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Books Related to Essential Spider-Man Volume 7 TPB Bill Mantlo, Gerry Conway, Archie Goodwin, Len Wein - ISBN: 0785118799
The Jackal at his best and an unexpected return - Rated
Getting off to a slow start as Peter moves in with his old foe Flash Thompson briefly and meets the Mind-Worm.
It kicks in properly with the Grizzly, the first of a series of fights organised by the superb Jackal. Then JJJ hires Mysterio to fight Spidey.
The Punisher appears in a nicely disturbing tale of renegade arms sales. Then a trip to Paris to rescue a kidnapped JJJ, hiding in France after the Mysterio debacle only to meet the Gallic menace Cyclone. Returning to the States Peter finds Gwen, who was killed by the Green Goblin waiting for him, the start of a great cycle of stories.
Another old foe The Scorpion teams up with the Jackal before Spidey goes to the swamps to get some photographs of the Man-Thing only to find the Lizard is back, and in Man-Thing style we have another tale of redemption.
The Tarantula returns, teamed with the Jackal again as the Jackal's surprising identity is revealed along with the secret of Gwen's return and Peter's Spider-Man double. This is the highlight of this volume.
More old foes's return as The Shocker, Sandman, Dr. Octopus and Hammerhead (again back from their presumed deaths) and even The Tinkerer from all the way back in Spider-Man 2. JJJ refusing to learn his lesson from his involvement in the creation of The Scorpion, as well as his hiring Mysterio finances another scientist to create The Human Fly and again finds his creation shows no gratitude, not that he shows much either when Spidey saves him.
Add the return of Professor Smythe and a new Spider-Slayer, the end (thankfully) of the Spider-Mobile, the wedding of Ned and Betty (with a brief interruption from Mirage), and another tale of one man's redemption that this time ends in tragedy and you have a great collection. Peter and MJ finally get together here but the Gwen Clone saga will continue on.
The artwork, mainly by Ross Andru is excellent and the stories are aided by the continuity of a long run by Gerry Conway before Len Wein took over. These tales bring back great memories and having just read some of the more recent Marvel tales (Civil War/Fallen Son etc.) which are far darker, as befits today's seemingly darker and more troubled world, I find that I still prefer the comfort of the nostalgia offered by these past tales.
Two small grumbles purely for completists. Giant-Size Spider-Man 3 with Doc Savage is missing, as was the Doc Savage tale in the Essential Marvel 2 in 1 so I can only assume this is due to some copyright issues. Also, Spider-Man Annual 9 which was a reprint of Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine #2 would have been nice additions as it gives an extra insight into the Green Goblin tale.
