Let’s just dive right in: SPIDER-MAN MAGAZINE #4 opens with a team-up story between Spidey and The Human Torch. They annoy each other, but put all that aside to battle the intergalactic villain Goom after Johnny Storm accidentally unleashes him on Earth. It’s full of fun action and good humor … except for the part when Goom appears and exclaims, “Yo yo yo, Goom is in the hizzy!!!” No.
Next up is a continuation of the previous issue’s Power Pack story, where one of the pint-sized members is stricken with Spidey’s old Venom suit and starts turning bad. Of all of Marvel’s all-ages titles, I think Power Pack is the most inspired, and this story shows why.
Things lean way heavier toward fantasy when the wallcrawler joins forces with the ever-mighty Thor, concluding with an arc-closing Fantastic Four story. Both these pieces involve a race of dimension-hopping aliens, and are written a tad more serious-minded than the first half of the mag.
Filling out the issue are a couple of sketch pages, which I don’t mind so much since they’re kept to a minimum and at least aren’t pinups. A dumb letters page appears at the end, which seems fake (“Does Spider-Man keep any money on him or a credit card? I don’t see any pockets on his suit”). Notably, there are no decades-old reprint stories in this one. —Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS SERIES:
• IRON MAN/HULK SPECIAL EDITION
• SPIDER-MAN FEATURING THE SILVER SURFER MAGAZINE
• SPIDER-MAN (IRON MAN/HULK) MAGAZINE
• SPIDER-MAN MAGAZINE #1
• SPIDER-MAN MAGAZINE #2
• SPIDER-MAN MAGAZINE #3
• SPIDER-MAN SPECIAL EDITION
Related posts:
- Spider-Man Magazine
- Spider-Man Family Featuring Spider-Clan
- Spider-Man Family
- Spider-Man Family: Amazing Friends
- Spider-Man 3
