Spidey Super Stories #38 (2024 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Spidey Super Stories was a segment that appeared on the last three seasons of the educational children's series The Electric Company. From 1974-77, the character of Spider-Man wasplayed by puppeteer and dancer Danny Seagren. Seagren's performance made him the first actor to portray the wallcrawler in live-action form and was the first time in 30 years that a Marvel character wasn't animated on screen, second to 1944's Captain America movie serial.

Spider-Man didn't speak out loud. To encourage young viewers in reading, Spidey's dialogue was spoken in word bubbles and his fisticuffs special effects of 'Pow' and 'Bam' were shown as comic book panels to minimize the violence level, as well as for educational purposes and budget cutting reasons. Spidey never battled anyone on par of a Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus. Instead, Spider-Man fought were small time crooks or goofy new super-villains often portrayed by the Electric Company's regular cast of characters. Perhaps Spidey's most memorable and deadliest foe was the menacing Dr. Measles who in one frightening episode infects Spider-Man by reaching into his medicine bag and throwing dots of the virus right onto his costume 

In a licensing agreement to the likes you would probably never see these days, Spidey was given to the Children's Television Workshop free of charge. Stan Lee and Marvel believed that having Spider-Man would be amazing free advertising for both Marvel and his regular titles The Amazing Spider-Man and Marvel Team-Up. With the CTW partnership, Marvel produced a third series, Spidey Super Stories, devoted to young readers. At 36 pages with no ads, SSS would sometimes include a list of words to look for as well as other vocabulary related fun and games. Unlike the live-action segments on PBS, super-villains and heroes alike guest-starred in these comics as well as characters from the show such as Jennifer of the Jungle and her simian side-kick, Paul the Gorilla and the funky threaded Easy Reader whose face was used to endorse each issue as 'easy to read.'

A number of Marvel talent worked on the comic. Jean Thomas (Night Nurse) penned the first 15 issues. Jim Salicrup (Fantastic Four) took over as regular series author afterwards though Bill Mantlo (Rom: Spaceknight), Sesame Street editorial director Deborah November and Michael Siporin shared responsibility for the 3 short stories that make up this issue. First, Spidey must save Aunt May from the clutches of the Scorpion. Then the stars of Electric Company make up the cast of characters in a story where Spidey and the Carol Danvers Ms. Marvel must save a ballet dancer from an evil choreographer. Finally the Thinker takes a brand new subway train hostage. As Peter Parker is aboard working for the Daily Bugle, he can't find a quiet place to change. So it's up to the Fantastic Four working from the outside to stop the runaway vehicle from crashing into Coney Island. 

Artwork from this issue was by regular series artist Win Mortimer (Superman) with assists by Don Perlin (Werewolf by Night) and Mike Esposito (Wonder Woman). 

Spidey Super Stories lasted 1974-1982; going on for another 5 years after the Electric Company was cancelled. The cancellation was not due to popularity. It was a massive hit. But the show's lack of being able to really create stand out characters such as sister series Sesame Street kept the publicly funded program from being solvent with licensing of toys and dolls. The few Electric Company products to hit the market were mostly series of books, records and a Fargo North, Decoder character board game from Milton Bradley. It is said that having Spider-Man added to the show's format helped the series to linger on a couple extra seasons which also relied more on repeated material to help stay solvent. The comic was the Electric Company's most popular tie-in, running for an impressive 57 issues. However, with the Spidey Super Stories being owned and read by young children, quality condition issues are harder to find and pricey on the collecting market.

Completing this review completes Task #3 (Comic from the Bronze Age (1971-1985)) of the 2024 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Spidey Super Stories #36

For a very long time, Spidey Super Stories had been nearly impossible to find. Since I started recollecting comics in 2007, I had only seen one issue for sale and that store wanted a ridiculous amount of cash for it. Then for some reason, issues started popping up in the past year. I've managed to find 5 or 6 for a good price; between $1-5 each. Somehow, I ended up with a duplicate- this issue!

Since I just had surgery, I decided that instead of trying to file it in a very heavy long box, I would read the duplicate copy and then after the review, I'd put this up for resale or trade.

This issue focuses on one of my all-time favorite Spider-Man villains- The Lizard. Curt Connors has once again been fiddling around with his chemistry set and turned himself into a giant reptile. But why he did it in the first place is unknown.

In the pages of Amazing Spider-Man, Curt Connors has only one arm. Seeing how lizards can regenerate a tail or limb, Connors does research with the creatures in hopes of regaining his missing arm. Yet, in the origin story recapped her, Connors has both arms. Why? Did Marvel think that kids couldn't handled a story with an amputee?

Spidey Super Stories was based on the Spider-Man tales from the PBS classic educational series, The Electric Company. Characters from that show would make appearances in this all-ages book. While this comic claims that some of the characters in this issue are from the TV show, I don't remember any of these characters. 

Where's Manny Spamboni? Paul the Gorilla? Easy Reader? I guess they're in other issues as they sure aren't here!

There's two other stories in this issue. The middle tales involves the Green Goblin and a plot to steal from people during seances. Seances? Really, Marvel??? For 1979, you couldn't have characters with disabilities but contacting the dead was okay for a kids comic? Didn't you see what happened in The Exorcist?

The last adventure sees somebody stealing prized poppies from a flower show. As Peter Parker happens to be one of the entrants in the contest, you can be sure that Spider-Man will be nearby to stop the dastardly foe.

For the most part, this comic is how I remember- except for the Electric Company characters. Well, there's something else different. Spidey Super Stories were used as educational tools in some classrooms. Teachers could order multiple issues for their class at a bulk rate. While I wasn't old enough for that, I remember that early issues (you could buy at the local 7-11) had a glossary of terms in the back of the book based on words used in bold in the comic. While there are plenty of terms in black (almost in every sentence), there's no glossary. Kinda wondering why...

This was still a fun trip to my late 70s childhood. The art was great. The stories were good. Maybe a little bit aged for being a nearly 40 year old comic. But a cool nostalgic read none the less.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.