The third annual in a row to contain nothing but reprints, but this is probably one of Marvel's best offerings so far. As with my previous reviews of these 'reprint annuals', I'll just give some brief thoughts on each story in question, as well as links to my original, more in-depth reviews.
First up, we have Spider-Man's first meeting with the Shocker from ASM #46. Regular readers will know just how much I love the Shocker, and that love goes all the way back to this very first appearance; it's a beaut of an issue, containing some terrific fight scenes, as well as some good old-fashioned Lee and Romita soap opera shenanigans. I'm not sure why this of all issues was chosen to be reprinted in an annual, but it's very nice to see it here all the same.
Next we're gifted another top tier story in the form of Spider-Man No More! from ASM #50. It does seem a bit odd that only this issue was selected and not the two that follow it, considering this is only part one of a trilogy, but who am I to argue about including one of the most iconic and memorable Spider-Man stories of all time?
Last, and most definitely least, we have a story I've not actually covered on this blog before - "On The Trail of the Amazing Spider-Man!", from Tales to Astonish #57. It's quite nice that this was reprinted here, as it would have been long out of print by the time this annual was published, so to get an early crossover between Spider-Man and Giant-Man is very welcome. That doesn't mean it's particularly good, but it's by no means bad, either.
Giant-Man's arch-enemy Egghead has hatched another scheme to attack his mortal foe, this time tricking the size-changing superhero (plus his lover, the Wasp) into fighting Spider-Man. The resulting crowd and police presence that such a fight would draw will mean that an armoured car on the other side of the city will be less well-guarded, leaving Egghead and his hoods to swoop in and make off with it. It's a simple enough scheme, although rather convoluted and confusing in places thanks to some wonky scripting, and once again, it's predicated on the three heroes in question being incredibly stupid, and not stopping to figure out why they're fighting each other.
One other thing to note here is just how dreadful Dick Ayers' rendition of Spidey is. Look at those ludicrously beefy muscles and the generally strange proportions. The web-lines are a tad messy, the mask looks like something you'd buy in a Halloween store, and Ayers clearly has no idea how the web-head is supposed to move; there's none of the grace or dynamism that we would expect to see from Spider-Man. It's an odd thing, but until John Romita came along, it seemed that only Steve Ditko was capable of drawing Spider-Man and making him look great; anytime another penciller had a go in a different comic, it always ended up looking a bit lacklustre.
It's not a great story, but it is a fun slice of early Silver Age Marvel, which I have a huge soft spot for, and hey, it does feature the first appearance of the Wasp's trademark stinger weapon, so it has some canonical importance as well.
All in all, a pretty fantastic annual for 1971, despite the laziness of not even providing some new artwork for the cover (not to mention that dismal new logo they slapped on it). A top notch selection of stories: two absolute classics, and a diverting enough bonus, despite the shoddy appearance of our favourite web-slinger.
Next time, we're back to ASM proper, as Stan returns on scripting duties, and Spencer Smythe returns with a brand new Spider Slayer...
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