My first introduction to Spidey Super Stories took place in 1976 on a babysitting job with a girl I had just started to date. I’m not sure I could recommend these books enough for young readers – they are top shelf with a good message. The books were really positive in nature and best of all they had no ads. I think there are quite a few 5 year olds today who could read these books. The targeted age group for these books at the time was 6-10 years of age. Kid’s issues and Race equality were also in focus. Women’s equality and rights were also highlighted.
The Cat, Ms.Marvel, Medusa, She-Hulk, Spider-Woman, Tigra, Storm, Shanna, the Invisible girl, and Jennifer of the Jungle all make significant contributions to the books. The most notable and noticeable part of these books in terms of content for me was the very equal use of women in the stories, and use of its super-heroines. There is also a huge cast Marvel Super-heroes from Kid Colt to the Silver Surfer.
There is a long line of villains with Doctor Octopus, The Kingpin, The Green Goblin, and Doctor Doom leading the way. The Marvel support group included Mary Jane Watson, Aunt May, Robbie Robertson, and J.J. There was a mix of Electric company support characters from the TV show like Easy Reader, Fargo North, Jennifer of the Jungle, and Paul the Gorilla. In most of the stories Spider-Man was teamed with another Marvel super-hero to tackle a Marvel villain. The content and make up of Spidey Super Stories looked a lot like a Marvel Team-Up for kids. Jim Salicrup and David Anthony Kraft were also key writers on the books. More importantly she also wrote Walt’s favourite, Night Nurse (See Undervalued spotlight #147). The initial writer was Jean Thomas who was married to legendary writer and editor and chief of Marvel – Roy Thomas. The writing chores were distributed amongst a number of writers. Winslow Mortimer (pencils) and Mike Esposito (inking) did the interior artwork in almost all of the books. Well, Kirby probably didn’t ghost (#19-20). Spider-Man’s regular artist John Romita was featured on 36 covers in the run and the ones that weren’t “ghosted” his style closely. Marvel jumped into this new venture with both feet. It used live action skits featuring Spider-Man and Electric company characters, Easy Reader, Detective Fargo North, Jennifer of the Jungle, and a cast of kids to challenge evil doers like Blowhard, The Prankster, and the Blue Beetle. The Electric Company is the name of a PBS (US Public broadcasting) children’s TV show. This run features Spider-Man outside of the regular continuity of the Marvel universe and in a joint venture the Electric Company. We have featured many arcs in the last little while so I thought this week we’d take a look at a run. Arcs & Runs #12: Spidey Super Stories #1-57, Oct.74 – Nov.
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