The Unremarkable Spider-Man by Len Wein

[@rickrivers2021]

Believe it or not, Sal Buscema becomes one of the greatest Spider-man artists of all time. If you haven't read his run with Dematteis on Spectacular Spider-man, do yourself a favor and check it out. Sal's minimalist yet emotive approach hits incredibly hard when paired with Dematteis's dark and psychological character explorations

[@Fathertakemeaway]

Finally someone else who appreciates Sal Buscema's style for Spider-Man!

[@hemantpatel2215]

Sal Buscema is a icon

[@AceLM92]

After Conway, so many runs in Amazing Spider-Man were not all that memorable. Even Denny O'Neil had some quite forgettable stories. Beyond the key issues, there's really nothing until Roger Stern's run. Dude, I'm someone that was not a fan of the Fantastic Four, but once I started reading those classic Kirby/Lee issues, I fell in love. I would call them as good as the Ditko/Lee run of Amazing Spider-Man. And if you want some solo Johnny Storm stories, check out some of those issues of Strange Tales.

[@VonWenk]

Stern was the first Spider-Man writer who didn't make me dread scenes with Aunt May. I think the "Hey, pretty lady" stuff disappeared when he took over as writer.

[@matthewhood7844]

Reading Roger Stern's Spider-Man was when I first was impressed enough to look at who the writer was.

[@bigevil1001]

Writers prefer not to use classic Spider-Man villains. Instead they generally rely on their own; only utilizing a few classic villains. Len Wein was different in that he favored using them over his own. I would argue that Wein's contribution to the Spider-Man mythos was keeping villains like Shocker, Kingpin, and Sandman relevant. Can you imagine how different the Spider-Man book and the Marvel Universe as a whole would be if Shocker, Sandman, and Kingpin had faded into obscurity after the Lee era ended?

[@timothymarkin4481]

Sal Buscema drew ASM 154-155 because Ross Andru was busy penciling the big event Superman vs Spider-Man. And Sal had also inked Spidey in the late 60s/early 70s so he was a natural choice for the new Spidey book.

[@ThatJohnKillion1970]

I had a handful of 70's Spider-Man books as a kid. I have almost no memory of them at all.

[@starquack]

I remember Wein’s run being the first time I started considering dropping Spider-Man and comics all together. Not because I hated it, but just because I was bored. As a geezer who read these back when they first came out I am impressed with your takes. Pretty much agree with all of them.

[@VonWenk]

Conway-lite his run may be, but Wein introduced Jigsaw, Will O' Wisp, Rocket Racer, and Marla (who becomes Mrs. Jonah Jameson), and 160 was only the Terrible Tinkerer's second appearance, and he's gone on to appear many more times since. Nightcrawler's guest appearance was also one of the first appearances any of the new X-Men made outside of their own title. Sal Buscema drew many issues of Marvel Team-Up, including issues written by Wein, as well as Spectacular Spider-Man. I preferred Andru's Spider-Man inked by Frank Giacoia and Dave Hunt to Mike Esposito. My favorite part of Wein's run were the issues with Stegron, the Spider-Slayer, and Will O' the Wisp (who was actually a sympathetic character in his initial appearance). My least favorite storyline during Wein's run is that Goblin story. Of course the Goblin is going to be Bart Hamilton. And the Green Goblin is a psychosis that infects people now? For me, that's way dumber than the computer murdering its inventor and supplying Spider-Man with three false suspects.

[@popman1997]

It's kind of funny you uploaded this now since I've been seeing a lot of people talk about Len Wein and how his run on Spider-Man was pretty meh lately. I guess people just wanna talk about his run this time of year.

[@fishin4bass2002]

I just read the Len Wein run, I thought it was pretty good. On the same level as the Conway run. Compared to the modern Spider-Man run it’s a masterpiece.

[@TheChadTI]

Man, I loved this video. Thank you. /subbed. And i know im about to binge this channel, goodbye early start to day...

