Issue(s): Amazing Spider-Man #306
Cover Date: Oct 88
Title: "Humbugged!"
Credits:
David Michelinie - Writer
Todd McFarlane - Penciler
Todd McFarlane - Inker
Glenn Herdling - Assistant Editor
Jim Salicrup - Editor

Review/plot:
The cover of this issue is a nod to the 50th anniversary of Superman. Marvel also runs a tribute in their Bullpen Bulletins around this time (not in this issue, though).

In terms of the actual content in this issue, it's the return of Humbug!

Spider-Man is jealous of himself as Peter Parker over the publicity he's getting for the Webs book.

As Peter, he goes with Mary Jane to a book signing in Cleveland. He runs into this guy, who i assume is someone on the bullpen?

And MJ buys Peter Action Comics #285 (thanks Gary!) from that guy's collection, making this issue's cover image more relevant.

Also in this issue, the Black Cat drops into Peter Parker's old apartment, but of course he's not living there anymore.

She doesn't know that he's married, either, and she's convinced that he loves her again.

Now, i know i promised you Humbug, and we're finally up to him.

He's trying to rob Empire State University, and as it turns out, Peter has forgotten to turn in his application on an assistantship grant to help pay for him returning to school. So after he and MJ get back to New York and have a brief visit from Aunt May, he swings over there while MJ goes to a party hosted by their building owner, Jonathan Caesar. And while Spidey is at ESU, he runs into Humbug.

And defeats him with a counter-hostage scheme.

Peter gets back to the party in time to stop some guy from hitting on MJ.

But Caesar's thought bubbles show that he's obsessed with her.

Meanwhile, the Chameleon is doing bad stuff in Chicago.

Again, a bit slight in plot, but fun.

Quality Rating: B

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• Humbug previously appeared in Web of Spider-Man #19.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Spider-Man Legends vol. 2: Todd McFarlane Book 2 TPB

That wasn't Action Comics #1 that MJ bought for Peter -- it was Action Comics #285 (per the cover shown in the panel above). This is the issue where Superman revealed Supergirl to the world, per Peter's comment that he had "a crush on the girl in the mini-skirt" (so did we all Pete!).

Ah, der. Thanks, Gary.

The guy in line behind MJ, who thinks he wants to be a writer, looks like Jim Salicrup. Not sure who the guy MJ buys the comic from is meant to be.

I bet a few people thought they could pay off their college tuition back in the 90s by selling off their comic book collection. Marvel were putting their "evil" plan- to get people collecting comics in the hope of selling them for a lot of money - in motion way back in '88. :)

What exactly is going on in that "karate" segment. Now Spider-Man is "super-strong but not invulnerable" (like Claremont's Sunspot!), so those kicks should be affecting him. Instead he's just standing there like a bulletproof Superman.

I believe in both of those panels, he's blocking the kicks with one of his hands. In the first panel, you can just barely see that his hand is blocking the shoe - hence the smak sound effect. In the second panel, it's not as easy to see. However, I believe his hand is faced backwards behind his back & blocking the kicks as well.

"Spider-Man is jealous of himself as Peter Parker over the publicity he's getting for the Webs book."

Boy, this guy just can't be happy with his current situation. First he marries a supermodel. And he becomes jealous that she makes more money than he does. Then, he gets a cushy assignment to go on a book-signing tour. And he becomes of jealous of his own alter-ego.

Yup, those are some first world Earth-616 problems. Regarding Spidey's resistance to an attack from a normal human, there is some previous: he did rest while taking punches from a group of henchmen back in the Master Planner story when he needed a breather. I know Peter shouldn't be bulletproof, but it does make sense if a normal guy's punches don't bother him too much, he's about 100 times stronger than the average guy, plus he'd have to have some resistance to impact just to do all the (sometimes very long) jumping he does, landing on one hand etc.

If my timeline is correct, Chameleon hasn't appeared in any comic for ten years and was last seen waaay down the super-villain chain as someone that even Spencer Smythe thought was a dufus. I wonder what prompted his revival and slight upgrade in status.