REVIEW: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man # 28

Writer: Bill Marauder
Artists: Frank Miller and Frank Springer
Colorist: Mario Sen
Review: Madman

Long story short: my wife took my master ‘I-Need-These-Books’ list and invaded the geek sanctuary of my LCS, Comics Cubed, during a recent 75% off on all back issues sale. She ended up picking up 20 issues of this glorious title, and I was super excited to find this issue in the pile. The list of reasons I’ve always wanted issues #25-31 is basically limitless, but I digress . . .

The first reason is Bill Mantlo wrote it. You may recognize Mantlo from any of his many works, but for me Mantlo will always represent good things. I suppose that some people would argue that his biggest contribution would be his work on Micronauts or possibly Rom . . . but me, no sir. Mantlo’s run on Spectacular is his work for which I am most grateful, because he birthed one of my all time favorite villains in issue #25, Carrion. I love this guy but apparently the powers that be did not as they killed him off in issue #31. Good thing no one stays dead in the comics, as I first remember Carrion from the Maximum Carnage run of the 90s. I actually remember being scared of Carrion while I was reading that arc. I mean he’s a mummy-looking failed clone of Miles Warren who can turn organic matter into dust just by touching it. That’s not all he can do. He can also squash you into jelly with his super-human strength, turn almost intangible, levitate, use telepathy and telekinesis . . . just incase turning you to dust wasn’t enough. I’ve always been a fan of Carrion beyond the taint of Maximum Carnage.  


One of the other major reasons I’ve always wanted this particular arc in my collection is issue #27 features the first time Daredevil was drawn by Frank Miller. This makes this particular issue the 2nd appearance of Daredevil drawn by the man who would go on to make him relevant in a world of guys in capes and such. Maybe I’m just being me, but that means something. Issue #28 also marks the first time that my musty menace graced the front cover, and a pretty rad cover it is with an action-packed still shot of Carrion taking on Peter Parker. That’s right, for those not in the know, Carrion knows Peter’s super-secret.

Ooooooo scary.

Beyond the cover you’ll witness Spidey and Daredevil take on not only Carrion, but Stilt-Man’s old partner, Masked Marauder, and his goons . . . bonus. Throughout most of the issue, Spidey is fighting blind due to being blasted with Marauder‘s ray of what-have-you. He was using his Spider-Sense to navigate much like Daredevil uses his radar sense. It made for a cool dynamic and a few good one-liners from the web head. Sometimes you just need to slow things down and revisit the classics of history past and this is as good a place to start as any.