As this annual contains nothing but reprints, this is going to be a much shorter post than usual. Regular readers will also see that I've dispensed with my usual bits of information on the writer, penciller, inker etc, as all of that has been covered in my original reviews of each story featured in the annual. I've provided links to each of those reviews if you're interested.
First up is the main event, and the story represented by that absolutely incredible John Romita cover: the Sinister Six epic first featured in ASM Annual #1. This was a solid choice to include, as it had been several years since that first annual, and consequently one of the best Spider-Man stories ever had been out of print until they republished it here. It's a phenomenal story and one of my all-time favourites, and as I say, Romita's rendition of Spidey being besieged by the six villains is up there with the best Spider-Man covers ever. I still might prefer Ditko's version because of the pose he put Spidey in, but for action and excitement, Romita's wins out.
Next we have something that I have admittedly not covered yet on this blog: "The Fabulous Fantastic Four Meet Spider-Man!", a feature that first appeared in Fantastic Four Annual #1. It's essentially an expansion of the brief tussle between Spider-Man and the FF that we saw in ASM #1, and I'd say that it's an improvement on that initial fight, mostly because we get some more creative action and it's not over so quickly. Spider-Man uses his web to create an electrified cage over the Thing, runs rings around Mr Fantastic, creates a shield to block a laser fired by the Invisible Girl, and knocks away Human Torch's fireballs like a baseball player with a homemade web-bat. It's fun stuff and a nice reminder of just how cocksure and kind of obnoxious the web-head could be in the early days, and despite not being in the same calibre as the Sinister Six story, it's a cute addition to the annual.
Last, and most definitely least, is a reprint of "Spider-Man Tackles the Torch!", a tedious and stupid back-up story from ASM #8 that should have stayed where it was. This is by far my least favourite tale from the Ditko era, and the great man himself only provides inks, so at least he managed to avoid being too involved with this dreck, but I'm still not keen on seeing it turn up again here.
So overall, a kind of mixed, but mostly good selection. The Sinister Six is a pure classic, the FF fight is a neat little expansion of an all-too-brief moment from ASM #1, and the less said about tackling the Torch the better. Not perfect, but at the time this would have been worth picking up for the Sinister Six alone, not to mention that stunning cover artwork.
Next time we're back on track with the monthly adventures of ASM, as one of the web-head's oldest enemies, the Chameleon, makes his return...
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