Most supervillains who are considered jokes today started out as legitimate threats.
The Grizzly… not so much.
L’Uomo Ragno #168 (1976)
Published by: Corno
In addition to having the same title of the original (“The day of the grizzly”, with the name of the bear being the same in Italian), the cover also advertises that the issue comes with a poster.
Which is a bit old-fashioned: today you would just advertise it has a poster, as the English word has basically taken over.
But because manifesto can mean both poster and, well, manifesto… it kind of looks like this issue contains the Grizzly Bear Manifesto.
Amazing Spider-Man #139 (1974)
by Gerry Conway & Ross Andru
cover by Gil Kane
I very much prefer the Corno version of the cover, as the original looks far too busy.
Don’t be silly, Spidey, you’re not just Mr. Masochism 1974.
You’ve been Mr. Masochism for every single year straight since 1962.
Peter Parker is moving to a new apartment in Chelsea. And it really sells how bad things were in 1974 New York City when SPIDER-MAN is afraid he’ll be mugged!
You can thank his old high school friend Liz Allan for finding him the apartment.
And this is very important to me.
Because this introduces Mrs. Muggins, Peter’s landlady and one of the VERY few Spider-Man supporting characters that will eventually slip out of his life and be completely forgotten.
And because Peter will live in this apartment for a surprisingly long time, which will include the years where I will fall in love with the character.
In fact he will live here up until his marriage, moving out only in 1988 on Web of Spider-Man #38.
That’s the ONLY time we ever get to see Mr. Muggins, who was NEVER shown from 1974 to 1988.
I miss Mrs. Muggins. Why don’t they bring her back? They don’t even need to turn her into a supervillain like most Spider-Man supporting characters, she’s already a threat!!!
What’s not to love in Peter’s Chelsea apartment? It’s practically a steal!
No really, I mean it: the rent is 110 dollars a month.
Adjusted for inflation, that’s roughly 703 dollars a month.
A very quick search tells me that today it would take AT LEAST 5,000 dollars a month.
Nothing really new on the civilian life subplots…
…but then SUDDEN BEAR!!!
Robbie Robertson, badass since 1967.
J. Jonah Jameson, the best comedic sidekick you could ask for since 1962.
This just isn’t Spider-Man’s day.
Then again, almost no day is Spider-Man’s day.
Grizzly will become a joke, but it’s interesting to see that he was surprisingly tough in his first story!!!
Can you believe GRIZZLY just knocked out Spider-Man???
You shouldn’t. He was just faking it to save JJJ.
But he did place a Spider-Tracer(patent pending) on Grizzly, bringing him to his hiding place…
…where he learns this was a trap by the Jackal.
And that’s the end! We’ll see the Jackal again before the end of the retrospective.
As for Grizzly, we will learn next issue that he used to be a professional wrestler until JJJ ruined his reputation for being too violent.
And it’s beginning of an illustrious career of being a punching bag.
Historical significance: 6/10
Peter Parker moves to his Chelsea apartment, where he’ll stay for FOURTEEN YEARS.
Personal significance: 7/10
I couldn’t care less about Grizzly, but the fight were quite entertaining and I did enjoy the back-and-forth between Spidey and Jameson.
I’m also attached to that apartment because that’s where Peter lived when I started reading him regularly, and owning the issue where he moves is a bonus.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Not really.
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
A pretty standard Spider-Man story. I doubt this one stood out for anyone else but me.
Daredevil #122 (1975)
by Tony Isabella & Bob Brown
Out of all Marvel superheroes, Daredevil would make the most sense for being the backup feature to Spider-Man. But it’s quite rare for him to be that in Italian reprints: Corno gave him his own series. Of which I didn’t own a single issue.
In the Star Comics era he was one of the two backup features of Fantastic Four (together with Hulk, of all people). In the Marvel Italia era, he moved to a separate book together with Hulk, and only in the Panini era he got his own book once again.
Daredevil’s name would have been too hard to translate: the closest would be scavezzacollo, which in addition to sounding a bit ridiculous (it has a similar etymology to “breakneck”) loses any connection with his looks.
So Corno just called him Devil.
That would be the standard “translation” (if you can call it that) for years, until around 2016 the Panini publisher just gave up and started calling him Daredevil.
I still think about him as just “Devil”, honestly.
Just like Spider-Man, Daredevil was also one of the few characters where Corno made graphic changes.
Both his eyes and his logo are colored yellow, instead of being red and blending in with the rest of the custume. Just like Spider-Man… who also got his eyes recolored yellow… I couldn’t find any reference for WHY they made the change.
I guess the eyes KIND OF make sense if he doesn’t want to attract attention to being blind.
But it also emphasizes the absurdity of retaining the “double D” logo when the story just calls him Devil.
This is in the middle of a rather complex storyline that involves Hydra.
I guess getting involved with super-spy stuff is inevitable when your girlfriend is Black Widow.
She’s been running her own investigation, discovering a surprising lead.
