Yesterday, I reviewed volume 1. With that reflection, I argued that both Marvel and Amazon had rated the book incorrectly. Marvel put a Teen label on the back cover. Amazon said the first book was appropriate for preschool readers. I stated that since the original publishing imprint, Star Comics, was geared for readers aged 6-10, that both ratings weren't correct.
Volume 2 collects all of the Spider-Ham stories that appeared in the back pages of Marvel Tales, a primarily Spider-Man reprint series that ran from 1964-1994. The Spider-Ham stories periodically ran from 1987 through 1991. That level of lunacy and silliness are still present in these later tales. Unlike the Star Comics stories, these shorts are a bit more grown-up.
Peter Porker's relationship with Mary Jane Waterbuffalo was a main focus in many of the Marvel Tales stories. When Mary Jane gets mad at her beau, Spider-Ham starts a love triangle with the cat burglar, Black Catfish. Plus, an old flame makes a couple of appearances in Peter's life, causing strife with Mary Jane. The female characters are dressed very scantily and drawn in sultry positions. And there's innuendo galore! Definitely not the sort of stuff preschoolers need to be reading.
The Spider-Ham shorts only account for about half of this book. The other half is comprised of an assortment of stories from the past 30 years. All of Spider-Ham's appearances in the pages of the Marvel humor book What The--?! along with a novella set during the third Secret Wars add to the wacky history of the character. Then Peter Porker suffers an identity crisis and later celebrates his 25th anniversary with family and friends. Readers then get a glimpse at Spider-Ham's future with daughter Swiney-Girl as well as meet ancestor Piguel O'Malley who swings through the streets of New York City as Spider-Ham 2099 before things wrap up with a metaphysical discourse on reboots between Spider-Ham and Howard the Duck!
Amazon rates this book as being for readers 9 and up. I have to side with Marvel on this one and put things at Teen. Everything in this book is much more mature than the material in Volume 1. No nudity or curse words or anything like that. It's more about the edginess of the jokes, vampiness of the female characters and more PG-13 level violence that parents and guardians might need to pay attention to.
This is a volume that would result in having to collect almost 2 dozen assorted Marvel Tales issues and these books are part of a complete run. Spider-Ham would have to wait several issues to resolve his cliffhangers due to the length of the Spider-Man reprints contained. As for the specials and What The--?! stories, I've read some of them before. But it's been a long time. Definitely worth owning even if you got a few of these works if just for the ability to shave some time off of your search for everything.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
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