectacular Spider-Man at this time?

[Mister Mets]

No Spectacular Spider-Man at this time?

It's the one two-parter, and it's set last.



Spectacular Spider-Man #257-258
Part 1 is DeMatteis’ last issue, which is a bit sudden. Spider-Man makes his debut as Prodigy, saving the life of a Middle-Eastern ambassador who is a good friend of Norman Osborn. The people of New York City are already familiar with Prodigy, which is a bit of an odd dynamic, although that is a way to make sure this all lines up with the other titles, especially since this is the one straightforward two-parter (even if the lead writer leads midway) and chronologically the last of the Identity Crisis stories. There are some decent specifics about Prodigy’s suit, like how Peter disguises himself, how he has fun playing someone so square and how he figures he may be able to worm his way into Osborn’s confidence.
Peter bumps into Aunt Anna, and she reveals the story of her failed marriage. References to events before Spider-Hunt (published a few months earlier) occurring “the other day” is a bit distracting, but this does conclude a decent subplot for her, using a standard comic book misunderstanding to get some depth about her experiences and regrets.


New villain Conundrum is a JMD type baddie, who has some kind of connection to the new Jack O’Lantern. It’s an okay visual, but he does come across as really generic.
Glenn Greenberg takes over for the script of Part 2. There’s a sequence where the bad guys seem to grow to giant-size which is derivative, but it does have a payoff where Prodigy uses the spider-sense his enemies don’t know about. With Prodigy, there is the sense that Spider-Man is really putting on an act. It’s probably the most well-realized of the identities. There are decent minor twists like a bad guy making a last effort to escape. The final pages seem to indicate that these two issues were chronologically the last of the Identity Crisis crossover, which makes it annoying to read without knowing the order.


There is one moment that is icky. At a press conference, “Prodigy” claims that he found a Spider-Man costume in a villain’s lair, so that one of the villains may have framed Spider-Man for the assault on Norman Osborn. This is really ethically dubious. He’s framing someone else for something he did. The other guy is a criminal, but this is going to waste the time of police and may lead to a false conviction. He leaves some ambiguity about whether it was Mad Jack or Conundrum, so it would be unlikely to come to that, but this is something that could get him convicted. It’s tossed off, and there are no consequences to it, although that doesn’t make it better. Hell, it could be used to justify later scenes where Spider-Man crosses moral lines, as evidence that this is what he’s capable of. You could also argue that a guy who takes the law into his own hands sometimes gets it's wrong.
B

[Mister Mets]

X-Man #37-38
In the aftermath of the Messiah Complex story, Nate Grey wants to use his powers to change New Yorkers so that they’ll forget they ever met him. This conflict is a bit ironic considering how Spider-Man: No Way Home turned out.
Terry Kavanaugh had an earlier Spider-Man run, and clearly has an affinity for the character. He does have a decent sense of Spidey’s voice. It’s really wordy but it’s effective, showing a guy whose mind is racing in different directions from the practical to guilt. ChrisCross is impressive. His work is expressive and fun. He’s one of the best of the manga-influenced artists of the late 90s along with Joe Mad.

The crossover takes a turn as Nate accidentally brings the Gwen Stacy of the Age of Apocalypse to the regular Marvel U, along with generic enemies in flying robot armor so generic that Nate doesn’t even know who they are.
Ariel Oliveri takes over for much of the second issue. He’s okay but his style is different so that is a bit jarring. The story itself ends pretty suddenly, although it does seem to be a Spider-Man appearance that is meaningful for this series.
B-



Spider-Man Unlimited #20
Spider-Man gets involved with vampires and monster hunters like Lilith and Hannibal King. Christopher Golden’s story is kinda boring and doesn’t say anything interesting about Spider-Man. Joe Bennet has some nice scenes, but this is further proof that Spider-Man’s just in too many comics at this point.
D

[HypnoHustler]

A couple observations:

-Some of these panels, especially the ones from the Spidey Unlimited issue, are just way too wordy. This is definitely before Bendis and other contemporary writers ushered in the ‘decompressed storytelling’ trend of the early 2000s. I have my criticisms of that trend and the disappearance of thought bubbles, but there was some good that came out of it. Now it seems scripts have found a happy medium without either being too wordy or too decompressed and avoid the excesses of either.

