Elise and Dave find the Conway/Andru combo hitting on all of their ever-lovin’ cylinders in this pair of bronze age blockbusters! First, we meet two antagonists for the ages: The Nihilistic Knight (Frank Castle) and the gangrenous furry men call… The Jackal! Then: it’s the return of the repressed Aunt May/Doc Ock romantic subplot that no human being could possibly have wanted to see – and it’s a tour de force.

Menaced by Mendelssohn!  

So many magnificent moments. So much food for thought. The fate of the Spider-Mobile! A George Baileyesque panel sequence. The Punisher’s Pizzagate Shooter logic. Conway’s rebranding of our hero as an explicit existentialist. Harry Osborne's lonely, Ditkoesque Exit: Stage Obsessed. Some uncommonly intimate moments at the Parker pad with MJ – and her mistletoe musing at Betty’s X-Mas bash. The Jackal’s Machiavellian maneuvering, with Hammerhead as his unwitting tool. And – through it all – Ross Andru and Frank Giacoia’s extraordinary nocturnal cityscapes.  

Credits: Intro music:

Debbie Harry - "Comic Books"