Did the early days of PPSSM focus more on Peter's personal life?

[tib2d2]

I've been reading through the Roger Stern run of ASM, and it seems that the references made to things happening to Peter in SSM dealt mainly with his personal/love life. Things with MJ, and a lot of drama with Black Cat.

Was it more of a personal life focus in the early years of the series?

[Mister Mets]

This gets a bit messy.

It took about two years for the series to have a consistent focus.

Originally, it was supposed to focus on Peter at college with Amazing Spider-Man focusing on the Bugle.

But they couldn't get a consistent writer.

The first few issues were supposed to be by Gerry Conway, whose run on Amazing Spider-Man was pretty god-damn good (The Night Gwen Stacy Died, the debut of the Punisher, the Harry Osborn saga, the original clone saga.)

Then you had work by Archie Goodwin, Bill Mantlo, Chris Claremont and Elliot Maggin before they decided to give it to Mantlo.

It kinda settled into the title about Peter's academic work, with runs by Mantlo and Roger Stern.

In Mantlo's second run, it kinda shifted to a focus on crime.

Peter David may have been the most important writer, and he kept that focus, influenced by TV shows like Homicide: Life on the Street.

Conway came back to continue the crime focus with the Tombstone saga, and there was an odd turn where he also took over Web of Spider-Man, which may have worked to balance out Amazing Spider-Man as the main title.

The third-most important writer was JM DeMatteis, who focused more on psychological drama in his two runs.

[Tuck]

Peter David may have been the most important writer, and he kept that focus, influenced by TV shows like Homicide: Life on the Street.

I imagine David did say he was influenced by Homicide, but it didn't start until 1993.

[Mister Mets]

I imagine David did say he was influenced by Homicide, but it didn't start until 1993.

My bad. He was talking about Hill Street Blues.

https://classiccomics.org/thread/542...-1980s-reviews

[wleakr]

I don't recall Peter David having that long of a run on Spectacular. I remember the Jean Dewolf story and the 2 annuals with a character called Ace, but I don't remember much else he did on the book.

[Mister Mets]

I don't recall Peter David having that long of a run on Spectacular. I remember the Jean Dewolf story and the 2 annuals with a character called Ace, but I don't remember much else he did on the book.

His run was kind of irregular, and two of his best stories were in other titles, with the Commuter and a Web of Spider-Man story about different perspectives.

But he did write Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #103, 105-110, 112-113, 115-119, 121-123, 128-129 and then the return of the Sin-Eater in Spectacular Spider-Man #134-136. That's 23 issues, including the two annuals.

Maybe when I'm done with the intermediate era reread I should do a reread of his 80s comics.

[wleakr]

His run was kind of irregular, and two of his best stories were in other titles, with the Commuter and a Web of Spider-Man story about different perspectives.

But he did write Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #103, 105-110, 112-113, 115-119, 121-123, 128-129 and then the return of the Sin-Eater in Spectacular Spider-Man #134-136. That's 23 issues, including the two annuals.

Maybe when I'm done with the intermediate era reread I should do a reread of his 80s comics.

Seeing the issues, I'm starting to remember now!

I think he did the issues that focused on Spider-man having a bad luck aura from his time spent with Black Cat and Dr. Strange had to remove it? Which also removed the powers from Cat?

Haven't read any of that stuff since the first time...lol!

Maybe you could stickie these era reads you do similar to the appreciation thread?

[Jman27]

Seeing the issues, I'm starting to remember now!

I think he did the issues that focused on Spider-man having a bad luck aura from his time spent with Black Cat and Dr. Strange had to remove it? Which also removed the powers from Cat?

Haven't read any of that stuff since the first time...lol!

Maybe you could stickie these era reads you do similar to the appreciation thread?

yeah after peter broke up with Felicia he had some remaining bad luck from her by accident. So when Peter went to Strange to remove it. Strange gave Peter a warning that doing so may mess up Felicia which he ignored. Felicia lost her powers at a fight with the Foreigners men and almost die.

[Mister Mets]

Seeing the issues, I'm starting to remember now!

I think he did the issues that focused on Spider-man having a bad luck aura from his time spent with Black Cat and Dr. Strange had to remove it? Which also removed the powers from Cat?

Haven't read any of that stuff since the first time...lol!

Maybe you could stickie these era reads you do similar to the appreciation thread?

Thanks for the kind words.

I haven't been a moderator for some time, so it wouldn't be up to me whether to sticky an index. Frankly, there aren't enough threads to justify it.

I do encourage anyone else to do something similar. This is much more satisfying than the back and forths on the spider-marriage, whether Dan Slott's a jerk online or arguments about current sales.

If anyone wants to go for a reread or a first read of some notable run or era, I think you'll find support here. I promise I'll post at least once in your threads.