It’s the sixth anniversary of the site! In celebration, let’s take a look at the first comic book I actually remember buying.
This was a few months before buying the book that would make me a regular reader which I’ve already covered.
Uomo Ragno #39 (1989)
Published by: Star Comics
The title is the translation of the original “Homecoming”, while the balloon is “Finally the new Spider-Man arrives”…
Amazing Spider-Man #252 (1984)
written by Tom DeFalco & Roger Stern
pencils and cover by Ron Frenz
…which is certainly not the same as “The rumors are true”.
A lot of Marvel heroes have disappeared: they’re actually busy on Secret Wars; its first issue was being published concurrently with this.
It’s been long enough that the Daily Bugle publishes a front page about it, and we can clearly see a February 4th 1984 publishing date.
The title was translated in the Italian version.
Not as exciting as other front pages of the day, I’m sure.
Impressively we get almost an entire page of the Daily Bugle, which was ALSO translated in its entirety by Star Comics.
By this point Robbie Robertson is the editor-in-chief, leading to a slight difference in the focus of the newspaper.
To my surprise, we actually know the exact place where the heroes disappeared in Secret Wars: Sheep Meadow in Central Park.
Spider-Man is the first hero to return to Earth, bringing Curt Connors with him now that he’s no longer the Lizard (which will last for about a week).
This is the first ever appearance of the black costume (more on that later), so obviously nobody recognizes him as Spider-Man.
At the time this was published, readers could only get their hands on the first issue of Secret Wars.
Star Comics wouldn’t publish it until the following year, and I wouldn’t get to get my hands on it for nearly another decade.
In typical Spider-Man fashion, he lost his original clothes.
It’s way too early for the costume to be revealed to be a sentient symbiote: by this time, it’s assumed this is all alien super-science. Which leads to the costume having some abilities that will be forgotten, including apparently the ability to absorb objects?
After dropping Connors home, Peter discovers the costume’s ability to transform into anything.
When I finally got my hands on Secret Wars a decade or so later, I was eager to finally get to see the scene when Galactus almost stepped on Spider-Man!
And boy was that moment underwhelming after so much anticipation.
Secret Wars was not clear about how long the heroes were away from Earth, but several books imply that it was at least a few weeks.
Given that Peter says it was “over a week”, however, it wasn’t that long.
Which makes the Bugle using that as front page material laughable: the heroes were gone for less than two weeks! Both the Fantastic Four and the Avengers have a long history of disappearing for much longer periods!
I mean AUNT MAY wasn’t that much worried about her nephew not calling!!!
Why am I not surprised that he called his aunt before his girlfriend?
Interestingly, Spider-Man is aware that the Black Cat had been trying to get other superheroes to give her superpowers. Make sense the other heroes would tell him, considering they were stuck together on an alien planet.
In typical Spider-Man fashion, the second he leaves the house… the Black Cat drops by and doesn’t find him.
Green peppers? I take back everything nice I’ve ever said about him, Spider-Man IS a menace!
No wonder Star Comics corrected this to vastly superior hot peppers.
Needing to make money for rent, Peter decides to develop the pictures he took on Battleworld but ultimately decides to destroy them.
I really miss these scenes… there’s something missed when he necessarily only uses digital cameras… but there’s no way to bring those back thanks to digital cameras.
Spider-Man could be scary with his old costume, but imagine encountering THIS guy in the middle of the night!
Still, Spider-Man is on such a high from being back to Earth that this doesn’t bother him.
Even a couple of teenagers arguing about nothing can’t ruin his good mood.
To settle this, he brings them on a trip around the city.
Forget Mary Jane, forget Gwen, forget Black Cat… New York City is Spider-Man’s one true love.
This works on ONE of the teens.
And we close with a full-page pinup to showcase the new costume.
I traced this page with colored pencils (probably ruining the original) and hanged the copy next to the shelf where I kept all my comics until my collection grew far too large for it.
Historical significance: 6/10
As mentioned it’s the first ever appearance of the black costume. While it does showcase its weird abilities, I would put the significance below its proper introduction during Secret Wars.
Personal significance:10/10
I vividly remember buying this one and bringing it with me to visit my brother’s stay at the hospital for an appendectomy, to tell him all about Spider-Man getting a new costume.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Not really.
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
It’s nothing amazing (pun intended), and the fact that Spidey vanished for little more than a week diminishes the impact of his is return. Still, a competent Spider-Man story.
The idea of Spider-Man getting a black costume came from a script sent by fan Randy Schueller.
Jim Shooter bought the script for 200 dollars in 1982 (about 671 dollars in 2026); as far as I know, Marvel has never publicly acknowledged this is where the idea of Spidey getting a new black costume comes from.
Possibly because the design of the costume itself is by Mike Zeck and Rick Leonardi, and apparently the only thing remaining from the original script is literally “Spider-Man gets a black costume”.
The idea of the hero’s costume being replaced by a living alien was first supposed to be applied to Iron Fist’s series, thought by John Byrne.
That never materialized when Byrne left the book, so it was recycled by Stern who would introduce the concept on Amazing Spider-Man (reportedly with Byrne’s consent).
Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #90 (1984)
by Al Milgrom
Now THAT is a cover!!!
We begin with the Black Cat thinking back at the experiments that gave her new “bad luck” powers, which she thought she needed to keep up with Spider-Man.
Unfortunately she owes those powers to the Kingpin. He didn’t ask her to use them to fight Spider-Man or to commit crimes, just that she owes him one.
After using said bad luck to take down a couple of street thugs…
…she drops by Peter’s apartment AGAIN. Well she is a professional thief.
She also meets Peter’s lovely landlady…
…as well as Captain Jean DeWolff. A subplot that was dropped long before the captain’s tragic murder was the fact that she had a crush on Spidey.
I can’t imagine why Spider-Man ever thought that their relationship put a strain on his secret identity.
Black Cat’s bad luck powers are REALLY overpowered right now, considering they allow to just walk straight into Avengers Mansion.
Well, up to a point anyway.
She dropped by because Vision and Scarlet Witch are among the heroes who DIDN’T vanish, and she wants to know if they have news about Spider-Man.
Vision takes this as an opportunity to lecture her about all the Avengers who have had trouble with the law, possibly to entice her into becoming a superhero herself.
It’s completely unnecessary, but I loved this because it was my first chance to know about this AND my first good look at Vision!
Black Cat even drops by Aunt May (who at this time was running a retirement home), leading to the first ever meeting between them.
Not exactly the best first impression for either.
And we end with Spider-Man finally meeting her.
Historical significance: 0/10
It’s the first occasion for Black Cat to meet most of Peter’s civilian supporting cast… and nothing of substance happens.
Personal significance: 7/10
I loved this, especially the chance to know more about the rest of the Marvel Universe.
Silver Age-ness: 4/10
Black Cat’s bad luck powers are a bit silly on their own, especially since she got them from the Kingpin who very rarely deals with comic book science… but they’re REALLY overpowered here.
Does it stand the test of time? 5/10
It’s fine, but it doesn’t really take advantage of the premise of Black Cat meeting everyone for the first time. If you’re already familiar with the people she talks with, it’s a huge missing opportunity.
Uncanny X-Men #152 (1981)
by Chris Claremont & Bob McLeod
This is the issue where Storm and Emma Frost (who is a reeeeally long way from becoming a hero) switch bodies.
Only the last 5 pages were published in this book, so to show you my confusion I’ll start from the same page: it’s when Emma, in Storm’s body, attacks the X-Men together with Sebastian Shaw.
However she loses control of Storm’s powers, so the actual Storm (in Emma’s body) shows up to deal with her.
Which turns into, what else, a Big Dumb Catfight.
Storm regains control over her body, zaps Emma and decides that she’d rather be naked than wearing the White Queen costume.
You don’t often see WOLVERINE as the one arguing against killing the enemy.
Yeah, uhm, I couldn’t make heads or tails on this. Especially since the reason for Storm getting her body back is glossed over in a single caption and is entirely dependent on the first half of the story to be understandable.
Historical significance: N/A
Silver Age-ness: N/A
Does it stand the test of time? N/A
I can’t score this on the basis of 5 pages. I’m not a huge fan of Claremont in this period, as the story feels more than a little overwritten to me.
Personal significance: 0/10
I completely forgot I read this one, for obvious reasons.
Uncanny X-Men #153 (1981)
by Chris Claremont & Dave Cockrum
After half a rather weak X-Men story, my other exposure was half of a completely inconsequential one. No wonder this didn’t make me an X-Men fan.
The X-Men are repairing the school after last issue, and at this point Carol Danvers (the former Miss Marvel and the future Captain Marvel) has joined the supporting cast after her ABYSMAL departure from the Avengers.
This whole thing has been tough on Illyana, the sister of Colossus and the future Magik…
…so Kitty Pryde (speaking Russian thanks to Xavier’s powers) tells her a fairy tale inspired by the X-Men.
This sort of stuff has its fans and this story is considered a classic.
I never cared for it and I still don’t.
The rest of the X-Men find it funny.
Nice easter egg from Cockrum, giving Carol a Fawcett Captain Marvel shirt!
My last page was the one where a bunch of Bamfs show up.
And they all lived happily ignoring this story.
Historical significance: 1/10
We actually revisit this world in a 1985 Nightcrawler miniseries, because I guess Cockrum loved these designs SO much he both wrote and penciled that one.
Personal significance: 0/10
It’s been over 35 years and I still can’t bring myself to finish reading this story, my eyes just glaze through the pages whenever I even try.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
In the Silver Age this WOULD be an actual world… which actually ended up being the case in the Nightcrawler series.
Does it stand the test of time? zzzzz/10
Cockrum delivers some amazing Cockrum artwork, but this is a great bedtime story if it puts me to sleep.
Call me grumpy but I find this just unbearable.
And that’s all for the sixth anniversary of the site!
This was more of a coda to the fifth anniversary than its own thing and it jumped around wildly different series even more… but any excuse to talk about Roger Stern on Spider-Man or John Byrne on Fantastic Four is a good one.