TreasuryCast 94 – The Sensational Spider-Man

Rob welcomes back Andy Leyland to discuss MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #14 starring The Sensational Spider-Man!

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18 responses to “TreasuryCast 94 – The Sensational Spider-Man

  1. Oh, yeah, as we slide into the home stretch (which still makes me so sad), you cover another one that I actually had back in the day. And yes, this one is a banger: such a great horroresque story, which absolutely fabulous art by Gil Kane (who’s a member of my pentumvirate of top Spidey artists – the others are Ditko, Romita Sr., Andru and Sal Buscema). And Rob, you’re right about how unsettling the six-armed Spider-man looks – despite, or perhaps precisely because, it appears in a standard superhero comic.
    Also, back then and even now, I find the sad fate of the Wisp in the back-up story from Not Brand Ecch pretty shocking.
    By the way, I know I’m probably being pedantic, but “I Am Curious (Yellow)” and its companion film “I Am Curious (Blue) released a year later were not, in fact, porn films, even though they were popularly perceived as such in the US. They are both pretty serious dramas that just featured quite a few frankly explicit sex scenes.

    p.s. as far as I know, and a double-checked online, you’re pronouncing ‘facscimile’ fine if you use the hard ‘c’ sound. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say it any other way…

  2. I have to be honest and admit that I have never really gotten into Spidey despite gaining much of my earliest exposure to the Marvel Universe through Spidey’s Super Stories. His villains have always interested me, though, so I will be on the lookout for these issues featuring Morbius and The Lizard. The six-armed Spider-Man is iconic. It’s like Jimmy Olsen being a giant turtle man or having porcupine quills. I don’t know that I ever read the stories, but the images are burned into my mind.

    Also re: Pets and Comics, our cat Selina just loves to claw away at my Black Panther longbox. Perhaps, she sees T’Challa as a rival? She also has been known to seek out comics with Batman on the cover and take a nap on them if they are left alone for a moment. Guess we should have thought twice before naming her as we did.

    And Rob, I seem to recall that you are also a fan of the Olympics so I hope you are having a chance to catch some of the action from Paris. Looking forward to the final few episodes of this great podcast.

  3. Another great episode. I gotta ask every ones favorite spider man foe .
    For I think it’s the green goblin .
    Also in one of the spider-man games spidy mentions fighting some one called the Hypno hustler was that a real spider man foe or a joke ?

  4. Great episode with a perfect guest! I love Andy’s Spider-Man show, and his Spidey coverage throughout his podcasting career. It’s his first, best destiny!

    This is another “early trade paperback” type treasury, and I’m really going to be on the lookout for this one. For some reason I have lucked into a handful of treasuries for around $15 a piece (the current asking price for the facsimiles), so I have been gobbling them up. This will be on the top of my list!

    Looking forward to your final run Rob. I will hate to see the show go, but as Andy said, it’s much better to end it on your terms than keep slogging past your enthusiasm for the subject.

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  5. Just a gentle nudge reminding Rob that I would LOVE it if he covered Marvel’s 2001: A Space Odyssey treasury by Jack Kirby before the end.

  6. Great episode, Rob and Andy, on one of my favorite shows. I’ll be looking for this treasury. Ao, my comment is really, “What Chris said.”

  7. Another great episode, I especially love the ones about Treasuries I have and this is one of them. I currently only have the two original Star Wars issues from my childhood, but have picked up a bunch of others over the years. I’m a new listener, I found you through the Mego newsletter and am listening to all the episodes from the beginning. I am currently in the 20’s, but skipped to this one to share the following idea. The one thing I wanted to say was that I’ve heard you comment many times on storing the treasuries and I have found the best solution for me. Put it in an 11×14 picture frame with a piece of black mat board behind it and put it on the wall. I love looking up at work and seeing all of these great comics. Keep up the good work and I will continue working through the back-catalog and dreading the day the show ends.

  8. Cheers for another tremendous show. I don’t have this comc but I did read it in black and white in Spider-Man Comic Weekly. Not the same, I realise… if Marvel bring out a facsimile I’m there.

    I’ve never seen I Am Curious… Yellow, I only know it through reputation and, of course, the classic, wrongly maligned Lois Lane story ‘I am Curious… Black’.

    As the Bronze Age Alexander Luthor of Earth 3 had a ginger beard, I suppose his Earth 1 counterpart could grow one too.

