Behold, the first issue of Spectacular Spider-Man to appear on the blog. I’m told that, in this era where cost cutting led to much shorter comics, TAC was launched in part to help flesh out stories in ASM. And this will be an example of that. We got writer Bill Mantlo, penciler Jim Mooney & inker Mike Esposito on deck, and we get going with The Scorpion doing what he often does: wandering around the sewers hating J. Jonah Jameson.
Is this Scorpy’s first appearance on the blog? I think so. He was a mercenary named Mac Gargan that JJJ paid to undergo a process that turned him superstrong and gave him cybernetic control over his tail, and also, put him in a suit he can’t take off. He’s been out for revenge ever since, most recently in the pages of Ms. Marvel 1 & 2, where she doused him in some kinda acid, hence the ragged outfit. As usual, he swears revenge on JJJ and stomps off. He’s kind of a one-trick pony. Meanwhile, Spider-Man swings across the city to Aunt May’s apartment. He’s so worn out from the events of ASM 183 that he’s careless, and leaves his spider-belt full of webbing on the roof. That can’t bode well.
Dat’s some heavy eyeshadow. So, this is a good example of what I was talking about before, giving a little more time to MJ’s rejection of his proposal. Does it work? Uh, not really. She still really did him dirty yesterday, and it seemed pretty clear to me that Wolfman was writing her out of the book. And yet, here she is, not only still around, but pretty lovey-dovey with our man. More of a contradiction than a compliment. But it does give her a chance to appear more human about it. Peter goes to school and runs into a bunch of the supporting cast very briefly, then kinda sleepwalks through his day of classes before heading to The Bugle.
…Huh. So the machine zaps him and, he says, heals him, making him stronger than ever. Also: more insane than ever. Also: It fixes his suit somehow. At The Bugle, JJJ is enjoying some shots of Rocket Racer making Spidey look like a clown, but unfortunately, Peter isn’t the one who took them. Then a big chunk of the sidewalk flies through the window.
JJJ tries to bolt, but gets caught by his employees, foolishly looking to him for leadership. Robbie finds the phones dead, assuming Scorpion cut the phone lines. People wish Ms. Marvel was here (At the time, Carol Danvers works on a magazine published by The Bugle, so it’s not so random that she was the last one to beat The Scorpion). She’s not, though, so Peter runs off to get into character, but when he’s ready to roll…
Whoops! Scorpy throws a whole Cadillac at the window, and Spidey leaps down to catch it. JJJ is outraged to be saved yet again by his nemesis.
They get to scrapping, Spidey barely holding his own due to exhaustion, Scorpy ranting about how he’s a monster now, and he’s embraced it. Our man has had enough, and just wails on him ‘til he stays down.
Whaaaat? After all these years, he’s just imagined he couldn’t take the suit off? That’s a wild plot twist, man. And that’s it for this issue. Hah. That’s crazy. This is far from the last issue of Spectacular we’ll look at, but I don’t have 22, so we’ll be waiting a bit to see another one.