The Deadly Designs of the Disruptor!

MARVEL TALES — Issue no. 96, July 1978

Book: Marvel Tales

Issue No.: 96

Published: July 18, 1978

Title: “The Deadly Designs of the Disruptor!” (reprint of Amazing Spider-Man no. 117)

Cover Price: 35¢

Format: Original paper copy

Marvel Tales is one of Marvel’s reprint books of the late 1970s. One of the bigger ones, I assume, as it reprinted Spider-Man stories, and Spidey was Marvel’s flagship character at the time. In 1978, he had two monthly books (Amazing Spider-Man and Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man), a team-up book (Marvel Team-Up), and Tales. It wasn’t that long ago that Bronze Age reprint books were basically worthless as collectibles. But since I started Marvel Time Warp, and since I’ve started shopping for 1978 Marvel books, I’ve found that Bronze Age books are generally more valuable as collectibles these days, even the reprint books.

I wonder if part of the reason is that collectors didn’t bother to take care of their copies of Marvel Tales like they did their Amazing Spider-Man books, so there are fewer fine/mint copies around these days. Or maybe it’s just that the original stories are even more expensive, so a Marvel Tales reprint has value as the next best thing. This issue of Marvel Tales, no. 96, reprints Amazing Spider-Man no. 117. According to one source (ComicsPriceGuide.com), a “fine/very fine” (7/10) condition copy of Amazing no. 117 goes for $43 these days, and a “fine/very fine” Tales no. 96 goes for about five bucks. So, just for a reading copy, Tales is definitely the better value. Also note that these reprint stories tend to be a page or two shorter than the originals, but I’ve found the editors generally do a good job of making the shorter versions of the stories work.

The main bad guy in this Spider-Man story is the Disruptor. He has some generic goons, plus a mad scientist goon (Thaxton) and a bio-engineered super-strong goon called the Smasher. The Disruptor has his sights set on world domination, so his motivations aren’t unique.

The Disruptor also apparently has it out for NYC mayoral candidate Richard Raleigh. This story opens in the middle of one of the Disruptor’s attacks on a Raleigh rally, and there’s a second rally attack later in the story. But here’s the thing — in both of those attacks, we never see Raleigh and the Disruptor in the same place at the same time. Which has me wondering… is Raleigh the Disruptor? Is he attacking his own campaign events to get sympathy from voters?

I checked this book against a digital reprint of Amazing Spider-Man no. 117. The Amazing story is two pages longer, and it conveniently features a two-page side quest for Spidey (he busts up a stickup robbery at a penthouse terrace party) that could be excised from the reprint without losing anything important to the main story.

Week 29 Wrap-Up

The third week of July 1978 was pretty simple as far as Marvel comic book math goes. Eleven 35-cent books, no magazines or annuals, so total cover price for those books is $3.85. Adjusted for 2024 (Happy New Year!) inflation, that’s about eighteen bucks.

Next time — On to week 30 of 1978!