Geoffrey's Comics has the best Back Issue selection in all of Southern California. Twice a month we profile some of the stuff in our Back Issue section that you can't get anywhere else, whether it's just hard to find or it's not available in trade paper back or it's just better when you're holding those single issues.
Spider-Man Human Torch from Marvel Comics
If you’re a long-time Spidey fan like yours truly, Spider-Man and The Human Torch is a must own! Focusing on the friendship between Webhead and the Human Torch, this five issue mini-series spans the years from Spider-Man’s Lee/Ditko days to the present. It touches on many key points of Spidey’s history and does so with humor and an obvious love for the original source material.
Dan Slott and Ty Templeton craft a fun and immensely engaging story that is made so enjoyable by the ‘in’ jokes known to those who have been following various Spidey titles through the years. The highlight of the series is, without a doubt, issue #3. This issue gives a big nod to bronze age Spidey by featuring what Spidey originally called a “fiasco” in Amazing Spider-Man #130, The Spider-Mobile. The Red Ghost’s attempt to steal it ends in a hilarious send-up of the old Hostess cupcakes ads that were in every comic book in the 1970s.
Any Spider-Man fan owes it to himself/herself to pick this up to add to their Spidey collection. If you’re a newer Spidey fan not familiar with all the original issues this series gives a nod to, pick it up anyway along with a few volumes of Essential Amazing Spider-Man to help you fill in the gaps. After all, those who don’t know their history are doomed to never enjoy it!
This series is available in their original issues and also in trade paperback.
- Eddie deAngelini
3-13-2009