Continuing the journey through the kid-friendly Spider-Man.
Il giornalino de l’Uomo Ragno #4 (1981)
Published by: Corno
The original cover has no title, so Corno decided to go with “The ambush of Lizard”.
I’ve always had a soft spot for Lizard, and it’s possible this story is one of the reasons.
His name has never been translated, as it’s always been left Lizard. Which is kind of weird, since there’s a direct translation available, but I’m guessing “Lucertola” would have been too long.
Spidey Super Stories #7 (1975)
by Jean Tomas & Winslow Mortimer
cover by John Romita Senior
Once again, the original cover is WAY too busy with logos.
This time the original black&white first page is not translated, and instead they went with an advertisement for the official Spider-Man book.
We didn’t lose anything valuable.
I also didn’t get the setup for the story, since it’s in the first pages of the story that were published in the previous issue.
This isn’t the first time this Spider-Man meets the Lizard, because the story includes a flashback to a story that doesn’t exist.
It’s WILD that instead of doing this as an actual story, it’s treated as the backstory of a new one.
This is SORT OF what happened in Amazing Spider-Man #6, the first Lizard story.
Back to the story: since Dr. Connors needs to get some plants from the swamp to cure the museum lizard, he accepts to take with him a random kid who was just attending his lecture.
Sounds legit.
This is where I started reading the story.
Win Mortimer is no Steve Ditko, so the action is quite underwhelming.
It’s an unfair comparison, I know.
But that’s not an inherently weirder story than the original, even if Lizard’s plan is to make all the reptiles of the world his servants…
…because it’s the same plan he had in the original!
It also ends the same way (Spider-Man makes him drink a potion that reverts him to Connors), but with WAY less action.
Compare:
You cannot convince me Dr. Connors is not trying to raise his own rampaging monster.
Spidey Super Stories #8 (1975)
by Jean Tomas & Winslow Mortimer
The villain of the story is going to be Electro, who gets his own origin relegated to the first black&white page.
Once again more official than the original, from Amazing Spider-Man #9. Although I do miss the unnecessary detail of the clothes hangers.
The story is titled “Power to the people” since it’s based on a pun on electric power… which is completely lost in Italian, because they translated this as “Potere al popolo” which is the correct literal translation, but it doesn’t work with electricity. Because the “power” part of “electric power” doesn’t use the same word but it uses energia, which you might have guessed is Italian for “energy”.
Like most adaptations, this one puts Harry Osborn and Mary Jane Watson as classmates of Peter in high school. It’s so ubiquitous that a lot of Spider-Man readers forget he wouldn’t meet them until he went to college.
I can forgive this adaptation for streamlining things.
But I can’t forgive them for making MJ a brunette! She is a redhead later in the series, at least.
Electro then does his thing. Considering the other villains of this series, at least his plan makes a certain amount of sense!
Spider-Man immediately figures out that Electro must be behind the blackout.
Sounds legit. Can you imagine a massive blackout in New York City during the 70s, unless a supervillain is involved?
It’s a very, VERY standard Spider-Man versus Electro story.
The highlight of their fights is usually how Spidey manages to shortcircuit him, and I’m pretty sure this is the first time he ever uses a kit.
Also this MIGHT have been the first time I ever heard of Benjamin Franklin’s experiment.
Aside from the missed pun in the title, this is the only story where the translation misses the point.
The original has the newspaper title “Daily Bugle catches Electro” because the kite was made by a copy of the Bugle (don’t ask).
The translation, however, has the title of “Daily Bugle: Electro captured”, which COMPLETELY misses the point!!!
Spidey Super Stories #10 (1975)
by Jean Tomas & Winslow Mortimer
This was my ONLY exposure to the Green Goblin in this period. No wonder I’ve always been more of a Doctor Octopus fan.
Given the nature of this series, I can’t tell if this Spider-Man has already met him.
It’s not a bad fight between them.
It’s kind of wild that this comic has the Green Goblin, considering this is a 1975 story.
I mean the last time we saw Norman Osborn in the costume was in 1973, and I don’t think the target audience is ready for that story.
Which is probably why this comic skips Norman entirely, just focusting on Harry Osborn.
After a very standard second round…
…we learn that this Goblin is just Harry.
Turns out that this Goblin was just Harry going nuts because of some experiment. No idea where he took the Goblin Glider, though.
This book has a cover date of July 1975.
Harry Osborn was the most recent Green Goblin in the comics, and would appear next in Amazing Spider-Man #151 with a cover date of December 1975.
Historical significance: 0/10
As is to be expected for this entire series.
Personal significance: 4/10
This might be partially responsible for my fodness for Lizard, even though he doesn’t really do much in his story. But at least I remember this, while I had no recollection whatsoever of the Electro story and I barely remember the Green Goblin one.
Silver Age-ness: 2/10
The stories featuring villains from other Spider-Man books are not nearly as silly as the ones with original villains.
Does it stand the test of time? 2/10
Slightly more faithful than the previous issue, but having to tone down EVERYTHING doesn’t help much.
Villains from the original books that are skipped, at least in the issues I had, include the Vanisher. Which is an odd choice: he’s an X-Men villain, and he’s SO obscure they put his name on his cape.
I can’t emphasize enough how lame most of these villains are.
Surprisingly, Moleman makes an appearance.
Unexpected to see him here, but it’s always good to give him a chance… Moleman needs more love.
We have The Thumper. Who I absolutely refuse was not created during the most epic acid trip of the 70s.
Seriously, WTF were these people smoking???
I’m not asking about the creators of this book, though, because she’s directly lifted from the TV show. And this “story” is a very faithful adaptation (except she was played by a black actress).
We also have the greatest contribution to the Spider-Man rogues gallery: The Wall.
10/10 origin story, no notes.
A classic tale for the ages.
This is a rather direct adaptation of one of the live action skits.
Fun fact: the umpire is played by Morgan Freeman.
Yes, THAT ONE.
You might have noticed that the book included issues from Spidey Super-Stories #7, #8 and #10.
Take a guess what they skipped from #9.
We will talk about this one eventually. Trust me.
