The Essential Spider-Man Volume 4

Rating:
Summary: Spider-Man begins the Seventies in less than stellar form
Review: "The Essential Spider-Man, Volume 4" presents black & white reprints of "The Amazing Spider-Man" #69-89 and Annuals #4-5, which covers the web-head from 1969-71. I was sort of surprised as I read through these issues again that really nothing significant happens. I mean, we have return visits from the Kingpin, the Lizard, the Chameleon, Mysterio and Doctor Octopus, but the new villains are pretty week: Man-Mountain Marko, the Prowler, the Kangaroo, and the Schemer. Make that incredibly weak villains, except for the Prowler, who is just a kid making stupid mistakes.

At this point Stan Lee has his formula for Spider-Man, which is probably encapsulated best by what our hero says at the conclusion of issue #72: "So, I finally nailed the Shocker...Big deal! I'm in the doghouse with Gwen...the tablet is gone again...I just remembered something else...I forgot to take a single picture of the entire battle! So all I get out of it is some skinned knuckles! In other words, the wonderful Parker luck is still running true to form! Nuts!" The best story in this collection is probably "The Parents of Peter Parker!" from Annual #5, although the most memorable moment is when the Black Widow comes up with her sexy new threads of the Seventies.

John Buscema takes over the penciling chores from John Romita (Sr.) at one point before Gil Kane makes his first appearance right at the end. Buscema did some nice work on "Conan," but Spider-Man does not play to his strengths; Kane, however, does manage to adapt his distinctive style to the comic. Fortunately, things improve considerably for Spider-Man as Stan Lee gets a feel for the Seventies. So you can just write off this collection as the quiet before the storm of Harry's drug addiction, the deaths of Captain and Gwen Stacy, and Spider-Man really becoming Spider-Man.

Rating:
Summary: Spider-Man begins the Seventies in less than stellar form
Review: "The Essential Spider-Man, Volume 4" presents black & white reprints of "The Amazing Spider-Man" #69-89 and Annuals #4-5, which covers the web-head from 1969-71. I was sort of surprised as I read through these issues again that really nothing significant happens. I mean, we have return visits from the Kingpin, the Lizard, the Chameleon, Mysterio and Doctor Octopus, but the new villains are pretty week: Man-Mountain Marko, the Prowler, the Kangaroo, and the Schemer. Make that incredibly weak villains, except for the Prowler, who is just a kid making stupid mistakes.

At this point Stan Lee has his formula for Spider-Man, which is probably encapsulated best by what our hero says at the conclusion of issue #72: "So, I finally nailed the Shocker...Big deal! I'm in the doghouse with Gwen...the tablet is gone again...I just remembered something else...I forgot to take a single picture of the entire battle! So all I get out of it is some skinned knuckles! In other words, the wonderful Parker luck is still running true to form! Nuts!" The best story in this collection is probably "The Parents of Peter Parker!" from Annual #5, although the most memorable moment is when the Black Widow comes up with her sexy new threads of the Seventies.

John Buscema takes over the penciling chores from John Romita (Sr.) at one point before Gil Kane makes his first appearance right at the end. Buscema did some nice work on "Conan," but Spider-Man does not play to his strengths; Kane, however, does manage to adapt his distinctive style to the comic. Fortunately, things improve considerably for Spider-Man as Stan Lee gets a feel for the Seventies. So you can just write off this collection as the quiet before the storm of Harry's drug addiction, the deaths of Captain and Gwen Stacy, and Spider-Man really becoming Spider-Man.

Rating:
Summary: A companion piece for this great graphic novel
Review: As great as this graphic novel was by itself, I know of one helluva great companion piece in the form of a book entitled "The Adventures of Darkeye: Cyber Hunter" whose odd manner of having log-entries over chapters seems almost like the script for a graphic novel, even though it is in the science fiction/high-tech and cyberpunk genre along with books like "Cryptonomicon", "Snow Crash", "Prey", and "Altered Carbon". Very fast-paced and visual as well as being very exciting due to its action-packed pages.