-ChrisCross… I had forgotten him. Good artist, but why he wanted the same moniker of an early 90s teen boy rap duo is a mystery.

-I liked X-Man’s brief bromance with Spidey during this period. It kind of filled the void Ben Reilly left when he was killed off. Just like with that, it was a shame to see it end.

-I’ll be sad to see this series wrap up soon. Unless you plan to do the Byrne/Mackie relaunch? Although that’ll be a much tougher read, I’d imagine. Twenty five years later and I still have trouble going back and reading those issues…

[shooshoomanjoe]

I can’t believe people complain about the 90s when it gave us the most important members of the spider-family such as Ben, Kaine, Miguel, and the Slingers. I’d take any of them over Silk, Spider-Gwen, Alpha, Spider-Boy, or even Miles.

People like to remember the stink of the '90s and ignore all the gems.

[JTait]

B

The panel with Osborn's eyes bulging out of his head is one of my all time favourites.

Although I haven't re-read it for a few years, I used to have a soft spot for the Prodigy arc. It was fun to see Peter genuinely enjoying himself and I remember JMD and Greenberg managing to keep the tone light without it being too over the top. I liked Conundrum as a villain more than you - I've always wanted to see him return.

[Mister Mets]

Taking a detour to look at Spider-Man related material in the Shadows & Light mini-series.



"A Man's Reach" from Shadows & Light #1
This was an odd late 1990s mini-series, with shorter black & white stories about Marvel characters with some A-list talent. The first issue has an Iron Man story by Len Wein & Steve Ditko that is of interest to Spider-Man fans because bad guy Longarm has copied Doc Ock, so this is among the closest things we’ve ever gottento Ditko returning to Spider-Man.
It’s a decidedly retro Iron Man story, but worth it for Steve Ditko’s storytelling alone. It’s lightweight, with some pleasant complications. It reminds me a lot of the THUNDER Agents silver age comics (some of which featured stories by Ditko) that cut out everything extraneous to the story.
The other stories in the anthology are decent, with gorgeous Gene Ha Black Widow sequences, Ron Marz & Brian Stelfreeze depicting a meaningful conversation for Daredevil, and Bernie Wrightson featuring the Hulk VS monsters with a twist that’s rather compassionate.
B+



“The Date” from Shadows & Light #2
Marc Andreyko & Jill Thompson tell a story of Peter in high school.
There is a major continuity issue with the Rhino as a bad guy, when he didn’t become a Spider-Man villain after Peter got into college, and this is a point of the series when Marvel generally took continuity seriously- Untold Tales of Spider-Man just ended, and the Essential volumes were available in bookstores, so that’s quite glaring.
It’s mostly a pleasant story of Peter trying to do the right thing as Spider-Man. This is the type of comic book we’re going to see more of in the future when Tangled Web and various indie-inspired projects come around, but at this point it was refreshing. I liked Andreyko’s sense of Peter’s voice, and Jill Thompson’s indie take on Spidey. She's very good at what she does, and it's different than the usual comic book.
B+



"Foul Tip" from Shadows & Light #3
Keith Giffen depicts a showdown between Spider-Man & AIM agents that has a funny twist. His art-style pops in black & white.
Giffen would soon come back for a Webspinners story about the Silver Surfer, and this project foreshadows artistically interesting projects like Tangled Web, and the Ultimate Marvel Team Up run with different artists for every arc.
B

[Mister Mets]

A couple observations:

-Some of these panels, especially the ones from the Spidey Unlimited issue, are just way too wordy. This is definitely before Bendis and other contemporary writers ushered in the ‘decompressed storytelling’ trend of the early 2000s. I have my criticisms of that trend and the disappearance of thought bubbles, but there was some good that came out of it. Now it seems scripts have found a happy medium without either being too wordy or too decompressed and avoid the excesses of either.

-ChrisCross… I had forgotten him. Good artist, but why he wanted the same moniker of an early 90s teen boy rap duo is a mystery.