[@Artkenny284]

It’s a comic book, of course a lot of the plots are “dumb” super computers, radioactive ghost.. is it “dumb” or is it “fun”?

[@louislapointe9601]

I'm another one of those old guys that read these stories when they first came out and as a kid enjoyed them. But as an adult rereading them, just recently, there's a marked shift between Conway and Wein and not for the better. And I am definitely NOT a fan of Sals artwork. Too goofy.

[@TolietWater]

It’s not that bad of a run definitely has its problems but there’s a lot of stories I really enjoy like The Longest Hundred Yards and the finale of the run is really good shit, I feel like the comedy was on point for a lot of the run too intentional or unintentional. Wolfman’s run was way worse to me since it’s like a prototype of all the shitty modern stuff in many ways (Though I love certain issues of the run) and O’Neil was just bland kiddy stuff outside of the annuals he did which were actually interesting

[@marcelbedard6781]

We have great respect for Len Wein, but feel his work on the Amazing Spider-Man was not as exciting as his accomplishments on some of the other Marvel characters. However, we love the Molten Man two-parter, as a somewhat generic villain is given touches of tragedy and pathos. We also feel that Will-o'-the-Wisp is one of the great underrated figures in the web-slinger's gallery of rogues.

[@ps2gamingforever364]

I was buying comics off the spinner rack back in the day, and I enjoyed Len Wein's Amazing Spider Man run. I would take Len Wein over JMS or everybody after him.

[@misterhimura036]

Can't wait for you to talk about Kraven's Last Hunt

[@pokeem2757]

marv wolfman's run's not much of an improvement over wein's in my opinion for the first 10 or so issues because it regressed the MJ and Peter relationship a lot just because he didn't like MJ himself and it makes the book feel a bit more like it's in limbo with not much progression other than a few changes like peter graduating and his brief stint at the daily globe, also somehow even worse villains than the wein run like big wheel and white dragon

[@rickrivers2021]

Honestly I disagree. I think Wolfman's run is a mixed bag sure, but we have to look at the context of Spider-man comics at the time when it came out Wolfman not liking Mary Jane is perfectly justifiable, bc Mary Jane wasn't a dynamic character yet. Conway planted some seeds, but didn't really dig into her psychology. And Lee and Wein wrote her super simplistically. It honestly wasn't until Defalco almost a decade later that MJ really became the character that we know and love. Her breaking up with Peter out of the blue wasn't out of character. And Defalco's brilliant later recontextualization makes it make even more sense Further, the biggest problem with Spider-man comics at the time was they were really bland and aimless. Wein's run was super safe and left the character treading water. Wolfman cane in and changed every aspect of his life. Not every change was good, like I said the run is a mixed bag, but at the very least every change was engaging. The same can not be said for Weun beforehand or O'Neil after

[@pokeem2757]

@@rickrivers2021 I do agree that MJ wasn't quite the character we truly would grow to love, yet, back in those days but there was always hints of her true nature in the Wein run I think at least like in ASM #165 where her and Peter discuss what their relationship is and where it should be going or even when clone gwen came showed up back in the Conway run and MJ became possessive over Peter in her own words, and even in stuff like giant size spider-man #5 when she was truly heartbroken that peter couldn't see her, then proceeds to put on a fun, care-free attitude for Anna when she asks what's wrong, she says something like "Wrong? What could be wrong? C'mon, Aunt Anna. This is your fun lovin', far out niece you're talking to. What could be wrong with 'ol MJ? Take it from the girl who knows, I'm fine, Just fine" right after looking completely dejected. I think little hints like that early on did cement what would later be further developed, and made me really love MJ on top of all her cute interactions with Peter and it just made me upset to see all the great stuff that had been built up between them just dumped for a while. Although I do agree her dumping Peter out of the blue was at least in character for her it's clear she wasn't used to being in a committed relationship considering she states multiple times she's her own woman and not tied to one guy like how she broke it off with Harry which led to his jealousy of Peter and inevitable downfall for a while although that was of course compounded by a drug addiction he started taking also because of that heartbreak from his breakup with MJ. And I guess I can kinda see how Wolfman changed up parts of Peter's life like with making the D.A. clearing him and making him no longer a wanted man and finally graduating college after like 160 issues or so which are fine changes and I actually think I do change my mind on that part, he at least shook up those parts of his life and his love life although I really didn't like said love life changes, although I do feel like Wolfman had filler issues that stuck out more to me personally than Wein like that whole issue with Captain America and Electro Also completely agree I like both Wein and Wolfman's runs a lot more than O'Neil's personally, and the villains in both runs are lackluster but my god White Dragon might be the worst villain up to that point in ASM he's just a nothing sandwich of a character

