Yes, never one to let the chance to jack up the price of a comic pass them by in the 90s, it’s yet another oversized anniversary issue. ASM 365 celebrated the anniversary of AF 15, but this one is for ASM 1. With a shiny gold cover and extra pages, it’s a great chance for you to part with an additional $2.70 just after they did a bi-weekly event, 14-year old with basically no spending money, aren’t you lucky? But what was I to do, say no? It’s the final confrontation! Again! Plus 3 backups. There’s even a table of contents for this 64-page, annual-size issue. These days, Marvel will occasionally do an oversized random issue so big it’s squarebound and costs $10. It’s awful. They forgot the white box on the back of Venom’s hand. Well, The V-Man has taken The Parkers to the abandoned amusement park he was using as a base last issue, Thrill World, and is menacing them accordingly.
A swerve that really makes no sense at all. Venom set out to “hurt Spider-Man even more” by… reducing his parents to what he thinks of as a safe location and, on the previous page, holding them by the faces while he whips his dumb tongue around at them? It feels a little desperate, like they realized this was kind of obvious in mid-stream. Anyway, Spider-Man’s looking for his parents and recapping their deal, and decides to go comb The Bugle’s morgue for any info about Eddie Brock that might help him locate them, since they could be anywhere. And at The Bugle…
Oh, right, this issue introduces Anne Weying. She’s a high powered lawyer who happens to be Eddie Brock’s ex-wife. What a twist! Peter is rebuffed by the doorman, so Spider-Man has to climb up and beg for her help in stopping Venom from hurting people, which she eventually agrees to give.
75 whole issues since his first appearance, Venom FINALLY gets SOME kind of personal info besides “wants to kill Spider-Man.” He even got the standard Bad Dad, altho at least there’s no indication of physical abuse for a change. As Spider-Man swings off, Anne wonders if she really did everything she could for Eddie. And then resolves to try now, heading downstairs and hailing a cab. Which is, in turn, followed by a member of Silver Sable’s Wild Pack. It’s so silly that her random memory of him loving that amusement park sends Spider-Man right to it, but I guess he had to get there somehow, and so he has, thinking this might not be it, but it feels right. Does it? Can you really psychoanalyze this guy you don’t really know off a single sentence? Turns out, he can! Venom is alerted to Spidey’s presence by the alien (Somehow?), and goes off to fight him. Meanwhile, Richard has picked up a piece of a mirror Eddie broke last issue and is beginning to saw his hands free of Venom’s webbing. Still don’t get why Venom bothers to make it look like web. Spider-Man’s looking around the park when the lights come on.
Silver didn’t bother to come, or even send Sandman? Really not taking this too seriously. I don’t know who all those jobbers are, but one of them is Battlestar, the one-time partner of the John Walker Captain America. I think the others are just various former soldiers. JJJ really screwed up this time. Venom once again starts really beating the crap out of Spider-Man, but then he gets hit with a sonic cannon and a punch from Battlestar.
Lance Bannon! Been a minute. Not seen since TAC 171. Everybody starts fighting everybody, Spider-Man trying to contain The Wild Pack, Venom trying to maim The Wild Pack, and at once point, one of them lets rip with a flamethrower. And guess who just came out into the fray after freeing themselves?
Crucially important to establish that Venom is a quasi-good guy since he’s already launched his own title. Spider-Man has just taken down the last of The Wild Pack, so now it’s Venom Vs. Spider-Man once again. As Venom punches him through a carousel and they get at it, Anne pushes The Parkers off on Lance, thinking she’s going to go try to get involved. Venom is really pressing the advantage, and Spidey thinks he’s got to do something.
One of the Wild Pack is back on his feet and zaps Venom with their sonic cannon, and is really giving it to him until Anne knocks him out with a pipe. Venom’s symbiote is all messed up, but he’s still trying to go after Spidey until…
And that’s how they got out of that. Kind of awkward, really. It’s not like Venom hadn’t seen Spider-Man do heroic things before. And Spidey just letting him go is messy, too. But, they had to make him a hero, or at least anti-hero, so this had to happen somehow. And it would pretty much hold. As we’ve seen, they would often meet up as uneasy allies, but rarely as enemies anymore. Well. As long as it was Eddie in the symbiote. But that’s getting ahead of things. As mentioned, there’s no less than 3 backups this month. First up, Tom DeFalco, Pat Oliffe, Mark McKenna and Renee Witterstaetter bring us a story that happens right before FF 374. He’s looking for Johnny, of course, as he was when that issue started.
Spidey proceeds to flashback to his first meeting with The FF, and then various other encounters he’s had with The Torch over the years, including ASM 3, 19, 258, and 362, thinking about how he owes The Torch for all their history together.
Okie doke. FF 374 actually published the same month as this, so that’s not a bad breadcrumb to get you to go buy it. Next up, Eric Fein, Dan Panosian and Tom Smith bring us a tale of J. Jonah and John Jameson. JJJ is desperately trying to convince John to do something on page one.
So John goes to the launch of a one-man shuttle carrying “chemicals for experimentation,” quickly flashes back to his own history (A lotta flashbacks!), and then watches in horror as a malfunction in one of the booster rockets causes an explosion. He runs out to see if he can help, which seems… unlikely… Both his ability to get out there and his ability to help…
Is this the first inkling of Ravencroft happening? I don’t recall, but I keep being surprised it doesn’t exist yet every time Dr. Kafka appears in a book. We’ll see, I guess. Dan Panosian was one of the legion of half-baked Jim Lee impersonators Marvel hired in the wake of the Image guys leaving. While his work in this period isn’t too impressive, he has since become a really great illustrator. Hey, we all gotta start somewhere. Next up, it’s Terry Kavanaugh, Aaron Lopresti, Don Hudson and Renee Witterstaetter for a weird Kraven thing. Some kids are spray painting his and Spider-Man’s tombstone from Kraven’s Last Hunt when the very-much-still-dead Kraven appears somehow.
While holding that kid by the throat, Kraven’s face begins to melt, and he flashes back to his childhood. Ok! The other kids are freaking out as Kraven just stands there, flashing back to his first appearance.
Ok, sure. Spider-Man flashes back to Kraven’s Last Hunt…
I guess that was the only way that could turn out. Whatever. And that’s the book. From here, Bags takes two whole months off ASM to go pencil the 6-issue Venom mini. This after doing 6 issues in 3 months and an over-sized anniversary issue. A machine, this guy. But we’ll have to wait for the next block from this period to see that.