Untold Tales of Spider-Man #13

Background

Sally Avril, a girl from Peter's School, has been attempting to play at being a super-hero. Costumed as "Blue Bird" and Trying to emulate Spider-Man, she seems to have been lucky enough to survived - so far.

Story 'Without Warning'

The events of this book are told in flashback, as Spider-Man relates the story to Johnny Storm, Human Torch. The Blue Bird gate-crashed another of Spidey's fights, and Spider-Man deliberately looked the other way while she took a pounding. That is enough to teach Sally Avril that maybe she isn't cut out for a career as a Super-Hero. It was tough for Peter to do, but he couldn't see any other way to get that message through.

Meanwhile, a thug with some gimmicks has stuck a tin pot on his head and is running around as "The Black Knight". He's involved in some kidnapping scheme - and so Sally and Jason decide to try taking photos instead. The run a red light in their haste to get to the scene, and the result is tragedy. Hit by a truck, Sally is killed instantly.

Spidey loses that battle, but a few days later after the funeral, he gets a rematch.

General Comments

This issue was billed for some time as 'proof that Untold Tales can contain significant events'. It's a fine line though, trying to wedge major happenings such as this into Spider-Man's early history. Sally is first mentioned in Amazing Fantasy #15 - although the Index To Amazing Spider-Man suggests she may be the same person as Sally Green referred to in Amazing #36. Clearly that ain't the case.

Anyway, the whole concept of Untold Tales walks a tight-rope, and issue #13 feels more like running along one. I think it worked, but only thanks to the skill of Kurt Busiek, and maybe just a little luck. Next time - like Sally herself - they might not be so lucky.

Overall Rating

I'm going to give this four webs I think.