Sal's Sunday Punch #21

Today's Sunday Punch comes from the dynamite duo of Sal Buscema and J.M. DeMatteis, who teamed for a memorable run on Spectacular Spider-Man in the early '90s - but this comes from almost a decade earlier, in 1983's Marvel Team-Up #133!

Reed Richards has had a bad day.  After fighting the Everyman, a populist super villain who was also Larry Ekler, the son of one of Reed's old friends, he traced Larry back to the Fennhoff Institute.  Once he arrived there with Spider-Man, he found the Thing, the Human Torch, the Invisible Girl, and even his own son, Franklin, physically and mentally broken by the Institute's director - the sinister psychologist Doctor Faustus!  He's trying to drive Reed mad - the FF and Franklin were androids, and Spider-Man a henchman in a Halloween costume.  Of course, the doctor isn't entirely all there himself, given that he spends the entire issue being yelled at by his dead mother.  Reed's a little better at determining fantasy from reality...

The puncher lecturing the punchee seems to be a recurring theme here.

Spider-Man: The Anniversary Syndrome

Next week, Spider-Man celebrates his 50th anniversary, and Marvel's commemorating it with the giant-sized Amazing Spider-Man #692, by Dan Slott, Humberto Ramos, and a bevy of other creators.  Obviously, Spider-Man's celebrated a few anniversaries before.  For his 25th, he met Venom for the first time; for his 40th, Amazing Spider-Man returned to its original numbering just in time for #500.  But the biggest deal Marvel's ever made over a Spider-Anniversary was back in 1992, for his 30th.  Of course, in 1992, Marvel would take any possible excuse to add on a shiny cover and some extra features, so it's perhaps no surprise that this was such an event.  There were four-count-'em'-four ongoing Spider-Man books at the time, so each one got a super-sized anniversary issue, complete with backup stories, a pull-out poster, and a holographic cover.  Holograms get a bad rap, but these are actually very nicely done, although as can be seen below, they don't actually scan very well.

All of the covers look like this, with varying background colours, so I'm just gonna scan this one.

The Metamorphosis of Dr. Kafka

With issue 185, J.M. DeMatteis took the reins of Spectacular Spider-Man, kicking his run off with the dark, creepy The Child Within, a story that focused on Harry Osborn becoming the Green Goblin again, and on the escape of the cannibalistic rat-man, Vermin.  In the first few pages, we're introduced to Vermin's therapist, Dr. Ashley Kafka.  As seen here, Dr. Kafka is pretty clearly middle-aged.

" - get six figures worth of plastic surgery before my next appearance!"
(Spectacular Spider-Man #184, written by J.M. DeMatteis, art by Sal Buscema)

She kept turning up beyond that story, and became a full-blown Spider-Man supporting character.  And it is not a good thing to be a Spider-Man supporting character.  All sorts of things can happen to you; you could become a supervillain, or you could marry a supervillain, or your son might become a werewolf, or maybe you'll just get chucked off a bridge and die.  But something even stranger happened to Dr. Kafka.

Sal's Sunday Punch #13

Long time no see, pugilism devotees!  At long last, it's time for another Sal's Sunday Punch!  And since I'm busy reading Maximum Carnage to complete the long-awaited (long-awaited by me, and possibly my mother) third instalment of Who Watches the Nightwatch, here's a little chin-music from Spectacular Spider-Man #202, part nine (of fourteen) of that terrible, terrible crossover.  For a little context, Carnage broke out of prison and is terrorizing New York City with some c-list supervillains, and Spider-Man's teamed up with Venom and various other guys to fight him...and that's pretty much it. It's disappointing, because it features a ton of creators I normally like (J.M. DeMatteis, Mark Bagley, David Michelinie, and of course Sal), but just doesn't earn its hefty pagecount, although the Spectacular issues, by Sal and DeMatteis, come closest to being good.  But anyway, that's a topic for another day.

For a series that's 90% fight scenes, there is a disappointing paucity of Sal Buscema Punches, even though Sal drew three issues of it.  Maybe his heart wasn't quite in it - and who could blame him?

You and me both, Spidey.
(Spectacular Spider-Man #202, written by J.M. DeMatteis, art by Sal Buscema)

Sal's Sunday Punch #1

New regular feature here at 80-Page Giant - Sal's Sunday Punch!  Most Sundays, we'll post a Sal Buscema Punch for your reading enjoyment!

"You didn't save me any mashed potatoes?"
 (Spectacular Spider-Man #189, written by J.M. DeMatteis, art by Sal Buscema)

In this debut installment taken from Spectacular Spider-Man #189, Harry Osborn's holding a special dinner for his wife Liz, son Normie, and brother-in-law Mark Raxton (aka the Molten Man)...in a walled-in dungeon, complete with a huge portrait of his crazy-ass father Norman.  Oh, and did I mention that he's doing this while dressed in full Green Goblin regalia and ranting about the Osborn legacy?  Spider-Man eventually shows up, fashionably late; once Harry totally goes off the deep end, Peter shows him what he thinks of his hosting abilities.