The wise one answers all your Spider-Questions.
Dr.Doom did kill spiderman in the comics?
Indeed he did, in the original Secret Wars limited series. In fact, Spidey has been killed a dozen or so times. You can find out more in the new Who Killed Spider-Man list.
In the mid to late 80s, I remember having looked at a particular Marvel comic that revealed the original design for the alien costume, which was still black but substituted red for the white areas. I know that this wasn't a spider-man exclusive comic, but rather a behind the scenes type of comic (or perhaps even a magazine, but I doubt it). I have checked your site for it but I can't find it. Does this particular comic ring a bell? If so, what is it?
Perhaps the SAGA OF THE ALIEN COSTUME trade paperback which includes some early sketches of it? Although there was no red. Alternatively, it could well be from an issue of Marvel Age circa issue #12.
I found the article which lists the number of times Ultimate Spider-Man #1 has been reprinted to be very interesting. The article says that the Dynamic Forces edition had a print run of 5000, do you know how many of the White cover were actually printed? I've heard 5000 as well, I've also heard 2000...
We have a couple of hard-core collectors on the site who specialise in these limited edition printings. They both agree that the likely print run was around 10,000 copies. However, the white cover variant is a little more expensive (currently around $200, down from a peak of $350), compared to the dynamic forces (currently around $125, down from a peak of $250).
Note, we don't usally answer questions on comic valuation or rarity, but this one did illustrate an interesting point.
A question from HackstersName1 was answered in your Oracle section:
"Who is scream?
Actually, I think the scream this person may be referring to is the Female Symbiote, first appearing in the Venom: Lethal Protector series. There was a toy made of her, and the packaging names her not 'the Female Symbiote' but 'Scream'.
Also, JoeCo asked:
Do you remember that gargoyle statue's name that spidey always talked to when he stressed out?
It has been mentioned in the Spider-Man TV cartoon (the mid-90's on on Fox) that the gargoyle's name is "Bruce". Spidey calls him this a few times during the first and/or second season.
Whew. Son of Spider-Oracle! Correct on both points, I believe. Thanks for the assist there, Secondeyeris!
Why is there so much hatred towards Ben Reilly and the clone saga? as i read through some of the content on your site, mainly the fan section, it seems no one likes the clone sage or Ben. i have always been a spider-man fan, but i didnt really start reading the comics until around where the clone saga started. i thought that was an pretty cool story line and i thought Ben was an awesome character.
I find that most fans have no problem with Ben as a character. What most of them dislike about the Clone Saga is:
I have two questions I was hoping you might be able to answer. The first is in regards to the Steel Spider. I know he made a backup story in a Spidey Annual a few years back and was recently in a Spider-Girl issue, but did he ever make another appearance? I keep thinking that somewhere in Green Goblin #12, while Phil is in the Bugle mustering courage to go out and fight the Sentinals that Onslaught sent to attack New York, someone mentions that the New Warriors are battling Sentinals along with the Steel Spider on one of New York's bridges, but I can't find any New Warrior comics that dealt with the Onslaught crossover at all, did this really happen?
My other question is if you've heard about any new resurgence of Spider-Man 2099? I mean, they just released an action figure for him and he's guest starring in the Captain Marvel comics for the Time Flies stories. It just seems as if he's suddenly popping back into Marvel's sights once again.
The Steel Spider mention was just that - a mention. Something Steel Spider-fan Tom DeFalco just added. The battle was never actually shown.
As for Spidey 2099, he doesn't appear to be staying very long, but as always, if you're a big fan, write to Marvel and let them know you want him back.
I am wondering what the name of the comic of spider man where he is standing in front of the wreckage of the twin towers it also has many other marvel characters in it.
Man, it's sad when people are asking "what issue did this happen in?" for comics that just came out 4 MONTHS AGO! But to answer your question, the issue is Amazing Spider-Man volume 2 # 36.
I was wondering if you could help me find a four or five issue mini-series that had the world practicaly overrun by symbiotes (it might be a What If). It had a whole bunch of different heroes in it. I don't really know the year, but I think it was between 1992-1995. I've always wondered about it, bc I read one of them (a friends, i think), but didn't get a chance to buy the others. I know I'm not giving you mush to work with, but I'd appreciate it if you could help me.
Easy! This was the 1995 Annuals, which were called "Super-Specials" that year. Each annual was a flip-book, with two stories in it. Refer to our Planet of the Symbiotes for more details.
When did Mary-Jane and Petey tie the knot (year and/or issue)? When did she get knocked up, or perhaps more politely.....what issue did she tell Petey "you knocked me up"?
Peter popped the big question (for the second time) to Mary Jane in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN # 290, she accepted two issues later in # 292, and the actual wedding happened in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL # 21 (cover dated 1987).
And MJ informed Pete concerning their mutual offspring in SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN # 220.
I'm about to throw in the towel here. i've searched high and low to find the name of a certain spiderman newspaper strip artist who drew (as far as i know) the spidey color strip in the saturday newspaper. looked on the web, talked to art dealers at cons. it's not lieber or frenz. and this guy was REALLY good.
This is a bit out of our area of expertise, and you don't mention which decade this was from, or give an example of the artwork. The only thing we can say is that Fred Kida was the Spidey artist for awhile (he has only one Spidey comic book credit to his name) and Alex Saviuk (who has a long history of working on the comic stories) does the Sunday strip now.
When, or in what issue, did the Hobgoblin become demonic, more than a mask? I know he was Flash Thomson way back when...
Jack Macendale (formerly Jack'O'Lantern) acquired the Hobgoblin persona when he payed The Foreigner to have Hobgoblin assassinated. The true Hobgoblin did not die, since he set up Ned Leeds as a substitute (a trick he had played with Flash Thompson quite some time before).
Macendale was the Hobgoblin for some time, before accepting an offer from the demon N'astirh to gain more power during the Inferno cross-over. He became part demon, as described in Spectacular Spider-Man #147. In Web of Spider-Man #86, the demonic part separted completely from the Macendale part, resulting in Hobgoblin IV (Macendale) and Demogoblin being two separate physical beings.
Recently, I was caught up in a discussion of an episode of The Electric Company wherein Spiderman came up against an enemy called The Wall. As it was related to me, The Wall would sneak up behind people and bump them. All of the mischief, of course, ended when Spiderman snared The Wall in a web.
I must assure you that there was neither alcohol nor illegally controlled substances involved in the telling of this story.
I am interested to know anything about The Wall, see any pictures of The Wall, or at least have the story confirmed. Sadly, I have my doubts.
How could it possibly be true? Surely we would have read about this in Spidey Super Stories #8 (Story 2) if this was a real story?