Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: Round Robin

Collects Amazing Spider-Man #351-360, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #25, Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #11, Web of Spider-Man Annual #7, Spider-Man: Fear Itself.

Writers:
Gerry Conway, Al Milgrom, David Michelinie, Stan Lee
Artists:
Guang Yap, Marie Severin, Chris Marrinan, Paris Cullins, Mark Bagley, Ross Andru, Alan Kupperberg

First of all we start with The Vibranium Vendetta, a three-part crossover between the various Spider-Man Annuals. Spidey teams up with Black Panther and Iron Man against the Kingpin, Ultron, and the Ghost. The Roxxon Energy Corporation has come up with a way to synthesise vibranium and the Kingpin sends the Ghost to the steal the secret. Naturally, somebody coming up with a way to make their own vibranium would ruin Wakanda's economy. Iron Man gets involved because Roxxon aren't the most trustworthy of corporations and any new technology they have usually ends up becoming dangerous. Sure enough, Roxxon's artificial vibranium is unstable and ends up melting metal. Ultron wants to incorporate the sound-absorbing vibranium into his robot body to become invincible.

The annual are all written by David Michelinie, who is one of my favourite Spider-Man writers. One of my earliest Spider-Man memories is reading a collected edition of the Return of the Sinister Six story arc. I loved that story arc so much that I was always borrowing the trade from my local library. Michelinie also co-created Venom, my favourite Spider-Man villain, so I only have good memories of his writing.

The annuals also have a three-part back-up story with Silver Sable gathering a team of randoms for a mission. I have heard of the Prowler before and am faintly aware of Rocket Racer, but I haven't heard of Will-O-The-Wisp. I always thought Silver Sable and the Prowler were pretty neat, but Rocket Racer just seems goofy to me. He is a guy who uses a rocket-powered skateboard for goodness sake. At least there is a memorable villain present in the form of old Spidey villain Sandman.

The Amazing Spider-Man Annual also has a re-telling of Spidey's origin, a Venom story where he takes on a bunch of guys holding up a truck stop, and a story about minor Spidey villain Chance. The Venom back-up is probably the one I like the best. The others are fairly forgettable and we have seen Spider-Man's origin so many times already that it is starting to get old. Venom is my favourite Spidey villain, but the other back-up stories star characters so minor that even I don't know who most of them are, and I love obscure comic book characters.

The fans will probably lynch me when I say this, but I don't really care for Steve Ditko's artwork. Maybe that's why it is so hard for me to read early Spider-Man comics. I much preferred it when John Romita started drawing Spidey. Ditko drew the Chance back-up story, so that's another reason why I didn't particularly like that story.

The Spectacular Spider-Man annual also has back-up stories about Spidey stopping the Rhino from robbing a bank vault and a young Peter Parker getting into all sorts of hijinks babysitting. The Web of Spider-Man annual has a back-up story about Rocket Racer and also recounts the origins of Venom, Green Goblin, and Hobgoblin.

Continuing on with the regular issues of Amazing Spider-Man, in #351 and 352 Spidey must contend with the reappearance of the Tri-Sentinel. The Tri-Sentinel first appeared at the end of the Acts of Vengeance crossover when Loki merged three Sentinels into one. At that time Spider-Man had cosmic powers, but now his powers are back to normal and he has to fight a giant killer robot again. At least Nova of the New Warriors is there to give him some help. This was another fun David Michelinie story. It was Spidey and Nova fighting a giant robot, what's not to like?

Issues 351-358 are pencilled by Mark Bagley. Bagley isn't my favourite comic book artist, but his art is fine all the same. I understand he has had a popular run on the Spider-Man comics (most notably having a long run pencilling Ultimate Spider-Man), but I have always preferred the work of the likes of John Romita (both Senior and Junior). I have a special place in my heart for Erik Larsen's art too.

The Round Robin story arc takes place through #353-358. Midnight, Moon Knight's old sidekick, returns from as dead as a cyborg under the control of the Secret Empire. Spidey gets involved along with the Punisher, Nova, Nighthawk and Night Thrasher. Night Thrasher is another superhero who I always thought was kind of goofy due to his use of a skateboard in superhero fights. This time Al Milgrom was on writing duties. Personally, I know him best as an artist on the likes of The Avengers and West Coast Avengers.

I never read Moon Knight, so I don't know who this Midnight guy is and I don't feel invested enough in his character to care.  I don't really know who these Secret Empire guys are either. Another one of those subversive organisations that seem to be everywhere in the Marvel Universe. They do end up employing Thunderball of the Wrecking Crew though. Thunderball isn't dumb muscle like the rest of the Wrecking Crew, he was a physicist in his civilian life before he got super powers. Modern writers need to remember that he's more than just a dumb villain.

David Michelinie is back for issues 359 and 360 with a story about Cardiac, another minor Spidey villain with electric powers. I guess it would be harsh to call Cardiac a villain as he only targets bad people, it's just that he uses deadly force to target the bad guys and we all know how Spidey feels about that. Any way, the only really notable part of these issues are appearances by one Cletus Kasady. Kasady has just bonded with the Carnage symbiote and breaks out of prison to go on a rampage. Carnage gets his first proper appearance in the next issue, but the Amazing Spider-Man issues stop there.

Finally there is Spider-Man: Fear Itself, a one-shot by Gerry Conway and Stan Lee with Ross Andru on pencils. Spidey teams up with Silver Sable to take on a lady called thew Baroness. She also has a hired henchman called the White Ninja, who has invisibility powers. They're after crystals that can cause great fear in people. The story does get a bit silly near the end, but I'll let you all read it yourselves to see what I mean.

This has been a bit of a mixed collection. The main story in the annuals was pretty enjoyable and I liked the two-parter with the Tri-Sentinel. The Fear Itself one-shot was a bit of disposable fun too, but the Round Robin story arc and the two-parter with Cardiac were pretty forgettable. Probably only a collection for the Spidey completeist. 

My rating: 3 stars.