SPIDER-MAN #18-23 (1992): Revenge of the Sinister Six

As I understood it, this comic, “Spider-Man,” was created to lure Todd MacFarlane into being exclusively Marvel, but he’s off the book now and it’s been given to Erik Larsen.  Not that Larsen is an inferior creator, or anything.  It’s interesting that two of the recognized founders of the ’90s wave of indie comics were sole creators (writer/artist) of this book, back-to-back.

The story?  It’s a punchfest.  The Sinister Six are busy fighting each other, and Spider-Man, and there are robots, Deathlok, Ghost Rider, Wolverine, Moon Knight, and all kinds of nonsensical bashing.

It is nice to see Larsen draw the hell out of guys like Electro.

The Pantheon even sends Hulk in to help.

Doc Octopus can beat Hulk? Really?

And there’s some tech stuff…

…which makes this happen:

And where there’s a human/cyborg problem, there’s Deathlok.

Does anyone else find Larsen’s art here reminiscent of Howard Chaykin’s late ’80s work, particularly on American Flagg?

Side note: Larsen paid tribute to his own page design, above, in an issue of Savage Dragon.

It’s a fun romp, even if there’s not much to it.

There’s also a back-up story by Terry Kavanagh and Scott McDaniel where Spidey fights Diablo. We learn on the letters page that it was necessary because of a fire at Larsen’s home.

That web-page banner, Crawlspace, is really hard to read.

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