Spider-Oracle Petitions (01-Nov-2003)

 Posted: 2003
 Staff: The Spider-Oracle (E-Mail)

Here's Oracular Wisdom a-plenty. Note the increasing politeness of supplicants. While we do include as many Oracle responses as possible, it has become clear that the Mighty One showers his Sapient Favours more freely on those whose missives contain due deference to his Superior Status.

If you wish to see your response printed, or wish the Oracle to answer more difficult questions in great detail, you would be well advised to begin your request with a sufficiently submissive introduction. "O Mighty Oracle" is a good starting point, but don't feel limited in your entreatments.

From sbpat21
  1. I don't get Spider-Man #6 (Todd McFarlane was writer+illustrator). What's up with Hobgoblin then?
  2. What's going to happen with ol' Sandyman? Is he going to die, or what? (They should've just killed him off)?
  3. I am curious of Howard Mackie, the well-considered, recent Ed Wood of ASM and other stuff of his. What's he doing right now?
  1. Todd decided to change Hobby II's motivation somewhat, and introduced the whole "rid the world of sinners" angle into him, which eventually led to him spawning Demogoblin. It was just one more characterization oddity for Hobby II, leading to the original Hobgoblin killing him for making a laughingstock of the identity.
  2. Sandman, last seen in the final two issues of PP: S-M, is still pretty much a character in transition. When he shows up next, he could be pure good, pure evil, or anywhere in between. What we need is for someone to help Sandman shake off that brainwashing effect and get back to working with Silver Sable where he belongs.
  3. If he's smart, he's trying to shake off any lingering ideas John Byrne instilled in him. "Pete thought an actress was his Aunt? What was I thinking?!"
From mjl12003

Is there any news on whether there is going to be an Essential Spider-Man 6?

There have been talks, but nothing has been put on the schedule yet. We shall happily break the news when it finally is.

From CFriedel
  1. In Amazing Spider Man Vol.2 #17 on page 12, Peter is in an apartment and is going to be arrested, (for no reason, he is misunderstood), and right before that happens his spider sense goes off and he sees someone climbing out of a window.The person is never seen again that issue. Peter says right before his face is slammed against a window,"Who is that? Looks like someone-" that is it. Do they ever explain who that is? I find that weird.
  2. Where's Kristy, Mary Jane's couson? Haven't seen her in years.
  3. You ever think Ben Reilly will return?
  4. Don't you think that Ramos guy's artwork over in spectacular sucks?!!! He makes Peter look like a ten year old kid!
  5. How did Electro recover from Venom's beating in amazing, a couple years back? I don't know if they explained it.
  1. It was never followed up on, CF. But you know, way back in ASM #188, while Peter is boarding a ship, his spider-sense goes off then, and that time it was also never revealed why. Just figure it's the same guy setting it off, and he'll show up again around ASM #732.
  2. Kristy was last seen at MJ's "wake" in PP:SM #19. She's probably mad that she keeps going to funerals for people who aren't really dead.
  3. Probably not. If he ever does, it'll be some 20 years from now when the stigma of the Clone Saga has finally worn off.
  4. Let's just say, I'm not a fan of Ramos's artwork.
  5. Nothing was ever explained, but since the incident in question happened off- panel, it's no biggie. In fact, had the scene been shown, it just would've shown Venom giving Electro a noogie.
From seanpatrickmorgan

I've read many web pages, out of which I get several abbreviated versions of the Clone Saga, different statements on who is the real Peter Parker and who is a clone, etc. Can you clear up just "who is who" in the whole deal? Also, I've seen numerous mentions of one of the clones who was eventually called "Spidercide", but possessing more/different powers than Ben Reilly and Peter Parker (again, no clue on who was actually the real guy) - I'd love to hear any detail about this character and his powers. One last question - I think it's pretty clear how Kaine came about (as the first clone of Peter Parker and "imperfect" with the whole degeneration thing), but what exactly are his powers? I'd assume he has the same spider-abilities, but I keep seeing mention to his being able to see the future and stuff, plus it seems implied that he's physically stronger than Spider-Man. I'd love to find out just what the heck is going on with all that mess.

