Issue(s): Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #80
Cover Date: Jul 83
Title: "I cover the waterfront!"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Writer
Ron Frenz - Penciler
Kevin Dzuban - Inker
Eliot Brown - Assistant Editor
Tom DeFalco - Editor

Review/plot:
This is (i think) the first example of a recurring device where J. Jonah Jameson puts himself forward as an intrepid reporter. In this case, JJ investigates corruption at the New York shipping docks. Spider-Man secretly trails him throughout his investigation, helping him from thugs.

JJ learns about Spider-Man's involvement at the end, but leaves him out of the story.

JJ apparently has some damaging info on the Kingpin, but he's willing to deal with him in order to get info on the issue he's investigating.

This is a cute story, but it definitely has a fill-in quality to it. No mention of the recent mega-battle with Doctor Octopus, for example, and no follow-up on Boomerang and the Punisher's pending prison break. Which is fine; still a nice standalone story. And a nice showcase for Ron Frenz, soon to become a regular on Amazing.

I don't have much faith in Jameson's ability as a writer or editor if he's going to make typos like this, though.

There's a little background on JJ, some of the specifics of which would have to be invalidated by Marvel's sliding timescale.

A letter in this issue from longtime letter writer "verde" makes the point that all the scenes of Peter screwing up or making bad choices made a lot of sense when he was younger, but now that Peter is really an adult, it a whole different context now and Peter often just looks like a selfish screw up. This is especially true in light of his treatment of Debra Whitman in issue #74, which he notes was a "comic book solution" in direct contradiction to the rejection of such solutions from Peter earlier in the book.

Quality Rating: B-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP places this between Amazing Spider-Man #241-242.

References:

• Kingpin makes reference of "that Cherryh business" where he successfully intimated Ben Urich in Daredevil #179. JJ was already aware of it.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A