That was the calling card of Blackwing, a villain so important he debuted with the Circus Of Crime.
You might have seen this panel running around as a meme. And if you look at this one to be alone, I see how it can be seen as Daredevil being handsy…
…but in context, she’s complaining about him not letting act alone.
But they do eventually patch things up.
But let’s check on Blackwing, who is working for a new Hydra boss. Who is a familiar face: we’ll learn about his identity at the end.
But first Black Widow runs into El Jaguar, a villain who debuted a couple of issues ago.
He has the ability to believe this is a good look.
But she disposes of hin with a kick right into his jaguars.
Never noticed before that her belt disappears.
Meanwhile Daredevil runs into Blackwing… and gets his but kicked by bats.
And if you think that’s bad… Blacktwing’s next attack is throwing guano.
Sorry, my bad, that’s supposed to be “dried blood”.
Which just LOOKS like crap.
And if superstrong bats were not silly enough for you: GIANT BAT!!!
Which Daredevil defeats by STABBING IT IN THE HEART.
This stunt costs him the billy club, making Blackwing a legitimate threat for the first and only time in his career.
As mentioned, this was the only Daredevil story I owned. Thankfully I eventually read GOOD stories featuring him, because otherwise I would’ve thought he sucks.
Black Widow is somehow STILL fighting El Jaguar…
…but come on.
And so we end with the revelation that Blackwing is the son of Silvermane, a minor Spider-Man villain who used to be boring until the 80s turned him into a cyborg, was interesting for a while, and then turned boring again.
Historical significance: 4/10
This whole Daredevil saga is pretty wild, giving him enemies he’s not accustomed to, but it has a relatively minor impact.
El Jaguard appears in just FOUR issues of Daredevil, until he’s killed off by the Scourge Of The Underworld in 1986’s Captain America #319.
Where he doesn’t have the best opinion of his former bosses. 
Personal significance: 8/10
Daredevil didn’t leave much of an impression on me, but I did find Blackwing interesting and El Jaguar incredibly lame.
My most vivid memories of this one is that I specifically remember it’s one of the comics I brought with me in the vacation where I discovered Doctor Doom.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
GIANT MUTANT BATS!!!
Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
I didn’t care for it at the time, but the dialogues between Daredevil and Black Widow hold up rather well. The rest of the story is pretty lackluster.
And I know it’s childish, but you can’t convince me that’s not crap.
Creatures On The Loose #30 (1974)
by Doeg Moench & George Tuska
At first glance, this may look like a weird choice for a Spider-Man backup feature.
Unless you know the protagonist is the werewolf son of J. Jonah Jameson.
Jonah knows that a space gem has been lodged into his son’s throat, but he doesn’t know that it turns him into a werewolf.
This is the “wild uncontrollable rage monster” version of a werewolf.
Who is also still wearing John Jameson’s spacesuit.
The sequence is a bit weird. The werewolf recognizes the picture of John’s fiancée, so when he destroys it I thought it because the werewolf hates John…
…but apparently it just confuses him?
The 1970s are a great era for monsters of all kinds in superhero comics (due in no small part to several Comics Code restrictions being lifted). But one thing I’ve always hated is how EVERY single monster is initially mistaken for a regular guy wearing a mask.
Since John Jameson loses his mind when he turns into Man-Wolf, we need a different protagonist.
So we are introduced to supercop Simon Stroud and his sweater.
Jonah was attacked by Man-Wolf in a previous issue, and the police is making a surprising connection.
Stroud wastes no time barging into the Daily Bugle to ask Jonah some questions.
This is where the story ended for me, since only the first 8 pages were in this issue.
You know, I’ve never actually bothered to check out the story ends: this is the first one I’m seeing the conclusion.
Starting with Stroud figuring out how Man-Wolf left John’s apartment.
There’s still enough of John inside Man-Wolf to be a hero, so he saves a couple from being mugged by RIPPING THE MUGGERS TO SHREDS.
Just in time for Stroud to find him.
Man-Wolf runs away, even hitching a ride on a boat of tourists visiting the Statue of Liberty.
Stroud follows him, after commandeering a boat and demonstrating that his sweater gives him super-strength.
Got to admit… when I read the first part of this story more than 30 years ago, I never imagined it would lead to a werewolf fight on Lady Liberty.
But the fight ends with Man-Wolf accidentally falling into the river.
Yeah I don’t think I really missed anything the first time.
Historical significance: 2/10
Stroud does make a few recurring appearances, most notably being featured in Morbius stories.
Personal significance: 0/10
I completely forgot I read this one. I’m not the biggest fan of Man-Wolf… John has a rather generic personality, and the werewolf aspect is FAR better explored on “Werewolf By Night”.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
A gem from the moon turns you into a werewolf.
Does it stand the test of time? 5/10
Pretty bland. John isn’t even a character, Man-Wolf doesn’t really do anything exciting, Stroud is incredibly generic and the artwork while serviceable isn’t particularly memorable.