Issue(s): Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man annual #2
Cover Date: 1980
Title: "Vengeance is mine -- sayeth the sword!"
Credits:
Ralph Macchio - Writer
Jim Mooney - Penciler
Mike Esposito - Inker
Jim Salicrup - Editor

Review/plot:
This very dense story - lots of panels and a wordy script - boils down to this: a new swashbuckling hero calling himself the Rapier has appeared on the scene...

...quickly gaining the approval of J. Jonah Jameson. But it turns out that Rapier is really an old partner of Silvermane's. When they were coming up together as rising stars in the criminal world, Silvermane betrayed Rapier (Dominic Tyrone) and left him for dead. So Rapier's attacks on the mob are really about vengeance, not justice. Spider-Man stops him from killing Silvermane.

The nicest bit in the issue is JJ standing up to Silvermane.

And that continues even after Silvermane has Joe Robertson beat-up, even though that visibly rattles JJ.

One of the more contrived bits in this story is Spider-Man getting knocked out by the hilt of the Rapier's sword (it's thrown by the Rapier's girlfriend, the woman that rescued him when Silvermane left him for dead). The sword is supposed to have an electric charge to it, but i still don't buy it, especially since it's accompanied with a BWANG and not a TTZZZZ.

Rapier manages to escape despite taking a shot from Silvermane. He vows to return after assuming another identity.

And Rapier does eventually come back as the Hobgoblin. No? The Rose? Nah, i'm just kidding. He's still in his Rapier identity when he's killed by Scourge in his next and final appearance.

You'll notice Silvermane crawling around on the floor there. He did get TTZZZZ'd by Rapier...

...but at the end a paramedic says that he's just in shock, no bones broken or spinal damage.

The problem with that is that in Silvermane's previous appearance, he took a long fall, and in his next appearance it'll be said that that fall resulted in him breaking every bone in his body, and that's why going forward he'll wear a silver exo-skeleton. Bill Mantlo must have missed this story and having a paramedic confirm that Silvermane is totally fine is a little inconvenient. But i guess Silvermane had recovered from his injuries and then had a delayed reaction to Rapier's zap.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP place this between Amazing Spider-Man #212-213.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

This gets my vote as the worst comic of the era. I'd have been so pissed to have paid double price for this garbage.

Kveto, why? It's bad but it doesn't seem THAT bad.
Silvermane and Dr. Faustus must go to the same doctor, one that specializes in cures that later reverse themselves.

It's pretty bad and ridiculous but not in that good way. I remember finding it pretty weak in the middle of a bunch of awesome Roger Stern Spectacular Spider-Man issues.
As much I'd love to see someone like Spider-Man get into a sword fight, something that'd be really cool with his wall sticking. I found him taking a rapier and fighting like that too dumb to enjoy.

And there was some serious continuity issues with Silverman.

According to the 3/80 Comics Journal, this story was also originally supposed to be a Coca-Cola giveaway.

I think the handbook said Silvermane both went into shock AND had his youthful serum thing reversed, thanks to it, to explain why he's suddenly old again in his next appearance.

Michael, have you read it? As david states, its not even so bad its good. just bad.

The Rapier slashes spiderman webshooters so spidey has to swordfight the guy? then gets knocked out by a girl who conks him on the head with a rapier handle.

Do I really need to elaborate further? too dumb to enjoy is right on the money. trust me, its bad:-)

It's out of order from where I'm commenting, but I feel I must chime in since this is the post of the day.

Given the previous comments, I must say I have enjoyed this issue for over 30 years in what would seem to be the best way possible: as only a glorious two page ad spread in the back of Marvel Treasury Edition #27, with the Rapier and Spidey facing off and Silvermane pointing at them. The art seems to be a drastic improvement over this issue as well.

Rapier seems pretty darn fit for a man of his age...for a man of any age, actually, judging by those splits he's doing in the second scan!

That is weird- Silvermane seemed pretty elderly before he took the formula- at least in his 70s- but Rapier, supposedly one of his contemporaries, looks like he's 50,55 at most.

I must say I'm surprised to see this called the worst of its era. (For a start, Annual 3 with the Man Wolf is much worse than this...) The sword duel is contrived & Spidey getting KO'd is also silly, but anyone who's seen Gerry Conway Spidey comics has seen him knocked out by worse, including by Aunt May. The intimidation scene in the Bugle is good, and I remember it being one of the first times I actually found Spidey's wisecracks funny, when he's fighting the thugs. It's nowhere near as good as Stern, but I prefer it to a fair bit of Mantlo stuff.

Certainly not the worst of its era, but definitely not a winner. I would put it on-par with most Marvel Team-Ups of the time, and that is not saying very much. Maybe if Rapier had gone on to do ANYTHING else besides getting offed by Scourge it would be notable.

Funny, though -- the ASM Annuals of this era were actually improving in quality (I detest Denny O'Neil's regular ASM run, but enjoyed his Annuals). Meanwhile, Spectacular got crap like this, even though freakin' Roger Stern was writing the main series! After Annual #3 (which I do think is a bit better than this issue aside from the art), there wouldn't be another Spectacular Annual until 1984.

It's a normal fill-in that stretches out to double length thanks to lots and lots and lots of padding, and Rapier is characterized incredibly pretentiously. There;'s like a page long narration about how's he really a poor, tormented soul, and this is after the big reveal that this is all an old mob vendetta. Similarly, his origin -- which amounts to "left for dead, found by sympathetic family of innocents, trained himself back up to seek revenge" -- somehow takes three pages of overwrought prose to tell. The whole story has that problem: humdrum stuff with purple prose that tries to sell it as deep and meaningful.