I never had this issue, and first read the enclosed tale in one of the Essential Spider-Man volumes.
The thing that struck me when reading it was that the art on it doesn't look quite like that in any other Spider-Man story from this era, even though it was produced by the frequent team of Mooney and Romita. I have no answer to this mystery.
Is that a Bill Everett cover I espy?
Sadly, there are few clues as to what happens inside, and my memory refuses to tell me.
Zut alors! It's the fight that had to happen! Hands vs feet! Iron Fist vs Batroc!
I believe this may have been the first time I ever encountered Batroc. If I was a mean-spirited individual, I might declare that I wish it had been the last. But I'm not mean-spirited, so I won't.
Hooray! History is made as Marvel UK create their first ever super-hero - and Apeslayer is born.
More on that subject, right here.
Dracula, still being a pain in the neck.
Who wouldn't want this issue? It's a straightforward rule of drama that you can never go wrong with giant spiders.
I'm generally a defender of the use of speech balloons on front covers but even I can't claim that it was a good idea to have them on this one.
I think this may be the second part of the Surfer's battle with the Badoon.
To some degree, I can't help feeling that the Badoon were to Outer Space species what Batroc was to martial artists.
How's that for fast time travel?
ReplyDeleteWherever you are in time, I can visit in my TARDIS.
40 years ago and I still only had POTA ( and I was STILL wondering, "Who's that Avenger, Iron Fist?" )
I only had the MWOM, Avengers and POTA that week.
ReplyDeleteThat Spider-Man 'Unmasked At Last' was the first American Marvel comic I ever owned (they were hard to come by in the 70s) so I have a real soft spot for that story
ReplyDeleteI think this was the week that the Planet of the Apes belts were advertised. The chunky oversized buckle was particularly good for pretending to be a member of the Tomorrow People.
ReplyDeleteDW
The Spider-man art looks like very basic layouts from John Romita and a rush job of finishing it by Jim Mooney. It's not much of a story so perhaps the whole thing had to be cobbled together fairly quickly - Al
ReplyDeleteAs I've blogged myself, I had a spotty collection of early SSOC and The Super Heroes. I missed issue 3 of both comics and issue 2 of TSH. However, I was wild about those early Smith Conans. "Tower/Elephant" is a favourite, with its sad, Art Nouveau/ sword and sorcery take on ET.
ReplyDelete( Yes,I know ET hadn't been written yet). The lady in the headdress of course does not appear within, webbed or otherwise.
The Surfer comic reminds me of an Easter weekend trip to Ayr beach. Maybe the spring weather was as unseasonably warm as the subsequent summer.