The Spectacular Spider-Man 138
“Night of the Flag!”
Published Jan. 1988
Story: Gerry Conway
Art: Sal Buscema
Letters: Rick Parker
Colors: Bob Sharen
Cover: Our Pal Sal


Synopsis

Captain America partners with Tarantula to bring Spider-Man to justice after he aided a woman suspected of terrorism in Tarantula’s home nation.

What’s going on here?

This is the second half of a two-part story, and at times Spider-Man feels like a guest star in his own comic. The story focuses on Tarantula, a vicious thug, and his uneasy alliance with Captain America. It’s never said outright, but this is the John Walker version of Cap, an authoritarian happy to do the government’s bidding, which explains why he’s willing to work with Tarantula. Regular readers of Marvel in 1988 probably would have known that automatically, but after 35 years it took me a while to figure it out.

The story and art are by two old pros, Gerry Conway and Sal Buscema, and the issue has a sturdy, predictable feel to it. There’s some heavy-handed editorializing about the plight of immigrants, a sub-plot featuring Robbie Robertson and Tombstone and a page or two of Peter Parker and MJ, now happily married. At the end, Spidey cheats death to beat the bad guy and Walker-Cap has a moment of moral clarity.

What I liked

I confess that Sal is my second favorite of the Buscema brothers. I’ve generally found his pencils to be workmanlike and the faces on his women always look pained. There’s some of that in this comic but he also inked the issue, and it makes a big difference (I don’t know if I can remember another issue he both penciled and inked.) The opening sequence, a Tarantula revenge fantasy, is dramatically inked, and we get glimpses of what Buscema might be capable of if he hadn’t been chained to Marvel’s production engine for decades.

What I didn’t like

Conway’s social-justice message about the flawed immigration system is well-intentioned but feels clumsy. In this issue, at least, we don’t have any sense of these migrants as people, just as victims. Plus, calling them “illegals” as a bit cringey in 2023. (Note MJ’s Buscema-face in the third panel below).

And just in case you didn’t get the message, Gerry and Sal thoughtfully include Emma Lazarus’s poem from the Statue of Liberty at the end.

Also, at some point this comic stopped being called “Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man” in favor of a simpler name. I’m not sure I approve.

Overall

A solid base hit, but nothing special.