DeFalco/Frenz Retrospective: Amazing Spider-Man #271


 

Writer: Tom DeFalco
Penciler: Ron Frenz 

Synopsis: Spider-Man meets a familiar face from his past. 

Comments: So this was on of my first DeFalco/Frenz Amazing Spider-Man stories. I read it in a trade paperback, The Very Best of Spider-Man.  I don't recall if I had started reading the MC2 stuff first.  Crusher Hogan was fresh in my mind since Amazing Fantasy #15, his first appearance, was also reprinted in the book. 



The story starts off as fairly faithful retelling of Amazing Fantasy #15, but Crusher is a bit of a raconteur and the origin turns into a tall tale. 







This is the only appearance of Madam Fang. The villains in this issue...Tom and Ron did better later. Madam Fang is a stereotypical old dragon lady and I think Manslaughter, the villain, was the only black character they created on their Amazing Spider-Man run. The dynamic of the old Asian lady and the black man team up would be used again in Thor #411, with Tai and Chord, respectively. 






The screaming fit Mrs. Muggins is referring to is when Peter was being tormented by the entity Nightmare. I remember when I first read this I didn't know he had a cloth version of the black costume, so I wondered why he was pulling the mask off instead of letting the symbiote morph his appearance. 







When I read this, I thought Mary Jane was still ignorant that Peter and Spider-Man were the same person. Now that I know she knew by this point, I'm not sure why Peter lied to her about the notebook being gold. Perhaps, he just didn't want to get her involved. 


Manslaughter saying he can't feel pain reminds me Kaine's boast in Spider-Girl #14 where he claimed he couldn't feel pain because his nerve endings simply stopped functioning. 




Manslaughter may have been fibbing about not being able to feel pain since he gives a cry of pain when Spider-Man catches his fist. Manslaughter next appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #309. 








Crusher is happy to be accepted by the other guys in the gym, but hasn't this cost him his job? 






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