Well, Sean, let's start with a Clone Saga summary. We have just such a handy- dandy summary on our FAQ page. For a real in-depth look, with creator commentary, there is the "Life of Reilly" series of articles by Andrew Goletz, which you can reach via GrayHaven Magazine.

As for Spidercide, you should find the basic info you need in the aforementioned summaries, but you might also want to check out the new Spider- Man Encyclopedia, which will tell you all about Spidercide, plus hundreds of other Spidey-related characters. And finally, about Kaine. Yes, being a clone of Peter, he should have the exact same powers, but the degeneration factor has screwed them up a bit. His early warning spider-sense now shows flashes of the future. His strength has been augmented, and his clinging ability has left him able to burn his hand on his victims' flesh, usually the face.

From Chris

Way back during the the whole Secret War II crossover, the Beyonder turned a building into solid gold. Kingpin tried to get his hands on as much as possible and Peter Parker walked off with a small notebook made of solid gold although he was unsure about the morals of cashing it in. Later the Black Cat got a hold of it and made it apart of her costume. Do you know if anything happened to it after that? Did Black Cat cash it in or anything like that?

That's the gist of it, Chris. The building, and all it's interior objects being turned to gold happened in SECRET WARS II #2, and Spidey helped the people trapped inside in ASM #268 and WEB #6, taking the gold notebook out of frustration, and rationalizing that it was trash anyway. Peter sold it to a fence in a storyline in WEB#14-15. And the fence had it stolen from him by the Black Cat in SPEC #115. She melted it into a part of her new costume, which was introduced in SPEC #117. But that new costume was gone by the time Felicia's horrible new-new costume came about in SPEC #128- 129. What happened to the middle costume and the gold it contained? It was never mentioned, but one thing is certain: Felicia didn't use the money to buy any fashion sense.

From Yannick

I bought the Spider-Man Encyclopedia yesterday, and when I read Spider-Woman III's profile (Mattie Franklin), it said that she was kidnapped by drug dealers and rescued by Jessica Jones and Jessica Drew. Huh? Where did that happen? Also, upon reading Spider-Woman I's profile, they added that Mattie had a drug addiction. Now THAT, I'm sure I've never seen. Where does that info come from?

The sad saga of Mattie that you mention is from the Marvel MAX series ALIAS #16- 21, which you can find reprinted in the handy ALIAS Vol. 3 TPB: "The Underneath".

From pkoven

Here's one for you... why on earth does Wizard have Spectacular Spider-Man #146 listed at $40??

When Hobgoblin II (Jason Macendale) made a deal to exchange his soul for some powers, this was seen as a big deal story-wise, and so for a while, the actual issue where the deal/transformation took place (Spectacular #147) was priced alot higher than any of its contempory issues. WIZARD Magazine apparently got the issue number wrong. But for the last few months, 146 amd 147 have been listed the same relative value as others, so they've appartly gotten the word that that storyline lost any "hotness" about, oh, ten years ago. It's the same deal with the "Cosmic Spidey" issues. For years, they were going for 5 times the value of the issues before and after, but nowadays you can find them pretty cheap.

From Mark Stenning

I am trying to find out about a story or rather the ending of one. I remember reading about peter and a guy similar who has all the powers as well Eziekel i believe. Well the story was that pete had a few minutes before he was going to die (something like 5 minutes). Anyway he was webbing off at the end to face what i belive was another Peter Parker character possibly a clone or something (nothing to do with the maximum clonage!)

What you are remembering, Mark, is the "Stalker/Return of MJ" storyline from 2001. The issues you need to read to get the whole story are: ASM vol.2 #28 & 29 (Part 1 and 2), PP:SM #29 (Part 3) and ASM ANNUAL 2001 (Epilogue).

 Posted: 2003
 Staff: The Spider-Oracle (E-Mail)