Amazing Spider-Man #229 and #230 are two of the best comic books of all time.
I first read it when I was 12 and it popped out on the newstand. I was a regular Amazing Spider-Man reader, so I didn’t put any thought into it, but I had no idea who Juggernaut was (and he really wasn’t a major character at the time), or who that Black Tom character was who seemed to boss Juggy around. I wasn’t a big Madame Web fan, either, so I started out reading the book slightly annoyed that she was to play a major role. And it started with a dream/hallucination sequence, so there were quite a few strikes against the book before I even hit page 10, when Juggernaut rises out of the Hudson and begins an epic, two-issue march through Manhattan.
And that’s basically the whole story–Juggernaut takes a walk, and Spidey tries to stop him.
But the “trip” gives John Romita, Jr., a lot to play with–images of Spider-Man’s textured webbing getting stretched to the fullest (and used in a myriad of manners), and this great panel at right, which I’ve stared at for I can’t imagine how many minutes over the years. It similar to what Frank Miller was doing in Daredevil at the time–eschewing motion “lines” in favor of multiple, slightly faded images of the character in motion. It’s almost like little frames from a flip picture.
And it shows how great Romita, Jr. can be when he’s in touch with the form of a particular character. You can see Spider-Man’s unique fighting style, and it’s in great opposition to the static image of Juggernaut–a slow-moving, hulking force.
And for the win? It’s an accident. Spider-Man holds on to Juggernaut, blinding him, until he wanders on to wet cement and sinks into the foundation of a building.
Roger Stern used Spider-Man’s infamous sense of corny humor to its greatest effect by focusing not on one-liners and insults but on Peter Parker’s attitude and approach to problem solving. In the panel below, we see Spider-Man telling Juggernaut how he’s going to rip off his helmet. It’s not laugh-out-loud funny, but there’s a real sense of warmth and charm–that Spider-Man doesn’t take this battle personally (even though by this time he’s already had a building dropped on him) or too seriously (and all of us readers know Spider-Man will survive–and win–because he always does).
This is the greatest Roger Stern story of all time and it is also the third best comic book story of the ’80s.
In the previous year, 1981, Spider-Man had a skirmish with the Juggernaut which played out very similarly to this on the NBC Saturday morning cartoon show “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends”, the episode being, I believe, “The Origin of Firestar”. I just cannot shake the suspicion, even forty-three years later, that this is where Stern got the idea for these two issues of ‘Amazing Spider-Man’, which is fine with me, as long as he doesn’t try to deny it. ( there would be just no point in that ) I cannot decide which I enjoy more- these two 1982 issues of ‘Amazing Spider-Man’, or “The Origin of Firestar”, on TV, which predated it by one year. I have to agree with the author- almost- “A”.
Whoops-correction- the title of the episode of ‘Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends’ in question here is not “The Origin of Firestar”, but, rather, “A Firestar is Born!” It served as an unofficial pilot for a hypothetical ‘X-Men’ series that NBC was considering, at the time. It must not have tested well, because our merry mutants would not see the light of Saturday morning television for another good, solid decade, beginning in 1992, with Fox/Saban’s simply awesome “X-Men” series, which ran for five years, and is currently enjoying a reboot somewhere, called “X-Men ’97”, on some premium channel, somewhere. “A Firestar is Born!” certainly packed a lot into an eighteen-minute teleplay- it opens with Our Gang- Peter Parker, the simply delicious Angelica Jones, and the redoubtable ( and these days, unfortunately controversial Bobby Drake ) hanging out in their college apartment, when Drake realizes the occasion which has snuck up on them- the date of the annual X-Men Class Reunion! You see, in this continuum, Iceman and his lovely colleague Firestar are former members of the Original X-Men! When Drake suggests that he and she get it in gear, Parker rather aggressively invites himself, undoubtedly motivated by his desire to not let the Iceman beat his time with Firestar! Drake vetoes Parker’s request, undoubtedly motivated by the same reason! Unable to defeat Drake’s logic, “Sorry, pal-this reunion is for X-Men only!” Parker sucks it up, and watches his merry colleagues scooter-poot their way on up to Westchester! Oddly, another super-powered, well, Juggernaut, is also on his way up to Westchester County that day, as well- Professor X’s evil half-brother, the fearsome Juggernaut! Parker’s Spider-Sense alerts him to the pending situation, and NOW, he has a reason to join his fellow collegians/adventurers in the Upstate! Transforming to Spider-Man, the Arachnoid Adventurer encounters the evil villain en route in midtown Manhattan, and, after a brief battle where Spidey tries, among several other tactics, to bury the Juggernaut in concrete, which will serve him well in next years’ ‘Amazing Spider-Man’s #229-230, but NOT so much HERE, the Juggernaut leaves the web-slinger for dead, and continues his advance to Westchester County, and to X-Men Headquarters. Fortunately for the mutants, ( and most especially Professor X, whom his half-brother suffers from a psychotic hatred of ) the year’s X-Men Reunion is in full swing, and consists of mostly charter members of the X-Men, which was odd, considering that NBC clearly intended this episode to be a “back-door” pilot for a new, ongoing ‘X-Men’ series- Professor X, Cyclops, the Angel, the Iceman, and the O. X-Men’s beautiful, redheaded distaff member……………Firestar!!………………….were all joined by a grand, whopping TWO members of the what was at the time considered to be the “New” X-Men- Wolverine, and Storm! Oh, well, if they could only work in just two of the “new” members, at least they were the two superstars of the bunch! ( Nightcrawler and Colossus-??? Naaaaah……. ) Storm looked absolutely beyond scandalous in her Dave Cockrum designed- black bikini, and, for some reason, Wolverine’s nationality was altered ( mutated? ) from Canadian to………….Australian!! ( ???-!!!-??? ) WTF-??? We know this wasn’t Earth-616, because A) The representation of Firestar as the O. X-Men’s redheaded babe, as opposed to Marvel Girl, and, B) The Angel’s introduction of Storm to Iceman and Firestar as “one of our new members”- Professor X: ” The other X-Men are approaching! I can sense their thoughts!” Angel: “I’ll go and welcome them! X-Men style!!” But, it went well, in a loose adaptation of 1965’s “Uncanny X-Men”#’13, where the X-tremely timely and fortuitous arrival of the heretofore uninvited and unwelcome Spider-Man- standing in for the original text’s Human Torch- plays a most pivotal role in saving Professor X from a most gruesome end at the hands of his evil, hateful, and SERIOUSLY uninvited and unwelcome-step-brother!! This episode even includes a valuable moral lesson, as the Iceman and Firestar are taught the wages of elitism, which would have culminated in yet another murder of their beloved Professor X, had Ol’ Spidey not been stubborn enough to disregard his, uh, “amazing friend’s” shitty attitude about inclusion! I am sure that Professor X was happy about the wall-crawler’s decision to crash the party! X-celsior, and ‘Nuff Said!!
Dude, you know a LOT. You should be writing this blog, not me.
It would seem to me that I AM writing it-am I not-??