I've been collecting back issues of Amazing Spider-man for a few years now. I know I can easily pick up Masterworks or Essentials but it's more fun to hunt for back issues. It gives me something to do and more of a focus instead of just buying random back issues. I plan to start reading from my earliest issue onward and post thoughts here. But I digress. Here's the point of this thread. My LCS recently acquired Marvel Super-heroes #14. A comic I didn't know existed. The owner knows I am looking for ASM issues and lets me know when he gets some in. A few weeks ago he showed me this issue of Marvel Super-heroes #14 in case I was interested. He said that it was an original story. Apparently Marvel Superheroes was mostly reprinted stories. I looked it up and for a few issues there were original stories including this Spider-man story by Stan Lee and Ross Andru. This story allegedly hasn't been reprinted elsewhere so I bought it. It was not pricy, so I couldn't pass it up. Seems like it was a good find that I wasn't trying to find at all. I haven't read it but will work it in when I start my ASM reading project. Here's more detail from SpiderFan.org. Seems like John Romita Sr. sprained his wrist and Ross Andru filled in with this one-off tale. But then Romita made the deadline so they put this story in Marvel Super-heroes. The site I linked to says that this came out aroud the Same time as issue 60, so I'll work it in there when I start reading.
Do you I have my facts straight on this? Does anybody have any more detail or insight on this issue? Has anyone read it?
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MSH 14 was discussed here a few months back. It starts in the middle of the comments on the first page.
Marvel Super-Heroes was the renamed "Fantasy Masterpieces" title from issue #12 onward. Prior to that, it was a reprint anthology book that featured mainly Golden Age Capt America, Torch or Subby main features and various other minor stories.
With issue #12, it started the first two installments of "Captain Mar-Vell" before he was spun off in his own magazine. This was the era of the green and white battle suit that looked just like the Gene Colan Atlantian soldiers of Tales to Astonish days.
After the good Captain was spun off, the book was basically a showcase for try-out features through issue #20...
And some of them feature Spider-man in #14, #15 Medusa, Guardians of the galaxy debute, Ka-zar, The phantom Eagle, and most notably, a ground breaking Doctor Doom feature in #20 that established Valaria, the Halloween rite of struggling with the Devil for his monther's soul, and was the first solo Doom story.
Immediately afterwards, the book became a silver age reprint book that featured Avengers and X-men reprints.
I never thought that the single Ross Andru Spiderman story was in continuity. But I'm not convinced that the story has not be reprinted someplace in the run, either as a fill in or otherwise.
...Briefly , Kirk , I do in fact recall that that late-80s Spider-Man digest reprint title reprinted it !!!!!!!!!!!
Kirk G said:
The first time it was reprinted was way back in MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #1, the all-Spider-Man issue. (Yep, the very 1st MTE!)
Over the years, I actually wound up managing to get ahold of most of those MSH issues, but I'm still missing a few.
Among the things I've read about is that, apparently, as soon as Martin Goodman was able to expand his line, he ordered Stan to give "CAPTAIN MARVEL" his own book so they could secure a TRADEMARK on the magazine title, thus preventing anyone else (like M.F. Enterprises... or. later, DC) from doing a book by that name. This is, no doubt, why the 3rd part of a 3-parter appeared in the FIRST issue of the new title, even though it had been announced as being in MSH #14.
I don't know about John Romita spraining his hand... that sounds like B.S. to me. As far as I know, the Ross Andru story was a "try-out", and Stan did NOT like how the story turned out. (This is very similar to how Stan did not like how the George Tuska issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA turned out, and so that was never published... until Steve Englehart found a way to incorporate it into 2 issues of THE AVENGERS.) Ross Andru did not find success at Marvel until he was teamed with other writers (Roy Thomas, etc.).
Although MSH looks like a "try-out" book, it seems just about every series featured, except CAPTAIN MARVEL, had been sitting around at least 6 months before publication. This is why, if you look at the art on the SPIDER-MAN story, you get a VERY different "vibe" concerning the relationships between the main characters than you do in the current book-- or, from reading the dialogue (no doubt written months after the art was finished).
Similarly, the KA-ZAR story came out after his 2-part appearance in X-MEN, but it blatently, obviously takes place before it, since the MSH story is the one where he actually returns from England to the Savage Land.
The MEDUSA story, crazy enough, came out the SAME month she appeared in ASM. Both stories have her wearing costumes she never wore in any other story. It's a sure bet the MSH story is supposed to take place before the ASM story.
MSH seems to me less of a "try-out" book than more of a "rejected pilot" book, to make use of "inventory" stories that had already been REJECTED. This idea was later ressurected with MARVEL FANFARE.