Customer Reviews

Spider-Man: The Cosmic Adventures (Amazing Spectacular Web)

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The Trapster, Titania, Graviton, the Rhino, Magneto, the Incredible Hulk, the Shocker, the Brothers Grimm, Hydro-Man, the Super Soldier Eliminator, Goliath, Dragon Man....Spidey takes them all on single handed - and decks them - in this entertaining trade paperback. True, it's just a series of epic battles with little plot, but who cares when you get to see Spidey blasting Titania through a truck and punching the Hulk into orbit? This is action-packed, and when I say action packed, I MEAN action-packed. New York is almost completely demolished by the climax.

If that wasn't enough, this book also features Doctor Doom, the Puma, the Red Skull, the Wizard, Loki and more in an adventure which sees the wallcrawler pick up some astonishing new powers, and forfill his destiny by battling the enormous Tri-Sentinel to stop it killing millions. Alex Saviuk, Erik Larsen, Todd MacFarlane and personal favourite Sal Buscema supply the artwork. Light, episodic, non-stop Spidey action.

In this amazing adventure we find our freindly neighboorhood spiderman facing his toughest challenge as doctor, doom kingpin, Loki, and the wizard team up and send a variety of supervillins at spiderman hoping to confuse his and attack his weaknsess. This tactic almost works but spiderman is zapped by a mysterios burst of energy that give his almost god like power. Spiderman always felt a stong responsibility for having his powers now he stuggles with having more power then he can handel. I strongly recommend thisnovel to anyone who likes spiderman or any superpowered hero.

These nine issues of awesome date back to 1989, when Marvel Comics decided to bestow temporary cosmic powers on Spider-Man. Now part of what made Spidey such an appealing hero is that his powers may be cool and nothing to sneeze at, but, pretty often, the bad guys he tussles with tend to be juuuust that bit more powerful. Spidey is regularly forced to apply his wits as much as his physical attributes just to eke out a victory. For once, it's nice to have our favorite wallcrawler given the decided edge. Dude totally deserves a break from getting beat up so much.

The Cosmic Spider-Man arc is told in the backdrop of the Acts of Vengeance crossover event. Here's a bit more set-up: The theory is that the superheroes keep on getting the upper hand because of their familiarity with their respective rogues' gallery. To switch it up, Marvel's top villains (a disguised Loki, the Red Skull, the Wizard, the Mandarin, Magneto, the Kingpin, and Dr. Doom - or, actually, his robot) join forces and begin to coordinate assaults on the superheroes, pitting lesser villains against heroes whom they don't normally go up against. This storyline is called the Acts of Vengeance. The theory does bear out when Avenger's foe Graviton delivers a solid butttwhuppin' to Spidey.

In Spidey continuity Peter Parker and Mary Jane haven't been married all that long. It's only been weeks since they've moved into their Soho loft, Pete's going to Empire State U, and MJ's just landed a steady acting gig at a television soap opera ("Secret Hospital").

Meanwhile, Thomas Fireheart a.k.a. Puma aims to repay a debt he feels is owed to Spider-Man. Aware of J. Jonah Jameson's long-running crusade against Spidey, Puma had just purchased the Daily Bugle and now intends for the Bugle to promote the web-slinger in a more heroic light. All of this back story had already taken place by the time Peter Parker shows up to assist in a physics lab experiment at ESU and becomes exposed to weird unknown energies, this signaling the kick-off of the Cosmic Spider-Man saga.

Shockingly Spidey learns that his arachnid senses and attributes have been augmented to a ridiculous degree, and that, more, he's gained the ability to fly, to project blasts of force, had become invulnerable, with further talents due to surface. This leaves Peter struggling mightily to adjust to his new power levels and coping with the concept of "with greater power comes greater responsibility." It doesn't help that the New York residents, fearful of an out-of-control Spider-Man, start turning against him.

The plot - such as it is - tends to focus primarily on setting Spidey against a gauntlet of increasingly formidable adversaries. Except that, of course, in the face of Spidey's new mojo, these heavy hitters all prove to be chumps. And what would a scurvy alliance of villains be without hidden agendas and a healthy dose of backstabbing? Magneto believes that Spidey's new found powers result from a late blossoming of his mutant genes and Magneto intends to recruit him to the mutant cause. Meanwhile, Dr. Doom grows more and more intrigued with what's going on with the wallcrawler and he mulls over the possibility of stealing his awesome powers. There are many cool moments and, by the way, here comes the SPOILERS alert for this and the next paragraph. It's pretty terrific seeing Marvel's original hard luck hero be the baddest mo-fo, at least for a little bit. The high points for me are probably Spidey punching the Hulk into orbit and Spidey's offhanded dismissal of Graviton in their "rematch."

In time of man's greatest need the Enigma Force chooses a champion. It all caps off with Spidey finally learning the why and what of his cosmic nature, and there's a huge fighty fight with the Tri-Sentinel (three, three -- three Sentinels in one!). The Tri-sentinel is one colossal nasty piece of work and near indestructible, but, still, I expected something on an even larger threat scale to justify Cosmic Spidey's climactic battle. So that part was a bit of a letdown.

SPIDER-MAN: THE COSMIC ADVENTURES collects THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN issues #158-160, WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #59-61, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #327-329, and offers writing by comic book veterans Gerry Conway and David Michelinie and decent artwork by Sal Buscema, Alex Saviuk, Erik Larsen, and Todd McFarlane. This TPB also includes a foreword and afterword by Peter Sanderson and a cover gallery reprinting the issues' original covers. Absolutely, there have been other more seminal, more relevant stories told about Spider-Man before and since. But the Cosmic Spider-Man storyline scores way high on the Nerd-Out-On-Meter, ranks right up there in terms of sheer fun and from a Little Guy Makes Good angle. So read it, but don't get too fond of Cosmic Webslinger. By the end of the story arc, Spidey comes down to earth and regains his normal power levels, and dude is back to dusting off supervillains by the skin of his teeth. It wouldn't be the old reliable Peter Parker luck, otherwise.

Man i can remember buying each of these comics when they came out and saying to myself "oh my god! what new power is he gonna get next!?". This was one of my favorite spidey stories ever made. The art in this book ranges from good to great. and each story finds spidey gaining some crazy new power.

If your a spidey fan and never got a chance to read these stories you should definitely try and grab this book.