This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at Marvel’s publications from July 1967.
SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #50 (Jul 1967)
Title: Spider-Man No More
Villain: Kingpin (FIRST APPEARANCE)
Synopsis: Spider-Man stops the robbery of an armored car and bystanders’ wary reaction to him makes him angry about how thoroughly J. Jonah Jameson’s media lies about him have tainted his image in some people’s minds.
That, combined with Aunt May’s latest turn for the worse health-wise (yawn), makes Peter Parker feel even worse, especially since he hasn’t spent as much time checking on his aunt ever since he moved into Harry Osborn’s plush apartment with him.
The next day at Empire State University Peter fails a biochemistry test, prompting Professor Miles Warren (yes) to express disappointment since Peter is such a brilliant student. Privately, Peter blames every bad thing in his life on being Spider-Man and he decides to never again don the costume.
Over the next few weeks, the crime rate in New York City skyrockets with no Spider-Man getting in the way of villainy and only Daredevil fighting street-level wrongdoing. Our hero’s absence is noted in criminal circles, inspiring the Kingpin to at last operate openly.
He clashes with Spider-Man’s old foe the Big Man in a war over control of New York’s rackets. This makes Peter Parker realize that it’s more important to be doing the right thing even if the media attacks you for it, so he swings back into the fray as Spider-Man. Continue reading
WEREWOLF BY NIGHT Vol 1 #32 (Aug 1975) 
Moon Knight arrives at Jack’s Los Angeles apartment, where Jack shows up shortly before the Full Moon rises and turns him into the Werewolf. The pair fight it out through the streets of L.A. while Moon Knight’s helicopter pilot Frenchie abducts 
THE HUMAN FLY 
Origin: Rick Rojatt was given a fictional origin story for this Marvel Comics series. He was a young man who was severely injured in a car crash that killed his wife and children. After much reconstructive surgery, roughly 60% of Rojatt’s bone structure was replaced with lightweight steel. 
SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #176 (Jan 1978) 
Peter becomes Spider-Man and gets to the apartment that Harry shares with Flash Thompson. He finds Flash unconscious on the floor and the Green Goblin ransacking Harry’s bedroom. Spider-Man attacks the villain, assuming it’s Harry in the costume, but in a few issues it will turn out to be Dr. Hamilton himself, who manipulated his patient Harry Osborn to find his late father Norman Osborn’s Green Goblin costume and weaponry. 
SPIDER-WOMAN Vol 1 #17 (Aug 1979) 
Our heroine slips away from Eric to try getting back her costume without exposing her secret identity. At one point, the drunken woman dressed as Spider-Woman falls off the deck of the mountaintop disco. Jessica uses her powers to save the woman and recover her costume before the drunk knows what’s what. 
MARVEL TEAM-UP Vol 1 #53 (Jan) 
The genetically engineered human/ animal hybrid creature Woodgod (at right) – also immune to the nerve gas – is still being contained in the depopulated town by Major Del Tremens and his troops at Tranquility Base, who caused the nerve gas leak. 
MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN Vol 1 #1 (Jan 1973) 
That chunk is brought on board Walton’s vessel and stored in the hold. While the captain relates to a crew member the tale told to his ancestor about the monster’s creation and history, the rest of the crew plot a mutiny over being kept in the frozen north for so long just to recover a monstrous corpse.
GHOST RIDER – Daredevil biker Johnny Blaze makes a deal with the devil: Johnny’s soul in exchange for Satan curing the cancer in the body of Blaze’s mentor “Crash” Simpson. We all know how deals with the devil go, and not only does Crash die anyway, but Johnny Blaze is cursed to periodically transform into the flame-headed monster called Ghost Rider.
MYSTIC COMICS Vol 1 #1 (Mar 1940) 
B. Dynamic Man – Scientist Dr. Simon Goettler creates 
DEFENDERS Vol 1 #17 (Nov 1974) 
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