Suddenly... the Smasher!
MARVEL TALES — Issue No. 95, June 1978
Book: Marvel Tales
Issue No.: 95
Published: June 20, 1978
Title: “Suddenly... the Smasher!” (reprint of Amazing Spider-Man no. 116 from 1972)
Cover Price: 35¢
Format: Digital scan
There’s a running gag in this era of Marvel Tales (which is reprinting Amazing Spider-Man stories from 1972) where Spider-Man has lost his mask, so he’s wearing a cheap cellophane Spider-Man mask he “borrowed” from a costume shop. I have loved this gag, so I was a little sad to see Spidey finally get his real mask back in this issue. But Spidey is happy to have his mask back, because the cellophane one didn’t fit him that well, and it was also hard for him to breathe in.
I sometimes compare these reprint stories to their original versions as the reprints are generally a page or two shorter. I was a little surprised to see the two pages cut in this case were action stuff from the start of the issue, where Spider-Man fights a big guy called the Smasher. But the missing pages don’t change the gist of the fight, which is it ends in a stalemate with the Smasher escaping while Spidey rescues a couple of bystanders.
Like I often say, the melodrama involving Spider-Man’s alter ego Peter Parker is an important part of these books, and the reprint editor apparently agrees, as they cut two pages of action so as not to lose any of the Peter Parker soap opera stuff.
There are also a couple of fun bits with Spider-Man lamenting the downside of the superhero game. At one point he’s recovering his street clothes that he’s hidden in a Spidey web bag attached to the side of a building. Spidey says, “One of these days I’ll probably find a bird’s nest in here. Boy, the things a guy has to do to keep up his secret identity shtick.” Later, when it is time to actually change into his street clothes, he can’t find anywhere private and says, “Too bad there’s no phone booth handy.” Bonus — it’s fun to see Spidey make a Superman reference.
Next time — Thor and friends face Ragnarok!