[@VonWenk]

@@pokeem2757 To be fair, it's not like Spider-Man had Jim Starlin and Bob McCleod every issue, any more than it had John Byrne every issue.

[@TolietWater]

There’s some great issues but so much of the Wolfman run feels like the blueprint of a lot of the shitty later ASM stuff (The MJ and Peter separation stuff isn’t as lame in this run but this run is definitely the blueprint for that type of stuff later but worse) and the Uncle Ben treasure thing is utterly stupid and Wolfman missed basically the entire purpose of Carradine as a character

[@pokeem2757]

​@@TolietWater Yeah completely agree with both points, it sucks so hard having all that slow burn, will they/won't they development of Peter and MJ's relationship just put on hold for one off love interests like Dawn Starr and a weird fling with Betty it just makes the book feel so stagnant when it comes to the supporting cast without a strong love interest although I do enjoy some of the personal life stuff Wolfman did. I also do think the Carradine treasure stuff is goofy but it has some great moments like that moment where Robbie consoled Peter on the pier, Aunt May taking Spidey's hand at the end of #200 when he asked for her to trust him and Peter finding joy in being Spider-Man again after finding out Aunt may was okay that was all great stuff to me that made the goofiness and convoluted parts of the arc worth it.

[@blakebakedacake4618]

i feel so validated tbh i was so consistently bored during this run

[@davidbjacobs3598]

Pretty much agree here, but Will O' the Wisp is neat. Maybe he just needs a better name.

[@riverdamandude9047]

This run is pretty unremarkable but the one issue i really liked was the one with the retired football guy i really cared about him

[@camilocuba6927]

I enjoyed Wein’s run on the Incredible Hulk and Justice League of America, but his other work is was always hit or miss with me. I think his claim to fame was co-creating the ANAD X-Men, Swamp Thing and his tenure as editor at DC.

[@MrMonkeMan_516]

Hello 👋

[@FinnSutoThe2nd]

Hi👋

[@BengaliMartyMcfly]

Yo! 🤟🏽⚡️

[@FinnSutoThe2nd]

@@BengaliMartyMcfly ✌

[@Horasis108]

Ross Andru was the worst Spider-Man artist ever. He ruined the book for me for years.

[@drewgeraci8434]

Wein just kept the status quo and was in no way indistinguishable from the other writers. When he brought back Harry as Green Goblin, it was painfully predictable and dull. I actually stopped buying the comic when Harry went bad again.

[@Arnsteel634]

Len wein obscure? Jerry Conway obscure?

[@FinnSutoThe2nd]

If I mention Stan Lee, my parents recognize him. If I mention Death of Gwen Stacy, my friends will recognize it. If I bring up anything from Wein's run, even many comic book readers won't know what I'm talking about, let alone non-readers. When compared to who came before him, I think obscure is a fair description when it comes to Wein's Spider-Man.

[@Arnsteel634]

@@FinnSutoThe2nd I know. I’m being facetious. And insulting to people’s lack of refined culture.

[@TolietWater]

Wein’s run was one third of an era of “black sheep” ASM runs that happened between Conway and Stern so it isn’t really fondly remembered