Here’s Part Ten of Spider-Man 1970s Classics. For Part One click HERE.
SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #138 (November 1974)
Title: Madness Means the Mindworm
Villain: Mindworm (First Appearance)
Synopsis: The morning after Harry Osborn was taken away by the authorities in the previous issue, Spider-Man sits, mask off, amid the wreckage of what had been his and Harry’s apartment. NOTE: The apartment was demolished by the bomb Harry set hoping to kill Peter a few issues back.
He switches to Peter Parker before Mr Templeton, the landlord, enters for an inspection of the damage. He angrily mentions all the destruction to the floors above and below Peter’s apartment as well, tears up the lease and orders Peter to vacate the premises by the next day.
The following morning, Peter gathers what few belongings he was able to salvage from the destruction and stops by the adjoining building’s rooftop to retrieve the spare Spider-Man costume, web fluid cartridges and web shooters that he tossed there days ago to prevent them being found in his apartment after the bomb went off.
To Peter’s shock, they are all gone. Alarmed, he suspects that maybe Harry found them and made off with them during his brief period as the new Green Goblin. He adds replacing those stolen items to his list of things to do.
NOTE: Our hero is not yet aware that the Jackal, who had been keeping Peter and Harry’s apartment under video surveillance, saw Peter toss out the bundle of Spider-gear on the day of the explosion and has taken the items for his ongoing vendetta against Spider-Man.
An hour later, at a pay phone, Peter has nearly exhausted all the names in his contact book but no one has room for another roommate at present. The only name left in the book is Flash Thompson, his old enemy since high school.
With nothing to lose he tries Flash anyway, only to be surprised that Flash heard about how Harry blew up their apartment and volunteers to let Peter stay with him until he finds a new place. Peter is pleasantly surprised. He hails a cab, loads his things and rides it to the Far Rockaway apartment building in which Flash Thompson lives. Continue reading
THE AUTOMATIC BRIDGET (1889) – Written by Howard Fielding (pen name of Charles Witherle Hooke). This was an early short story about a robot run amok. 
THE GHOST PIRATES (1909) – HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Balladeer’s Blog wraps up another Halloween Month with a look at this novella written by William Hope Hodgson. Just a few years ago my review of Hodgson’s 1908 
That sole member of the original crew, Williams, tells Jessop and other new crew members about the ship being haunted and worse, but Jessop, like the other replacement hires, dismisses such claims. Williams seems a bit unnerved and maybe even unhinged by whatever happened on the original journey to San Francisco. He is bitterly obsessed with completing the round trip and collecting his pay despite horrific incidents that he is obviously hiding. 
SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #136 (September 1974) 
NOTE: Not only would that have been a Kung Fu flick from the still-flowing initial wave of Bruce Lee-inspired Martial Arts Mania here in the U.S. but it would also have been when Forty-Second Street theaters showed everything from grindhouse movies on up. 
THE BLACK REAPER (1899) – By Bernard Capes. Balladeer’s Blog’s month-long celebration of Halloween continues with this neglected horror tale. The story takes place in 1665 in a secluded British farming town called Anathoth. 
The citizens of Anathoth are described in the narrative as the kind of religious people who merely pay lip service to their beliefs but don’t live by them. They even treated their previous Vicar like a joke. 
SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #134 (July 1974) 
As the ship sails along it is hijacked and held for $1,000,000.00 ransom (equivalent to $5,581,387.00 today). The hijackers are the brand new Hispanic villain Tarantula and his two costumed sidekicks. While the villain and his aides rob the passengers of all their valuables, Peter grabs the first chance he gets to become Spider-Man and saves a sailor knocked overboard in a scuffle with one of Tarantula’s men. 
YEGOR’S PORTRAIT (1897) – Written by George Hepworth. A well to do Russian named Yegor was killed in a horse riding accident. A portrait of the man haunts those who remember him. By night the Yegor of the portrait emerges from the work of art. 
THE COFFIN (2000) – Written by Phil Hester and drawn by Mike Huddleston, The Coffin was originally a four-part serial before being collected into graphic novel format. I’ll provide details below but right up front let me point out that the horrific but intriguing premise is that the Coffin is a dead scientist whose soul is trapped within a polymer techno-suit of his own creation. 
And so Heller Technologies recruited Dr Ahmad to devise strong, lightweight polymers for medical purposes. To that end Ashar has developed polymers that can be used to form an artificial membrane that is perfectly impermeable and incredibly durable. 
THE UNSEEN MAN’S STORY (1893) – A needlessly neglected mummy tale. At age twenty-eight, a Frenchman named Carigliano arrives in Egypt on assignment from the French government. He has studied Egyptology and is thrilled with his placement. 
GIANT-SIZE SUPERHEROES Vol 1 #1 (June 1974) 
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