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by Dave Scrimgeour & Kevin McCluskey   Cover Date- April 1988 Price- 40p Script- Gerry Conway Art- Sal Buscema Lettering- Rick Parker Colour- Bob Sharen Editor- Jim Salicrup Editor-In-Chief- Tom DeFalco Publisher- Marvel Comics synopsisPeter becomes embroiled in an immigration nightmare, as La Tarantula carries out a series of executions upon refugees who have fled persecution and death squads in their home country. Meanwhile, a certain pale skinned, pointy toothed figure from Robbie Robertson's past resumes his campaign of terror against the Daily Bugle's editor-in-chief. (K) Kev 'Spectacular Spider-Man' was the title that you collected out of you me and Mike, wasn't it? Dave Thats right. We had complete coverage of all the Spidey stories. You got ‘Amazing Spider-Man,’ I got ‘Spectacular Spider-Man’ and Mike got ‘Web of Spider-Man,’ so it totally kept us in the loop as to what was going on. This issue is around 1988 isn't it? Kev Yep. The cover date is April of 1988. Can you remember which issue it was that you started getting ‘Spectacular Spider-Man’ at? Dave Actually, I really can't. Any idea yourself? I don’t remember many issues of the black costume, so I reckon this issue was a good while before I started collecting it. Kev I suspect it was probably around issue 148, 149-ish. Just judging by when I started getting ‘Amazing Spider-Man.' Dave What do you make of this issue? I like the cover. It's very bright, and eye-catching as well. Kev Yeh, man. The cover is very nice. Very dynamic. I like the Jesus cameo in the stained-glass window and the candlestick holder with the lit candle right in the foreground. It creates an excellent sense of space.  "'Cause there's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide." Dave Sal Buscema was certainly a dynamic artist. He knew the cover had to grab your attention. Kev He's dynamic, alright. His style shares certain similarities with Geoff Senior in that respect. He also has that same angular style that Senior had back then too. I miss the character boxes on the Marvel covers. I have loads of issues where I've coloured-in the ones on the bottom left-hand corners. Dave Yeah, I remember those. I did that as well. I reckon they were done that way just for that very purpose. You're right, there’s definitely a similarity to Senior's work. Kev Probably, actually, yeh. Spidey's still rocking the black costume at this point, which was my preferred costume back in those days. I reckon I'm more of a traditionalist these days, although I still have a soft spot for the blacks duds. I always get a little bit of a nostalgic kick when Peter goes "Back In Black." Dave That's a good opening panel of Spidey swinging across town. Kev Yeh, I love Sal Buscema's black costume Spidey. I reckon because I didn't see a whole lot of it back then, so it's still a bit of a novelty to me to see his version of it. Dave Actually, I always liked the traditional costume better than the black one, but in terms of this story with Tarantula, it's a great contrast to the bright red of Tarantula's costume. Had Peter been in his traditional garb, this would have been an overdose of bright colours, what with his red and blue as well as Tarantula's costume being similar in colour scheme. Kev Good point. It helps differentiate the two, even at a quick glance. Dave Also, both of these characters have a similar spider logo on their tops. Kev Ah, true. La Tarantula is pretty much the opposite of Spidey's black costume. The spider on which was originally supposed to be red, allegedly. We've got connections to previous reviews that we’ve done here; Gerry Conway from our ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ #219 review and Bob Sharen on colours again, from 'Circle Of Blood.' The strands of this web are all beginning to tie together. I love that first panel on page 5, of Spidey leaping out of the borders to avoid the gunfire. Dave Yeah, this seems, once again, to be a straight forward, no nonsense, let's just get into the thick of it type of story, with the showdown between Spidey and Tarantula. I like the panel earlier where Tarantula is chasing Armando Ruiz and leaping over the incinerator, as well as the following one where he strikes him with the knives on his feet.  La Tarantula & his winklepickers. Kev Yep. There's a great sense of motion in those panels. You can feel the energy in the movement of La Tarantual. I love his do-rag style mask too. I also like that, after their first, albeit brief encounter, Peter's response is, “Great. Just what New York needs: another nut in a costume with his very own paramilitary back-up squad.” Ha, ha! That's a good qwip. Dave Yeah, that is one the joys of Spider-Man. He wasn't a straight talking guy, he always had a funny qwip to make. There are plenty of them in this issue. Kev It's just good fun, man. I'd forgotten just how much fun it was to read Spidey in those days. I'm not sure it's the same now. Not for me at least. Although maybe there's a 10 or 11 year old out there right now loving the newest Spidey comics as much as I loved these. Dave I agree. Spidey was always a good read. From that first, brief encounter with Tarantula, we go straight to the Bugle and Jonah Jameson throwing another tantrum, as usual. I like the yellow slam effect from him banging the phone down on the table. Then we cut to Mary Jane strolling about, wearing practically nothing on a photo shoot. Kev Yeh, they really did use MJ as a bit of cheesecake back then. Not sure you’d get away with it nowadays. It’s a bit voyeuristic, to say the