Rating:
Summary: Essential Spidey #4 : Amazing Spider-Man 69-89.
Review: Before there were clones, four different monthly titles, overly complicated stories, Spider-Man was Marvel's flagship title. It combined the best elements of super-hero action, soap opera, a fantastic supporting cast, and angst. This is the middle portion of a great run featuring some great Stan Lee stories and some dynamic artwork from Romita, Buscema, Kane, and Mooney. This particular volume contains stories featuring classic Spider-Man villains such as Dr Octopus, the Kingpin, the Lizard, and Electro. Peter Parker's interactions with his supporting cast become somewhat repetitivein this volume, particularly his frustrating romance with Gwen Stacy (Stan seems to have her crying in every other story). The best story in this book is "The Parents Of Peter Parker" which was originally presented in an annual (there was a time when snnuals contained very important stories, not just long hodgepodges).

For 21 issues of continuity plus the contents of two annuals, this price is hard to beat. Hopefully, there will be a volume 5 and 6 to follow this. Every one of these Essential Spider-Man books are essential and fun reading. They've brought back great memories. (Yes, I've read the originals...I'm THAT old). One note to Marvel: two important and interesting Spectacular Spider-Man stories were published a little before these stories. Hopefully, these will be reprinted in this or some other format soon.

Rating:
Summary: classic Spider-man action
Review: I bought this book along with the previous volumes. In the wondrous Marvel Age of the sixties, there were two true stand-outs. The first was the Fantastic Four (Kirby's best 'nuff said), and the other Spider-man. I would argue that Peter Parker is the greatest of the classic Siver Age Super-Heroes. He was no Jet Pilot, Doctor, or Captain of Industry, just a pretty average kid who, after one tragic mistake, always tried to do the right thing. This volume I would not rate as highly as the others, simply because it does not feature Ditko or Romita Sr. That does not mean that it is not great in its own merit. The tales scripted by Spider-man co-creator Stan Lee were more complex and inter-woven than previous stories. It is a great sampling of Spider-man in his rightful era, and while there is no Steve Ditko or John Romita Sr, the art chores are handled by industry legends such as Jim Mooney, John Buscema, and Gil Kane. This is another excellent addition to the "Essential" format. Once I got past the black and white I settled down for some classic adventures at a bargain basement price. If you've never purchased any of this line of reprints, give it a shot. They're the size of phone books and are jam-packed with some of the best comics Marvel has ever produced.

Rating:
Summary: Essential Spider-Man#4, Good Not Great
Review: In these issues of Spider-Man, Spidey is a modern day (or at least late 60s)comic book version of Sisyphus - endlessly pushing a boulder uphill that threatens to crush him. While out battling some of his greatest villians, Kingpin, Doc Ock, the Lizard and Electro, he tries (usually unsuccessfully) to juggle a career, a girlfriend and friendships. His undeserved bad rep usually puts a negative spin on even his most spectacular triumphs - with his g/f, his boss and his Aunt May all decrying his "web-slinging weasal" of an alter ego. Even the superheroes who guest star (Quicksilver, Human Torch and Black Widow) take Spidey for a chump - at least intially.

John Romita's art is constitantly good throughout the book (and is, to me, the definitive artist of the web-slinger), while Stan Lee's scripts only occasionally blow up into inflated, awkward rhetoric or 'wannabee hip' 60's cliches. The stories themselves are good, not great. The standouts being his epic battles with Kingpin (issues #69,70, 83-85), Doc Ock (who hijacks a plane in issue #88 - probably more eerie and plausible today than 30 years ago), the story of Peter Parker's parents (in annual #5), and the cool bonus features (such as 'Spidey's Greatest Talent' or Spidey drawn in the style of other comics such as superman, Little Abner and Mickey Mouse - pure fluff but lots of fun!).

