Digging through the archives and the dusty vaults, I found another interesting treasure. Essential Spectacular Spider-Man volume 1 contained issues 1 through 31 of Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man (1976-1979). The idea of a hero headlining two books is common place now and even in the 1940's, but Marvel in the 1970's tended to have their characters in their own titles, crossovers aside.
The idea of this series was to focus on more on Peter Parker, rather than Spider-Man. By this point, Peter was still a college student and dating Mary Jane. Flash Thompson had returned from Vietnam, and the Green Goblin and Jackal were dead. This volume shows the origin of the Lightmaster, the return of the Enforcers, and the debut of the Hypno Hustler. It shows the story that reintroduced Flash's girlfriend Sha-Shan and has them rebuild their relationship. It also shows the end coda of the Champions.
The stories are bronze era Marvel at its finest. Peter is trying to grow and efforts are made to move him forward. The villains introduced are a mixed bag; the Lightmaster never got above the B list, whereas the Hypno Hustler became a punch line for the 1970's. The Beetle has a decent story, and we see the introduction of Carrion. We also have enough appearances of the White Tiger to almost make him the official co-star.
Bill Mantlo's handling of the characters is amazing. The book is worth it for that alone, but combined with the work of Archie Goodwin and Frank Miller before he went off the deep end, this is something to consider buying.
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