-I liked X-Man’s brief bromance with Spidey during this period. It kind of filled the void Ben Reilly left when he was killed off. Just like with that, it was a shame to see it end.

-I’ll be sad to see this series wrap up soon. Unless you plan to do the Byrne/Mackie relaunch? Although that’ll be a much tougher read, I’d imagine. Twenty five years later and I still have trouble going back and reading those issues…

I've been enjoying this, and I'll keep going forward chronologically.

I'm thinking I might alternate a reread of the Mackie/ Byrne relaunch with a reread of Bendis/ Bagley Ultimate Spider-Man to avoid going insane from bad comics.

After that, it'll be eras of comics I generally like. The JMS/ Quesada era is quite solid.

I liked Brand New Day, although it's been getting to be a few years since I read all those comics.

And then it could be interesting to read the various eras of Slott's run (Big Time, Superior Spider-Man, Parker Industries) and the satellites. At the end of it, and it'll likely take a year, I'll have covered every significant Spider-Man comic since the end of the clone saga.

I may take detours into shorter runs. Before I reread the relaunch, I'd like to do a series on Peter David's 1980s Spider-Man comics (mostly, but not exclusively his run on (Peter Parker the) Spectacular Spider-Man.)

At some point I might cover Claremont's Marvel Team Up.

I was also supposed to cover the Heroes Return era of the Avengers; I'm kinda paused on that, but I do want to keep going with it.

The panel with Osborn's eyes bulging out of his head is one of my all time favourites.

Although I haven't re-read it for a few years, I used to have a soft spot for the Prodigy arc. It was fun to see Peter genuinely enjoying himself and I remember JMD and Greenberg managing to keep the tone light without it being too over the top. I liked Conundrum as a villain more than you - I've always wanted to see him return.

The Conundrum story wasn't that bad, and it's a villain that can be explored going forward (He's so mysterious he could fit into the untold tales that DeMatteis is commissioned for.)

I'd have given the story a higher grade but it just seemed off-putting for Spidey to frame someone for a felony.

[Mister Mets]

Looking at two single issue stories by Tom DeFalco in unusual venues.



What If? #108
This is an unusual decision for What If?, where the writer of a major title tackles his own story from a few months earlier. In this case, Tom Defalco considers what would have happened if the Avengers had interfered in the battle between Spider-Man and the Carnage- possessed Silver Surfer. Years later, Bendis would use a What If? Mini-series to explore characters from his Daredevil and Jessica Jones runs. It’s an approach that might be worth exploring.
I’m not really familiar with artist Sergio Cariello, but he’s got a decent take on Spider-Man and the Avengers that isn’t embarrassing in the context of the A-list artists on those titles at the time (George Perez! John Romita Jr! Mike Wieringo!) He understands the assignment, depicting some crazy superhero action sequences. The incomplete Avengers team of the big three and two reserves is an okay dynamic although having the big three diminishes the idea that this team isn’t ready to take out a dangerous Spider-Man foe.
The story does feel a bit pointless, since it’s set in an alternate universe. Some of the sequences are amusing, exploring what happens when a maniac has obscene power. The sacrifice at the end doesn’t land, because this isn’t in the Marvel Universe and there isn’t a reason to care in the context of this one issue. It’s only meaningful if you have an existing appreciation for the character, and it doesn’t say anything that new.
If you want to see a battle royale with Spider-Man and the Avengers versus an omnipotent Carnage, the comic is reasonably decent. But it doesn’t say anything interesting.
C



Spider-Man #½
These were so ubiquitous when I was a kid that it’s a bit odd to explain the context. Wizard was a magazine that was popular in the 90s that covered comics, with reviews, price guides, commentary and news. Every month they promoted a special #½ issue of a major title, so that readers would send in the coupon to get a special #½ issue. These tended to feature 12-16 pages of content, and the results were kind of expensive (a $3 coupon when a typical new comic is #2.) There were some good results like the famous Astro City The Nearness of You. And you can bet that I ordered the Spider-Man #½ one-shot.
Tom Defalco and Rick Leonardi get together to tell a story of Spider-Man seemingly dying, and encountering the Harry Osborn Green Goblin. It’s a bit odd in terms of the audience since it largely recaps famous stories, but someone buying a general interest comics mag and mail-ordering an exclusive Spider-Man comic probably already knows about the origin. Later sections have deep cuts with Hobgoblin Lives and Spider-Man/ Spider-Man 2099 being relevant to the visions of a dying Spider-Man. At this stage of his career, Rick Leonardi’s art really reminds me of Humberto Ramos. He’s going for a bit of a manga vibe.

