My first ish (Amazing Spider-Man 376)
Amazing Spider-Man 376 was the first Spider-Man comic I got in the mail. It’s the humble beginning of an epic quest. It’s a gift and a curse. Behold.
Admittedly, when I was 8 years old and saw it for the first time, it blew my mind. All the characters are facing the same way, so it kind of looks like they’re a wicked team or something. I just assumed these guys were all working together. This was the first (but certainly not the last) instance of me being manipulated by the age old “what is depicted on the cover never actually happens in the book” trick. It’s objectively insane how often the comic book companies straight up lied on the covers, but it’s just some more classic comic book bullshit that readers have normalized over the years (and is actually one of those little random things that you eventually start to expect and maybe even love.)
In fact, there’s a whole series of Spider-Man covers depicting Spider-Man unmasking the Hobgoblin (his identity was a huge mystery). OBVIOUSLY, none of those actually had Spider-Man unmasking the Hobgoblin in the actual comic. It was just the “sorry, but our princess is in another castle” of Spider-Man comics. But that’s jumping ahead. Or back. Whatever.
The bad guys in ASM 376 could not be more 90’s. Their names are Styx and Stone. I won’t go into detail because I’m already boring myself, but the blue guy, “Cardiac” was totally awesome. Being that this was my first ASM, I assumed that Cardiac played a bigger role in the Spiderverse than he actually does. He also looked cool in the next month’s preview, strangling Spider-Man while Mr. Styx tries to suck his life away with his creepy claw hand. Three guesses whether this ever actually happened in the comic. Nonetheless, I used to love this little preview feature, which was just a tiny xerox of next month’s cover, but it was enough to make me religious about checking the mailbox every goddamn day.
The art is okay, but it wasn’t drawn by Mark Bagley (a big name in my household from 93-96), as the cover might have led you to believe. Yet another lie perpetrated by the cover. Mark was actually off drawing the Venom Lethal Protector Series, which was another comic book series I had to buy... I just didn’t know it yet.
The real gem in this issue is actually the letters page. People would write in all sorts of stupid shit, like fan theories or to profess their love for Mary Jane. *Shudders* I actually wrote in once, but it was basically just a letter explaining to Marvel how my mom told me I would never be able to draw as good as Mark Bagley. Shockingly, it was never published.
Occcasionally, the responses from the editor might provide some cool behind-the-scenes info. But normally, the letters page is a complete dumpster fire. Check out this gem from ASM 376.
Joe Pesci as Spider-Man’s dad. I cannot get over what a great movie that would have been. Sean Connery as Uncle Ben. “Remembah, with great power, comesh great reshponsibility, boy!” Danny Devito as Wolverine is an obvious choice. But I swear to god, the true power of this letter is that now that the idea of Steven Seagal as Kraven the Hunter is in my brain, any other choice would just be a huge fucking disappointment. Damn you, Louie!
Admittedly, when I was 8 years old and saw it for the first time, it blew my mind. All the characters are facing the same way, so it kind of looks like they’re a wicked team or something. I just assumed these guys were all working together. This was the first (but certainly not the last) instance of me being manipulated by the age old “what is depicted on the cover never actually happens in the book” trick. It’s objectively insane how often the comic book companies straight up lied on the covers, but it’s just some more classic comic book bullshit that readers have normalized over the years (and is actually one of those little random things that you eventually start to expect and maybe even love.)
In fact, there’s a whole series of Spider-Man covers depicting Spider-Man unmasking the Hobgoblin (his identity was a huge mystery). OBVIOUSLY, none of those actually had Spider-Man unmasking the Hobgoblin in the actual comic. It was just the “sorry, but our princess is in another castle” of Spider-Man comics. But that’s jumping ahead. Or back. Whatever.
The bad guys in ASM 376 could not be more 90’s. Their names are Styx and Stone. I won’t go into detail because I’m already boring myself, but the blue guy, “Cardiac” was totally awesome. Being that this was my first ASM, I assumed that Cardiac played a bigger role in the Spiderverse than he actually does. He also looked cool in the next month’s preview, strangling Spider-Man while Mr. Styx tries to suck his life away with his creepy claw hand. Three guesses whether this ever actually happened in the comic. Nonetheless, I used to love this little preview feature, which was just a tiny xerox of next month’s cover, but it was enough to make me religious about checking the mailbox every goddamn day.
The art is okay, but it wasn’t drawn by Mark Bagley (a big name in my household from 93-96), as the cover might have led you to believe. Yet another lie perpetrated by the cover. Mark was actually off drawing the Venom Lethal Protector Series, which was another comic book series I had to buy... I just didn’t know it yet.
The real gem in this issue is actually the letters page. People would write in all sorts of stupid shit, like fan theories or to profess their love for Mary Jane. *Shudders* I actually wrote in once, but it was basically just a letter explaining to Marvel how my mom told me I would never be able to draw as good as Mark Bagley. Shockingly, it was never published.
Occcasionally, the responses from the editor might provide some cool behind-the-scenes info. But normally, the letters page is a complete dumpster fire. Check out this gem from ASM 376.
Joe Pesci as Spider-Man’s dad. I cannot get over what a great movie that would have been. Sean Connery as Uncle Ben. “Remembah, with great power, comesh great reshponsibility, boy!” Danny Devito as Wolverine is an obvious choice. But I swear to god, the true power of this letter is that now that the idea of Steven Seagal as Kraven the Hunter is in my brain, any other choice would just be a huge fucking disappointment. Damn you, Louie!
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