Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
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Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #105-106
Issue(s): Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #105, Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #106
Cover Date: Aug-Sep 85
Title: "United we fall" / "No fury"
Credits:
Peter David & Christopher Priest - Co-Plot
Peter David - Script
Luke McDonnell - Penciler
Brett Breeding - Inker
Keith Williams - Assistant Editor
Christopher Priest - Editor
Review/plot:
Christopher Priest (as Jim Owsley) gets a Plot/Editor credit for both issues. Peter David gets "Script" for issue #105 and "Writer" for #106. Priest has written that he was overly critical of David's early work due to office politics, although i think PAD has said he doesn't remember it that way. In any event, Priest's plot credit might have been due to the degree that he got involved.
Either way, this is a really nice two-part crime story with Spider-Man teaming up with the Wasp.
Paladin plays his mercenary-for-hire role...
...serving as the super-antagonist before switching sides. I won't get into the specifics of the crime plot, but the story provides lots of great character moments: the Wasp shows that she's got business acumen under her ditzy personality...
...the Wasp and Paladin's past romance is used to great effect...
...and quippy but in-character dialogue from everyone throughout, and other funny scenarios.
Starfox has an extended cameo.
Nice art, too. Good with facial expressions and downtime scenes, although there are decent action sequences as well.
Quality Rating: B+
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: Has to take place before the Avengers leave the planet in Avengers #259, since Starfox quits the team and doesn't return to Earth after that story. The costume the Wasp wears in this story seems to be a one-time thing and doesn't affect placement. As Michael notes in the comments, Joe Robertson refers to the Wasp as the Avengers' leader, and i have a hard time believing that Robbie would just assume that the Wasp was the de facto leader (especially while Captain America was on the team), so i'm placing this after Avengers #256-258. The Wasp was restored to Avengers chairperson in #256 but then immediately went off on a mission and didn't return until #258, so that's the earliest it would have been public knowledge. Amazing Spider-Man #270 occurs concurrently with Avengers #258.
References:
- Wasp and Paladin met in Avengers #251.
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
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Comments
What's interesting as far as placement goes is that Robbie refers to Jan as the "Avengers' leader" on page 4 of issue 105. The question is, was Robbie speaking literally (in which case this story takes place after Avengers 256-258) or did he regard the election in Avengers 256 as a formality (in which case it takes place in between Avengers 255 and 256.) The MCP decided it was the latter- I forget why. (It might have been a reluctance to move this issue after the Firelord story in Amazing for some reason.)
I'm going to try to place this after Avengers #258/ASM #270 due to the reasons i've mentioned above. We'll see how it goes. Thanks for pointing out the "leader" comment; i've also added the screenshot.
Nice to see that Jan's finally gotten some shrinkable underthings - after having to shrink in the buff a couple of times and then not getting involved with a situation at a dinner party where she would have had to shrink nude again.
Interesting that she implied she could treat existing clothes to shrink (instead of create clothes out of unstable molecules initially).
Can we assume that the Wasp and Paladin begin a semi-romance starting this issue? If I remember correctly, it becomes an issue complicating Dane Whitman's attraction to her in Stern's Avengers.
They did meet and date in Avengers #251, but (per Jan) this was their first meeting since then. And yeah, at the end of this arc they make a date to go to Club Med so this is probably the point at which their romance really begins.
This two-parter got me excited for Jan in the 80s since I heard she became a believable leader of the Avengers and took some levels in bad ass and character.
