Spidey Super Stories #19

Released 46 years ago, Throwback Tuesday takes a look back at Spidey Super Stories #19. For those who don’t remember the comic, Spidey Super Stories was geared towards younger readers that grew out of the Electric Company skits Spider-Man appeared on. As a joint venture, both Marvel Comics and the Children’s Television Workshop signed off on every issue. The stories usually featured Spider-Man teaming up with another Marvel hero and/or fighting a well-known Marvel villain (whose backstory was often featured in a single-page origin story).

The 1976 issue included a story of Doctor Doom luring Spider-Man to Latveria through the use of some teenagers winning a contest all to catch Spider-Man and discover the secret of his powers to create an army of Spider-Men for himself. As Spidey states, the plan is bananas. With the help of the kids, and some spiders smuggled in for back-up, Spider-Man escapes and defeats the villain.

The team-up story featured Spider-Man meeting the Silver Surfer who crashes to Earth after destroying a meteor only to fall into classic comic misunderstanding leading to a short hero vs. hero battle before Spider-Man realizes the Surfer is a hero thanks to the intervention of a young man named Charlie. Spidey also learns to not immediately judge someone by their appearance.

The final, and shortest, story of the issue features Spider-Man searching for a school prankster inside a New York Public School who turns out to be the principal turning the tables on the kids with his own pranks to teach them a lesson.

[Marvel, $.35]