It’s a decent standalone story on its own merits, getting into Spidey’s neurosis. And I respect DeFalco focusing on other writer’s work, with nods to the clone saga, DeMatteis’s goblin stories and to the impact of Spider-Man 2099, at a point when that line had been cleared away. It’s interesting as a time capsule of how Spider-Man was seen 25 years ago, and an effort at a grand statement.
B+

[Mister Mets]

Peter Parker Spider-Man #-1
It’s an okay idea to have a spotlight on the Stacy brothers, especially with Arthur Stacy & his children becoming major supporting characters. It’s a story about them getting into conflict with Norman Osborn, due to his connection to a villain who is a proto-Goblin.

Fill-in artist Dan Fraga has a bit on an anime style that was in vogue at the time, but he’s not just on the level of Joe Mad or Pat Lee. There’s an amateurish quality that extends to the writing. It all seems so stiff. Howard Mackie is known as a writer very reliant on his artists, and this shows what happens when he doesn’t have someone on the level of John Romita Jr or Mark Texeira. His biggest talent might be giving star artists flexibility and that just didn’t happen here.
The depiction of Captain Stacy as antagonistic towards Norman contradicts his earlier characterization when they were friends.
And despite the promise made in the issue we never see the Proto-Goblin again. Which is fine by me.
D

Well, this story got more important.

https://www.marvel.com/articles/comi...nkId=254825027

[Mister Mets]

Amazing Spider-Man #436
This single issue story features the unmasking of the new Rose, and an end to the Black Tarantula saga. It reminds of the issue right before Revelations where DeFalco revealed the secrets of Judas Traveller and the Scriers in 22 pages since this comics era was coming to an end.
One problem I’m noticing in the different titles is the efforts to make it possible to follow one book, while trying to convince the readers that the other titles matter as well. So this book deals with its subplots, but sometimes it gets messy to try to reconcile all the events, like when this issue has Peter trying to send Mary Jane to hiding because he discovered last issue that someone in her social circle is targeted by a very powerful supervillain. But there are several stories that had to happen in between, including Peter Parker Spider-Man #92 and Spectacular Spider-Man #257-258, given the resolution of the Identity Crisis, so Peter couldn’t have been trying very hard, and their relationship didn't seem to have a "you need to go into hiding because a dangerous villain may come after you" vibe.

I don’t think the Black Tarantula was successful as a villain. He’s rather generic- the main things that make him unique as a crime boss are that he’s ancient and powerful, but we’ve seen that plenty of times. His similarities to Spider-Man aren’t explored much. The ending is a bit unconventional, and is fitting for Spider-Man, as the villain is convinced to stop fighting, so I did like that part.
The story also reveals that a minor character is the Rose, although we barely see any reaction to that development. Jacob Conover was part of one of the best Spider-Man stories ever “The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man” and he is a Bugle reporter, so his exposure should have some consequences.
C-
If this had been a solid comic, it would've helped Defalco's second run by providing a decent payoff to all the set-up.


Spider-Man Unlimited #21
It’s another monster story by Christopher Golden, although this one is illustrated by Mike Deodato, a few years out from his JMS run. Peter Parker & Betty Brant are basically sent to investigate Frankenstein’s castle. The main conflict is that Peter’s noticing that Betty’s attractive, which seems to be clumsily handled.
Deodato’s sense of atmosphere is nice. The monster designs are okay. Frankenstein’s monster has a decent story, and an okay dynamic with Peter, who tries to understand him but just can’t. I do like the scene where there's a panic because of monsters fighting.
B-