least. I love that bit with JJJ at the Bugle too. I like how his self-preservation instincts kick in. “After all, I don’t want to leave town for no good reason, do I?” I mean, I suppose technically he is a member of his own staff, isn’t he? J. Jonah Jameson; ever the big heart. Dave I think one of the joys of reviewing these old issues, from all that we have covered in the past, to the present point is their simplicity and how well these panels tell a story. You get a clear sense of how this story goes on, such as the five panels starting with the blue car turning up and finishing with the man with the suitcase entering an underground hideout. It's visually great and skilful drawing in its storytelling. Kev I can't say enough good things about Sal Buscema. His storytelling is so cinematic. It's an absolute joy to look at and read. Take all the text out of it, the caption boxes, the speech bubbles, the sound effects, and you can still tell exactly what is going on. Superb stuff.  Stink lines. Dave Yep. As usual, Peter is running late. I like the panel where we see MJ sitting outdoors waiting on him and he is atop a building looking down on her. Kev That's a great panel, isn't it? Yeh, as usual, Peter is spinning too many plates. I love how accepting and understanding of Peter's situation MJ is. That's a big part of what made them so good for each other, I suppose. It's also interesting that this story involves a plot centred around immigration, considering everything that’s going on in the world right now.  Peter spying on his wife from the nearest rooftop. Healthy. Dave Good point. This is taking on the very real social issue of immigration, and how the covert operations of the government tackle this. Kev Yeh, when Maggie Michaelson, the immigration lawyer says, “These are frightened people. They’re frightened by the nightmare they barely escaped -- and the saddest part is, they’re frightened by us. They’re afraid we’ll send them back," that could've been written yesterday, today and tomorrow. It's so pertinent. Dave It shows how these problems still have not been resolved to this very day. And this was written 30 years ago. Kev It's frightening, isn't it? That and the US government being involved in shady foreign policy shenanigans, destabilising regions. Nothing's changed, at all, in the three decades since, has it? Dave Nope. I like that panel with Peter chomping down on his burger too. I like that he comments, "Now that were a dual-income family" with a sense of pride on his face. Notice how he ran off without paying for the meal though, using his assignment as an excuse? Yeah, crafty move, Spidey. Kev Well, MJ did just offer to "foot the bill" for his college fees and she's earning the big bucks as a supermodel, so she can afford to pick up the cheque for a burger every once in a while. Jonah certainly ain't paying Peter well. Dave That panel, if you take away the thought bubbles, looks like Peter is doing a runner and she is staring in disbelief, with the bill in her hand.  Peter stiffs MJ for the bill once again. Classic Peter. Kev Ha, ha! True. Good spot. I liked how they didn’t shy away from Peter & Mary Jane's sex life, as a pair of newlyweds in the honeymoon period of their marriage. “Oh, well. We can always talk tonight----in between other things.” Dave Yeah, I know. It was always, at the very least, implied. I like how you get a real sense of New York in this issue. With a variety of different locations, such as where Pete and MJ enjoy lunch, then we move onto a hotdog stand near Kingpin’s headquarters. Again, three panels that portray so much within them and in a short space of time. Kev Marvel's New York always seemed amazing to me. I'd still love to go someday. Speaking of portraying a lot of information in few panels, we cut to Robbie & then the man of the hour himself…..Tombstone. Looking like a ghostly silhouette. Looks sharp in a suit though.  Tombstone; sharp silhouette in a suit. Dave Yes, a real formidable character and a good foe for Spidey. I love the fact that he whispers as well, which is why many of his speech bubbles are smaller than normal speech bubbles. Kev The whispered voice is a cracking character trait. So menacing. Dave Plus his sheer physical size. He dwarfs Robbie Robertson. Kev He is definitely a physically imposing specimen. He just drops Robbie like a sack of shit. Dave Then, we’re straight into the next segment of the story in Spanish Harlem, tackling the issue of illegal refugees. Very now, for back then. There’s plenty of dialogue covered in the eight panels on that page and an interesting use of colours too. Kev Yeh, there's a lot covered in that page. Although, that scene in the alley with the gang is a bit too slapstickish for my liking. For want of a better word, it’s “cartoonish.” Panel six on page thirteen just needs a Hannah-Barbara style slide-whistle whistle and a boink sound effect & it’d be perfect. Like something out of ‘Amazing Friends.’ Dave Yeah, that panel where he leaps out is funny though. In the panel where Peter is confronted by the gang, his eyebrows have grown a tad too big. It's like a caterpillar has pitched-up home on his head. Kev Ha, ha! Yeh, he needs them threaded. Or at least trimmed a bit. Dave I love the old 80’s bodywarmers worn by the gang. That was a popular item of clothing back then. Kev Ha, ha! Yeh. New York street fashion, bro. I've got one now, actually. Mine is blue though, not red. I love how Peter thinks to himself, ‘I don’t know how I get into these things--’ Yes you do Peter. Yes you do. You know EXACTLY how you get into those things. Dave The story moves very quickly from scene to scene, one moment of reflection by Peter, then straight into an action piece with Tarantula again. I like that rooftop panel where he is reflecting after escaping the gang attack and how the following three panels show whats on his mind. Kev I love the use of the violets for the New York skyline on that page. They're beautiful. Again, it’s just so cinematic. Those four panels are so of-the-moment with the Trump administration and its immigration policies. Although, some of the stuff going on over here isn't any better. You're right though, we speed towards the conclusion after that brief pause for a moment of introspection.  Build the see-through wall. Dave Spidey was always an introspective guy, which is what gives him a real human quality. In many ways, most of the characters who have been the protagonists in the series’ we have reviewed so far have been like this. Dragon and The Punisher were like this also. Kev True. That hadn't occurred to me before. Peter always works best for me when he's portrayed as an everyman, despite his powers. Scenes like the one in this issue where he's drying the dishes really sell him as such to me. Bruce Wayne don't do no dishes. He just tells Alfred to get on with them. Dave Yep. This is a good second round showdown, with Spidey and Tarantula to round-out this part of the story. Kev Yeh, it's a good scrap. Like the one earlier in the issue, it's also brief, but it's good nonetheless. Buscema’s linework is so precise. Check out that first panel on page seventeen, the draughtsmanship is unreal. Look at those church pews. They’re almost like technical drawings. I’d love to see the original art for this panel, before the colouring flattened the pencils and inks out and some of the detail was lost, as is, unfortunately often the case with that process.  Pew! Pew! Pew! Dave I like when Spidey bangs the two henchmen’s heads together from above and follows up with the comment, "So much for the comedy relief...Now I'll grab their boss…..-"  Whoda thunk it? Kev It's a great little piece of business that, isn't it? It is literally the comic relief. It's almost as if Conway gives us that moment of light relief before he punches us right in the gut, because this is a real downer of an ending. It's depressingly realistic and relevant, even to this day. There are no winners here; Peter is frustrated at his inability to help the refugees, La Tarantula is furious that he couldn’t complete the task of making an example of them by killing them and Cap is drawn into this muck by shady bureaucracy. It’s really downbeat, and it's summed-up perfectly by Dunphy's line, “The law’s the law. I just enforce it.” Even if he seems reluctant to do so. Dave Yeah, it takes a grim look at how the law deals with this. And Dunphy is a real pencil pusher type in the Immigration and Naturalization Service, even though he makes-out he doesn't like the outcome. Good response by Spidey, " No questions asked? Just following orders?" Kev Yeh, totally. This is a bitter pill for Peter to follow. Dave Good lead into the next issue by bringing Captain America into the story. Kev Definitely. It sets up the next issue very well. I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into that one. I hadn’t realised until after I’d read this one, that this is not Steve Rogers in the Captain America role at this point in time in the continuity. It was John Walker, who had recently taken up the mantle of the 'Sentinel of Liberty.' Walker, who would then go on to become the US Agent, of course. Dave Peter never seems to really come out on top, does he? There’s always something about the outcome he cannot swallow. Even with all his superpowers, he can only do so much. Kev Nah, he's the perpetual underdog, and that's why we root for him. Dave How would you sum up this issue after reading it? Kev Reading this has taken me right back to 1988. Suddenly I’m 10 years old again. Even though I didn’t read this issue at the time of publication, it’s given me the same feeling in my heart that I had when I read the ones that I actually did read around that time, and I love it, even if it is just for that. It has a few sticky points. That scene in the alley didn't land for me and the immigrant family are painted in broad strokes a bit. They're a plot device more than anything else. They’re not really fully realised characters and we don't have time to get all that emotionally invested in their plight, but a lot of that is down to the fact that, as you pointed out earlier, there's a lot happening in this issue and, as such, it moves at a very quick pace. What about yourself? Dave I was surprised by how enjoyable it was and even more, how relevant it still is today. Yeah, I agree, not all of it totally works, but in general it’s terrific writing and great storytelling in its artwork and it does remind me of how much I liked the ‘Spectacular Spider-Man’ stories in those days. Kev Apparently this was Gerry Conway & Sal Buscema's first issue back on ‘Spectacular Spider-Man,’ as well. The return of the creative team that launched the title twelve years previously. Dave Yep, that’s why it worked. They’re a cracking combo. Like Furman and Senior. It also has a great pace. It's very fast, as there is so much story to tell in a limited number of pages. Spidey always did leave you with the feeling of a man frustrated by not being able to save everyone, or even fix problems completely, and as a reader, we share in that frustration with him. (D) & (K) Next: 'Night of the Flag!' 
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