On the donwside, there are a few villains who are duds - the Schemer, the Kangaroo, Man Mountain Marko - which really suck the life out of these stories. Spidey is essentially villain-driven. His character, like the Batman, is driven to fight crime because of the murder of a loved one. When the villain is on the money, it works that he nearly loses his girlfriend, job and/or friends every issue. When the villain is weak, the gimmick gets old.

Another complaint is the lack of development of the minor characters. Other than his girlfriend (Gwen Stacey) and her father, there's very little involvement from Harry Osbourne, Flash Thompson or even Aunt May. Spidey needs a strong supporting cast and he doesn't get it in these issues.

In all, classic art, some compelling stories and a few clunkers. Not a bad value for a true Spidey fan.

Rating:
Summary: Great 30+ Year-Old Stories That Seem So Relevant Today
Review: The Essential Spider-Man Volume 4 is a very good collection of stories that place our super hero and his alter-ego into situations that, in a day and age over thirty years after their publication, seem so relevant to modern-day Americans.

Though Peter Parker was always busy being both an underappreciated crime fighter and a student trying to maintain an active social life, his attempts to keep his super hero identity a secret have taken their toll. Before, Peter's main secret identity challenge was to never let poor Aunt May know that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. In these stories, he is now faced with an added unsurmountable task of keeping this secret away from a much younger, less gullible individual in Harry Osborn, his college roommate.

Throughout the stories, Peter, because of trying to pull double duty as a full-time college student with a girlfriend (who constantly questions his motives and who does not and must not know his secret) and as the ever-loving Spider-Man is bombarded by working 'round-the-clock hours and facing lack of time necessary to keep his grades up. In the earlier issues, he could manage to fight crime and still be the top student in his high school classes; however, this time, he is sleeping less, and after he fights up yet another victory, he returns to a home that is a much smaller setting than Aunt May's place at much later hours and cannot change out of his costume until he has climbed in through the apartment window while Harry is either away or asleep. And in some of the episodes, Peter is so tired that he crashes and ends up falling asleep while lying across the bed as opposed to having properly tucked himself in.

In a day and age of holding down two or more jobs and multitasking each one, we cannot help but sympathize and empathize with Peter Parker's dilemmas. Not only do we feel Peter's exhaustion, but we, in our own way, are like Peter in the sense that it is sometimes impossible to reveal to others who question or criticize us the challenges we put up with, because our situations are either unique or beyond their comprehension.

Pivotal points and issues also make these past stories so relevant. We have the inclusion of minority characters who are trying to improve their living standards through education, and even when they are in college or have just graduated, it seems that opportunities are few, since someone else higher up has already rung up the ladder of success.

Attempts to handle these circumstances, through student protests to improve living conditions and educational opportunities at Empire State University and through one's desperate attempt to take on a masked villain alter-ego to create fear, thus respect, from the big wheels of society, seem no less primitive in this day and age. And we still often wonder if there is any way that a pacifist can truly create change in a society where change is truly needed.

Rating:
Summary: Lee does it again!
Review: This book compiles about 23 issues of spidey's earlier adventures, going through many important chapters. It doesn't seem to give quite as much satisfaction as the first three volumes, perhaps because most Spidey fans have seen reprints of some of the issues contained in this volume. If you're new to spidey, snag this... if you're not new, still get it to fill in your blanks =).

Rating:
Summary: spideys super stories
Review: this volume of essential presents spiderman tales not previously reprinted (except for in the masterworks series which goes for hundreds of dollars now) in the past two decades....these are tales unpolluted by the past 40 years of continuity...stan lee had a plan and stuck to it...peter parker shines as a down on his luck student trying to keep his studies , lovelife, hero life, and his doting ol' aunt may...together...as he faces, for the first time, some of his greatest challenges...a must read for those who have not seen these tales before.... ...a must have for those who have been reading spidey for the last few decades and want a break from all of the garbage spideys been handed (epsecially in the past 8 years)....