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  9. Was it Martin Goodman or his son Chip who called for the expansion of Marvel’s books from 32pp to 48pp in 1971? I always assumed it was Chip. Martin’s name disappeared from the indicia at the start of 1968, although Marvel kept using his various publishing company names (Canam, Vista, Non-Pareil, etc.) until about the time that 1969 cover dates began in October. Then they were consolidated, initially as Perfect Film & Chemical and then Magazine Management. In the spring of 1969 there were numerous changes: a price increase, a change of distributors and the elimination of new material from the double-length titles. Many changes, but all seamless and often without warning or mentioned after the fact. 1971, however, was full of announcements for changes that never happened. Savage Tales #1 was going to be followed by a similar format B&W magazine called “Dracula” before its second issue came out. That’s almost a year before the color comic “Tomb Of Dracula” and two years before the magazine “Dracula Lives!”. Iron Man and Daredevil were going to be combined into one tandem title, reminiscent of “Tales Of Susense”, but 48pp. There were others, but there was definitely a different approach to how publishing changes were being handled with regards to the readership. There were probably cancelled plans in 1969, too, but they weren’t being announced while still in the planning stages.

  10. I knew that I had never read this story in a comic before, but it still sounded so familiar to me. That’s when I recalled that this storyline was also covered in the 90’s Spider-Man animated TV series. (I was pleased to hear this episode’s stinger, btw). I only remembered that because I showed those episodes of the animated series to my daughter, after watching the Morbius movie together in the theater. The 2022 film was her introduction to the character, so I wanted to show her how I was first introduced to the Living Vampire. It was great to learn more about the source material for those animated episodes.

    Thanks for another remarkable episode.

  11. First, to Super Captain….Selina is a great name for a cat. Unfortunately, I’ve always been too insecure for a cat, since they often act indifferent to their people. If I may, I encourage anyone who is thinking about getting a pet to consider adopting a rescue. Rescues are so glad to have a home and you will never be more loved than you will be by a dog you adopt. The dog may love you so much that it downs you with a cross body block because it is so excited when you get home, but it will shower you with affection while you’re trying to stagger to your feet.

    OK, back on topic before I get banned from the comment section.

    Rob, I’m so glad you covered MTE 14 before you brought the show to a close. I was five when I got my copy from the local Harco Drugs, where many of my treasuries were purchased. My granny (think a skinnier, meaner Granny Goodness) always berated my interest in comics. Well, I got my MTE 14 from her father. I wonder if he bought it just to piss her off.

    This was my first Marvel Treasury and one of my first three or four, maybe even my second, Spider-Man comic. It was the first Spider-Man I got that wasn’t from a three pack. ASM 167, with the Marla Madison Spider-Slayer and Will o’the Wisp was my first issue of Spider-Man.

    The dream sequence with the villains is a good introduction to Spider-Man for a newbie, because it introduced me to his most prominent rogues gallery members. To this day, Morbius and the Lizard are two of my favorite Spider-Foes, and that stems from this treasury. Well, the treasury and having a Mego of the Lizard. Gil Kane has such a fluid art style that I feel like he was born to draw Spider-Man. Kane is my second favorite Spider-Man artist, after Steve Ditko. Kane’s art looks so good at the larger size.

    I really think ASM 100-102 reads better as a complete entity like it is in MTE 14. If five-year-old me read ASM 101 in isolation, I would have been disappointed that so much real estate was given over to Peter on the phone. With all the action in.100 and 102, that wasn’t a problem in the treasury. And how cool is it that Batman got a shout-out in a Marvel comic?

    Andy, I’m going to have to look up your show about early Spider-Man. I agree that the Ditko/Lee issues have never been topped.

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  12. Great show, Rob. Nice to hear Andy Leyland on the podcast, as I always say, a solid English accent always classes up the joint.

    Terrific cover art. Though they could’ve just used the brilliant cover to issue 100. Regarding the interiors, I’m a big Gil Kane fan. Even his early work was so dynamic. He really nails two of my favorite Spider-Man villains. First there’s the Lizard with great scale work. Kane always gave his reptiles lips, which was odd but endearing. Look at any dinosaur or reptile monster Gil Kane creates, and you’ll see some lips. His Morbius design is very simple but cool. Perfect for a perpetually sad, monologuing emo vampire. Is he the first comic vampire to sport spandex instead of evening attire?

    I do have one beef. So, let me get this straight: Gwen Stacy – queen of the mini-skirt and go-go boots – asks Peter to go to a dirty movie on her dime and he says NO? I don’t care how many arms he’s got; you say YES! Who knows, she might be into it. He probably only likes I Am Curious (Yellow) for the social justice scenes. Nerd!

    As good as this collection was, I have to say I would’ve loved to have seen Marvel turn the very next storyline with Spidey in the Savage Land into a Treasury. Gwen Stacy in that story is why I 100% agree with Andy that Gerry Conway blew it!

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